TT Dietician - ThinnerTimes

John · 05-14-2008, 03:53 PM

Hello,
We are trying something new. Our very own TT Dietician, Karen Merdinger, will be doing some Q & A on the forum for those that are interested. While we're eventually going to get her in a live chat room or Skype, we're going to start with the forum.

If you have a question that you would like answered by a registered dietician, please post it to this thread. Within the next week or two, she will have time to review some of the questions and provide responses.

Please note the following:

This advice is not a substitute for a consultation with another doctor, nutritionist, or other healthcare professional.
As always, if you have a problem or health-related complication (or emergency), please contact the proper authorities.
While we will try to answer as many questions as possible, please understand that we do have time constraints, and will manually select questions to respond to.
While we will do our best not to discriminate which questions we select, since we do have members on the forum that are our patients, we must give them some priority.

We will post answers on the forum and on our informational site, Thinner Times.

Best,
John Callery

Godsblessedme · 05-14-2008, 04:12 PM

wow that is fabulous

happiness101 · 05-16-2008, 06:02 AM

Hello!

I am one week post op (LGB surgery 5/8) and I feel really good so far. I'm a self-pay patient and had my surgery on the opposite side of the state where I live (I am in a very rural area) so I don't have ready access to the dietician recommended by the surgeon. I am so going to take advantage of this new service on TT!

Here are my questions:
1) If I follow a low-fat Atkins type diet will this meet my protein needs? Currently I'm sticking with the "approved" foods sheet I was given in the hospital but that only gives me advice through day 30.
2) At what point do I start worrying about the number of calories I'm consuming? I haven't made it over 250 a day since surgery.
3) My favorite vegetables/fruits are cauliflower, avocado, and sweet potatoes...when can I plan to start adding these back into my diet?

Thank you so much for any support you can provide. I'm sure I will be back with more questions in the future.

TracyGirl · 05-17-2008, 12:39 PM

I'm just over five weeks post op. At my four week follow up appt, I had lost almost 20lbs. My doc said I could start on new foods beyond pureed food. He said small bites of meat, eggs, and cheese was okay now. Said no bread at this time, limit fruit, an no raw veggies. Take and slow, see how I respond to one thing at a time. Well since I started the more "real" food my weight has stalled. Here's a very typical day for me, can you take a look and see if I'm on track? BTW - I have a desk job. I do 15 mins on the eliptical in the morning and then again in the evening for excercise.

Breakfast 7:00:
2oz cottage cheese w/1oz peaches (these are canned sugar free peaches)
or a protien shake, sometimes add strawberries to the vanilla protien shake.
On a weekend day when I have more time one time, I had an egg. Couldn't eat the whole thing, about 2/3 of it.

Break at 9:30: (some examples)
String Cheese (low fat light Frigo brand)
1-2 oz sliced lunch meat style turkey (Oscar Meyer roasted turkey)
2/3 of a 4oz container of Dannon light and fit yogurt
Tried some of the Kashi Go Lean sugar free oatmeal (w/protien). I had a few bites and got really full fast, and it just didn't sit well w/me.

Lunch (some examples)
2-3 oz tuna
2-3 oz salmon
2-3 oz shrimp
2-3 oz chicken breast
Barilla plus pasta w/garlic/herb stewed tomatoes (3 oz)
The fabulous tuna/parmesean patties everone raves about on here (3oz)
One day (my first day back to work) we had a dept BBQ at work, I had 1/2 grilled hamburger patti (I'm guessing it was about a 4oz patti)
Then w/the above 1-2oz steamed or girlled veggie of some kind (asparagus, brocoli, green beans, carrots)

Afternoon Snack (about 3:00):
One of the same things I have listed as morning snack

Dinner:
Same kinds of things listed for lunch. Those lunch items were left overs from dinners the night before)

After dinner and evenings:
I try to not eat after dinner, but if I'm really craving something, I'll do like a sugar free popcicle, sugar free jell-o, or a string cheese

I sip, sip, sip either water, Crystal Light (mostly), or protien bullet added to water. I shoot for getting 64oz in, but have a really hard time getting it all in. Trying to get better about that. I get at least 32oz in.

Thanks for your help!!

SDeRossett · 05-17-2008, 02:55 PM

Hi Karen:

Thank you for taking the time to do this. I think it's a really nice touch to the forum and a great support. My question(s) are regarding vitamins. I'm almost 6 years out from open RNY. I took a prenatal vitamin for about the first 3 years, then our Rx co-pay went to $50.00, so I quit taking them. I've had a few friends really chewing on me for not taking vitamins for so long and the long term effects this could have. So...

1st is there a vitamin or vitamins that you would recommend (my last blood work came back with slightly high Iron levels).

2nd because I have slightly high Iron levels should I stay away from multivitamins? Don't most multi's have Iron?

And lastly, seriously, what potential heatlh risks are there to not taking vitamins after GBS? My friends have kind of frightened me with some of the things they've told me.

Again, thank you for your time and efforts here.

Sincerely,

Sharon

Godsblessedme · 05-17-2008, 09:41 PM

How many calories, Carbs should we be eating at 5 months out? thks

John · 05-18-2008, 05:26 PM

Thanks everyone! Keep'em coming and I'll try to get Karen on next week!

John

happiness101 · 05-24-2008, 05:31 PM

I read an article on probiotics and LGB surgery and I was wondering what your thoughts were on the subject.

Probiotics weight loss after bypass surgery - Yahoo! News

Thank you for any insight.

Duckie · 05-25-2008, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godsblessedme

How many calories, Carbs should we be eating at 5 months out? thks

Can you feel that foot kicking you Deb? I'm watching you!!!!

Corrine · 05-25-2008, 09:06 AM

I'm 8 months out and have seen my iron (and ferritin) levels drop pretty much from day one and have tried iron supplements without much success.

Following my last bloodwork, I'm now on polysaccharide

Iron deficiency anemia seems a pretty common problem. Is this specific to menstruating women?