Can you all help,

10 months post op. Still reaching my goal weight. How much protein should I be consuming each day? How many calories a day? and How many carbs? My pre-surgery weight was 245 lbs. I've lost 64 lbs. Lowest weight so far 181. Goal weight 145.

I'm not sure how much help this will be to you, for at 7 months post-op, I consume about 1200 calories per day, 20 grams of carbs, and 100-120 grams of protein. But keep in mind that I am a 41yo male, 6'0" 207 pounds.

My advice is to reach out to your nutritionist and work together to set up parameters for your daily intake that is tailored to your specific body and place in your journey.

Good luck!

When you hit the maintenance phase, your meals should consists of equal parts of protein, fat and carbs, but always put the protein first. But you are still in the weight loss phase.

One thing to do now at your stage is to assess your protein intake. Your daily protein requirement is met by a combination of the amount of protein you obtain from food combined with the amount of protein from protein supplements (protein shakes, protein bars). Right after gastric bypass surgery, the volume of food you consume is minuscule (2 ounces) per meal. But as you get further along, the meal volume increases. Therefore you have a very important option available to you. As a result, you can begin to reduce your reliance on protein shakes. I went from 3 a day, down to 2, down to 1 and eventually none when I reached 1 cup per meal at a year and a half post-op.

This is important because protein shakes contain calories. If you can reduce your caloric intake, then you can end a stall. At least that was the approach that I used and it worked for me.

Generally your daily protein requirement is 75-90 grams per day. If you are overly active and physically work hard or exercise hard, you may need more protein.

You really need to consult with your nutritionist about the right protein levels for you. At 6 months out from bypass I eat around 1200 calories a day and my protein intake is 75 - 90g per day (85 - 90 on workout days). I generally don't count calories, just protein grams and fluid.

Im glad you asked the question because I am 9 months out and was wondering the same thing. I feel like I am able to eat way more than I should .... and for heaven sake dont want to gain any of this back ?

Also, being 10 months out.. are you experiencing a major slow down in your weight loss? I havent lost in 2 months.. scared that this might be it ?

I've been drilling my nutritionist and PA about this because I'm a big nutrition nerd and a big food tracker. They were reluctant to tell me because they are much more interested in the "four habits" and they say that will take care of a calorie deficit for me. Of course, I needed to know more than that! Haha. So they finally said that I should eat 800-1000 calories a day and 30 grams of protein. We are instructed to eat only whole foods, no protein shakes or supplements. They didn't mention the ratio of carbs to fat, but I go lower fat personally because it makes me feel sluggish when I have more fat (always has).

I've come to realize that I need to experiment with my body and see what works for me. I also do cardio kickboxing several times a week, so I'm burning a lot of calories. My daily caloric deficit is an average of 2,600 per day! I'm still finding the balance between fueling and losing, but I usually eat around 900 cals per day and it seems to be working for weight loss.

19 minutes ago, fruitandveggies said:

So they finally said that I should eat 800-1000 calories a day and 30 grams of Protein.

Is that a typo?

<edit>

I just went to my 2015 spreadsheet to double check my macro's at that stage. Over all over December (my 10th month) I averaged 1500 calories & 120 grams of protein a day. 30 grams sounds dangerously low. My earliest records start at my 4 month mark and I was at 1200 calories & 80 grams of protein.

Edited April 20, 20179 yr by BigViffer
added information

1 hour ago, pnt38 said:

Im glad you asked the question because I am 9 months out and was wondering the same thing. I feel like I am able to eat way more than I should .... and for heaven sake dont want to gain any of this back ?

Also, being 10 months out.. are you experiencing a major slow down in your weight loss? I havent lost in 2 months.. scared that this might be it ?

I know. Same here. I'm trying to finish off my last pounds before my one year in June if I can.

48 minutes ago, BigViffer said:

Is that a typo?

<edit>

I just went to my 2015 spreadsheet to double check my macro's at that stage. Over all over December (my 10th month) I averaged 1500 calories & 120 grams of Protein a day. 30 grams sounds dangerously low. My earliest records start at my 4 month mark and I was at 1200 calories & 80 grams of protein.

