Surgery and Calorie Adjustments

emmaskye15
emmaskye15 Posts: 60 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hey Team

I want to ask some questions...

I have double hip surgery booked on the 24th of February. This is the second operation. I had them both fixed (Labral repairs and impingements) on the 1st of April 2015 and they were unsuccessful.

Over the holiday period I was travelling and didn't really log but still managed to lose 0.9kgs. In this I also did not hold back with what I ate. I think this was more of a muscle loss rather than fat.

My theory, correct me if I am wrong is that I may up my calories to see what happens. I have been on about 1450 a day prior to Christmas and was losing fat and gaining muscle.

I want to see if I up my calories to something around 1800 - 2000 a day, prior to surgery and exercise 3-4 times a week cardio and weights that if when I have my surgery and cannot be as active (very light weight bearing with crutches) if I drop my calories down to 1300ish would I lose weight without the exercise or light upper body exercise which does not compromise the hip joint?

Ideas please? I wanted to lose as much as possible before surgery but then I will put it all back on because if I stop the exercise and eat the same amount of calories I will still gain.

This may be so simple, but for someone who hasn't "Reverse Dieted" before it freaks me out.

I thank you in advance for all your help :smile:

Replies

  • amyk0202
    amyk0202 Posts: 666 Member
    My policy with surgery has been to eat in maintenance. I try to up my protein & make sure I am fueling my body for healing rather than worry about weight loss. Healing from surgery takes a lot. I think it's the wrong time for a calorie deficit.
  • emmaskye15
    emmaskye15 Posts: 60 Member
    For sure! I just never have been in maintenance before. I don't even know what that would be with limited exercise as I am on low calories any way.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    Pre surgery eat at a small calorie surplus if you want to add muscle. In such a small time span there will be minimal gain.
    A small deficit, or maintenance, if you want to maintain as much muscle as possible while lifting leading up to surgery.

    Aim for .65-.85g protien to help repair and maintain muscle.

    Eat at maintenance while healing. It is not worth trying to lose weight when your body needs all the nutrients possible to heal well and in a reasonable time frame.

    Talk to your doctor or surgeon about the best approach, and get nutrition and physio referrals.

    Cheers, h.
  • emmaskye15
    emmaskye15 Posts: 60 Member
    I made an appointment with a dietician 10th of Feb. I am really scared about doing this as I have been under a dietician before and she put me on 1200 calories too see how much weight I could lose quickly! I was working as a ski instructor at the time. I literally wanted to eat the children. I will see how it goes and see what she has to say! Oh god its going to be a huge journey.... I put on 9kgs last time :neutral:
  • SunflowerCat74
    SunflowerCat74 Posts: 258 Member
    I think a dietician is a good idea. I'm interested to hear what she recommends. I will give you my experience, but am not in any way saying this is what you should do. Just sharing my story.

    I had similar concerns last March with a big surgery. I gained a ton of weight with the surgery prior to that in August 2014 and was flat out terrified of gaining again after all my hard work to lose it. So, I consulted my oncologist who said I should eat 2000k/day.
  • SunflowerCat74
    SunflowerCat74 Posts: 258 Member
    Dammit...my post got cut off.

    I laughed at my Oncologist. I knew 2000k/day was too much! (They must have very short nutrition courses in med school.)

    I then consulted my GP and he told me 1000k/day during convalescing (Laying in bed for a week straight lifting forks and remotes only.) This was easy since I didn't want to really eat on pain meds and I focused on eating lean protein and lots of veggies. 2 weeks after surgery I weighed myself and had only lost 1lb. I slowly upped as I became more active using my Fitbit to guage my activity level.

    FYI...I gained 9lbs during the surgery from all the fluid retention. Took me a whole flipping week to shed them too. So, beware of you get on the scale right after surgery. It might shock you.
    Good luck with your surgery! Hope it works this time.
  • amyk0202
    amyk0202 Posts: 666 Member
    SunflowerCat74 wrote: »
    Dammit...my post got cut off.

    FYI...I gained 9lbs during the surgery from all the fluid retention. Took me a whole flipping week to shed them too. So, beware of you get on the scale right after surgery. It might shock you.
    Good luck with your surgery! Hope it works this time.

    That's very true about fluid weight. Bloating is pretty common too. When I was eating in maintenance, I used the Scooby calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/ & ate around my calculated TDEE #.

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