Results of Protein Supplement Poll

For those who are interested, here are the results of my protein supplement poll. I got 37 responses from 3 OH boards and 2 local support group email lists. The majority of responders were 1+ years out from RNY surgery. ? Of the 37 *****sponded, - 15 do use one or more protein shakes every day - 15 never use shakes and get all their protein from food - 7 use them occasionally (mostly just on days when protein from food falls short or while traveling) ? Of those who do use shakes every day, most drink 1-2 per day. A few used up to 4 shakes per day (mostly those who are less than a year out). ? There was no clear winner on brand or flavor. ? Every respondent rated herself or himself as a 5 or better on ability to lose or maintain, with the regular protein shake users showing a bit more confidence in their success. ? All the shake users felt the shakes helped them to be successful. Amost all the non-shake-users felt that not using protein supplements had no impact on their success; one non-shake-user felt this was the reason for her feeling lousy. The occasional users generally felt that protein supplements were not a major factor in their success. ? Of the 20 respondents who answered the question about how their labs were looking and/or how they were feeling... - 5 regular protein shake users said they feel great and/or have great lab results - 11 of those who never use shakes said they feel great and/or have great lab results - 1 who never uses shakes said she felt lousy and attributes it to lack of protein - 3 who occasionally use shakes said they feel great and/or have great lab results (So all but one person who answered this question felt great and/or had great labs, regardless of whether they used protein shakes or not.) ? Despite common belief, the majority of those who do not use shakes are not avoiding protein supplements out of stubborness, noncompliance, or a dislike of the shakes. Most do not use shakes because their doctors told them not to. I was braced for some controversy on this one since I know some folks get very emotional about the topic of protein supplements--I've seen an almost cult-like devotion to supplementation in past posts on the main board and a high level of defensiveness from those who are doing quite well without them. I was pleasantly surprised that I got NO nastiness or preachiness at all (well, maybe just a smidge, but not enough to worry about). In the past, my impression has been that the vast majority of OH'ers were using protein shakes and that my surgeon is an oddball for forbidding them. That does not appear to be the case after all. Apparently the protein supplementers are simply more vocal than the non-supplementers. There are just as many successful post-ops getting their protein entirely from food as there are successful post-ops using protein shakes every day, at least according to this admittedly very unscientific poll. I did not get sufficient evidence to indicate that either method is better or worse than the other. Both seem to work quite well for new post-ops and very long-term post-ops alike. Therefore, I intend to continue following my surgeon's orders and get all or most of my protein from food. I do intend to find a protein powder that I like, though, to use on days that my protein from food falls short due to illness, travel, or whatever. Hope this helped someone! ---- Leslie

By the way, in case you don't know, the best protein for us is whey isolate. It's the easiest to absorb. More than 30g at a time is wasted, though.

I recently ordered the Power Crunch bars to supplement on days when I haven't eaten enough (usually weekends). My surgeon says no protein shakes/bars after six weeks which I've pretty much complied with up to this point. At 18 months and recently on maintenance I find some days I just don't take in the required (800-1200) calories from food, thus the supplement. Long term I'm sure I can work up to eating the calories but for now I am using the bars. You might be interested in trying these on days you fall short on protein/calories. They actually taste great, but have a bit of after taste. They are a wafer type bar 4" X 2" and fill my desire for something sweet while increasing my protein at the same time. The best protein supplement I've tried since wls. Power Crunch Calories 185 Protein 14 Gms Fat 8 Total Carbs 8 Gms Sugars 4 Gms

Oh god, Power Crunch. My downfall! They are SOOOO good. But so many calories and so few protein grams. These should be used as a meal alternative. Yet they are so good I want to eat 10 a day. I am actually on my way to buy some as we speak! Michelle 294/150

There are some OOSG lists on yahoo you might want to join and get all your info. Talk to some of the real oldtimers, that are more than 4 years out that did not do protein shakes, the ones that crashed and burned, that now do them to save their lives.... Lots of this depends on how far you are bypassed also, proximals don't require as much as distals. There are short, med and long proximals, and well as distals... Lap banders do not require as much as RNY or DS'ers..... These are all things that I teach in my support groups, along with labs and tracking them.....do you attend an in person group? Darlene

Yes, I do attend an in-person group and always have. I'm going to assume that my surgeon knows what's best for me based on the surgery he did and his medical research. I did get responses from people many years out--the longest was over 10 years who never supplemented her protein and never had a problem with not getting enough from food (don't know what kind of surgery, though). Thanks again for your input! ---- Leslie

I wonder that the difference in programs (protein supplimentations vs food) is accounted for by a difference in sugeries (distal vs proximal). My surgeon only does proximal and our program is four-square against supplimentation. Asked about this, my surgeon responded that distal patients may indeed require supplimentation to meet protein needs. One major problem of message boards is what gets talked about largely are problems. Non-issues are not discussed. As a result, one could easily get the impression that complications are much more prevelant thant they actually are, supplimentation, marriage issues, etc. As I've pointed out before, you never see a post "I am NOT having this problem, how do I fix it?" Same with protein supplimentation, we (those that don't suppliment) don't talk about not being able to tolerate our drink, that we don't like the flavor, are bored with it, can't mix it well, because we don't drink it. About the only time we respond in such threads is when someone declares we MUST drink them for our health, in which we obviously disagree. As your poll shows, there is no universal WLS rule book... there is no "We". Thus, in your reply to yourself when you say "we" only absorb 30g protein at a time, this is largely belief, and is not currently supported by scientific study. Even IF we accepted it as a true statement, it is possible the "average" person can only absorb 30g at a time, but an individual will likely absorb more or less, sometimes significantly more or less, than the average. An example would be intestine length, which is very measurable, the differences from person to person can be several feet. Tek

Point taken, Tek. You're right--after going to all this trouble to get real input on the topic, I made a generalization that is not well-supported by research. My bad. ---- Leslie

Hi Leslie, surprisingly enough being 2 years out I had pretty much stopped using the protein drinks but I noticed my weightloss stopped in January and nothing that I did would move the scale. Last week just for the heck of it , I decided to try Slimfast with ice , milk and two scoops of protein powder (like a smoothie) twice a day in place of eating the normal food and I lost 3 lbs. I'm going to try this for a little while longer and see if this will help as well as upping my exercise time. After awhile you get use to the taste especially if you add fresh fruit ,Equal, non fat milk or other things low calories. The powder that I like I buy from Walmarts ,it comes in Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry and it 's about $8.99 for a large can. It's called Carb Solutions , none of the powders are scrumptous but if you doctor it up and become creative you can get past the taste. I'll let you know how it works out. Bubblicious 1

Thanks for posting the results - I really enjoyed reading the different opinions and infomation. Myrtle.