I have been on PD for a year now and am gaining weight. I try to stay around 800 calories per day. My dietitian is really unhappy with me and can tell by my labs I am not eating. Someone suggested Extraneal so I was wondering if anyone is on that solution and how it might help. If ok’d for the Extraneal I would only be able to use it once per day. I have read the information from Baxter but I don’t think it will help me. Can anyone address the weight problem or give me additional information on Extraneal? Thank you.
I stopped gaining weight after being on PD for a year. Maybe it’ll level out for you too.
Also, I thought I would include a link to the calories that get absorbed from the fluid for others who may have the same problem.
I was also very worried about gaining weight on PD (I started about 2 months ago) and I’m vegan, so getting enough protein was also a question.
I decided to keep my food/calorie intake fairly level to avoid malnutrition but to substitute healty proteins for carbohydrates. This meant pushing bread, crackers, cookies, pasta out (not 100%, but essentially I eliminated them from 2 out of 3 meals and save my favorites for my “carb” meal).
I’ve added safe/healthy protein by developing what I call protein bon-bons or protein balls. They taste like little cookie-dough balls and are 90% protein with some fiber. I make them in cinnamon spice, sesame, almond, chocolate, mocha, green tea (sounds strange, but very tasty) and peanut butter flavors. Main ingrediants are soy or rice protein powder, flavorings, some artificial sweetener, ground flaxseed meal (for the fiber) and they are typically rolled in coconut, finely chopped nuts, sesame seeds etc. so you can pick them up without getting sticky fingers. 3 of these has almost no carbs and about 12 to 15 grams of protein. They taste great (at least I lilke them) and keep your nutritional status up while minimizing empty carb calories. Plus they satisfy any cravings you might have for sweets that have been pushed out of your diet.
My goal was to take out as many grams of carb from my diet as I get from the dialysate. I looked at the posted chart and found it a bit misleading - I have a chart that shows only the absorbable carbs by ml, so you can figure out exactly what you are getting in an average 4 hour dwell. I’m a diabetic and have to use insulin for each bag, so I have to calculate the carbs very precisely.
Let me know if you want the protein bon-bon recipes or the carb chart that I use. And good luck escaping from the extra pounds.
- Nan
I’m sorry. The first post in the link I gave was for carbs. The chart provided in the same thread is for calories. I didn’t realize when I posted the first one that it was carbs.
Anyway, I think for either carbs or calories it really depends on the person…How fast or slow they absorb the fluid. I, for instance, absorb very quickly, so I probably gained more weight than others. Either way, it does take some getting used to…Adjusting your diet accordingly.
Those protein bon-bons, as you call them, do sound pretty good! Could you post the recipe, please? I’m not a vegan, but I’m not a big meat eater either. I have a hard time eating my share of protein. Those would be really helpful! 