Not Enough Calories

I just had an appointment with my Dr, and he is concerned that I am not able to eat enough calories in a day. I am still only able to eat very small amounts of food (3-1/2 months post op). I also am unable to tolerate raw vegetables or any dense protein. If I eat any amount of chicken or beef, it gets stuck, and I am then sick for hours...vomiting and stomach pain. My Dr said that this was unusual, and said that I should be able to eat these foods at this point. And, he said that I should be eating 1000-1200 calories per day. I simply can't eat that much. The Dr also ordered an Upper GI test to make sure that there is nothing wrong. Has anyone gone through something like this? I'm not sure what to do at this point.

Took me 6 months to be able to eat meat ( and at 14 years out, I STILL get days when meat is not my friend) and over a year to get to 1000 calories per day.

Not sure which planet your surgeon is on, but it's not the same one as most of us who have actually had the surgery.!

You are doing fine with your weightloss and your tolerance for different food will get better as you get further out. The only time you should worry is if you vomit everything you eat, which could indicate a stricture, but that would be rare as far out as your are.

This is a marathon, not a sprint and this is one of those times I would suggest you nod at your surgeon and then forget everything he's told you!

I'm only a couple weeks behind you and averaging around 700 calories a day. I feel fine and my nutritionist hasn't said anything about calorie intake, only that she wants me to eat more fruits and veggies.

I cant speak about things getting stuck, since I guess I've been blessed with comfortably being able to tolerate everything I've tried. I take very tiny bites (pencil eraser size) chew well, and wait about 30 seconds before taking another bite.

I am close to 4 years out from my vsg and still have trouble with lean, dense proteins. ( ex - chicken thighs are ok and I have issues with boneless chicken breast) Have you tried to incorporate fish into your diet, high protein and low fat. I eat alot of shrimp, scallops, Haddock and Salmon. Tuna and egg salad are other examples of high protein items that are easier to tolerate.

Good luck.

Chicken, beef and raw veggies are all very difficult foods to get down and you're still pretty early in the process. Your surgeon may be surprised but I'd doubt many of us would be. Obviously it is hard to argue against "better safe than sorry" especially coming from the lips of a surgeon.

I was eating beef at your stage but that was small amounts of filet mignon cooked mid-rare. Not all beef was created equally. Chicken and pork can be really tough depending on the cut and its quality

Id save the raw veggies for those looking to lose weight that haven't had RNY. Veggies roasted in EVOO are likely a better option. Taste better too.

Looks like you're doing great and should be near goal weight before summer ends. That's pretty awesome.

Your doctor is ridiculous. Many people maintain on 1200 calories a day. Most of us were eating 500-800 calories tops at 3.5 months out.

Get checked to make sure you do not have a stricture, but you are probably fine. It just takes longer for some of us to progress in our eating.

surgeons are great at cutting. Most of them know nothing about the dietary needs of a post bariatric patient.

Even their nuts are treating us as regular guttedppl which we are not any more.

Mid you want to be successful post op, I would sincerely suggest you look to the posters who have already posted to you and are proven successes and actually living a successful post op life and just smile and nodthen ignore your surgeons diet advice when he gives it.

I love my surgeon, but he looks at me as a normal person rather than the glutton I was lol! If I ate all the calories he thought I needed, Lord save me.. 1,000-1,300 I could have been more "Oh, I can see that maybe" but at one point he told me 1,800. Ha! In my dreams.

As the others have said, get the test to see if there is a stricture but I see nothing wrong with your tolerances right now. At 3.5 months out, I struggled with dense proteins and especially dry ones. Often, I could eat something like 3 oz ground turkey meat with taco seasoning for dinner and be fine, but it was a bit drier the following day and would give me the foamies/make me throw up. It was very hit or miss. I could normally tolerate tuna fish, egg salad, all kinds of white fish, greek yogurt, a protein shake for breakfast everyday (my pouch didn't like food first thing), cottage cheese...tons of options. Doo NOT get to 1,000 calories this early out. My advice is, treat weight loss like your job, lose it as fast as you can, and then start fighting the good fight of maintenance!

Do you have a digital kitchen scale? I find that even 4.5 years out, I cannot eyeball food. I have to weigh it. Try weighing your meat and stick to 2 oz or 3 oz portions. That may help.

I still can't eat raw carrots. I'm ok with cucumbers, sugar snap peas, onions, peppers...but mushy things like cauliflower rice (so easy to steam in a bag from the frozen section) are best. I think at 3.5 months out I was only eating protein and hadn't added in veggies. My pouch was still small enough that I needed to focus on protein to get in 60+ g a day. And as a man, I believe I have read you should have 80+ g a day.

Keep doing what you're doing! Good luck!

I'm actually really good at eyeballing food now, but I still choose not to. I'd rather just be sure. I do wish I could be better at eyeballing which chicken breasts to buy that aren't packed with water. When they shrivel up to nothing I get so frustrated! Where did my juicy breast go!?