This a question i will ask at my pre op diet class. But has anyone heard anything? also, if they use the same size pouch, aren't I going to be a string bean in a year? Want to be fit, but not look like I have some deathly disease if you know what i mean.

Your protein goal is something that your surgeon and NUT will base on your specific needs. For my surgeon, the goal for all men and anyone with a BMI over 50 is at least 100 grams.

I'm 6'1" and my surgeon said anything over 75 grams was good enough. Of course, shoot for 100, but don't freak out if you fall short. You're NUT will probably have you focus on getting 30 - 35% of your calories coming from protein.

Edited September 4, 201510 yr by BigViffer

Generally, a taller person (particularly in the torso,) will have a longer stomach than a shorter person, so even if the doc uses the same sized bougie (the guide tool that many docs use to form and size their sleeves) the taller person will wind up with a larger stomach post op; some surgeons may tailor their sleeve for the individual while others will do the same for everyone. Many/most programs recommend that guys get more Protein than the gals - typically 60-80 gm per day for the ladies and 80-100 for the guys (I aim for 105+ for my muscle mass.)

Also, generally (there's a lot of that here, since we can't get very specific without knowing a person better...) men will lose quicker and more than women since we tend to have a higher metabolism due to the greater muscle mass that we usually carry; but that's not a guarantee as there are plenty of things that can screw up one's metabolism. That said, losing too much is fairly rare with the sleeve (getting to goal is still a struggle for many,) and usually comes from a complication not allowing food to pass readily (fairly rare) or from the patient developing an eating disorder - afraid to increase their consumption out of fear of losing control on the up side (again.)

Once you get into this, you will find that there are plenty of ways to "eat around your sleeve" to increase your calories and nutrition once you get where you want to be - even when our stomachs wind up being roughly the same size a year or two out, the "style" of eating can make a significant difference in our intake, such that some may be able to stick to around 1200 calories per day (fairly common for the ladies, particularly the shorter ones,) while others can ingest 1600, 2000, even 3000 calories per day if needed to be stable. I average in the 2000-2200 range and know of a couple others who are gym animals who run in the 3000+ range to feed their needs. The tricky thing is keeping down low for those who need to, and for everyone, making the best nutritional choices for whatever our level is.

There are a number of WLS "rules" that are intended to help us keep our intake and calories down - eating protein first (Proteins, meats in particular, pass thru the stomach more slowly, and provide longer satiety so we don't get hungry again so soon) and not drinking with or immediately after meals (to help keep the solid food in the stomach as long as possible, are two primary ones. But we can be flexible on these rules if we need to ingest more - the tricky thing is for it not to become too much of a habit that we can't reverse things if we need to lose a bit again.