Question Please

I have a question that I am would appreciate feedback on.

Yesterday morning, I realized I was not eating or drinking enough so I took out the book my Nutrionalist gave me and realized I had to have a certain amount of servings from each of the categories per day.

According to fitday, I had about 727 calories, 24.7g fat, 55.7g carbs and 61.2 proteins.

I had a total of about 42oz of fluids.

When I got weighed this morning, my scale was up a pound.  Obviously this was upsetting.

Am I doing something wrong? Am I eating too much now?

Also, are you limited to only 1 cup of coffee per day? 

Thanks so much.
Geoff

Weight can fluctuate.   (You might had someof us women folk complain about the'monthly weight gain')   Don't be too fucused on the scale.....it's not the value on one day, it's the overall trend that matters........

Sicne yo only had about 42 ounce fluids, you might be retaining a little.....


Caffiene is a dehydrator... it's counter productive to drink caffienated beverages when you are trying to keep fluids up.  

I was a coffe maniac before surgery.. I've acquaired a taste for decaf...  and I usually switch between decaf coffee and the various flavors of decaf teas available.

Relax, enjoy and stay focused on the path.....

Geoff,

Your scale may fluctuate by up to a few pounds on a daily basis, due to water being retained (or not), stuff in your colon that hasn't yet passed, and so forth.  So don't sweat a day up or down ... it's the trend over time that matters.  There are many people here who will tell you to get off the scale and only weigh once a week or once a month, and there's something valid to that.  There are others (like me) who weigh daily as a mental way of setting myself up to continue the focus.  If I'm up a pound or so on a given day, I don't let that derail me - I just pay closer attention to what my body is telling me.  Do i need more fluids? Have I pooped recently?  Do i feel bloated?  Am i getting off-track in any way?  Have I exercised according to plan?  It's an assessment, not a judgement, if that makes sense.

My doc's guidelines are a minimum of 64 oz water or non-caffeinated liquid per day.  that's MINIMUM.  If you consume a caffeinated beverage, you need twice that amount of non-caffeinated beverage to break even... so an 8 oz cup of caffeinated coffee means you need to drink 16oz of water in addition to that just to make up for it.  So for that day you'd need 64 + 16oz of water (80oz).  Doing the math, you can pretty quickly see why drinking caffeinated stuff doesn't pay.

Counted in that 64oz, though, are protein shakes, jello, sf pudding, clear soups, etc.  Everything that's liquid, in other words.  Early on, I wasn't clear on that and was trying to get 64oz of water in addition to my protein shakes and soups and stuff... felt like i was sloshing!  The NUT cleared that one up for me ;-).

karen

Wow, Karen that really clears a lot up for me.  Thank you again so very much.

One more question for you please.

Is there any issue drinking two decaf coffees than as part of the liquid?

Thank you again Karen.
Geoff

I'd double-check with your nutritionist, but I don't think there's an issue with decaf coffee.  I don't personally drink it because the acids bother my stomach, but that's just me.  Actually - the acid problem was pre-surg, so I should check again and see if it's still an issue.  ;-)

Karen

Karen,  thanks so much,  I appreciate it.

very early on, the guideline for me was volume ----not weight or calories ----- 1/4 cup per meal 3-5 times a day with the majority of the quarter cup being protein----- first soft proteins --- cottage cheese, yogurt, an egg, pureed tuna ----- but no more than a 1/4 cup in volume per meal.  After a while that progressed to 1/2 cup whi*****luded some cooked veggies --- almost all carbs the first 6 months were from milk products or from veggies ---- no simple carbs.  Fat also from milk products, meats, eggs, although used light mayo in chicken or tuna salad (1/2 tbsp light mayo and tbsp greek yogurt in can on tuna and puree --- worked well for me)

Lisa

Lisa,

Thank you, I have learned so much just in the last couple of days.  It is amazing how much there is for me to learn.

Thank you
Geoff

Sounds like you got a lot of good advice already....I don't have much to add :)

Do try to keep in mind that your body went through a traumatic surgery....and you had some "complications" to boot...which means it's gonna take awhile for your body to "stabilize" metabolically speaking.  And with surgery you will retain water as the body tries to heal - so it will gain and lose here and there.

Oh - and get ready for the "stall" that generally happens anywhere between weeks 3 and 6....it can be disheartening if you don't know that it is "normal"

I'm an advocate of the once a week weigh in myself...especially early out.  I do admit I was "addicted" to the scale and allowed it to truly play mind games with me...which is when I switched to weekly.

Good luck!

Pam

Pam,

Thank you.  The kind words and advice of you and everyone else is priceless.

I am truely indebted.

Geoff