Getting in enough food!

Hi everyone! I had RNY on 1/22/08. I have done amazingly well. But I am having some problems. I started on pureed food about a week ago and I have had no problems with anything I have eaten. I eat scrambled eggs,mashed up,cottage cheese,yogurt,soup,etc. My problem is that I am not hungry! I was told by my dietician that I should be getting about 50 or 60 gms of protein in a day. She said that I can eat up to 1/2 cup at each meal. My problem is how in the world am I supposed to get that much protein in in that amount of food? Its impossible! I am going to buy some whey protein powder tomorrow to add to stuff so that I can bring the levels up but I have no idea how I can do it.

    I also was told to get in 64 oz of fluid in a day which again seems impossible. Especially considering you are not supposed to drink anything 1/2 hr before eating,during eating or 1/2 hour after eating. Thats 4 1/2 hours a day that I cannot be taking in fluids. Its like the bottle is glued to my mouth but I can only sip it otherwise it feels like it is "stuck" somewhere in my breastbone area and its painful! I am getting concerned because I know I need to be eating more but I just havent been hungry. Also am I supposed to eat 3 meals AND snacks in between to try and get that protein in? Im confused and I dont want to be eating TOO much either! I have lost about 11 lbs since surgery which doesnt seem like much... is that normal? I know for 2 weeks thats alot but being I am not eating much it seems slow... Any advice for me? I am kind of lost here and I want to be doing this all right. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

At 2 weeks out, it's almost impossible to get in the recommended amount of protein and fluids, for the exact reasons you've noted!  Your pouch is still very tiny and it just has limited capacity.  Your capacity will increase slowly over the next couple months and you'll be able to get in adequate protein and fluids.  I was not able to get in the recommended 60 grams of protein for about 8-10 weeks, and I think that's true for a lot of folks.  I did try to drink as much liquid protein as I could tolerate, but I still couldn't push my protein up to 60 grams initially.  Just keep doing your best and you'll work your way up to the recommended intake in relatively short order -  Kellie

I'm sure I will get some flames for saying this, but I'm 3 months post op and just in the last couple weeks have I FINALLY managed to be able to drink even close to what they tell me I should be (I still only intake approx 60 oz). The first 2 months I was darn lucky to intake 1 x 0.5 liter bottle of water and a bowl of soup for one of my meals and that was as much as I could get as far as liquids- I have been to the point I can't drink for about 2 hours after I eat or upsy daisy the food comes. I totally know how you feel with trying to get it in but not able to because of timing.  I have noticed that drinking from a cup rather than a bottle helps me TONS on getting more in.  Yes, I was extremely dehydrated a couple times - headaches, dizziness, etc.  I had to choose whether I wanted to consume calories or to drink water. I know for a couple days I only ate like once a day so I could focus on getting water in.   something you might want to try though - try to find some type of nutrition shake or even just milk that settles well with you - they count as liquids, protein and calories :-)

I had surgery in Nov and I use the Whey Chocolate Protein from Walmart about $15.00 for a big container it has 52gm of protein and for two scoops it is 210 calories. I like the chocolate because it tastes good and I also add 1 package of diet chocolate milk 25 cal- 2gm protein and a few packets of spenda in a 40oz container and mix with ho****er from the tap.  With that I get a lot of my water out of the way, it is cold in the morning so it is great to drink something warm that really tastes good.  ............  in the Afternoon I mix sugar free koolaide with another 30 oz of water and that has no calories but I'm getting my water in.

Kill two birds with one stone.  I purchased New Whey Protein bullets for 42g of protein...just to see how it taste.  I bought Fruit Punch and mixed it with Fruit Punch flavored Crystal Light in a liter sized Aqua Fina water bottle.  It taste great to me; so I figured that I would use this product in the beginning to maximize my protein intake at the same time at least partially satisfying the fluid requirement.  You could also make your own jell-o or pop cicles and add the bullets for an extra protein punch.  I purchased the bullets at bariatriceating.com for $32.99.  12 come in the box and the flavors they sell are fruit punch, orange, and grape.  I've only tried the fruit punch.  The thing I don't like is that you can't mix the flavors. Good luck ~Stephanie~