what is your favoriate protein shake?

I HATE artificial sweetener. I'm going to have to get over that I guess. So what's the best tasting shake and do you use RTD or powdered?

Tastes will vary, but right before surgery, I bought the shakes book by Bariatric Foodie on amazon.com and it SAVED MY LIFE! Sounds dramatic, but her belief is that you don't have to hate your shakes and choke them down, and so she shares recipes and tips and tricks. For example if you shake up skim milk and a scoop of Inspire Dutch Chocolate protein powder in a container (what I was initially doing) - YUCK. But she taught me that if you blend it for 2 minutes it's thicker than blending for 1 minute. And if you add a shot of sugar-free Torani chocolate syrup and 5 ice cubes - you have something DELICIOUS! You should get a lot of comments - I know a lot of people on the forum make really creative shakes. I found using powder always sat better with me than the RTD ones, which seem thicker to me, but RTD ones are so easy to grab and go. For about 1.5 years after surgery, I had a Chike iced coffee protein shake (order the canister from amazon) every single day for breakfast. I loved it!

Have you had surgery yet? I ask because my taste buds changed after.

Pre-op I thought the best was the Atkins Cookies & Cream

Post Op Premier Protein Chocolate has been my go to. Although pre-op I thought it tasted like dirt.

Premiere Protein ready-made shakes has been a big part of my post surgical diet. I drink at least 1 a day. It's 30 grams of protein and 1 gram sugar/160 cals

You can add peanut butter powder to change the taste a bit.

With my surgery date getting closer, June 28th, I am stocking up on a few items. I bought a can of the PB2 powder last night, I will be getting a few cases of the Premier Protein drink. A friend of mine says that she mixes a little skim milk with her Premier Protein Choc. with a few ice cubes and cold coffee.. and its fabulous!

It's good stuff and quite versatile! There's a recipe for a mint "Shamrock Shake" version floating around in here somewhere.

Be mindful of any foods you buy. Don't overstock would be my advice. Many folks say the foods they started out with turned into foods they hated later on. You may find your tastes change a bit. I bought a lot of cottage cheese and yogurts that I had to toss because I just couldn't stand them.

Eating really is like work for that first 6-8 weeks.

I bought different protein powders pre-op and liked them all, but post op could only drink Premier Protein.

It comes in lots of different flavors, and right after surgery, my favorites flavors were banana cream and strawberry cream, but now at 4.5 months post op I hate those flavors and prefer chocolate to drink straight up, and caramel or vanilla to mix with decaff coffee.

Pintrest for the recipes or eggface

I used GNC wheybolic shake powder

I've tried Muscletech Iso-whey from Popeye's, but I found it to be really sweet, and Popeye's was a bit expensive. Recently I bought Kaizen whey isolate (chocolate of course) from Costco and it's not nearly as sweet. 40 more calories per serving, but it's 35g of protein per shake instead of 25! I discussed it with my surgeon and my nutritionist, and they liked the label info. I usually add ice cubes and double the water just to get a little extra fluid in. It takes me longer to get a meal in that way, but it boosts the fluids so they seemed to really like that. I'm mostly at my desk for breakfast and lunch anyhow, so sipping away on that isn't a big deal.

There are better and more delicious ways to do shakes once or twice a day, but I'm comfortable with the "food is fuel" mantra. I've found since starting this whole thing that I really don't care about texture and flavour of ANY food much. I just don't miss it. I focus on the numbers and just get in what I need to get in to fuel the tank. I haven't found much temptation issues as a result which is a bonus, I guess. Such a stark contrast to when I enjoyed some culinary things.

An other option is unflavored protein powder in warm chicken/beef broth. Unjury has a chicken soup powder as well. For me this was my go to when the shakes seemed too sweet. The trick is not to get the broth too hot or you get clumps