It is  perfectly fine not to drink the shakes if you get enough protein from your food.  The protein in food is just as good as the protein in shakes.

Not trying to discount what you are going through, my first thought was "suck it up buttercup".  I cannot stress the importance of getting in enough protein.  As Nic stated view it as medicine and get it in.  What type of protein supplements have you tried?  Are you doctoring them up in anyway?

In all honestly it is TOUGH to get in near enough protein early out without supplementing.  I had a surgeon that was AGAINST protein shakes and guess what, I went against his wishes and drank them because I knew what I could consume and I could barely get in a couple 100 calories per day without them. 

Your health and healing depend on you getting in enough nutrition.  You CAN do hard things, find the mixture that works.

Give us ideas what have you tried, and how?

I too had an awful time with the protien shakes and thought I couldn't stand to drink another one of them.    Then I tried  unflavored Bariatric Advantage Protien ----problem solved!    I now have a shake every morning that I take to work for my breakfast.   One I lke alot is unflavored protien, ice, reduced fat milk, vanilla flavoring, frozen strawberries and 1/2 banana.    Great shake and no funky protien aftertaste or awful preflavored yuk.    You can flavor it any way that you want.   The protien powder also works in sugar free puddings, and makes great  peanut butter protien balls for snacks.      I once read that if you didn't like a protien shake that you just hadn't found the right one and I now tend to agree.    

Also have you tried making your own instant breakfast with protien powder?   I also make that for days that I am on the go and just have to add water and shake.    There are ways to use the powders ---maybe you just need to experiment a litte.

 I find it strange that you wonder about getting protein from milk vs whey.  The protein in milk is from whey--remember the nursery rhyme about curds and whey--curds are used to make cheese and whey is used for milk.

You can also get protein from soy shakes.  When I first had RNY, I was alergic to the whey shakes and I had to have soy shakes.  They tasted terrible.  Maybe things have changed in 11 years.

There has bee an age old argument as to whether we should get protein from shakes or from food.  I joined OH in July 2000 and this argument has been going on the whole time.  Just don't rush into stages of food you can't handle too soon.  

 I have to admit...i am too having a problem with protein. I have not tried any of the protein shakes or protein of any kind accept carnation instant breakfast which is starting to get me sick feeling whenever i drink it.  So in your opinions is there a protein powder that is unflavored that seems to be UNFLAVORED and you can't tell your using it in things?  Like is the unjury unflavored protein mix good?  I see a lot of people saying vanilla.  I can understand that would be good to mix into sf pudding or shakes that you can flavor with maybe some sf syrup?   But i am not doing well at all getting protein in and i know the 3 tablespoons of refried beans with a bit of cheese and choboni yogurt isn't helping my protein at all daily...
I too will be depending on eating foods high in protein at meals to get my 60 plus g of protein a day.  When that time comes and i can do that.

The important thing to remember about unflavored is that it doesn't mean no flavor.  It just means no added flavor.  So you need to put it in something that has a stronger taste than the unflavored protein.  I use Any Whey and if I put it in soups and other recipes (keeping in mind that you can't just toss a scoop in a hot liquid without risking clumping) and I can't really taste it. 

Trust me if you toss a scoop into some plain old cottage cheese or something you will still know it's there.  Learne that the hard way. 

 I use unjury unflavored and add it to my cottage cheese all the time and have no problem with the taste at all. But I also add pepper to mine as well so maybe that helps.

I had the same problem at for the first few weeks...I developed a strong aversion to all the artificially sweetened stuff and my shakes.  When I hit week 5, I was able to go back to the shakes again with no problems - I only drink one in the morning, but it's a good jumpstart for the day's protein.  I found that my tastes came and went. 

I've tried different brands and flavors and no matter what I do, I can't get past that awful whey protein taste

Have you tried any soy isolate protein powders? They are almost as good as the whey ones. I use whey drinks myself, so I can't give you any recs, but everyone seems to be talking about whey only,  and soy isolate is also a high-quality protein.

I hated the protein shakes, too, and was looking forward to when I could get all my protein from food.  Then I heard people talking about having at least 100 grams of protein a day and how good their weight loss was and how good they felt so I decided to try getting in 100 grams a day and see what happens.  I knew there was no way I could eat enough to get in 100 grams so I sucked it up and bought some sugar free syrups and pudding mixes.  I found some great recipe ideas from Bariatric Foodie and Eggface and started experimenting and haven't stopped since.  Now I look forward to my protein treats.  It does seem that people who get in a lot of protein do pretty good with the weight loss.  Just trying different concoctions to find something you like.  My favorite is a frappe type decaf coffee drink made with decaf, milk, sugar free chocolate and caramel sauces, unflavored protein powder and ice.