Need more protein!!!

Hi all, I'm 8 days LAP RNY post op and am having a problem.  I "eat" and drink constantly but seem to run out of time in the day to consume my recommended 64+ oz of fluids and 60-70 grams of protein.  I just get too full and bloated.  I even tried on day to force myself to eat more, but all that did was make for a very uncomfortable night's sleep. I am on what my clinic (NEMC) calls stage 3 -- full liquids.  I can have Carnation Instant Breakfast (No Sugar Added) or Slim Fast (I choose the High Protein).  I can also have fat free or 1% cottage or ricotta cheese, low fat cream soups, light yogurt and scrambled egg substitutes.  I was also told to put 30 to 45 minutes between drinking and eating.  I'm a water drinker.  All of my fluids I do consume is water.  For food I drink the Slim Fast HP (15g), eat Columbo Light Yogurt (7g), 1% cottage cheese (14g), and egg beaters (12g).  So far I have not had any foaming, upset stomach or anything else, so I'm wondering what else I can do to consume enough protein in a day...any suggestions? I see my NUT next Wednesday.  By then I hope to move to stage 4 where the food choices increase -- food with more protein. Thanks,

Hey Bill,   I know every program is different...my program wanted us to mainly focus on water for the first 30 days and if we didn't get all of our protein that was ok.  It was also ok if we only got in 32-40 oz of water.  I found it was near impossible to get 60 oz of water in that early on.  Have you tried that Fage yogurt?  It has more than double the protein than other yogurt.  I like it with a few packets of Splenda mixed in and some folks like it with a little SF prudding powder mixed in. Hope that helps! ~Cher

HI Bill- Have you tried any of the Whey Protein powders? I buy one at Walmart (Body Fortress) that mixes with milk. It has 23 g of Protein- plus your 8g for the milk. That gives you 31 grams in one punch! (do you use Simply Smart MIlk?) I am not familiar with the grams in Instant Breakfast or Slimfast- maybe they are comparable. That is what I have been doing.  I just ordered some Unjury Unflavored powder so that I can add it to soups etc... Good Luck. It is hard to feel like we eat or drink all day and still don't make the numbers! Carolyn

Hi, It will improve, but short of only liquid protein,  you are not going to get everything in.  Do what you can, your intake will increase little by little... Good luck MaryLyn

Hi Bill, Sounds like you are having a great recovery.  Congratulations.   I agree with all the posters, all great advice.  For the first month I also added a pre-mixed bottle of Isopure Whey protein drink.  For 20 ounces you get 40 grams of protein.  It's a clear liquid protein drink and I get them at GNC or the Vitamin Shoppe.  I drank them in place of water as additional fluids - 10 ounces mid-morning and 10 ounces later in the day.   It comes in many flavors, but I didn't like them all.  I never much liked soda or flavored drinks, like you I am a water drinker.  I do ok with the grape frost with lot's of ice.   In a few weeks you will be trying a little of everything and the protein will start to add up to what you want to see. Good Luck, Julie

Thanks for all the advice.  I have been adding more and more protein each day.  I found that I can actually combine two things, like egg subs and ricotta cheese and manage to eat it all in one -- albeit long -- sitting.  I'll see what my NUT says on Wednesday, but I think since my progress has been good so far that I might be able to move onto stage 4 -- moist, puree foods -- in which case I end up with lots of choices to add protein.

I saw that you are drinking the slim fast high protein.  Funny thing is that the slim fast low carb diet is 20 grams of protein and the high protein one is only 15....go figure.  The atkins advantage drinks are good too.  I can only drink the canned drinks myself.

I have found that mixing 1 scoop Isopure vanilla powder with a 4 oz of aptiva vanila yogurt was pretty good and gave me a 30 gram protein boost.  The isopure mixes very well.  I also tried mixing 1/2 scoop Unjury unflavored with 6 oz of chicken broth.  It didn't taste too bad, but you cannot heat the broth to more than 130 degrees or it gets clumpy.  I have since quit the Unjury, because for some reason, I do not tolerate it very well.  My first protein shot in the morning is usually one scoop of Isopure with 4oz of water.  It is very easy going down...

I had my surgery on Jan 3rd. I say my surgeon on Jan 11th. He said to not be so concerned with protein. I have so many different proteins, as I had been using protein shakes or drinks for my breakfast for months. I had ordered some online before I heard of Unjury or I would have that also. I get 40 ounces of water during the day, and take a bottle to bed to sip when I wake up. I have sleep apnea so I wake during the night.   I have finished my cottage cheese, and working on my unsweetened applesauce. I have Dannon Light and Fit yogurt, and baby food jars. I find that some of the looser foods like applesauce, and yogurt make me feel cold as they go down? Is this just projection? I have had one carton of mushroom soup, and blended it because of the mushrooms but it was less creamy due to the blending. Yesterday, I thought I would try oatmeal, yogurt, and an Isopure portein powder but absolutely hated it. I love oatmeal, yogurt, and have had the powder with both water and skim milk. So, maybe it was just the combination. It was after a day of having chicken broth, Spicy Hot V8 juice heated as a soup, a soup I had made and prepared as frozen cubes prior to surgery, and applesauce. So, I wanted substance in this protein meal. My other meal was a small protein powder drink with water. I have had canned chicken broth, and homemade chicken broth. I have had small amounts of sweet potato, and a small amount of a potato. Today I bought canned beets to puree tomorrow. I have added frozen banana slices to a yogurt protein drink to make it a smoothie. My worst disaster before the oatmeal was the fact that I added about a half cup of frozen raspberries to my protein smoothie on Jan 16th. I spent too long picking raspberr7 seeds off my tongue. Who would have imagined so many seeds? I actually have many variety of foods to eat but my portion of the fridge is taking over. I have all that Dannon Light and Fit!