I had surgery on December 17th (yay!!!) and due to some minor issues my surgeon has me on a clear liquid diet for two more weeks. I can't have Protein shakes but I can add Protein powder to broth. So - I have the guidelines about what I can eat and how much Water and protein to try to get in - but no one ever told me a calorie limit. How many calories are we supposed to be getting in at each stage: liquids, full liquids, purees? If I overdue the skim milk and diluted juice I can get in apt of calories. Before he took me off the shakes I actually had one day when I got in 800 calories!

Does anyone else have early calories limits they've been given?

Thanks

I was never given calorie limits. Just a simple meal plan of with Protein and Water requirements. After protein comes veggies and eventually fruit and whole grains. My nut actually laughed when I expressed concern over the full fat dairy products she suggested. If you are following the basic rules and you don't overeat, you can't get in too many calories your stage.

My personal feelings about restricting calories is that if you do, you cause stalls by starving your body. And If you do it for long enough, your body learns to live on limited calories and it will be hard to maintain goal when you try and eat more later on. I never tracked my food or calories, but I did a few spot calorie checks along the way.... 800-1000 calories in the first 3 months, 1000-1200 calories at 6-7 months, and maintaining 12 pounds under goal for the last 4 months at 1400-1600 calories. Very easy numbers to live with!

I did close to 800 calories for most of my first four months.

I'm now working to get my calories up to 1,000/day (per my surgeon's office).

I also want to get my veggies / fruits up to 5 a day and am getting close. I like good food.

EDIT: I'm almost 19 weeks post-op right now.

Edited December 27, 201411 yr by VSGAnn2014

Very reassuring - thank you both!

My doc's guideline was to stay around 800 calories per day - 75% protein, 25% carbs (low-glycemic carbs in vegetables (squash, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli... basically any high fiber vegetable)). And try and stay away from any processed foods, they usually have high fat/sugar/sodium counts.

My doc gradually increased the calorie limits it started at 400-600 them 600-800 then 800-1000 and maintenance is expected to be 1200-1600. Like the scale and weighing oneself I think calorie limits need to be approached with caution. Some people get too obsessed with it and lose focus of getting proper nutrition. I hoover around 800 ish. Some days lower, some days higher.

Great recommendations! I do have a bit of OCD and need to remember not to obsess over the actually calories and more on the content. Right now I only have a couple of things to drink so I guess i need something more to keep my mind occupied - lol. It's nice to have the ranges. I think my doctor said 800 - 1200 for long term but that's quite a bit in the future for me.

I really appreciate you ladies.

At my one month appt, I told my NUT that I was only getting around 400 calories (on a good day) and she said that was totally fine.