Caloric Intake

Good Afternoon! This seems to be a common question, but I still need to ask.  I tried to ask my nutritionist, but she gave me an ounce guideline for meals, not a caloric guideline.  I would like to know about how many calories I should be consuming a day.  I had my surgery in March 07.  I dance 4 nights a week, intense cardio (Monday - 3 hours, Tuesday - 1.5 hours, Wednesday - 2 hours, Thursday - 3 hours).  I also try to walk on my off days.  I do try to eat well, but I am not sure what level I should be at for calories.  I have already been told to increase my protein, I am at about 60 g a day right now, and my water, but I don't know what else to do because I don't know what other nutritional guidelines there are.  I know that each surgeon is different, but I don't like just going by how many oz of food I am eating.  I am way too much a control freak to just go by that.  Thank you for any assistance you can provide. Hugs, Cynthia

Hi Cynthia! I do know the more you exercise the more you need to take in.  I'm 3 months out and I typicallly get around 900 to 1000 calories per day.  I haven't exercised like I should due to weather conditions (poor excuse) but when I DO I will up my calories.  I believe Terri tries to take in about 3000 per day.  It's kind of ridiculous that your NUT won't give you a specific or an average.  Since I'm not a professional I wouldn't even try to guesstimate.  I do know that if you are exercising as much as you are that you should need a bit more than those that don't.  When I worked out daily, I probably ate 2500 per day.  But that was 100 years ago! ;) I'll be very interested to see what advice you receive from the professionals.  I am LOVING this area of OH.  It is extremely helpful! TTYL Cynthia

Thank you for posting this question. I am 8 weeks post op and I asked my NUT what the average calorie intake I should consume is, the average fat %, average sat fat %, avg sugar %, etc etc. etc. I wanted to make sure I was staying under everything to know what to expect.  I created an excel spreadsheet with all the colums and printed it into a binder so I can keep track daily - more or less to get use to it so, long term I can start recognizing things easier.  I was told I shouldn't even concern myself with these things.  But I find I need to know. So now I've been told I'm obsessing.