Help! Full liquid phase...can't drink protein!

Hi Ladies,

I need some encouragement/advice. I came home on Wedn from the hospital and have had no problems getting in my 64 oz of water but the protein is a different story! I had no problems with my shakes pre-op but now they make me gag just to smell them!

I cannot force them down...it comes right back up :( My dh got me Isopure in several flavors with the same result. Sweet flavors are making me sick....I am getting in a few ounces of greek yogurt here and there....watering down the Isopure until I can stand it. But that leaves me getting in very little protein overall.

Thank goodness, I see my surgeon tomorrrow for follow-up. If he approves me for purees...I know I will do fine if I can have some talapia! I have been dreaming of talapia LOL

Has anyone else felt like this and have I messed up by being so low in protein for a week?

TIA!!

 I think U ll be fine .  I U can keep the fish down  its very pouch friendly i found too   (  using butter buds  as opposed to butter  gives it a great taste too )  .  

Sorry about  the shake issue .   Early outthe only one i could tolerate was called chai  tea  something by (  walden farms ? )   in the refrigerated section of high end  grocery stores  ( near the vegan  stuff).

I was just nauseaous  ALL THE TIME  .    For some reason i could tolerate this one ..... 

I also  mixed  a little haagen dazs   lowfat  vanilla frogurt into my   shakes in the beginning to help get em down ...   ( and still  ususally managed only half  a portion) 

Tia you are doing fine......as long as you are getting in your water you are golden!  My surgeon didn't have me add protien until I was 2 weeks out.  He was more concerned with me getting in enough fluids......I did ad unflavored protien powder to my jello tho and was able to get in about 20 gr per day   I tried to add it to my chicken broth but I just couldn't stomach it that way.  Isopure has always been way to sweet and I think it has a soapy aftertase.......LOL  Those first couple of weeks are tough.......all your insides are swollen and it's hard to do what they ask.  Just do your best and you will be fine.......you will beable to follow plan in no time.  I suggested an "arnold palmer" type protien drink in a previous post.  Water, Nectar powder and a crystal light stick in a liter of water......ice tea and lemonade mixed!  Yummy!  Good luck hun......do your best!

Hi Char,
  This exact thing happened to me.  The great news is that you're getting all of your fluids!  That's no small feat.  And it's the most important thing you could do at this phase.  
  Even if you move to purees tomorrow, you'll still need to find a protein shake that will work for you because you're likely not going to be able to consume enough talapia, etc to get the protein you need just yet.  
  Here's what you can do.  Go on over to Vitalady's site and order up all the samples you can possibly imagine tolerating.  Once they arrive, try as many possibilities as you can.  Whatever worked for you pre-op isn't even relevant anymore because everything changes - totally normal!  Now, it may take a little while to get those samples, so you'll want to get something in the meantime to hold you over.  Ask DH to pick up something from Vitamin Shoppe.  See if you can stomach it.  If not, he can return it and get something else.  It's trial and error, but it's really important that you figure this out.  
  Sounds like until you figure out your shake you'll need to stick with the greek yogurt.  Force down a few ounces here and there (I blended mine with some fruit to make it taste better) and you'll get some protein.  
  Keep at it!  And know that this experience you're having is textbook.  ;)  
  Hope that brings some comfort.  

Rosa 

I think this happens to almost everyone!  I was lucky and was able to tolerate chocolate protein mixed in milk very well. 

The smell gagged me too at times, and any of the sweeter ones I just couldn't tolerate.  But - once you find something that works - that's great!

What I ended up doing was taking crystal lite and mixing unflavored with it.  Yes, the texture changes (makes it a little thicker) and there's a little bit of a taste/smell - but it was something I could tolerate and manage.

You may want to mix the shakes a little on the weak side - see if that helps.

I also posted a TON of protein recipes late last week (or just go to my blog and copy/paste them).  I'm sure you'll find something there that you can tolerate.

I also like to put sugar Free syrups in my drinks to change the taste up - and they can help mast the "proteiny" smell and flavor.  If you don't have the SF syrups, try using some spices out of your cupboard and experimenting a bit. 

One of my immediate post-op flavors was protein hot chocolate.  Take Swiss Miss diet, make with water, heat to no more than 140 degrees and mix chocolate or vanilla (or you could probably try unflavored) protein powder to it.  I found the protein powders actually creamed up the hot chocolate. 

Are you allowed to mix anything with your shakes? Like try a piece of banana and blend with the chocolate, use the flavored sugar free syrups (in the coffee aisle), etc. It will help mask the flavor and smell.

Thank you so much for the encouragement and ideas!

I am going on a protein quest today...I have lots of Torani syrups and samples to try..so I will get to it! Now that the nausea has subsided, I dread trying anything else...but it has to be done!

It makes me feel alot better to know that this happens to alot of people post-op.

Defrosting my tilapia right now and thinking positive that my stomach will accept it

Tia, can you drink milk?  I drank Non-Fat Dry milk mixed with milk and it counted for a lot of my protein in the first couple of weeks after surgery.  I also used the Diet Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate and used the milk mixture to really up the protein count.

Hope you get passed on to purees tomorrow!!

Linda

I understand exactly what you are going through and I feel for you.....(((HUGS)))   I found that I couldn't drink protein when it was in shake form for about 6 months.  It made me gag so much that just thinking about it made me sick.  Everything tasted sweeter, saltier, and stronger.

Here's a few things I did do to get my Protein in. I bought unflavored Any Whey from GNC and I put it into practically everything....jello,. soups, pudding, crystal lite, hot chocolate etc.  I also found that if I put it in warm things that I could get it down easier than cold.  Unjury makes a really good chicken broth and I could get down easy too.

Later on I also found that if I used a shaker cup from GNC that it helped with the smell. I still can't mix my protein in milk and make it into a thick shake.  I mix everything in water and I have to make it very thin.