Am I getting enough of what I need????

I am just over 2 months out and down 69lbs from DOS.  My question, though is: Am I eating enough? I was told to keep portions around 2 OZ (or 1/4 cup).  I am definitely not hungry and just eating around the correct times (3X/day)  I am getting to the gym about 3 X week and walking in addition another couple of days. I just created a spreadsheet with all meals for the last week and total calories and protein each day. Below is the totals by day.  No bread or anything like that yet.  Still not drinking fluids 1 hr before a meal until 1 hour after the meal.

Day	Tot cal	Tot prot
07/22/07	432	27
07/23/07	432	27
07/24/07	446	30
07/25/07	446	30
07/26/07	414	29
07/27/07	250	28
07/28/07	195	26
07/29/07	311	55

  I really appreciate all the advise and wisdom that exists on this board.  One of thes days I'll up;oad a pic so  won't be so anonyomous. Thanks, Brian

IMO, you are eating way too little.  Eating so little will help the weight loss now be faster than most (including, say, mine), but it's going to cost you later in the form of much reduced muscle and significantly slowed metabolism.  Your exercise and discipline are excellent.  Strange as it seems, you need to put some of that discipline into eating more.  If you are happy eating so little per meal, I'd change to more feedings rather than more food per meal, and particularly to liquid feedings (protein shakes, maybe with some fruit added) in between solid meals. For a male 8+ weeks out, my advice would be daily protein of at least 80 grams a day and calories of at least 800 a day.  A better goal would be 100 grams and 1000 calories.  In consultation with my nutritionist (and my own research), I'm currently on 1100-1400 calories (avg 1300) and 110-130 protein grams a day at 18 weeks out.  I have charts that show previous weeks:  week 6 I was at 700 calories, week 7 I was at 900 calories, week 8 1044, and weeks 9-15 were all 1100-1200.  All of those weeks were above 95 grams of protein. That's my 2 cents.  Perhaps other guys will chime in with their ideas. 

Hey Ardbeg, Could you send me your menu for the day ie breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner.  I'd appreciate it, Thanks, BobM.

Bob, I  don't have a menu per se.  But my routine is like this.  (I'm not claiming all of this is ideal, it's just what I do.) First off, right now through the end of this year, I'm entering everything I eat into Fitday.  This is to help me track my protein and I also hope to gain an intuitive feel for what 1200 or 1500 (or 2000+, some day) calories seems like.  Eventually, I want to be free of tracking calories and menus/diets completely, but I may return occasionally to tracking for a week or two in order to estimate what my habits are doing and adjust.  With dishes that aren't in the database, I google the dish and the word "calories" and try to find a version that looks similar.  I either enter it as a custom food (if I eat it often) or just use a couple foods from the Fitday database to approximate the fat/protein/carb content.  I also weigh everything I eat when I'm not at a restaurant, including leftovers (I have two digital scales, one in my desk and one in my kitchen).  This helps me estimate my restaurant meals more accurately as well (I know I ate about 1/3, and I have 13 ounces left, so...).  I start almost every day with a protein shake, mixed to drink on my drive to work, about 25 grams of protein.  Some days I might have yogurt or an egg w/ cheese (and maybe some fruit) instead, if I get up early or don't have to work that day.  On days I don't work out (4) I usually eat lunch out with coworkers or friends.  This means ordering some high-protein dish that no one would call health food but really isn't that bad if you eat a reasonable amount (pork BBQ plate, chicken panang from a Thai restaurant, lamb vindaloo from an Indian, a burrito w/ beans from Mexican).  I usually eat about 1/3 to 1/2 of the meal and box the rest, 5-7 ounces of food, 400-600 calories.  Lunch is usually my biggest meal of the day now in terms of calories. On days I do go to the gym at lunch (3), I take about an ounce and a half of dried fruit and nuts in a bag and eat it at the gym and/or right after.  Then at 3PM or so I might eat some leftovers, another protein shake, or some beef jerky, depending on what I feel like.  I sometimes grab a meatball sub from Subway (and eat half a six inch, minus some of the bread) or a small Wendy's chili (<200 calories, since I can't even finish a whole one).  Total, I'm eating about the same calories as on my non-workout days, but it's more spread out. I'm often not very hungry for dinner/late night, so my eating after 6PM tends to be largely influenced by what Fitday says I need.  First priority is to check my protein and see if I am getting close to my goal (110-140 grams).  If my calories are already over 1000, I'll often just have beef jerky and/or protein shakes to get my protein in and sip on some crystal light the rest of the evening.  Usually, my calories are closer to 600-750, in which case I eat another "real" meal, often leftovers, or else some grilled chicken or fish with a piece of fruit.  After dinner, I do a final check.  It's pretty common I'm still 10-25 grams short on my protein, in which case I force down a small protein shake before bed.  If it's late, I feel the need to munch, and I don't need protein (rare), 3-5 ounces of apples, strawberries, baby carrots, or yogurt usually hit the spot. Over the last month, I've averaged 116 grams of protein, 90 grams of carbs, 49 grams of fat, and 9 grams of alcohol (I do a wine tasting every Thursday, again, not claiming this is what you should do).

