4 days out... protein's are hard to get in...

hi all... thanks for the caring about how i am doing.. doing very well... super sore, tired, but happy to be on this side of the fence finally!! 

It is really hard to get in 50g of protein let alone 80!!  I know how important it is, but it is a constant struggle... the only thing that tastes even sort of good to me is ice water... suggestions?  encouragement??? 

thanks again.
katie

congratulations!  These first weeks are the hardest, so take it easy on yourself  :)

As for protein, is it the shakes that you're having a hard time with?  due to taste?  consistency?  Or is it because you're not hungry?  Or because it hurts to drink?

I hated the shakes (basically, I really hate milk...), and used the Cytosport Pure Protein drinks (got them at GNC/Vitamin Shop) - basically they taste like a sweet sports drink, but I'd dilute them half and half with water.  20 ounces has 40g of protein, so I could drink that throughout the day and get in half my protein - even mixed with a little chopped ice to make it more like a slushie. 

I'd have decaf coffee with ff dry milk included, put extra ff dry milk into pudding to make that more protein-y, had a lot of soup with a ton of melted parmesean cheese in it (my NUT said that as long as the cheese was melted, I could include it as a liquid), pretty liquid-y cream of wheat counted for me as a liquid too and I'd sprinkle a little powdered milk on that.

Hang in there!!    

Lara

Hijack*********
Love the pic Lara!

Thanks Brenda!  :)

It will come in time.  Some of us do 120-150 grams a day now, I would have never thought of it before. 

Hey Katie,

I don't think I could more than 50 in the first few weeks, just do the best you can, remember to get in your water too.  And rest you've been through allot.  Remember the mantra, sip, sip, sip, walk, walk, walk and I'll add sleep, sleep, sleep!

Can you have yogurt yet?  It doesn't have allot of protein compared to your shakes, but it's a nice change, I could have the non fruit ones like vanilla, key lime pie.... again they were a refreshing change.   I tried applesauce, pudding...but when I tried to add protein powder to it I could not handle the taste.  So I trudged through with the shakes knowing that each day I was closer to expanding my food options.

Are you adding milk to your shakes, I think that consistency is what was really hard for me, my hubby didn't follow the rules and he added water to his and did much better that I did at keeping up with his protein.

The other issue I had was I could no longer tolerate the taste of plain water, so I got propel, crystal lite....and watered them down, they were to sweet for me.  My pouch didn't like water to be to cold back then either, room temps were better for me.

Hope that helps,

Edie

To add to what Edie said, if you do yogart, try Kroger's carbmaster.  It has 12 g protien in 6 oz.  They have great flavors, peach and cherry have hunks of fruit in them, so you probably want to avoid, but blackberry and strawberry pomagrante dont - they are my fav's.

Are you on full liquids now? I drank a lot of muscle milk. It had 15gm of protein in each drink. I had 4 muscle milk protein shakes per day, so it gave me 60gm of protein. Carbmaster yogurt is another good protein source. It's kroger brand and has 12gm of protein. Its hard the first week out. I'm doing go so far. I only use protein supps when I go to work, on my days off I get about 75gm of protein via food.

It may be a bit early for yogurt- but I agree with everyone else about the Kroger brand carbmaster yogurt. 12 grams of protein!  I haven't found another yogurt that compares.
Take care- keep up the good work!   Jenny

We ppl that have Grand Health Partners are required to use their pre-packaged protein meals for two weeks after surgery.....they were jello, puddings,soups, etc.   I actually liked them pretty well and had no trouble getting in most of my 60 g.m. after the first week.

I'll second the recommendation on carb master yogurt from Kroger.
I keep it in my frig all the time and it's my go-to breakfast with some Kashi (for fiber) most every day.

Best wishes for a smooth recovery....

Pat R.