Protein

Frozen shrimp, tuna or chicken salad (add low fat mayo, Mt. Olive sugar free relish [made with Splenda], salt, pepper), Healthy Choice Lemon Pepper Fish Dinners (frozen)...I add some soy sauce to the fish (avoid the apple dessert).

Yea the proteins were getting boring and sickening actually after a while! I felt for awhile I was running out of options and choices, but it got better! I literally had to try every brand and flavor of Greek Yogurt, and guess what; I actually found a few that I enjoyed, even though most I thought were pretty terrible. I was surprised I actually liked Blueberry Greek Yogurt, especially since I don't normally even like Blueberries, but it sure is a difference in taste from brand to brand, it's just such an easy protein option! I'm still sick of cottage cheese, lunch meats, etc. Lunch Meat still feels like is sticks in my pouch! I've even tried drinking a glass of plain old milk now and then to get in some Protein, and buying little bags of unsalted nuts. I could not stand any of the Protein Drinks, had a ton of samples and all of them turned me off. The bars were equally terrible I thought. I did buy some South Beach Bars I keep in my desk drawer in case I need in a pinch! I'm 11 months post-op, I really seem to now enjoy salad bars, it's easy way to get a variety...loading up the veggies and piling on the meats/cheese on top....I love the fact I can go to my local supermarket for lunch and hit up their salad bar....I only need the little container and my lunch is usually under 2 bucks and I still can't fini**** Today I did go to a pizza buffet for lunch, dangerous?? Hmmm, not really....I could not even imagine how pizza crust would feel in my pouch!! Ouch! I scrapped off the topping on a few pieces of vegetable pizza and picked at some salad/cottage cheese off salad bar. It is getting easier with time; I'm no longer "testing the waters" so to speak and finding more and more protein options. I love the fact its summer, and doing LOTS of experimenting on the grill! I also got into the habit of making my entire family fruit/protein smoothies....I already burned out 2 blenders and a "Magic" Bullet....I buy those frozen bags of mixed fruit, frozen berries, I use milk for liquid, Plain Greek Yogurt or whatever is on hand, and whatever fruit I have in the fridge (you know where it's a bit over ripped to eat, but not exactly bad yet, great way to get rid of produce before it goes bad). We have a lot of fun making our own Protein smoothies, you can also use cottage cheese in there, I also use lots of frozen rhubarb (I HATE rhubarb but you can't taste it and it had lots and lots of fiber) Kids don't even know it's in there either! I just keep experimenting and there are even a ton of smoothie recipes online, but I like to use what I have on hand. My secret seems to be to include the family and especially if you have kids......otherwise kind of hard to make a little fruit protein smoothie for myself. My blood sugars have been great and I'm down 132 lbs since Sept of 2011. Here are my rambling random thoughts on Protein! Haha Good Luck!

Hey Davo,
Bottom line is at this point and time for those of us just a few months out from surgery eating is to nourish our bodies and if your labs and protein for sure is at a good level then I'd not worry a bunch right now. You will need to eat more lean meats as time goes on and if you look at what you can eat for 200 calories like your shakes and bars you can get in a good ammount of solid protein which stays in the pouch longer which is way better for you. Funny thing is some of the best athletes in the world suppliment with protein shakes so they can hit their lofty protein goal especially weight lifters. Congrats on the 98lbs cause that's the name of the game!!!!
Stoney

Isn't it funny how one center/surgeon differs from another. The biggest issue seems to be protein shakes. Ideally they want you to get your protein from food, but initially you just don't have the appetite or capacity to eat that much protein. If you don't get enough protein, your body will use muscle.. so continue what you are doing.. sounds like you are doing great.
Eventually your appetite will return and you should be able to "eat" not "drink" enough protein.
I'm surprised that you were told not to snack. I was avoiding snacking because I didn't want
to get back into the old habits (and I wasn't that hungry).. My Nut told me that I need to snack. We
can't eat enough at a meal to last us through to the next meal. Just make sure the snacks are
healthy and include protein.
I've never been into sports or exercise, and going to the gym was just pure torture. Walking, biking and just generally moving are easy alternatives. As the weight drops it's just so much easier to
move your body. I used to drive around a parking lot looking for the closest parking space, I would never climb stairs if an elevator was available,  Now I just grab the first available parking spot, I'll always choose the stairs (if it's only a couple flights) I used to get my kids to fetch stuff for me, or pile stuff at the top of bottom of a flight of stairs in order to avoid the painful exercise. Now I don't even think about running downstairs to grab a screwdriver and it's no big deal when I have to run back down again when it turns out I choose the wrong sized screw driver.  There's lots of ways to get exercise without walking on a treadmill.
Sounds like you are doing great.. keep doing what is working for you.

In my program the golden rule is nothing over 10gr sugar or 10gr fat,  that rules out about 85% of the yogurts and protein bars, shakes and so called health snacks out there but since we are tossing protein around, here are a few things I do eat.  Diet hot chocolate with milk or powdered milk or water.  I generally do 2 packs which is 50 calories and a sweetn low- adding in some 1% milk or powder ups the protein and adds 50-90 cals for a total under 150.   I eat Pure Protein bars from walmart 20gr protein 200 calories under the 10gr of fat and sugars, I like the chewy choc chip.  I drink a walmart brand protein powder 26 gr protein a scoop usually vanilla with frozen fruit 3/4cup sweet n low, water or milk, a single sugar free drink pack usually orange, ice and blend.  i also always liked potato chips with cottage cheese so now I eat special k cracker chips and cottage cheese and get in 8-10 gr protein doing that. I eat lunch meat usually turkey, light miracle whip., egg salad and cheeses, yoplait light, and a few nuts here and there and the occasional small piece of jerky.  I eat a little chicken and some salmon which is great on the grill but most meats I have to eat really slow and really small bites or i will foam up. My tastes have changed since surgery and even during recovery somedays nothing tastes like I want it, doesnt tast bad its just kind of blah so I try to change it up but if nothings working cottage cheese and special k crackers (i usually eat about 10 and 1/3 cup of cottage)or yogurt and string cheese are always good to me.

My go to food is a bowl of Kashi Go Lean cerial.  With milk you get 20-21 grams of protein.  I have it for breakfast and for a snack after supper.  There's 40 grams for you, and the sugars are non processed so we can digest them and not dump.