I'm confused..calories post op

Surgery is april 10th.

When speaking with my dietician she was very focused on liquids and protein. I asked her approx how many calories I should be aiming for post op and she said she doesnt want me under 1000.
Most people post on here that they are around 6-800/day.

I know I need to listen to my dietician over people on the internet, but Im just a little confused about why I would be taking in so many more calories than others.

Thanks!

Kendra

You should, of course, listen to your nut.

Having said that, I don't listen to them. They want me at 1200. The harsh reality is that from 20+ months of doing this I know that if I go over 1000, I stop losing. I have to stay around 800 to keep the loss coming. You'll find your body's needs and figure it out. Educate yourself about food and nutrition and all that good stuff - but learn about yourself and your body.

haha... I love when people say to listen to your doctor or NUT. They can't all be right. I also think it has to be a combination of listening to them and doing our our research and figuring out what works for us.

It's all so individual. Every doctor, dietician, and nut has a different plan. I didn't focus on calories for several months. I concentrated on getting my water and protein in. I did, and still do, eat protein first, then veggies, then complex carbs. I generally don't have room for more than protein and a bite or two of veggies. I eat a bit of fruit here and there, but not much.

I aim for 100 grams of protein a day, so that occupies my eating. So now at almost 18 months out, I eat anywhere from 1000-1300 calories a day. I'm not recommending my plan over any other one; this is a highly individualized process and what works for me may not work for you. However, I do think eating for proper nutrition (protein, veggies, and fruit first before simple carbs )will help you and serve you well in the long run. There aren't any food groups I cannot eat, but there are some things I chose not to eat because I don't manage them well and then want to eat way too much of them.

Early out, it can be hard to eat more than a few bites. But your capacity increases over time, so it's easier to get your protein in. To this day, there are some foods I can only eat a couple of bites of and then I am done.

I sometimes think dieticians and nuts throw out guidelines for calories without any context. There's nothing wrong with 1000 calories a day, but it takes time to work up to it. It also depends on how often you eat. I have always eaten 5-6 times a day, so it's easier for me. But some people don't eat snacks, so it's harder for them.

Start off slow, protein first, and work your way from there. Good luck and keep us posted.

What kind of surgery are you having?

 

Immediately post-op (and I imagine this is probably true of most surgery types) you are going to struggle just getting enough liquid and protein.  Those should be your focuses.  I know it seemed crazy to me pre-op to think I could get by on such a small amount of food, but it was actually really hard to even get to 40 gm of protein on some days.  It won't happen right away.  Just do your best, drink as much liquid as you can, and the rest will fall into place.

My NUT didn't believe in counting calories or carbs.  And I never understood how some people could function on 600 or 800 calories.   Some other boards I would visit had people who'd get really bent out of shape if I said I wasn't counting calories.  But I figured, hell, I wasn't good at dieting before this, what makes me think I'm going to be an expert all of a sudden?  Besides, I'm not in a race with other board members or surgery patients to lose weight the fastest.  I spent years putting all this weight on, and it is more important to me to learn better habits and make healthier choices than it is for me to attempt some non-sustainable limited caloric intake.  

With RNY, you won't be able to get in that many calories for a while. For about the first month, I lived on 4 slim fast low carb shakes to get my protein in. I don't think I got in 1000 calories a day until I was about a year out.

Honestly, from what people post here on OH, I don't trust most dieticians. Focus on protein and getting in enough water. The scheduling of drinking and eating was a pain in the butt for the first few months for me, but it gets better.

Hi Kenni,

I know I am late to the party but I just wanted to weigh in on this cus I dealt (am dealing) with the same kind of issues.  I don't even have a nutritionist and so I had to make up my own plan.  From OH, I decided early on that low carb and between 600 to 800 calories was the way to go.  I did that for a while and it was ok but the loss slowed WAY down and so I decided to put all of the noise on other forums out of my head and try to figure out what worked for me.  I was doing extremely low carb (less than 20g a day) so I decided to up it and my calories on some days.  My surgeon told me to not worry about calories, only carbs and protein, so that's what I mainly pay attention to.  (I still have about 700 to 800 calories a day but thats because I am still so early out). I am losing much more steadily now and I feel better too.

I do a modified form of "carb-cycling". I'm not crazy with it, I just have some days where I do up to 40 or 50 g of carbs and others I keep it around 20.  It seems to be working for me much better adding in some fruit and nuts and other healthy carbs on some days. 

Again, just like the other posters said, everyone is different and you kind of have to do trial and error to see what really works for you.  I was listening too much to the people on other forums that were INSISTENT that only their low carb, super low calorie lifestyle works for losing and keeping weight off.  I started feeling bad about myself and that I was doing something wrong because I wasn't losing tons of weight and going to be at goal in 8 months or whatever!  To me, that's a recipe for disaster that I have been doing my entire life that got me to 362 pounds.  I don't want to feel like I cant have a bite of something or piece of this on occasion.  I don't want to deprive myself and make myself feel like I can never have fruit or a slice of bread again.  So this is now the only forum I come to and I'm figuring it out for myself.

Good luck Kenni!  Your surgery date will be here before you know it!

Frankly, I'd trust my dietician before I'd trust a message board, a nutritionist (ANYONE can call themselves a nutritionist, it's a bull**** title) or a surgeon (the source of the 600-800 cals/40g carbs diet, if I understand correctly). 

That said, they do need to work with the body and metabolism you've got, but given the HUGE nutritional and metabolic disadvantages that can come with a diet under 1000 calories, it's sure as hell not one that I'd want to play with for any length of time.  Unless you're super petite or your metabolism is so severely screwed up that your BMR is hundreds of calories below normal, you'll lose weight on 1000 cal per day.

Thanks everyone for all of your input/advice.

 

I think what I will probably end up doing is start where my dietician has told me to start. Then, I'll adjust as my body needs me to (which she said she would help me with, anyways).

I just found it strange that she wanted me intaking so many calories, compared to where the rest of you are at, but maybe thats just because of my body size, or my activity levels, or whatever else it may be.

 

-Kendra