Calcium Supplements and Carbs

Hi All,

During my post-op visit yesterday, the Dr. asked me to start adding in 1000mg of chewable calcium supplements. I bought some of the type they offer in the office: Bariatric Advantage Carmel Chews. However, this morning I read the nutritional information on the back of the bag and found that each chew has 250mg of the calcium, 20 calories, and 5g carbs! I would need to take 4 of these a day which is 80 calories and 20g carbs!

I hate the idea of adding in 20g carbs a day on a supplement, but I also don't want osteoporosis later in life.

Do any of you have a calcium supplement that works well for you, with less carbs/calories?

Thank you!

I use the calcium vitamin patch and my latest labs were great. Before that, I was using the Citrical Calcium Citrate petite pills. My Dr. was fine with pills and I didn't have any trouble swallowing them.

My Dr is against the patches. She says they don't work well, although many folks here seem to be doing well with them. I want to try them, but I also want to follow my Dr's rules, lol. Was your blood work good with the Citrical? Can I ask why you switched from Citrical to the patch? Thank you for responding!

I was my surgeon's guinea pig with the patches. I've been on them for 3 months and just had my labs run. He said I could try them because I had good labs to begin with. I switched from the citrical to the patch just because of convenience. You have to take 6 pills a day spaced out over 3 hours, and they can't be taken at the same time as your iron. My morning and afternoon doses were easy, right before breakfast and lunch. It was the last dose that was hard, because I take my iron at night. If my dr. looks at my labs and decides he wants me off the patches, I'd be fine with that decision, but I just find it easier to peel and stick a patch rather than have to portion out my pills and remember to take them.

In the beginning I ate these. They caused gas and stomach upset due to sugar alcohol plus the calories... I take citrical (calcium citrate) or generic 500 mg each, 2-3 times a day.

I use that brand and flavor also, but I order the 500 mg chews. They are only 4 carbs and 15 calories each (I take 2 a day). Even though I have no problem swallowing the pills, I can't stand them and would rather add 8 carbs and 30 calories. They don't seem to upset my stomach.

That is so much better than 20g carbs a day! Ill look into that as well. I like the idea of only having to take them twice a day!

I take 3 bariatric advantage chewables daily (lunch, snack and dinner). They are the "wafer" chocolate ones. 7 cals and 1 carb each.

Bear in mind that those don't have any magnesium in them, so make sure you're adequately supplementing magnesium. I wasn't and I started getting pretty bad leg cramps, so now I do extra magnesium separately and the leg cramps are much improved.

Jen

Can I ask which magnesium you use? Do you use the chews for your calcium still?