How much malabsorption do we have with calcium?

[ShoppGirl 5,043]

I am taking two calcium citrate chews a day as suggested by my dr but using the Baritastic app I realized that the Protein Shake has a lot of Calcium and I am getting 6-800 of the 1200/ day without supplements. Should I be taking less or does that calcium not all absorb because of surgery??

[2Bsmaller18 436]

I asked my surgeon and he said to count the shake as one of the 3 servings of Calcium supplement. Later (6-9 months post surgery) said to go down to just 1x day since I had 1-2 glasses of milk or a shake and 1-2 servings of Greek yogurt a day. Your body can only absorb 500mg every few hours anyway so if you drink a shake and have a supplement at the same time you wont benefit from the excess anyway.

[Arabesque 7,462]

Calcium is absorbed in the body via our tummy & small intestines so even though a lot of your tummy has been removed you should still be absorbing calcium through your intestines which weren’t altered with your sleeve surgery. During weight loss I had about two serves of dairy a day. Now I have almost three. Before my surgery I barely had 4 serves of dairy a week.

I was never told to take calcium tablets or any additional Vitamins than a multi Vitamin. And I’m a menopausal woman so you’d think they would have pushed the calcium. I stopped the multi Vitamin A month into maintenance with my surgeon’s approval - they make me nauseous.

However we all absorb nutrients differently. I think I’m naturally a good ‘absorber’ & get everything I need from what I eat. Some people don’t. My blood work is fine & I have super hard bones.

It is challenging to get all the nutrients we need in during the first few months when we’re losing hence the vitamins. How are your bloods? Is there anything that is low? Have you had a bone density test?

[ShoppGirl 5,043]

7 hours ago, Arabesque said:

Calcium is absorbed in the body via our tummy & small intestines so even though a lot of your tummy has been removed you should still be absorbing Calcium through your intestines which weren’t altered with your sleeve surgery. During weight loss I had about two serves of dairy a day. Now I have almost three. Before my surgery I barely had 4 serves of dairy a week.

I was never told to take calcium tablets or any additional Vitamins than a multi Vitamin. And I’m a menopausal woman so you’d think they would have pushed the calcium. I stopped the multi Vitamin A month into maintenance with my surgeon’s approval - they make me nauseous.

However we all absorb nutrients differently. I think I’m naturally a good ‘absorber’ & get everything I need from what I eat. Some people don’t. My blood work is fine & I have super hard bones.

It is challenging to get all the nutrients we need in during the first few months when we’re losing hence the Vitamins. How are your bloods? Is there anything that is low? Have you had a bone density test?

Thanks for your help. I am 42. I did have one bone density test at a career fair years ago but didn’t pay too much attention other than it was in the normal range. I haven’t had any blood tests yet. I have my Second post op appt in 10 days. I am not sure when they start doing labs. I just remembered my mom getting kidney stones when I was young and it was from an excess of some Vitamin so I didn’t want to be getting too much of anything.