How Much Shhould I Eat to Help Ensure a Good Recovery?

Hi Doctors, I’m 5”10” and weight 153 pounds. I work out 5-6 days a week (running/walking 3-5 mile) and I’ve lost a total of 64 pounds over the past three years. My weight has been steady for the past 6 months. My question is, how many calories should I eat to ensure a good outcome but not gain any weight during my tummy tuck recovery? I was thinking maybe 1700-1800 calories per day of mostly lean meats, fruits and veggies. Am I on the right track?

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12 Doctor Answers | Asked by JoBibbi

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How Much Should I Eat After Surgery To Ensure A Healthy Recovery?

Dear JoBibbi, Congratulations on your weight loss and healthy lifestyle. I would suggest that you continue with a similar caloric intake during your recovery. Any excess calories you a burning with exercise will be offset be the calories needed for your healing/repair process. As my esteemed colleagues have mentioned, do not be alarmed by a weight gain immediately after surgery. This is related to fluid retention and you will get rid of this within 2-3 weeks in... more

Diet recommendation during recovery from TT

You will likely gain some weight immediately after tummy tuck from water retention. Also, your body will require more calories to heal your incision, (but you won't be exercising). I recommend you stay on the same healthy, balanced diet that you were on pre-surgery. Don't limit your calories because you are not exercising. You need macronutients to heal but also need vitamins and minerals. If you are not already taking one, I recommend a multivitamin as well. more

Eat a balanced diet for surgical recovery.

What you eat in your postoperative recovery is very important for healing. After a tummy tuck, there is a large surface area which is healing and causes an increase in your metabolic demands for calories and protein. Dieting is not recommended during this phase. Protein supplementation can help with improved healing rates in addition to supplementation of Vitamin C and Zinc. Many patients find that multiple smaller meals throughout the day help particularly if they are experiencing... more

David Bogue, MD

6 reviews

Boca Raton Plastic Surgeon

www.drbogue.com

Eating right

I think that is very reasonable.I think exercise and eating the right foods is so imporatnt.Keep up the good work.

Maintaining a healthy diet perioperatively will improve your recovery

Hi there- I would not recommend altering your diet or lifestyle in any way simply because you are having surgery. In fact, I would worry that any significant alteration in your healthy diet and lifestyle may actually compromise your ability to safely and smoothly recovery from the operation, or compromise the outcome. I recommend that you continue the healthy lifestyle with which you achieved your success-

Caloric intake following a tummy tuck

You don't need to necessarily be extremely compulsive restricting your caloric intake following a tummy tuck. This can adversely affect your healing including resulting in delayed healing, wider scars and even placing you at an increased risk for infection. This is a very important time for you body's healing potential to function properly - so relative "starvation" is not a great idea. Make sure that you do consume a lot of protein as well as vitamin C - as these are... more

Ensure , high protein diet, recovery from surgery

Hi, have your pre-albumin checked prior to surgery. Your surgeon can instruct you if you will benefit from a high protein diet or how much you would need. do not take it exessively without any guidance, since it could have an effect onto your kidney function and eventually your body will convert proteins and you will gan weight. best of luck

Diet with surgery

A well balanced diet before and after surgery will enhance the healing process and help decrease infection incidence. Your body needs more calories during the healing period than normal. Donald R. Nunn MD Atlanta Plastic Surgeon.

Donald Nunn, MD, DDS

3 reviews

Atlanta Plastic Surgeon

Caloric intake after tummy tuck

Congratulations on your weight loss. You can expect a weight gain on the scale because of postoperative swelling. This should dissipate over time. Because you wil be more sedentary during the postoperative period until you can resume exercise, you should restrict your caloric intake accordingly. The anesthesia and pain medication may dull your appetite so I wouldn't worry excessively about this. Eat what you think you can tolerate and stay away from the junk food and you should do fine. more

Calories to Eat after Tummy Tuck?

Thank you for the question. Congratulations on your successful weight loss; it sounds like you have maintained a very nice exercise and diet regimen. I would suggest that you continue on the same line after your tummy tuck surgery. The calorie range you are considering sounds very reasonable especially because it consists of high quality calories. Don't be surprised if you gain a little weight immediately after the tummy tuck surgery secondary to fluid... more