Sleeve Post-Op Calorie Intake

[KevinS62 73]

I am sure this question has been asked before, but I didn't see it. I am looking for how many calories we should be taking in during the early post-op timeframe after being sleeved. From the handouts I got from the dietician, it says I should be shooting for 1,000 calories a day, but it didn't say when I should start. I am in week 3 post-op and was talking to a friend this weekend that had the sleeve a few years ago. He could tell I'm confused and a bit frustrated. He thinks I'm starving myself and should eat more if my stomach is ready for it. Here's some numbers:

- Week 1 post-op, I was on Clear Liquids. I probably took in about 400 calories a day and lost 12 1/2 pounds.

- Week 2 post-op I was on full fluids, I took in about 500-600 calories a day and lost another 5 1/2 pounds.

- Four days into Week 3 and still mostly full fluids. I am taking in about 600-700 calories a day and have only lost 1 pound in the last 4 days.

So. I really am confused at this point. Should I up my calories some and stop starving myself? Or am I just over thinking this?

[Tomo 1,148]

While every program is a bit different, the consensus is to make your priority your Protein goal in the beginning. I was told in the early months to not pay attention to calories but keep eating until my protein goals were met. After the 3rd month, my surgeon said to strive to get to at least 1000 calories.

[armartin98 103]

Every doctor is different. I started soft foods at week 4. At week 6 I was told I could eat anything except fresh carrots and crunchy veggies. I try and stay at around 800-1000 calories a day. I have a slow metabolism and I'm older so I lose slower than some people. Also make sure you get your Protein in. Good luck to you.

[I♡BypassedMyPhatAss♡ 800]

I am right at two weeks post op, and during the liquids phase my paperwork says nothing about calorie goals. My goals are 60 - 90 grams of Protein and 64 ounces of liquids. Liquids for me is three, long weeks.

pureed and soft diet stages I have a calorie goal of 650 - 800 calories. Protein and liquid goals are the same as the liquid phase.

Full bariatric diet has a calorie goal of 1000 calories for the first six months and 1200 calories from six months onward. Protein and liquid goals are the same as the liquid phase still.

Hope this helps.

[Arabesque 6,565]

As the others have been saying, plans are different. I was never given a caloric goal just Protein, Water & portion sizes. Best to discuss this with your dietician with consideration of your needs, gender, age, height, etc. & activity level. Though generally a goal like 1000 calories would be one you’d work up to once on solid foods. If I was given caloric goals they would be very different to yours as a short, middle aged woman who isn’t very active. I was barely eating 900 calories at 6 months & at goal.

[pintsizedmallrat 470]

I probably focus on calories more than I should but I'm 10 months out, and I'm a woman with a very small frame and eat between 750-950 calories a day.

[kcuster83 1,503]

Same answers over and over, haha

Every plan is different. Mine was:

2 weeks, liquids calories or not relevant and to focus on Fluid and Protein

2 weeks purred, 400-600 cal a day

2 weeks soft foods, 600-800 cal a day

Once I got through the first 6 weeks, slowly reintroduced a "normal" balanced diet at 800-1000 cal a day until I hit maintenance.

For the most part I am around 700-800 cal a day and hit 1000 if I feel snacky but make sure I stay within my plan limits. (Little over 4 months post op)

[KevinS62 73]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I listened and am going to work on this.

Yesterday I added a second Protein powder/shake, raising my protein from 60ish grams to 87. This raised my calorie count roughly 120 or so to 763. I also took in close to 64 oz liquids. I actually felt better during the day yesterday and my scales moved this morning.

[KevinS62 73]

18 minutes ago, kcuster83 said:

Same answers over and over, haha

Every plan is different. Mine was:

2 weeks, liquids calories or not relevant and to focus on Fluid and Protein

2 weeks purred, 400-600 cal a day

2 weeks soft foods, 600-800 cal a day

Once I got through the first 6 weeks, slowly reintroduced a "normal" balanced diet at 800-1000 cal a day until I hit maintenance.

For the most part I am around 700-800 cal a day and hit 1000 if I feel snacky but make sure I stay within my plan limits. (Little over 4 months post op)

Ha. Same answers, but it confirms it. Majority wins. As you said, focus on fluids and Protein right now.

[Sunshine Princess 202]

I dont have a calorie goal; mine is strictly Protein. I need to eat between 75-90 grams of protein a day and also match that with Water. Im three months post op. Calories in My Fitness Pal vary between 550-750 calories a day.

[RickM 1,747]

Yes, you are over thinking this. During this phase, the first month or so, there is virtually zero correlation between your loss rate and what you are doing, as there is a lot going on with your body changing states trying to adapt to this big caloric deficit that you have thrown at it. Do a search here for the three (or third) week stall and you will see lots of anxiety over what is my weight loss doing and what have I done? Your loss will slow, often stall and maybe climb a bit before going down again. It often happens right around the time that our diets are moving from one stage to the next, so "that mush be it!" but it isn't - even those of us who never had all those stages go through something like this.

Short answer is that when you go into a serious caloric deficit like this, your body first starts drawing on you glycogen reserves, short term carb reserves stored in you liver and muscles, which give you your quick response bursts of energy. There is a lot of Water weight associated with glycogen. Once that is largely consumed, your body usually pauses to see if you are really serious about this caloric deficit thing. Then it will start to draw on your fat stores, which is what we are here to do in the first place. Fat also burns more slowly than glycogen/carbs (its that 9 cal/gm vs 4 cal/gm thing,) and it has to rebuild some of your glycogen reserves again (water weight on) so weight can be real flaky here for a while.

If you really feel that you aren't eating enough, then a bit more wouldn't hurt and may be helpful, though that won't be what gets your loss moving again. I was up around 1100 calories fairly quickly, within the first couple of weeks, but I was also progressing on food types more quickly than your program suggests, and we had no specific caloric guidance. Others on these forums at that time were insisting that anything more than 6-800 calories would be death to your weight loss. I did fine, at least with my decent guy metabolism, and they did fine as well. I wouldn't rush things on too much, as it is much easier to add more later if you feel the need to than to cut back once you get used to eating a certain amount. I didn't increase my average calories from there until I was within about 10 lb of goal weight (at about six months) and needed to slow things down.

[Crisscat 169]

Im 3 months post op currently and I was more or less doing what your doing. I wasnt getting enough calories intake and I became weakish. I increased my Protein and fluids which I initially found hard to do but things are leveling off for me. I was told today to not eat more than a cup of food. Currently I can only get somewhere between 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup so I still have a way to go lol.