Hi all i am five days post op and i was wondering if anyone has any guidelines regarding calorie intake? I've healed up great and i feel fine, eating does take time and i get a lot of chest gas but it's okay. I've had 600 calories so far today but i feel like i still have one more meal in me today and i realised my dietitian never talked about post op calories. Does anyone happen to know anything about what's recommended? I add nourishment powder to most of my food for extra vitamins and proteins.

My binder does NOT give calories guidelines for the FULL LIQUID, PUREE, or SOFT FOODS stages. Just amounts of things I should be eating, i.e. 4 oz.

It says once I get to my regular food stage to stay around 1000 or under for continued weight loss. Then I guess once I hit my goal that will increase slightly but not sure yet as I'm only 3.5 weeks out.

17 minutes ago, SummerTimeGirl said:

My binder does NOT give calories guidelines for the FULL liquid, PUREE, or SOFT FOODS stages. Just amounts of things I should be eating, i.e. 4 oz.

It says once I get to my regular food stage to stay around 1000 or under for continued weight loss. Then I guess once I hit my goal that will increase slightly but not sure yet as I'm only 3.5 weeks out.

That makes sense! I can do 4-6 oz of food at a time and I try to add as much nutrients to it as possible I just want to find the line between weight loss and giving my body enough to heal.

No calorie guidelines here either. Just 60g min protein + 6-8 cups fluids.

I’m 13 days post op. Avg calories has been 568, Protein 86g. I easily get over 64oz per day in fluids. (Today alone I’m at 100 oz including water, protein shakes, soup, jello)

I don't think most surgeons give calorie guidelines that early out. You physically can't eat much anyway, so it probably doesn't matter. Most people are told to just focus on protein and fluids when they're early out.

I was never given a caloric goal either just portion size - 1/4 cup to begin slowly increasing until about a cup near goal. Of course on the liquid stage there was no quantity given. On liquids I only had a shake in the morning & soup in the evening: less than 300 calories. On purée it was about 300 calories & three meals a day. I wasn’t hitting my 60g protein goal but my surgeon & dietician were ok with that & said it would get easier - it did.

I wasn’t an avid calorie counter just random checks especially if I added something new to my diet. I progressed to about 600 - 800 calories as I neared goal. Now I eat about 1200 to maintain (took me a while to get there) but I’m not very tall, have a smaller frame & aren’t very active.

But we’re all different & have different requirements. I wasn’t hungry or interested in food & couldn't eat more than I was. If you’re concerned, don’t think the recommended quantities or goals are right for you (too much or not enough) or you’d prefer more direction have a chat with your dietician or surgeon.

Slowly adding in fruits, vegetables & small amounts of good carbs as you’re ready will help you get in all your nutrients. I aim to have a pretty balanced diet & get all my nutrients only from the food I eat. I haven’t had a shake since the liquid stage, stopped my vitamins at 2 months post goal & my blood work always comes back great (but that could just be me).

Good luck.

PS - Your insides, where the surgery occurred, take a lot longer to heal then your outside incisions. The outside is pretty superficial in comparison.

I wasn't given a caloric guideline but for the first 3 weeks I was probably under 400 calories daily. I was still on full liquids. Once I moved into puree I averaged 500-600 calories per day. My instructions are still not to exceed 4 oz in volume at a time, which is fine because I could not fit more than that in my stomach now at around 5 weeks out. I can do 4oz of greek yogurt but something like pureed chicken I can typically only fit about 2oz and then maybe a bite or 2 of veg. I was planning to ask my dietician about calories at my appointment tomorrow.