Calories while sick?

I've been sick all yesterday and today, with diarrhea and vomiting.  Fortunately, the vomiting has only been once so far, last night, but the diarrhea has been frequent both days.  Sorry if I just grossed all readers out, but such is reality :-( .

My question is, if all the food I put in comes right back out one way or the other, how am I supposed to count the calories I eat?  Am I supposed to be trying to eat more to make up for the sickness, or just eat normally and hope I get enough?

Your metabolism is actually higher when you are sick, so if at all possible, try to eat as much as you can. If you're not keeping the food down, then don't count the calories of whatever you ate.

Try eating some soup and lots of toast. Gradually try experimenting with other foods to see what stays down.

fluids, fluids and more fluids.. keep yourself hydrated especially with diarhea and vomiting! also, don't worry about calories right now, just get better!  eat what sounds good to your body.. but just NIBBLE don't try to eat a lot at one time.  Ice cubes are great to suck on, you get fluid and it makes ya feel better (especially right after you vomit, sorry everyone if this is gross but been there done that w/ tummy flu and that's what works for me).  Plain wheat toast, plain soda crackers, plain rice, plain boiled chicken, those are the best things.  Ginger Ale too.  but Please don't deprive your body! Feel better soon!

Keep on Keepin' On

if your body is sick, you need to make sure you give it the energy it needs to get better!

Worry about calories later (of course don't go straight for the ice cream, cookies, and pie). But, make sure you are getting things you need, and of course lots of fluids. Popsicles always make me feel better :) Hydratimg, taste great, and easy to and fun to eat- Especially, when I am sure you feel terrible!

Hope you're feeling better!

I did eat some ice-cream today ^_^;;; .  I'd recently finished eating Easter dinner, and I was like, "Well, I haven't thrown up yet today, so maybe I can have some of Jon's cake. . ."  Well, his birthday party was yesterday, and no-one put the cake away last night, so it was stale :-( .  So I just ate a little ice-cream instead.

Ee, I was feeling all proud that I hadn't thrown up today, but the way my tummy feels right now, I still might :-( .  I'll try not to put anything else in it until it feels a little better, 'cause that's how I threw up last night.  I was nauseated, but ate some yogurt anyway.  A few minutes later, it came back, along with the chocolate cake from the party!

Be careful about getting dehydrated. If your flu goes beyond the two days without you being able to keep anything down, call your doctor and see if he can get you a prescription for anti-nausea pills. I had a four day flu one time and finally went to the doctor by the fourth day (I was actually not comotose on the couch by then and able to keep some stuff down) and he said I should have come in by the third day because of the risk of dehydration.

I was like that last week and decided not to worry about the calories so much.  Drank lots of fluids and ate lots of soup.  hubby made a veggie soup so I ate as much of the veggies as I could but stuck to mostly broth.  Drank lots of gatorade so that took up lots of calories

Hope you are feeling better soon!

Feeling better, Naia?

Well, the diarrhea has mostly gone away.  I still get the sudden urge part and run for the washroom, but once I get there, not much comes out.  It's annoying, but better than it was, I guess.  I'm still having nausea on and off (currently on :-( ), so I'm just trying to not to eat when I'm nauseated so I won't throw up any more.

Sounds like you're on the mend - hang in there - the worst is over!