HOW MUCH CALCIUM DAILY?

I am thoroughly confused as to HOW MUCH calcium I should take on a daily basis. I had the RNY proximal 7 months ago today. I am 62 years old , 5'2 and weighed 272 at surgery and now I am 188 pounds. 84 pounds down. Needless to say I am thrilled with my weight loss. My surgeon and pcp & nutritionist tell me to take no more than 1500 mg. daily and Vitalady tells me to take 3000 mg. daily of Calcium Citrate with magnesium and vitamin D. I truly am baffled. A few years ago I had osteopenia and my doctor at that time put me on a weekly dosage of fosamax, which I was on for 18 months. Then he said I was considered in the "normal" range and took me off the medication. I realize that calcium is a serious matter and I want to do what's right. I would very much appreciate hearing from as many of you as possible. Thank you in advance and God bless you all in the coming year. You're the best.

1500 daily is what I take. The concern with taking too much calcium is kidney stones. I have read of others who take much more than the 1500 daily-but I don't.

My personal needs are 2000 grams of elemental calcium citrate. I also have to take mega doses of vit D prescribed by the doctor. I'm with Lynda on the average doses is about 1500 mg elemental daily. Reading calcium labels is very tricky. I have a document compiled by a wonderful lady in AZ on how to read the labels....let me know if you would like it, I'm sure it is on Michelles emails lists. Darlene

I take 1,200 mg. per day via vitamins/supplements, but adding the calcium that I get via good, my daily average is more like 2,000 mg. per day. I would do what my surgeon suggests. Jan

Pat, I see you had your surgery with Kirkland too...Guidelines state that we should be doing 1500 mg daily calcuim citrate or 2000 mg calcuim carbonate This is from the guideline handout on page 4. Hope this helps. Debbie

Hi there, I take three tablets throughout the day of 400mg each. Good luck. 302/153/155 6"0

Have you had a recent DexaScan to know how your bone density is doing? It is not unusual for someone to lose bone density as they drop a lot of weight, so I would be wanting to know what is happening with my bones at this point if I were you and had your history. With a history of osteopenia I would tend to err on the side of caution and follow vitalady's recommendation with the calcium citrate. There are no known adverse effects of taking the citrate form (carbonate can cause kidney stones). Personally I take at least 2300 mg daily in elemental calcium (as calcium citrate). It is most important to know how to read the labels so that you know if you are getting elemental calcium. Not all labels are created equal and they can give you a false sense of security. I can provide you with a couple of documents that I have put together on labels and how to read them if you are interested. Just email me and I will send them right along. I am also having to take a lot of Vitamin D and magnesium as well. More than what is with my calcium citrate. I do routine lab tests for both of these levels along with many other things that I track. Sandy