Great job on using fitday.com to increase your awareness on the calories & nutrients you are ingesting. There is a site I used dietfacts.com which has the menu of many, many restaurants. The site has a link to fitday.com so select a dish from a particular restaurant, click and it creates a custom item in fitday with all the calories, fat, protein, carbs, etc.  Pretty cool feature and saves a lot of time entering data manually into fitday.

Brian, your calories are OK, but your protein is about 1/3rd of what it should be.  You are losing a lot of muscle mass right now and if you have hair you will start to lose it soon unless you start upping your protein to at least 75-80g a day.  Not sure what your doctor told you but consensus is a minimum of 75-80grams of protein a day and most guys here target a 100.  I don't have my postop diet guidelines in electronic form but I know many of the guys do here.  Guys???? Can you post a good 4 stage plan here for Brian?  You will get a lot of variation on the calories (my doc has me targeting 600-800 until I lose 75% of excess weight), others swear by more.  The agreement all around is a minimum of 75grams of protein. Brian, get yourself a good protein shake and drink an additional 2 of these a day.  I like the Champion Nutrition Pure Whey - Chocolate.  I take two scoops in 8 oz of water or milk and that will more than double your protein.  Everything else is great.  The workout, the calories need to be 500-700 minimum and 75grams of protein minimum.  I'm glad you asked because if you keep going at this rate you will get sick.  Please up your protein.  Also, make sure you get a chewable iron (www.bestbariatricsupply.com) ASAP as well.  As little as you have been eating you are a real risk of becoming anemic.  Nice thing about these pills (taken in the morning) is that they are one of the sweetest things you get to eat and they will give you a nice energy boost in a few days as well. Greg

Brian, You're only doing about half of what you should be taking. Especially the protein. You should be getting at least 70 grams of protein per day. Follow you surgeons's & nut's advice, but make sure you get the proper nutrition. Good luck & keep up the great work.

Jay

Brian..... need to pick it up a little.....my doc told me 60 for the protein....but if you are going to the gym at all....pick it up a little... I know the fascination with losing and eating a little....but increase some...if you can do a shake...that would hit a lot of buttons for your health and body.... on that 2 ounces....make it every 2 hours....while you are awake....just fuel your body Russ

Brian -  Ditto to what everyone says - especially the protien.  FYI - a good protien powder is BNA Syntha 6.  Each scopp is 22g's of protien.  The powder is easily desolveable and tastes great.

Brian, I’m just getting to the chorus of "dittos" here…. If your calories drop lower than 1000, Your metabolism will slow down and your endocrine system Will bath your body in chemical signals to – "HANG ON!" to every last calorie. You may notice slightly lower over-all body temperature And lack of energy. Same with the protein. Plenty of protein will keep your from losing a lot of hair As the weight falls off, But more importantly, More protein will Help Retain some more muscle as the body is "Eating Itself." Normal (no-Operated on) people need approx.- 1.0 to 1.2 g/per kg of body mass per day. Figuring a mal-absorption rate for the RNY Post-op of 18% One should more than likely estimate at the top of that range. Yes? Is your hair coming out yet? For folks who’s protein levels drop severely in the first couple of months They can count on fists full of hair coming out Around month 4. (takes that long for the damage that happens to the follicles To show up) Look at increasing where you can, with more total nutrition. Just my thoughts… Best Wishes- Dx