Hi everyone,
Does anyone know of a chart that tells us how much protein, kcals, fats, carbs, fibre and salt we should eat as post-bariatric patients?
Since I’m writing everything down, I feel like I should at least check that I’m not going over the top on salt, for example. I also suffer from constipation and I would like to try and manipulate my food to help - so it’s good to have base lines!
The recommended daily allowance that we get on food labels in the U.K. is for standard diets of 2000kcals per day. Maybe I should just quarter that but I wonder if there’s a calculator out there that takes different sizes of people into consideration?
Hope this isn’t a silly question. My brain is still very fogged up!
?

There are as many post-op plans as there are surgeons. Heck, there were 3 surgeons in the practice to which I went and each had a different program.

Here on this site there are post-op plans of 500 calories per day, others have no restriction. My plan didn't count calories but I'd say it was about 1200 calories per day. I would never have been able to sustain 500 calories a day some plans require. Folks that can do this are superheroes in my book. I wouldn't have had surgery if the post-op diet wasn't rational.

I should think you need to use caution taking a normal 2000 calorie diet. You are reducing calories but there are other things, like protein, that you are not reducing. Other things you need to keep volumes up while reducing other things. Your notes are likely more definitive on your plan than anything you will find on the internet.

Don't trust strangers on the internet. We are often just plain wrong.

Good luck,

Tek

Edited July 11, 20224 yr by The Greater Fool

Thanks Tek
I didn’t explain myself well.

The nutritionist said to aim for 60-80g protein and no more than 600 kcals.. but has said nothing about sodium, fat etc. So I was wondering if there’s a calculator out there that is for bariatric patients telling us those levels to aim for?

I am a small frame female, so taking 600 kcals is like 1/3 of the recommended for a healthy woman (more or less), however, due to the bariatric surgery and poor absorption, I need 60-80g protein at the moment. That is NOT 1/3 of the recommended, so I can’t just divide all the figures for “normal small women” by 3.

If there is no calculator, maybe someone has been told by their nutritionist. Mine just shrugged!

3 hours ago, Lornapc said:

Thanks Tek
I didn’t explain myself well.

The nutritionist said to aim for 60-80g Protein and no more than 600 kcals.. but has said nothing about sodium, fat etc. So I was wondering if there’s a calculator out there that is for bariatric patients telling us those levels to aim for?

I am a small frame female, so taking 600 kcals is like 1/3 of the recommended for a healthy woman (more or less), however, due to the bariatric surgery and poor absorption, I need 60-80g protein at the moment. That is NOT 1/3 of the recommended, so I can’t just divide all the figures for “normal small women” by 3.

If there is no calculator, maybe someone has been told by their nutritionist. Mine just shrugged!

On most things you strive for 'healthy' levels, just like non-ops.

You'll find that 60g of Protein is what non-ops should get. The extra may be to compensate for malabsorption, but my plan called for 60g.

Sodium, like non-ops, you want to reduce.

600 calories is a draconian crash diet in non-op life and like I said folks that do that have willpower that I don't have. For my plan from day 1 I was learning how to eat for the rest of my life. I basically ate to maintain my goal weight and lost weight down to that balance point. At any rate, for everyone losing all that weight is/was great positive reinforcement, telling our lizard brain "plan = good."

All minerals, vitamins and other nutrients: you need what a non-op needs. Except you may need a bit more iron and calcium as our malabsorption seems to hit those hard.

Again, fat is the same as for non-ops. Reduce it. Some Gastric Bypass folks (like me) dump on fat, so be careful.

Just because we are eating less and consuming fewer calories, it doesn't mean we can reduce everything by 75% or 60% or whatever. Generally, we still need 100% of most vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.

Bottom line is you need everything a non-op needs to be healthy, you just have to do it in 600 calories.

If your nutritionist shrugged on this question, well...

Good luck,

Tek

Thanks Tek ❤️

Talk to your surgeon/dietician. If you have high blood pressure, they may recommend you reduce sodium below the generally recommended 2000mg a day, but it's not strictly a concern for people who are not sensitive to salt. None of the dieticians I've talked to about bariatric surgery has recommended any draconian limitations on salt. They haven't even mentioned sodium - just macros.

I don't worry about sodium OR fat, just sugar, simple carbs, and protein.

For constipation, it's unlikely you will be able to eat enough fiber to solve the problem with food. I was told that drinking enough fluid, exercising enough, and taking something like Miralax was what I should do. I have found that I only need Miralax occasionally as long as I drink coffee.

I use Mirolax if I haven't gone after 3 days. Started using Benefiber generic in half of my liquid intake. No problems now.