Nope, no typo. My surgeon changed protein requirements in the last couple of years from around 80g to 30g based on the latest research on harmful effects of excess protein. He's done something over 3,000 of these surgeries so I tend to believe him! Also, if you do the math, that's about 15 percent protein if I'm eating 800/cals day. Which is actually the RDA % for protein, so I feel fine about doing it this way.

If I were a tall male though, I might have more protein daily--the RDA is still 15% for guys, but of course you need more calories in a day (lucky!) so the number is higher.

Okay... well if that is what your surgeon says to do, that is what you should do. Isn't it strange how no two surgeons can apparently agree on these things?

Hope it works out for you.

It is really weird how none of them agree! It really makes you wonder if all these rules really matter so much if we're all going in the right direction with weight loss.

it's hard to say because people's calorie needs are different. That said, I think I was eating 1000-1200 at that point. I always felt that was a bit higher than what a lot of others were eating at that point, but then again, I was still losing so.....???

since about my third month out, I've had to get 100+ grams of protein in a day, but that's because I malabsorb it, and my blood protein levels tank if I get much lower than that. "Normal" WLS patients usually get 60-80 grams a day.

Carbs: I never did ultra-low-carb because it makes me feel like crap and I can't sustain that long doing that, but when I was in the losing phase, I usually got under 80 grams a day and almost never went over 100.

I mean if the USA RDA was accurate everyone wouldn't be whales in America.

I peg my protein needs to my lean mass. One perk of being really fat is you have a lot of lean mass it is just under a lot of fat. If you keep your protein high you can maintain that lean mass without a ton of strength training.

At 10 months I had 90-120 grams of protein depending on my activity levels and 1100-1200 calories, basically zero carbs, and high fat.

I hate carbs, can't tolerate them at all except leafy greens. Has little to do with WLS, I hate carbs before surgery. Useless.

Currently I peg my protein to my lean mass which is 125 pounds, so my protein goal is 125 a day.

Harvard article on protein.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-much-protein-do-you-need-every-day-201506188096

RDA Recommendation on protein is .8 grams per pound of weight.

Quote

The RDA is the amount of a nutrient you need to meet your basic nutritional requirements. In a sense, it’s the minimum amount you need to keep from getting sick — not the specific amount you are supposed to eat every day.

I feel it is really important to point out this is the bar minimum to keep you from being sick, not for optimal health, which is something different.

RDA Calculator for needs

https://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/interactiveDRI/dri_results.php

This calculator is terrible though, it has my calories needs daily at 2609 and my protein at 68 grams. Protein is only 4 calories per gram. Where would I get the other 2300 calories from?!??!!?!?!

Edited April 20, 20179 yr by OutsideMatchInside

Good lord, I used the RDA calculator and this is what it gave me:

You Entered:
Female	Age: 52 yrs	Height: 5 ft. 7 in.	Weight: 160 lbs.
Active		Not Pregnant or Lactating

Results:

Estimated Daily Caloric Needs: 2427 kcal/day

• About BMI

Each reference value refers to average daily nutrient intake; day-to-day nutrient intakes may vary.

Macronutrient	Recommended Intake per day
Carbohydrate	273 - 394 grams 1
Protein	58 grams
Fat	54 - 94 grams 2
Total Water*	2.7 Liters (about 11 cups)

Right it is an all carb diet. This is what happens when a government agency that is supposed to look out for people is really ran by corporations and lobbyists.

How can anyone even eat that many carbs? It is like eating a large pizza, by yourself every day.

Edited April 20, 20179 yr by OutsideMatchInside

4 hours ago, fruitandveggies said:

Nope, no typo. My surgeon changed protein requirements in the last couple of years from around 80g to 30g based on the latest research on harmful effects of excess protein. He's done something over 3,000 of these surgeries so I tend to believe him! Also, if you do the math, that's about 15 percent protein if I'm eating 800/cals day. Which is actually the RDA % for protein, so I feel fine about doing it this way.

If I were a tall male though, I might have more protein daily--the RDA is still 15% for guys, but of course you need more calories in a day (lucky!) so the number is higher.

Your doctor is the first I've heard who's acted on those studies! How do you feel on the regimen?