Total caloric intake

WOW you have had more than your share! Sorry to hear all of this that you have gone through.

I had a lapband in Mexico in early 2000's but had to have it removed due to slippage and reflux in Jan. of this year. I had to fight my insurance but I think I won to have RNY which I did on Aug. 1st. It will be 2 weeks this Wednesday. Hoping things go well. I seem to be able to take in fluids easily so will see what the next stages bring.

Best of luck to you!

Julie

just make sure you follow the physicians office rules, and get lab copy of all labs, track carefully esp 2 years out and further, 18 mo-6 years is when the body's excess of minerals, etc becomes apparent. you can avoid crisis if you watch for downward trends.. i am not on any meds currently. occ take prevacid for gastritis, All i take is otc. Be sure o ge a copy of labs BEFORE surgery for comparaive.You will be so glad later.

Mashed potatoes, along with other foods like oatmeal, cream of wheat, applesauce, etc. have long been a part of successful bariatric practices for two very good reasons -

1. it works - these are useful foods for transition diets that help our stomachs get back to working normally, and
2. WLS is fairly insensitive to diet styles (low carb, low fat, etc.) as the early restriction ensures a low caloric level consistent with weight loss. This allows for flexibility in these early transitional diets, and in allowing the patient to develop good long term dietary habits that will help with sustainable weight control, rather than focusing on the diets that had failed them in the past that promote longer term yo-yo diet patterns.

In the intermediate term, one may or may not choose to continue these foods through their weight loss phase depending upon what diet may be appropriate for them. But overall, these are foods that are not inconsistent with a varied weight control menu.

Yes. I'm 6wks out and have never gotten above 600 cals (my nut said I should try to hit at least 600 per day, but I'm not quite there yet)

PCBR, As long as your energy level is good.. you are not weak or shakey...Don't worry as much about the calorie count as the Protein, carb and water totals.

Make sure you get Your protein to the high end of what your DR recommends, and carbs to the low end of surgeon's recommendation.. water at least his minimum...and add as able. There will be days it is easy to get in and others not so much..

I must have been 16 weeks post op before i got to 600 cals.had extremely small pouch and i had a lot of other gastric work done..so.I had a large amount of edema inside for between 6-8 weeks because of the extensive procedures i had.

I am 5' 5" ..have a med/small frame( wear a childs watch)Dr's goals for me were 90 gram protein,. 20-50 gram carbs, ..I drink at least 3/4 gal of filtered water daily plus my coffee. rarely drink anything else. these are still my overall goals..as long as I get in the protein i don't have any excessive hunger and rarely wake with low sugar episodes.

Thank you! Lots of great info here :). I am not worried about not hitting 600, but helping to try to reassure the OP. My energy is just fine at this level, so I?m not sweating it. Still, thanks for all the color and additional context. It?s very helpful!

In truth, I?m usually 5-10g short of my protein goal (My goal is 70g..also 5?5? but with a Medium/large frame?more proof that docs vary greatly in their post op reco?s!). I seem max at 3oz of food at any meal, so 70g is a little ambitious for me right now. But I seem to be doing okay, so letting it play out.

You are so on point about the water, too! I do weigh everyday and definitely see larger drops on days after I?ve had more than 64oz.

I am glad my experience can be related to help others...

My Surgeon was a Professor that taught gastric (WLS)surgery... in Memphis and around the world. His Dad had died from obesity complications and he made MO surgeries his life work...

His rule's for eating ... Protein first, limited carbs second, ( limited to 20-50 gram a day, and He wanted us in the low end of this until @goal.),..fruit las****er separated by meals each direction by a minimum of 30 min. chew every baskin robbins tasting spoon level full of food.. 10 x each bite.

Consider using some kind of liquid protein to boost without over stretching your pouch..liquid shakes will pass thru and down enableing you to get more protein in without breaking the Liquid intake for a regular meal.

I used the protein supplement we were prescribed..in sugar free hot cocoa..to get mine in for a good while... for several weeks my capacity was 45 cc..half your capacity now. There were times i skipped a meal and added extra /double dipped,...protein to something liquid...to get where i needed to be . Those 30 min breaks ( each side of 3/4 hour meal.)..and a very small pouch were hard for me to get nutritions in.

My capacity remains small compared to what it was...max is 5 oz. I do have some medical issues..I use only natural supplements for my anemia( no intrinsic factor, only in liver)..and it is working -from the relief of my symptoms. I also changed to a mag citrate and calcium citrate added K2 for utilization. otherwise still follow these rules to maintain weight loss, get back on track .

.Do I fall off the wagon on my diet.?. Yeah buddy..but I don't stay off for very long... weigh has been stable for most of the past 21 years( took me about 2 years to get down and stabilize...(life happens) and it is always the carbs i must limit.. to stabilize sugar, and break the carb cravings.My Nutritionist had me increas B complex sublingual to double for 3 days with 20-30 gram carb liits for those days.. that breaks it for me.

In my losting phase post op I was told not to count calories. That as long as I was getting app 100 grams proteins, 20 great good fat, and limit carbs, wherever my calories would be they would be fine.

Only when I got close to my goal and we tried to slow down the loss to transit me to maintaining, I was supposed to start counting calories and increased fat in my diet. The push was to get more natural fat - like butter, eggs, avocado, nuts. Fat is very dense in calories so small volume can deliver a healthy #of calories.

Btw- I lost 95 lbs (I lost 15 on pre-op diet) in ,8 months. In the 8th month I was increasing calories.

I'm only 1 week out, and I easily get 600 calories a day (and 95g protein) from protein shakes (2), Greek yogurt, and cottage cheese.

I'm almost a little worried because it seems too easy for me. I feel I could probably manage another shake or portion of yogurt, but I don't want to overdo the calories at this stage. In 3 weeks time, when I hit purees, I figure I can easily up my calories a little with cheese and avocado.

You always try some smashed avocado with a bit of lime juice, salt and pepper in place of the mashed potatoes.

No one should be thinking about ways to increase calories. The whole point of this is to keep calories as low as we can, until the weight is gone.

Our bodies need the micronutrients we get from vitamins and calcium, and they should be close to zero calories. We need a little bit of fat, and we need enough protein to heal and preserve muscle, hair, etc.

Anything else is wasted calories that delay fat burning. That includes carbs -- all carbs. Our bodies don't need a single one.

Get your protein. Take your supplements. Keep the calories low, and you'll burn the fat we all wanted to get rid of.