some questions

Hi everyone.

I attended my class, the one you go to right before surgury. Now I am feeling more overwhelmed than ever. I am just curious where you get your chewable vitamins, what you do to get your protien in daily. Any other tips. Thanks guys.

I use Flintstones chewables and at first did the ones with Iron.  I was told to take two at breakfast and two at lunch.  I followed the NUT's suggested menu plan for having my protein drinks.  If I remember I had one first thing in the morning and then another in the afternoon and one in the evening before bed.  I tried to get in at least 60 grams of protein a day.

Hope this helps.

You'll sort it out as you go and then life becomes very easy as you grab a handful of vites in the a.m., take your calcium through the middle of the day and then grab another handful of vites at the end of the day!  Protein drinks wake me up each morning and put me to bed at night now.  It's all as habitual as it was when I used to have a Diet Coke first thing in the mornng.!  All Good !!! Chewable vitamins?  Centrum chewables aren't bad (Costco, WalMart, etc),  Some use Flinstones at first or the gummi vites from Costco.  I personally feel like that is a very short term option if you're going that direciton.  I now do the teeny tiny house multi vites from Walgreens.  They're easy to swallow cuz they're itty bitty and they are inexpensive! You can easily get your 80 to 100 plus grams of protein in daily if you teach yourself to include protein drinks for the rest of your lfie.  Protein from food sources has questionable value for us as no one knows how much malabsorption we have as individuals.  Protein drinks are just erring on the "safe" side.  If you get at least two 30 gram drinks in a day then you can nibble on protein to try and make up the difference for your balance. I suggest that newbies order from www.vitalady.com to start with.  She puts together sample pkgs so you know which types of protein agree with your tastebuds. Take a deep breath and just keep studying.  I think it's awesome when people are pro-active for their personal health!!!!  LOSER'S totally Rock!

Hey there - Just thought I'd give you my oppion  as well on vitamins and protein, Sams club has a liquid vitamin, TRUST me it's pretty good tasting cause I've tasted a bunch, its called LIQUID MAX, great stuff!  As for protein, theres alot of stuff out there, my favorite but its high in calories  and $$ is Muscle Milk, also at some Sams clubs.  I get my choclate fix from the choclate one too, but do remember it is high in calories.  I am trying to get to COSCO cause I heard someone say they have a Cosco brand protein drink thats good too!   GOOD LUCK!

They are about the nastiest things out there, but out of everything i've tried I still keep going back to the Profect. How come if they are so nasty? LOL. 3 ounces. Directly after surgery they were a little rougher as I could only swallow a little itty bit; however, now I can get one down in about 3-4 swallows. 25 grams of protein in 4 swallows! I just feel you can't beat that. I would rather plug my noise and take 4 quick swallows of something nasty, then drink 20 ouces of something only sorta nasty. Which I think all proteins are basically nasty. I did the Isopure directly after surgery. The orange, pineapple, or grape were the easiest for me. I hear a lot of people like the grape. They aren't very good either, but I found they were at least doable. What I liked most about the ispure is that it was the only liquid that my doctor qualified as part of our water in take aside from water.  So if I drank a 20 ounce isopure that was 20 ounces less of water I had to try to get in that day. Getting tha****er in was really hard for me at first. I would recommend small packages of chewables to start with which ever brand you purchase. I bought large quantities, and ended up tossing them as I could either not stand the taste after surgery, or once I could switch to the ones you can swallow versus chew I couldn't stand them any longer and ended up tossing them out. I think it is normally only about a month you have to be on chewables and then you can switch to the ones you can swallow. Everyone is different of course. I wasn't able to switch until month four because of a stricture. The b vitamin was a hard one for me. It has a distinct flavor, and your taste buds are very alert to tastes that first month or so. After that it seems to get easier. Now I can take the B with little problem, but that first month was near impossible. I gagged it up almost every time. I tried many different types, and tried taking it many different ways. Again. Wasted a lot of money. I got very worked up and worried about my vitamins. I thought they were going to cost me a fortune each month. After some trial and error, you can find ways to save money. Once you find one that you like, and again I suggest buying small quantities until you are settled in and know what you will be able to tolerate. Once I knew what I could tolerate I bought them in the largest quanitities they sold. It is much cheaper that way.  Walgreens even shows you on their price tags the price per pill as you go to the higher quantity pill so you can see how much you are saving. Watch your drug stores such as CVS as often they run sales. I caught a sale there where they were running buy one get one free. So I bought the largest bottle I could, like the 200 pill one, and then got one for free. So basically enough vitamins for a year! They only run certain ones of course, so you just have to keep your eye out for the good sales. High health has a deal buy one get one half price all the time. You just have to put your name in their computer and then your a "member" and get the deal. There prices are of course a little higher to start with, but still a good deal. Again, you want to wait on these "deals" until you know for sure what your body will handle, and what your taste buds will like. They will change after surgery. Don't taste something before hand, and count on it tasting good afterwards. That was another mistake I made. I tasted protein drinks and stocked up on tthe ones I liked , then I couldn't stand them after the surgery. Same with the chewable calcium. Great luck to you!! Don't let it overwhelm you. I did the same thing. It seems like a lot now, but you will find your own ways to make it cheaper and easier.

I just attended my pre-op class last week and I know how you feel.  Everyone here is so helpful and gives me inspiration. They told us in class to be sure to take the B12 sublingually...so I bought the "dots". but there are "tabs" you can take as well. Profect seemed to be the recomended protein drink, too. Good luck and God Bless. Robin

Hi Everyone!

Thank you so much for all of your very lengthy and valuable replies. I am so excited to have this site to come to, and without you, I would be LOST!!!! You are all truly amazing.Thank you each from the bottom of my heart and my almost tiny baby belly!