What you eat shapes how much of the weight you lose is fat rather than muscle, how well you cope after bariatric surgery, and how well your body heals after body contouring surgery. This section brings together the nutrition guidance that matters at each stage, from active weight loss through to preparing for body contouring.
This topic is also in our free guide, Losing Weight Well. Get it emailed to you
Nutrition advice should be individual. The pages below explain the principles; a dietitian applies them to your operation, your blood results, your medications and your daily routine.
The dietitian’s role
Accredited Practising Dietitians (APDs) are nutrition professionals with at least four years of university training, credentialed by Dietitians Australia (Dietitians Australia). For people losing a large amount of weight, a dietitian helps with protein intake, supplement routines, interpreting nutrition-related blood tests alongside your GP, and building eating habits that hold up over the long term.
Amy Kellner APD is an Accredited Practising Dietitian who practises as The Cosmetic Dietitian. She works with Dr Kumar’s patients before and after surgery, and consults by telehealth, so patients anywhere in Australia can see her.
Nutrition guides
- Amy Kellner APD: who she is, how she works with Dr Kumar’s patients and how to arrange a telehealth consultation.
- Protein and muscle while losing weight: why lean mass matters, what published guidance says about protein, and the role of resistance training.
- Nutrition after bariatric surgery: lifelong supplements, the deficiencies that are most common and the blood tests that pick them up.
- Preparing your nutrition before body contouring surgery: why nutrition affects wound healing and which markers are commonly checked beforehand.
- Keeping muscle while you lose weight: practical eating and exercise habits during active weight loss.
Why it matters for skin surgery later
Nutritional gaps are common in people who reach body contouring surgery after bariatric surgery. Studies of post-bariatric patients preparing for body contouring have found low protein markers, anaemia and vitamin deficiencies to be common, and one group reported that correcting them brought complication rates into line with those of patients of normal weight (Agha-Mohammadi and Hurwitz, Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 2010, as summarised by Dr Arya Sharma). Starting early, rather than in the weeks before surgery, gives deficiencies time to be found and corrected.
The biometrics page includes a protein calculator to give you a starting estimate to discuss with your dietitian.
Where to next
- Protein and muscle while losing weight
- Life after bariatric surgery: the first five years
- Muscle loss on weight-loss medication
- When is the right time for skin removal?
Wherever you are with your weight loss, the readiness assessment is a useful next step. If your weight has settled and loose skin is now the main issue, book a consultation with Dr Kumar.