Sara51692

Just curious the average number of calories people are taking in a day near the beginning? Pre-solid foods? I asked my NUT this same question and she gave me the line that the recommended 1000-1200 for weight loss and told me not to worry about it right now - just to focus getting in my Protein and fluids. ANd I totally understand that, but I work better when I have very clear goals, and to me, just telling me to get protein and Water isn't clear enough, because MyFitnessPal is counting my calories... MFP is telling me I'm averaging around 400-550 most days. Yesteday I got almost 700 and was so upset with myself. But yesterday was also the only day I've hit my protein goal for the day. So I'm just wondering what everyone else has been getting.

Had a stall last week around 305, which was super frustrating since I was so close to the 200s. It played around a little at 300 for a while, even dropped to 299 once (which I didn't count since it was flucuating), but the last three days, I've been consistently below 300, so I'm making the announcement...I'm in Twohundredtown! Sorry, the name's not as cool as Onederland. I haven't been in the 200s since the end of my senior year of high school in 2010, so it's really exciting for me!

Same thing happened to me when I tried to get under 300! So frustrating.

So I started using myFItnessPal when I got home from the hospital 3 weeks ago (had surgery 5/26) and I'm a bit of a perfectionist...I'm having trouble with measuring and estimating the calories in my food. Sometimes I do well with measuring, especially when it's only a few ingredients (like the refried Beans, salsa, cilantro combo I do for pureed), but I'm normally the type of cook who doesn't follow a recipe and just throws things in and estimates amounts. The only problem I have with MyFitnessPal is that searching for some foods will give you several different results and it's hard to know which to use. So my question is, for those of you who do track calories/everything, how accurate would you say you are? Do you just make educated guesses or do you really try to get it exact? How do you do it for home-cooked meals? It's not too hard to track right now in the pureed stage, but I'm worried about when I get to normal food that it's going to very hard for me to keep tracking, so any advice now would be greatly appreciated! I've heard of people who religiously bring a measuring cup with them and measure things everywhere so they don't overeat. Anybody do that?

Congratulations to both of you! Keep up the good work!

Congrats! That's definitely a NSV...saying no at those types of events is really difficult. I had a family event last weekend and it was really hard for me to say no and set limits. I'm not looking forward to having to do the same thing again at the 4th of July! My workplace does pizza and beer every Friday for lunch, and so far, I've resisted it, thank god. They also do some salads and other items, but nothing that is too healthy.

My NUT and surgeon said I should be getting 1000-1200 calories a day, but I'm getting around 800 max.

MyFitnessPal - I use it on Android. It's a great app. Heard from many other people who use it on here as well.

So far, my experience has been a bit different than others on here: My surgeon told me alcohol was fine a month out, in moderation. I'm a month out now, and I had two margaritas (separated by quite a bit a time and ate an hour+ beforehand) with no ill affects, on Thursday. My tolerance seems about the same. Added to my calories for that day but it wasn't too bad. Had maybe 5 ounces of a mimosa (went minimal on the champagne b/c of carbonation and stirred it a lot) this weekend, and that went down fine. No pain from carbonation. I didn't try beer though - we only had bottled beer and even pre-surgery, that seemed too carbonated to me (compared to draft beer). Though I did take some gas-x before or after (don't remember) just in case. I haven't tried soda since - don't really want to! Used to love Diet Coke too much. Basically, it varies by surgeon. Ask yours about it.

I am worried that if I eat too little calories now, that my "set point" will be lower later. Or is that just an irrational fear and my body/level of exercise is going to figure out its own set point for cals whether I like it or not?

So I had my one month follow-up appointment yesterday and assumed I was moving from pureed foods to soft foods for two weeks until my 6-week appointment. But my surgeon shocked me by saying I'm okay to move onto solid foods. He made a few disclaimers, such as trying new things when I'm comfortable and avoiding fibrous vegetables like celery right now. So I basically ended up in Stop & Shop with my sister last night looking around like a person who had never been in a grocery store before because I had so many options now. I felt totally unprepared because I was expecting soft foods first! I only bought cucumbers (to eat with hummus) and crystal light. I ate some chicken last night, non-pureed, and it went down fine. So I don't think he's wrong that I'm ready for solids, but I'm still really nervous! I also asked my surgeon about my calorie intake and I told him I was getting 400-600 a day but the last few days it was more like 700 because I was hitting my Protein goal. He told me I needed to be around 1000-1200 which shocked me too, because I've read about people on here who are maintaining on that... And finally, I told him how I wasn't getting nearly 64 ounces of Water, and he told me not to worry about it and to keep separating liquids and solids and just drink when I'm thirsty. I'm also allowed to drink alcohol (in moderation, of course) at this point. I'm just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience? Would this worry someone? My aftercare there has been great and my surgeon and NUT are both amazing at being available to answer questions at any time, but I totally thought my surgeon was tough and fairly strict, but he doesn't seem to be...

