Not eating enough

I went to my PCP yesterday for some blood work because my surgeon can't get me in until the end of next month. I LOVE my PCP and she is pretty well versed in the needs of bypass patients. I trust her completely. That being said, I went because I am exhausted ALL of the time. I typically function very well on 5 hours or so of sleep. The alarm goes off, I jump out of bed and I am good for the day. The last two months however, I can not wake up through the day even with 8-9 hours of sleep. I am groggy and feel so tired, I swear I could lay down on the sidewalk and pass out. Of course she drew half of my blood out of my body to run every test she could get her hands on. Then we started talking about my goals and food intake and that sort of thing. The fact that I have been about the same weight for about 3 months now. I figured this was because I am only 20 lbs from goal... I told her I was getting about 800 calories in a day-on a good day and about 15 net carbs ( I am 10 months out). She almost fell out of her chair.  She said she thinks I have put my body into ketosis and that's why I am so exhausted all of the time. My body has nothing to burn for energy. She also thinks its why I am stalled. My body is refusing to give up any fat right now since I don't get much in. She asked me to up my calories to about 1000 a day and my carbs to 40-60 until I see my surgeon. She said it will give me a month to see if the bump helps with my energy and weight stall. If so great, if not then I can get my surgeons opinion. 

 

This morning I had my usual egg white and a small piece of banana bread I made last night. According to my fitness pal, I got in 11 protein, 200 calories and 17 carbs. It feels like such a lot to me. It took me well over an hour to eat it all.  It's weird that someone is telling me I am not eating enough! It's strange how we can go from such poor choices and eating way to much to fighting to eat just the right amount/getting enough in at all. She still wants me to eat several times a day like I have been doing,she said I need to try hard to up my protein-which I don't get near enough of either.  I range about the 50 mark

Anyone have any other ideas for how to up my protein a bunch and my calories by about 400 a day? I have a nice kitchen area at my office, so I can keep food there. 

 

I do eat Greek yogurt, though because it gets so sweet, I don't eat it daily, I can  not do protein drinks or nuts! 

I have been using Power Crunch Bars (peanut butter)from from Walmart. $1.28 per bar. 200 cals, 13 grams of protein, 5 grams of sugar. I can't remember the carb content. You should be eating about 1000-1200 calories. My nut suggested this and the weight flew off. It was a difficult concept to wrap my brain around. It worked though. Good luck.

You are really not eating enough. Taking well over an hour to eat an egg white an a small piece of banana bread is a long time.

You should be eating a minimum of 60 protein a day.

How about some cottage cheese, shrimp or seafood?  

 

I eat about the equivalent of 2 egg whites. I do eat some shrimp and I do eat some cottage cheese now and then

I disagree strongly with your doctor that you need to increase protein intake by "a bunch."  Up to 60g per day is reasonable because that's about what your body needs but we tend to vastly overstate our protein needs.

You're about a year out.  A 200-calorie meal is probably on the small side (assuming you eat 3 meals with a snack or two throughout the day).

some of us need more than 60gr of proteins a day.  Specially on a low carb diet.    Some of the protein the body is going to use as calories and turn them into a glucose... and only some of them will be available for the body to repair . 

My blood work show that with less than 100 gr of proteins a day -  my blood level gets too low. 

I was talking about our body's protein requirements, not caloric requirements.  We only need about 60g of protein per day in order to function.  If you choose to meet your caloric requirements through additional protein intake then that's your prerogative but 80, 100, or 120+ grams of protein per day is not something someone should pursue for its own sake.

The post-op lifestyle should not be characterized as "high protein" because it's not.  It's not even "low carb."  It's "low fat, low sugar."

Of course people may have specific needs backed up by their lab results, which is also fine.

Yea.. and you like .. 4 months post op and expert.. great... 

BTW: it is not "Low fat". Low fat is crap, not right for anyone. 

Wow, thanks for the personal attack.  I'm "only" 4 months post-op I can't possibly have educated myself on the science of nutrition?

It is not a personal attack. Your statement indicated you feel like an expert in that area, when in fact you have not lived post op life long enough to know what you are dealing with. 

Unfortunately science of nutrition failed many of us post op RNY. What may work for a Normal person - may not necessary work for someone with our rerouted insides. Also what may work for one person RNY - may not work for someone else. 

The science of nutrition is lacking here.  The only way to really know is to live that life post op long term. 

BTW: 1-2 years post op my body functioned quite well on 80 gr of proteins... somehow - as time went by - I had to increase and increase my proteins to maintain my mid level protein level and my weight loss. 

There are some people who do just fine on 60-80 gr of proteins... but I don't know many of them. My friend who is also 5 years post op was trying to do that - and she end up with severe protein deficiencies. Something she is still trying to dig out from.