What does "protein forward" mean?

the chews at the grocery store are almost always calcium carbonate, not citrate.

Lovely... Another thing to shop for.  These are calcium carbonate, and I had no idea they had to be taken in increments and after certain other vitamins.

so... Where do Y'ALL buy your calcium citrate?

The easiest brand name calcium citrate (keyword citrate not to be confused with the unwanted word carbonate) to buy in stores is called CITRACAL made by the Bayer Company.  The bottle of CITRACAL I just bought at Target has 200 coated petite caplets for around $12.  I take two caplets at a time three times per day in order to get the 1500 mg requirements.  They are to be taken in increments because we absorb only 500 mg at a time.  A popular calcium citrate in chew form can be found at Bariatric Advantage online.  

Thanks!  And could you swallow pills right away?

I get calcium citrate with magnesium and D3 at Costco. Reason for 500mg at a time is that's about the max we can absorb at one time. Lots of people take their calcium at same time as multi and let it cancel the iron in the multi. Then take iron at bed with vit-c. Learned here from Grim lots about Iron! Including coffee and other things inhibit absorbing. So if u drink morning coffee then it's tough to time a multi with iron to work and still get your calcium 3x per day. 

I started out with calcium citrate chews worried about pills not absorbing and/or getting stuck.  After a few months, I started rotating calcium citrate chews with calcium citrate pills as a way of saving money.  (I have never had a problem with pill-swallowing, even handfuls at one time)

At my 3 month post-op check, my iron was low because I was taking calcium too close to my iron.  I have to space them by 2 hours, so because I use a bariatric advantage multi with iron 3 times a day plus calcium chews 3 times a day means that I have to spread them out to at least a 12 hour span.  I set reminders to make sure I get it all in.  My labs are due to be checked at the end of this month so we will see if it worked, but I'm guessing it has as I have lots of energy now (not so much at 3 months).