Weight Loss Surgery Cookbook

Chapter 3: Maintaining Healthy Eating for Life 63

Adjustable band patients should use chewable or liquid supplements.

Depending on your band restriction, it can be very easy for a tablet to get

stuck. Very unpleasant!

Select a multivitamin that contains the listed amounts of the vitamins and

minerals in Table 3-1. If you are a male or postmenopausal female, your

surgeon may recommend a supplement without iron unless you are at risk of

anemia. Please remember that these are general requirements. Your surgeon

will tell you if you have additional needs.

Table 3-1 Recommended Contents for a Daily Multivitamin

Vitamin or Mineral Men Women

Iron 8 mg/day 18 mg/day

Thiamine 1.2 mg/day 1.1 mg/day

Vitamin B12 2.4 mcg/day 2.4 mcg/day

Folic acid 400 mcg/day 400 mcg/day

Zinc 11 mg/day 8 mg/day

Biotin 30 mcg/day 30 mcg/day

Vitamin K 120 mcg/day 90 mcg/day

If you had gastric bypass, take two multivitamin supplements per day. For

band patients, take one.

Liquid supplements need to be stored in the refrigerator after opening.

Calcium supplements

After surgery you need to take a calcium supplement with 200 to 300 mil-

ligrams (mg) vitamin D per pill. Yes, multivitamins have calcium and vitamin

D, but it isn’t enough.

As with the multivitamin, your calcium supplement needs to be liquid or

chewable for the first month after surgery. Actually, because calcium pills

tend to be large, you’re better off taking chewable, liquid, powder, or lozenge

supplements after the first month as well. (Liquid may be better absorbed by

gastric bypass patients.) You sure don’t want to get that pill stuck!

Look for calcium citrate. Your new pouch produces little acid, and while
other forms of calcium require stomach acid for absorption, calcium citrate
does not.

After weight loss surgery, men and premenopausal women need 1,200

milligrams of calcium a day. Postmenopausal women need 1,500 milligrams

each day. However, you can’t take it all at once. Your body can only absorb