Does anyone know exactly how many calories we are not absorbing?

While it might not make any medical sense, for me it was like falling off a cliff.  I followed my food and exercise plan and lost the weight, but it was just about that same as every other of the diet and exercise plans that did not result in weight loss for me. My body stubbornly hung on to weight.  I starved myself and pushed my body to hot, sweaty exhaustion and the scale would not budge.

After surgery, the scale started going down quickly.  I was no longer hungry, and I had so much energy.  The weight came off and then stayed off effortlessly until 30 months out.  Then I started gaining weight one day.  I consider that as when my malabsorption stopped and my body started learned how to hold on to calories again. 

There is something at work after surgery.  My surgeon called it malabsorption and said that body would learn how to absorb calories again because our bodies are smart enough to overcome the surgical starvation.

By all existing medical studies, however, the body's adaptation to the bypass (or loss of intestine due to removal) starts almost immediately after surgery and is a gradual process.  I have also never seen a study that indicates it takes more than 24 months (most cite 12-18 months), so I would imagine that if you experienced a very sudden change at 30 months out (well beyond the period of adaptation) with absolutely no change in food intake, portion size, or activity level, there may have been something else going on metabolically.

Lora

Years ago I read a study on fat malabsorption. Three groups were studied---one-year post-RNY, one-year post-DS, and a 'normie' control group. for several days in a row, their fat intake was recorded and compared to the following day's...output, I guess you could say. (This is called a fecal fat test, BTW.) The 'normies' were absorbing, on average, 92% of the fat they ate. The RNYers were absorbing, on average, only 62%, and the DSers were absorbing a whopping 19%. I've never been able to find any similar studies on proteins or carbs.

My surgeon always said we absorb everything we eat so to count everything. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. His best estimate was we malabsorb a little bit for up to a year -when the villa grow back in the intestinal tract we're not missing out anything. He did say we have to watch vitamins as we will not absorb all we need and have to supplement for life. Whenever I ate something whether I was newly out of surgery or years later - I always counted all the calories I consumed and figured I was absorbing all of them. I'm not lucky enough to be able to eat and not get the calories! LOL.

Jenni 11 yrs post op RNY