protein and other questions!! trying to stay on track!

i still am not getting enough protein maybe 20-30 grams a day- im almost 4 months out and i can maybe eat almost 1 egg with a slice of cheese or a quarter of an english muffin. My 3 month post op labs were all within normal ranges but im nervous that my weight loss will cease because of my lack of protein. Anyone have suggestions, the protein shakes dont agree with me and ive tried tons. I only eat twice a day with one snack.

anyone have any great recipes they would love to share with me, i am a picky eater unfortuantley (i hate yogurt, applesauce and seafood to name a few things) haha

i've bought several types of protein bars that do help and i can almost eat a whole bar, its wierd because some things i can eat more of than others. I cant tolerate anything greasy but i can tolerate chocolate (which is bad since i love chocolate but since surgery i have had one small piece of choc and thats its!!)

ive also had a bad craving for coke cola..but have kept to my guns and havent had any soda yet despite really wanting it! I dont drink coffee or tea so soda was my caffeine drink of choice.. any suggestions or subsitutes anyone can suggest for me?





any advice or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciative thank you! Trying to stay on track during this weight loss journey, courtney

Hey!

First of all. you need to make a meal plan and stick to it. Even if you only eat a few bites of things because you don't feel hungry for a snack or a meal, its still setting a routine for your body and eventually it will like eating those 6 small meals a day.

Chicken is an excellent way to get protien in. I HATE protien shakes, and don't like spending enormous amounts of money on protien bars. I only eat about 2 a week.

if you go to allrecipes.com and just type in chicken, you get a million recipes, a lot of nice slow cooker/crock pot ones as well! Even just frying up some chicken in a frying pan with a tad bit of EVOO and salt and pepper to taste is good. or if you feel like adding veggies to it and making your own type of stir fry that gets the veggies in too! If I make a dinner, I usually eat it for dinner and snack after dinner as it is usually really protien based and I know if I'm low on the protien.. it will boost me up.

I still have problems with protien, but that is because the carb monster has visited and i'm having a hard time kickin' him to the curb. Thats one thing you don't want to start, eating carbs instead of protien, or equal amounts of carbs with protien (like chicken on a bun!)

I don't enjoy many breakfast foods, and most days eggs still dont sit well with me.  So to me, all my meals are just meals, and I will have left overs for breakfast. Most of the time I get more protien out of that anyways!

I can eat the 'fats' but they make me feel grosse, so I tend to stay away from them as much as possible too! I'll also make a meat speghetti sauce and make pasta for my fiance, and take a few pieces of it and a big scoop of sauce and I don't really miss the pasta, because I have the few strands there!

Do you find your hair falling out because of that lack of protien? I'm 8 months, and technically, mine should have stopped by now, but because I still lack a bit most days.. I'm still loosing it. Its frustrating, but it has slowed down a lot. I started loosing hair about 3 months post of heavily!

How about your liquids? do you get enough of those in? I find it hard as well because I want to get my meals in, but I want to get my liquids in, so it seems like something should be shoved in my mouth 24 hours a day. I get enough to stay hydrated enough, and get the majority of my food quanity in... but I feel I'm still lacking.

Good luck! If you want to chat just PM me! :)

The biggest thing I can suggest is that if you are having problems getting your protein in don't eat carbs! An english muffin has very little nutritional value post WLS so since you're eating so few meals a day I would definitely suggest that you actually eat protein at all of them, even if its just chesse or something like that.

 I would say the meal plans a great idea and track your food!  www.fitday.com and www.sparkpeople.com are great websites just for that and they will give you a breakdown of your carbs/prot/fat.  

Some ideas for more protein: chicken salad, tuna salad, shrimp salad, scallops (full of protein and low cal too!), eggs and/or egg salad, rolled up deli meat with cheese, a small stir fry with a meat/seafood and soft veggies (think mushrooms more than broccoli, that's hard on ya). 

I always recommend Susan Maria Leach's book Living and Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery and her website www.bariatriceating.com .  There are a plethora of recipes from awesome protein drinks to regular food, please check it out...you'll love it!  She has a bangle shrimp korma recipe that I could literally stick an IV of the sauce into me, it's so good.  

Good luck!  I know it's hard so soon after surgery but you aren't screwing anything up so don't worry.  :-) 

~Emily~

What about carnation instant breakfast ? It taste like choc millk but with mixing it with milk you get I think it's 17 grams of protien right there. I know you said you don't like protien drinks and Carnation Instant breakfast don't taste like a protien drink that well and it's alot cheaper. What about getting some Unjury Flavor Free Protien and adding it to your food to boost it up? add it to oatmeal, any kind of mushy food. Some people add it with Crystal light in their water. Tuna is really high protien. canned chicken, get a really good roast and crock pot it with taco seasoning and you have really soft shredded beef tacos, chili, white chicken chili (white northern beans, white chicken chicken seasoning and chicken), ff refried beans w/ cheese, deviled eggs, hard boiled egg, cheese stick, ricotta cheese mixed with sauce (even meat sauce for more protien if you like a meat sauce), if your eating the english muffin add peanut butter to it to make it a proiten, drink milk or soy milk but be careful not to have too much because it can add alot of calories. Hope this helps.

Are you eating meats to get protein? You dont like yogurt but how about greek yogurt?
Cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, soy based foods are all options. There are also nuts and nut butters (in moderation of course).
If you dont like straight up protein shakes you can mix protein powders into foods and boost the protein content.

Also my opinion would be to have more than 2 meals and 1 snack... each surgeon/NUT is different so disscus with them or go with what you feel is best, personally I eat 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day... no other way to get the protein in. If you are eating 3 times a day and only getting 20-30g protein you are not eating enough at a meal you mentioned 1 egg, plus cheese and english muffin... you shouldnt be eating the english muffin if you are struggling to get your protein in... protein first, then fruit/veggie lastly starch/carb.

Somebody above mentioned Carnation... make sure you get the no sugar added, the regular has quite a bit of sugar if you are mixing w/milk or soy milk.

thanks everyone for your advice - when i mentioned the english muffin (i cant eat a whole english muffin at most i eat half of one with one egg scrambled with cheese. I will try your suggestions and i do love carnation instant breakfast the choc yummy!! any and all other suggestions are greatly appreciative thank you soo much!