60, 80, 100, 120 - Minimum protein?

I've seen a variety of minimums on the forums. My surgeon, who seems to be one of the great DS and revision surgeons, says 80-90 grams per day is my goal. With my sleeve it is only 60, for obvious reasons. But what do you vets strive for and what's your minimum?

Also, something I didn't think of until this weekend - even though one serving of a protein shake might give you say 24 grams, just calculate how much you have to take to get 30 - 35 grams instead. That was a "duh" moment for me. I just couldn't figure out what protein powder people were using that had 30 - 35 grams.

One more question, I read on vitalady that our bodies (not sure if she meant DS specifically) can only absorb about 35 grams at one time. Is this true? If so, does that mean in like one sitting or sipping a 50 gram protein shake over 45 min to an hour?

Right here is the great psychological disconnect...your surgeon is good at surgery.  He/she trained and studied for over a decade to specialise and consequently can cut up a storm.  I have worked with surgeons now for 18 years next week.  They know dick about nutrition.  Don't get me wrong they understand the principals of metabolism better than most but they are far from being nutritionists. So when one says you only need 80grams of protein take that as an under estimation.

I have noticed that DS surgeons still have conditioned the whole excess protein/toxicity thing. With us we will not develop liver toxicity from eating over 200grams of protein a day because we don't get to absorb it all.

Who can say exactly how much you absorb of any given food?  My malabsorbtion seems to be better than a few people I know personally with the DS so if 80g was my set point then how long would it take me to develop protein malnutrition if in effect I was only getting 40g of absorption a day? 

So the answer to your question is...always eat over 100 grams a day.  I would strongly recommend you aim for 150grams to 200 grams to allow a buffer for your body to restore muscle mass, skin turgor and integrity.  If you mare weight baring with exercise than you must increase your protein to correspond.

As for protein powder I occasionally use Champion Pure Whey stack and heap three scoops into lacto free milk in my mixer bottle and shake it up.  I'm getting close to 60grams out of that one shake (but it is sweet hell).

You rate of absorption of protein comes down to your bowel transit your metabolic rate etc.  I have no idea if my body can or can't absorb more than 35grams of protein in once sitting. I am not terribly surprised that that may be the case for DSers.  Loss of length of small intestinal absorption would cause that.  Not 100% sure but seems logical.

I didn't know she passed!

I take it you mean Mickie.  Yeh she had plastics and died of complications secondary to blood loss in the Hotel afterwards. This happened about two years ago and was a massive blow to us all.  She is missed.

Poor Happychick.x

My dietitian and I tested to see if my system was good with only 90 grams of protein from shakes vice 120 grams. I did 90 grams for about 3 months and my protein and albumin dropped. My dietitian said go back to 120 grams from shakes. So, that's what I do plus I eat low carb high protein. I would imagine I'm in the 150 - 200 grams of protein a day range.

--gina

I'm sure there's an upper limit on how much of anything we can absorb in a given space of time---that's why we're told to spread out our protein and vites throughout the day.

How much protein YOU will need to eat will depend solely on YOUR labs.

Thanks for the info. I think aiming for 150, 120 minimum is a good start for me. I am also stocking up on vitamins now so I don't go into this with a deficiency. That's my nightmare but it's also in my control to a point.

Bear in mind, there have been NO conclusive studies which indicate how much protein we can absorb at one time (either for normies or modified internals).

Does anyone know why studies haven't been done on these things?  It seems to me like there is enough people that a legit study could be done by some surgeon's group.

According to the binder that my hospital gives to all bariatgric surgery patients specific to their procedures, mine being the DS, the minimum intake goal is 90-100 grams of protein daily.  What you do is divide that in half, and that's what your body is absorbing.  The figures they gave us for absorption rates is as follows:

50-60% of protein and complex carbs (fruits and veggies)
20% of fats
100% of simple carbs (white flour, foods made with white flour)
100% of simple sugars ( white sugar, brown sugar, candy, soda, etc)

I always shoot above 100, because my common channel is only 75cm, the shortest "normal" length. 

Grams are grams, no matter how long it takes to get them in. I'm not sure about the 35 gram absorption rate, but I'll take Vitalady's word for it.  What I do is double scoop the protein powder my shakes.  So, if I make up a shake that is say, with protein powder and milk (you count the protein grams in that, too), and my powder is 30 grams per scoop, and milk is 11 grams of protein per 8 ounces, I  have a shake that contains 71 grams of protein. If my absorption rate is 50% (easiest to assume for math purposes), I'm getting 35.5 grams from that shake.

The container of protein powder has a "Nutrition Facts" chart on the label, required by the FDA, that tells you what and how many grams are in the powder.  One thing you have to do as a DSer is become a label reader for protein in your foods when you're buying groceries. I usually don't buy anything that has under 7 grams of protein in it.