Thanks! I definitely see your point. I'm trying harder not to focus on those extra calories since either way, it's low enough to lose weight. I've been hitting my protein goal almost every day this past week - so I definitely consider that a win.

Huh! That is very interesting! I could definitely see that being a reason. Plus, if my NUT is saying 62 or so minimum for me and the absolute minimum for females is 50, then mine couldn't really lower that much anyway.

I love the chocolate Premier Protein -- would love to buy them if I was closer! Hope you can return them or find someone to sell to!

That's awesome! Congrats! Hopefully you'll be off full liquids soon!

My nutritionist told me mine would decrease. That proper protein intake is calculated based on your current weight. But if you are weight training you may want to get more. Yeah, I thought it made sense that it would, but we'll see what my NUT says later on. I'm not in any hurry to eat LESS protein.

I'm pretty close to the 50 pound mark from my HW...6 pounds to go! Very exciting.

Right!? I regularly ate multiple meals each with more calories in them than I do in a day. Seems crazy now. Two margaritas yesterday left me with a 900+ calorie count, which has been my highest, but I seem to be more around 500-600. My surgeon just told me to get 1000-1200 which scares me. I'm scared I'll overeat if I attempt to get to that point.

You seem like you're doing amazing! You're only ten days post-op, it'll take time. I gained 6 pounds in the hospital and that took me a few days to get rid of too. You're drinking enough Water so maybe it's water weight? I'm probably losing more because I haven't been drinking as much water. But mine doesn't seem that fast either. Honestly, just keep doing what you're doing and try not to get too disappointed. It WILL work. Have you been taking your measurements? I've heard of people not losing as much but they're seeing their measurements go down.

Hey May 26thers! Congrats on our one month surgiversary! Hope everyone is doing well. =) How's everyone doing? Lets hear some updates! I drank two margaritas last night. My surgeon OKed me for alcohol and my indulgence did put me over 900 calories for the day total, but it was worth it - had tons of fun and workeds some of the calories off while dancing! Nothing bad happened, not even any nausea. Though my tolerance level seemed about the same as pre-op, unfortunately.

Also, eat things in lettuce wraps. Lettuce wraps are a life-saver! If you like tacos or Mexican food - make a little bean, salsa, guac/whatever mix and serve it in lettuce wraps. I love honey-chipotle chicken so I make a sauce and a stirfry of veggies and chicken and serve it in lettuce wraps. Chinese food? Buy takeout and serve it in lettuce wraps to get the same crunch factor as the fried foods they have. Or do a stirfry and serve it in lettuce.

Agreed with all of this! I haven't started cooking any of the recipes I cooked pre-op yet, but I constantly cooked low-carb, healthy versions of my favorite recipes: Use zucchini instead of pasta in your lasagna (you can slice it however you want and don't have to cook the zucchini before putting it in the oven) Use cauliflower for a mac & cheese fix! A nice low fat cheese sauce over cauliflower is soooo delicious! Make cauliflower "rice" (with a food processor) and make faux fried rice Cauliflower steaks (season like steaks and grill) Make a cauliflower crust (it's a mix of cauliflower, cheese, and egg) and make a pizza! Okay, basically I use cauliflower for tons of things. Cauliflower is amazing and versatile. Make zucchini noodles to replace pasta in any of your favorite pasta dishes

Yeah I haven't started an exercise routine yet - just some walking since I do feel like I'm still healing (my abdomen still hurts), which my surgeon was fine with too. I'm hoping switching my calories higher will work in my favor - it's definitely scary!

I need to warm myself up to the idea of trying fish. I hate most seafood but I recently started liking fish tacos (so the fish is fried AND there's tortilla...), so I'm thinking I might be able to make the transition to fish.