Post-Op Calorie Requirements

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.

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!