Post-Op Calorie Requirements

IIIIISerenityNowIIIII

I'm having surgery soon that entails a six-week recovery time when I won't be very active. Do I need to decrease my calories to 1200 at that time and then increase it after I've recovered?

SezxyStef

heck no...

MFP gave you a calorie goal with a deficet already so that you will lose the weight you want.

_Zardoz_

You probably shouldn't be trying to lose weight while recovering from surgery. If you have 6 weeks recovery it's obviously not minor. I'd eat at maintenance and let your body recover. It's worth speaking to your physician about this.

Ready2Rock206

You probably shouldn't be trying to lose weight while recovering from surgery. If you have 6 weeks recovery it's obviously not minor. I'd eat at maintenance and let your body recover. It's worth speaking to your physician about this.

This - totally. Your focus should be a healthy recovery, rather than weight loss during this time.

forevermaryb

I am in the middle of post-op recovery. Depending on the surgery and how you recover from anesthesia, you probably won't be eating too much for a day or 2. Once you are eating again, feed your body. It needs calories to recover. Once I was feeling a bit better (I unfortunately had complications), I set my goals to maintenance at sedentary. I am finding I am losing weight, but I was pumped so full of fluids right after surgery (complications) and again after a post-op infection, so I don't know how much water weight I gained and am losing (I've fluctuated 11 pounds). Now that I'm moving around more, I'm going to need to re-*kitten* my calorie intake. I'm at maintenance now, anyway (the surgery did help me lose that last 1 or 2 pounds I had been stuck on for weeks). Depending on your weight loss goal, you should stick to maintenance, or close to it, for your recovery and then go back to a deficit once you are healed. It is hard, but you will recover quicker if you give your body the nourishment it needs. Good luck!