HOW IMPORTANT IS PROTEIN??

Im curious to know how much protein plays a roll.I know that they stress it so much after surgery when you're fresh out, but as months go pass how important is it?? I know alot of people who dont eat protein bars or drink protein shakes and dont hit atleast 60g of protein a day and they still lose weight? Im 10 months out and i dont drink protein shakes or eat the bars i dont consume some within my food but i dont know its not 60g a day. Could that be a reason to why i might be stuck at 205? i called the dr office and all they lady said was that stalls happen even if you are doing everything right..so im curious

Super important.  Less important than water, but more important than everything else.  Protein is necessary for your body to do just about everything.  (So is Calcium.)  

What are you eating?  Give us an example of your daily meals so we can troubleshoot for you.  

The fact that you don't know how much protein you're getting indicates that you're not tracking your food with something like MyFitnessPal - start doing that now.  Weigh and log everything you put into your mouth.  You can never know if you're on track with your eating plan if you're not actually tracking it.  

super important.  your body can not create protein.  Your body can turn sugar into fat and fat into energy.  It can not manufacture protein.  if you do not have enough protein you will lose muscle.  If you lose muscle you burn fewer calories and the cycle continues and gets harder and harder.  

I aim for 100+ grams per day -- and my coaches tell me I should shoot for 150 - 170 grams / day.  60 IMHO is the lowest you should hit everyday.  

How do you get in that many grams of protein? I am trying to get my 60 without shakes or bars and some days it is hard to reach.

Dense protein, like meat/fish/seafood...

Those are your best bets.

I'm 3+ years out.  My first 6 months I was at 60 - 80 grams per day.

I hit 100 relatively easy typically with:

1 - 2 shakes per day (20 - 50 grams)

cottage cheese or yogurt (15-20 grams)

milk (in coffee) (10 grams)

2 servings of meat (40-60 grams)

Idnas.....take a look at "What are you eating?" on this site to get some ideas of what other people are having. For myself, poultry, fish, shellfish, beef, pork & some types of legumes & grains are my go to proteins. I'm not a big fan of dairy, but will use nonfat greek yogurt or ff ricotta or cottage cheese in some recipes.

I usually have at least 3 oz of protein at each meal & then a veg or a veg & grain for the other 3 oz.

I was told by my doc 90gr of protein a day. I was actually taking 150gr of pr otein each day. The doc was thrilled when I told him and even commented that was the reason my incisions had healed so quickly. 

I just had PS 12 days ago and am healing really quickly - my surgeon attributes that to my high-protein diet. Our bodies are often healing: from illness, from bumps, from weight loss, so keeping a high protein diet makes sense for everyone.

How did your PS go Liz?  Are you happy with it?

Hope it all turned out great.