I can not get my protein in, I've tried adding protein powders to my smoothies and I can't stomach it.  I added and it seems like I am only gettting like 30 grams of protein in.  I know its bad so please don't just tell me its bad.  I can't eat meat because no matter what it is, I puke.  I can't eat beans because the consistancy in my mouth makes me gag.  Am I really destined to live off protein drinks for the rest of my life?  There isn't a protein pill I could take is there?  I'm only 10 weeks out so I'm not in danger of dying but I want to do better.  Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

 I can only stomach "Designer Whey" Double Chocolate protein powder with 8 oz 1% milk. I drink one in the morning (with milk it is 26 grams of protein) and one at night. So I am getting 52 grams total but they say I need more. Tuna and meat make me sick and yogurt is too sweet. I did buy unflavored unjury powder off of the internet that you can add to food. I did try it in V8 and it wasn't too bad. You might want to consider getting some of it and trying to add some to food that you can tolerate. Hang in there...this is tougher than people think!

 There actually are protein pills, but they have only 1 or 2 grams of protein per pill, so they really aren't a very viable option (and I honestly don't remember whether the type of protein in them was any good or not). What about dairy products?  Milk, yogurt, and cheese are good sources of protein.  Greek yogurt is particularly high in protein.  If nothing else, you can drink plain 1% or 2% milk and get a fair amount of protein (and fluids) in that way.  You mentioned meat and beans, but what about chicken, turkey, fish (shellfish, "regular" types of fish like cod or halibut (very mildly flavored fish), tuna, etc.)?  Nuts also have a reasonable amount of protein (but you have to limit them because they also are pretty high in fat and therefore calories).

Also, and your tried the protein waters?  Isopure and Cytomax both make them.  I personally think the Isopure ones are disgusting but I really like the Cytomax (but they can be harder to find).

Lora

Yeah, isopure is gross. What about low fat string cheese, cottage cheese or laughing cow? It's not a ton of protein at one time, but it would help... What about eggs? Egg salad, scrambled eggs, etc. even deviled eggs if you like those. Talk to your doc too. See if it's better for you to get the protein, even if it means maybe extra calories or fat, versus not getting it at all. There are no sugar added carnation instant breakfast and I think they have 8g of protein plus the 8g in milk... Might work? I get very sick of the fake sweetener taste and I feel most of the protein shakes are too sweet. What about lean lunch meat?

We had our surgeries only a day apart and I've also struggled to get my protein and my fluids in. That is, until I read about Syntrax Matrix here. Now I actually look forward to my protein drinks...I'm using the Mint Cookie flavor with regular Silk Milk. I can tell you that I'm feeling much better and not so exhausted. I hope this helps. This whole thing has been a lot harder than I thought it would be.

 Where do you get the syntax matrix?  I was drinking muscle milk, the pre made kind, but since I've been doing that since march I'm kind of sick of it.  Basically I want to come up with a solution before it becomes a huge problem.  I appreciate your advice and support.  I see people on here that don't care and do whatever they want, trust me, I am not one of them.

You can get it online.....just search under Syntrax Matrix.  They have a sample pack with different flavors available, so you don't get stuck with a whole bunch of something you don't like.

Matrix is my numero uno favorite protein .... I drink it ALL the time, get it on Amazon, about $38/5 pounds, with free shipping if I sign up for the automated shipping thingie where it sends it every month (or two or three months)

I haven't personally tried it yet, but there are always really good reviews on Jay Robb protein.  It is a bit more pricey, but apparently it doesn't have the chalky/protein taste like most protein powders do.  Maybe purchasing some samples and see if it is something you can tolerate?  He also makes an unflavored protein.  

The first few months can be so hard. It's like having a pro ball coach yelling in your face everyday to run laps when you're in a wheel chair.

is it dry meat that is disagreeing with you? I'd sit and eat meat sauce with ground beef that I used to make with pasta. Of course, no pasta now. Tuna salad and chicken salad was a lifesaver. It was damn near a slider food. I never had issues with it going down. I put the chicken through the food processor and got it fairly pureed first. I still wanted chicken, not total mush.

As for protein powders, finding one can be hard. But just keep trying until you find something you like. Get samples from places. I know that Vitalady.com and nashuanutrition.com both do have alot of samples. I have ordered from both.

