Calorie allowance

Hi Linda

Thanks for your question. To calculate calories in your instance, you need to use a formula to calculate your basic metabolic rate – the energy needed for your body to function. You haven’t provided, however, the data needed for this calculation (your height, weight, and age).

Counting calories, nevertheless, does not equal good nutrition or weight loss – eating less calories could lead to malnutrition. There are “empty calories” that supply only few nutrients and can cause quick weight gain (like refined products high in sugar, refined grains and low in fibre) so instead of counting calories, try focusing on healthy calories!

Very low calorie foods are vegetables. You could find dark green vegetables especially useful since they are rich sources of vitamin K, vitamin A, magnesium, and calcium that can support bone health and recovery after your operation.

You could try to include them into your daily regime: have a bowl of fruit before your breakfast, green soup (made of kale, spinach, broccoli and sweet potato) before your lunch and a vegetable salad with some seeds before your dinner.

In this way, you significantly increase your intake of nutrients vital for bone health and healing and reduce the intake of calories overall since you will fill up on vegetables and fruit first. This way, you do not go hungry and still reduce your food intake.

You can also try reducing the plate size – people find they eat less when they use smaller plates. If you include fruits and vegetables before your main meal, you should eat less anyway but it is also easy to overeat. Sticking to a small plate size could help you to manage this.

Try to eat protein (meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, pulses, nuts) with each meal which could help you to reduce appetite. Protein can stabilize sugar levels after a meal which leads to less cravings in-between meals and help to burn more calories.

Reduce the size of carbohydrates on your plate especially refined ones like white rice, white bread and white pasta and replace them for nutrient and fibre rich whole, unrefined foods like pulses, whole grain bread/pasta and brown rice. If you include fibre-rich foods in your diet, they can significantly reduce your hunger and improve your chances of weight loss.

To sum up, eat vegetables as a starter before lunch and dinner, use smaller size plate, and fill up half of your plate with protein rich foods (meat, fish, eggs), and then unrefined carbohydrates (whole grain bread/pasta, brown rice, pulses etc.) of the size of your palm only, and add some healthy oil (like Extra Virgin Olive oil), nuts and some more cooked vegetables to fill you up!

It goes without saying though, that reducing your sugar and fast/processed food intake is vital for your weight goals.

You may wish to visit a Nutritional Therapist to address your exact needs to make sure that you can support your body during the healing period and improve bone health with appropriate sources of nutrients.

Good luck!

Hi Linda,

As mentioned by Andrea it is possible to calculate your daily calorie requirements based on your age, gender, weight, and height using a Basal metabolic rate calculator (BMR). This will give you an indication of your daily minimal calorie requirements before you add in activity. To lose weight it is usually possible to lose 1-2 lbs (0.5 kg) per week by reducung your daily calorie intake by 500 calories per day. For most people this is a healthy amount to lose per week and results in improved body composition with an increase in lean mass. However, it is important not to go below your BMR as this will slow your metabolism and in the long-term may to lead to weight gain. As suggested a Nutritional therapist ould help you to work out your individual requirements.

In addition to all the healthy weight loss suggestions already offered consider some simple changes to reduce your calorie intake i.e eating sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes, decreasing the starchy carbs on your plate and filling up on non-starchy veg such as greens that are low in calories but high in fibre, including 'healthy fats' in each meal such as oily fish, nuts, seeds etc. to help you feel fuller for longer, choosing wholegrain versions, substituting sugar for a sweetener such as Stevia, drinking water or herbal tea rather than fruit juice/squash/ coffee/ tea.

Best of luck!

Hi Linda, thanks for your question. As mentioned by Andrea and Joanne, you can work out your BMR using your height, weight and age. You can then work out how many calories you need by using an equation called the Harris Benedict equation, so multiplying the BMR by either 1.2, 1.375, 1.55, 1.725 or 1.9 depending on your activity level. As Joanne says, you would then reduce this amount by 500 calories in order to lose between 1-2lbs a week. Going below this could slow down your metabolism and make weight loss harder as well as possibly cause other issues like fatigue.

As Andrea says, more important than counting calories is eating the right kind of calories so ensuring you're eating nutrient dense vegetables, good sources of protein and healthy fat such as oily fish, olive oil, avocado, nuts and seeds. These will also provide you with the right nutrients for bone health and for recovery from surgery.

Vitamin D is also important for bone health so I recommend you get your vitamin D level measured and if it is low ensure you take a good vitamin D supplement, as our main source of vitamin D is sunlight, regular amounts of which are scarce at the moment!

I hope all goes well and if you need any further advice please contact customer services and they will be able to recommend further nutritional support.