There's SO many protein powder choices out there. I wasn't able to stomach many of them... the taste... Egads

Everything tasted bad post op for me but it got progressively better. I still won't touch the lighter, more watery ones. I just can't get into the taste. I like the more creamy whey blend ones which BSN does a fine job with. For you though, the watery might be better and smoothies might be too uch for your system. I make THICK protein smoothies and I have times when they're a little much for me... and also quite filling... which, again, may be a problem for the newly post op. Anyhow, Syntrax Nectar has the ones that are more watery and are similar to like Crystal Light flavors.

It will get better, I promise.

I agree that the Isopure Zero Carb drinks are not fit for human consumption, but the Isopure Smoothies??? Now we're talking!! They are RTD's and on the expensive side, but I wouldn't have gotten my protein in without them. I purchased mine from Vitamin Shoppe.

Sometimes things are SO easy for me, it's hard for me to relate. But the other day someone said something to me about a food they looove but that makes me gag. It was sort of a lightbulb moment for me.  I realized better than ever how easy it is to suck it up when it's something YOU enjoy, but if I were to substitute something that makes me gag, boy it would be a different story.

So my thoughts on this are: 

If it is something you hate, that sort of turns your stomach, but you can get it down, you might want to hold your nose, and swig it down. Eww I know (I'm bringing to my mind Chorizo, which is something that makes me want to gag... I could eat it, but would hate doing it. So if it makes you feel awful, but you can keep it down, I'd say to you to "suck it up" but (and this is a big one) it won't be forever.

If it is something that comes right back up... welll obviously suck it up would be immediately followed by chuck it up.... right? Like, what's the point?  

Hubby keeps thinking it's wrong that I never drink water. If it was a flavor thing, that's one thing, but it makes me queasy in 2 ounces, ready to hurl at 3 ounces, and I toss my cookies by 4 ounces. I drink it to take pills (in carefully measured doses. So I found that making it slightly acidic helps. You might find something that helps also.

Some people enjoy the greek yoghurt (get the unflavored, and flavor it up) ... recently I got some Hemp seeds, and one 6 ounce of yoghurt, with hemp seeds on top, and I'd have one-third of my protein for the day. Get creative. Work on it.

99% of RNYers live life to the fullest at goal without downing protein drinks like they're going out of style. I've got to get to sleep, so I don't have time to share what I would like to share, but this is what I do below. I hope you got from the above that I am NOT saying to "suck it up" if it makes you physically ill. But the big deal in my shakes is I couldn't stand the SMELL ... I mean, EWWW but once the smell was gone, it wasn't nearly so bad. So this is what I wrote in my blog about it. It might help you get to the point where you can get more protein from food.

When I was in the losing phase I used Syntrax Nectars: (fuzzy navel, natural peach, natural orange were my favorite flavors) with 90 calories, 23.5 grams of Whey Isolate Protein and zero fat and zero carbs:

Now that I'm in Maintenance I generally use Syntrax Matrix Strawberries and cream or Oranges in cream, cheapest in the 5-lb bag:

with strawberry or orange crystal light:

mixed in a paper cup:

stirred with a plastic spoon:
(so I'm getting a bit silly)

then poured in an arrowhead sport bottle:


This is 120 calories, 10 from the crystal light, 110 from the protein powder, 23.5 grams of protein, 1.5 g sugar, 1.5 g fat and 20 to 22 ounces of water.

I have a water dispenser in my classroom:

I tend to top off the one bottle of protein drink all day long, then recycle that bottle and start with a fresh one the next day. I feel somewhat bad for creating so much waste, but I've balanced it out and decided that overall this way I get LOTS of liquids, and get all my necessary protein via shakes (and still try to get 30 to 50 grams of protein from food as well). My first three protein shakes of the day are full scoop, then I drop to half scoop. I also add my UpCal D to the beverage to get my calcium:

I had the same issue with protein drinks early out.  I still don't care for them but I do drink one a day by drinking it fast first thing in the morning.  I find ones with higher protein so I get 1/3 of my daily protein out of the way.

I suggest you do a big bowl Fage Yogurt 0%  twice a day and add crystal light lemon, cherry, mango/pinapple crystal light, some Stevia  and add strawberries sliced up in it. Do a cup and a half of  Fage yogurt 
I  think is 24 grams of protein per 1 cup serving. So you will be getting 36 grams everytime you eat this yogurt flavored your way.   Theres your 64... and It is good on mashed potatoes, too. Good luck to you!

You guys are great! I have a few ideas and I'm going to work on those!!!