...That you cannot lose weight if you

don't get enough Protein.

You know, it seems almost common sense.

But I went in for my appointment,

not having lost any weight for a month

(and losing more hair than normal).

I was quite disheartened.

The band is at a good restriction

(don't know if it's the sweet spot yet)

and my food choices are, for the most part, pretty good.

I went over my routine with them

and there in lies the problem.

For awhile I was skipping Breakfast...

band feels tighter, not a breakfast person.

Sometimes I would skip lunch...

maybe some almonds or my handful of Vitamins

and PCOS meds I have to take!

Normal dinner.

I was getting around 30 grams of protein a day.:thumbdown:

The nutritionist was like "whoa!

No, you should be getting about 60-70 grams per day.":scared2:

I'm thinking..."gee, would have been awesome

had you told me that bleeping THREE months ago!"

:thumbup:

So I've added Muscle Milk Light (15g) as breakfast

and I'm gonna work on pushing my protein through the day.

I just wanted to let people know...

in case they find themselves in a similar situation.

It's very frustrating when the body does

exactly what you tell it to do,

but you don't know you are telling it the wrong things.

:thumbup:

JDG - I'm just a newbie too but here's what I try to do. I'm in the soft food phase. In 3 days I go to the stabilization phase and I can't wait to eat salad!!! Yay!

At each meal, I try to get 3 - 4 oz of Protein (greek yogurt, eggs, LF cheese, fish, meat) 1/4 c vege, 1/4 c fruit (sometimes replaced with starch). I've found it really helps to get the 20 oz of Water in between each meal. Occasionally I feel hungry between meals, so I have a small banana. My old habits of eating at night still haunt me sometimes, so I have sf/ff hot chocolate made with water or herbal tea, so far that's working.

Like Kay, I sometimes supplement my protein with Isopure Protein Drink. This was recommended to me by my surgeon.

btrieger - How you doing? Haven't seen you on the boards lately!

I got the number of 60-80 grams of protein from the information that was given to me by the Director of Bariatric Surgery at the hospital where I had my surgery.

I always want to learn more. If you have other information I'd really like to read about it.

At support group we were told, this isn't an exact science. Everybody will have different needs and finds ways that work for them.

Wish I had known that too. It's hard for me to get that much protein, but if I had known about this, I would have tried harder to get more.

Wish I had known that too. It's hard for me to get that much protein, but if I had known about this, I would have tried harder to get more.

I believe protein is important and I use it for most of my diet. I worked hard at it until I went to my doc for my last fill. He showed me how much protein I need and I was surprised by it. He said two 2 to 4 oz servings a day would do it. I do that and I add my Muscle Milk protein to my coffee in the morning and it seems to be enough. I consistently lose 1 lb a week. I feel better becaue I was beating myself up over the whole protein thing. Hugs!!!

My doctor has a program to go over all that stuff prior to the procedure. My goal is 60 grams a day and had to get into the habit prior. Some things that I found were soy nut (dry roasted edonmea(not sure if that is spelled correctly)) which has 14 g per 1/4 cup and protein bars (I love the pure protein brand has low calories, low sugar and 20 g of protein). I will have those with a peice of friut which helps getting it down with out drinking.

I'm not a breakfast person either, so I usually just drink a protein shake for breakfast. I use the Whey Protein mix from Walmart (forget the brand name) and it has 52grams of protein per serving. So I get most of my protein intake for the day taken care of at breakfast, and whatever else i eat during the day easily brings me up to the 70-80 grams range...usually more than that actually...

Geeez , I know im not getting enough protien,, prolly around 40grams a day... guess i need to focus more on that.

My doctor's guideline is a minimum of 60 grams of Protein a day. Here's how I get mine in:

Breakfast:

smoothie consisting of:

1/2 frozen banana

3 frozen strawberries.

10 fresh blueberries

1 vanilla Activia light yogurt

3 oz pineapple juice

3 ounces milk

1 scoop vanilla Protein powder (about 280 calories, 30 grams protein).

I'm usually tight in the morning so the smoothie works well for me.

lunch & Dinner:

3-4 ounces of protein

Try to add some veggies with these meals.

I've got the protein down, it's the Water I need to work on. :thumbup:

HTH!

Yes, very informative post and reminder. I, too, am not getting enough Protein and have stalled in my weight loss. Even gained 5lbs on a long journey across the US. We went on an 18 day road trip. I will try to up my protein to and see what happens. Thanks, Voodoo for the reminder that protein is key to weight loss.

I must add this...

I got 73 grams of protein yesterday

and ALREADY I feel awesome.

I have so much energy today it's ridiculous.

And that's on top of having started my period today.

I never (I repeat, never) feel awesome and energetic

for the first couple of days.

So, PROTEIN is the SH*T, Baby!

:smile2:

I just started using a website myfitnesspal.com to track my calories but it also tracks Protein and carbs and fat. Awesome website and you can put the app on your iphone to keep track of things during the day.

I get a lot of protein each day according to this site. I eat turkey sausage, eggs, tuna fish (awesome source of protein and it comes in those smaller containers now you can take to go), chicken, cottage cheese. I found I was getting enough protein from my food intake that I no longer needed the Protein shakes. That is the goal!!!!

So Protein is the trick I was wondering how much protein I need daily and now I have some answers. I'm a week and 4 days out of banded and have lost 9 since. Dr has me onsoft liquids til 4/26 will try to get more protein in. I have a Protein shake daily so that gives me 26 but I see I need to make sure I am getting more. thanks for your info guys!!!

I'm really loving this site!!!!! So helpful!!!!!

Donna Jo Love your sayings and your little chick!!!

So Protein is the trick I was wondering how much protein I need daily and now I have some answers. I'm a week and 4 days out of banded and have lost 9 since. Dr has me onsoft liquids til 4/26 will try to get more protein in. I have a protein shake daily so that gives me 26 but I see I need to make sure I am getting more. thanks for your info guys!!!

I'm really loving this site!!!!! So helpful!!!!!

I used to put whatever protein the family was eating into the blender and thinned it with chicken broth. I sometimes added cheese and then heated it so the cheese was well melted. It is a little more work, but well worth it!!! Pretty yummy too!! Hugs!!!

After reading about how much Protein we need I made sure yesterday I got atleast 60 g I actually had 73 I could measure. I lost a pound and had been at a standstill for 3 days, so I think it did help. I found something in an old abs diet book about protein I will share "For one, protein helps kick-start your metabolism. It takes your body twice as much energy to break down protein as it does to break down carbohydrates, so when you eata high protein meal, you actually burn off additional calories at the dinner table."

I thought it was helpful and I am going to continue trying to really keep track of my protein intake.

banded 3/30/10 started 204

3/11/10 194:smile2:

I use Isopure. It comes in bottles and is not a shake. Each bottle has 40 g of Protein. I will drink about 1/4 to 1/2 a bottle a day to supplement what my diet doesn't cover. That being said, I do really well at getting my protein via the diet.

I like the Isopure because it isn't a shake. I do not like the shakes. While it's expensive (a case of these bottles is almost $50!) I've had a case last me more than a month. So, it works well.

Just a few tips on what I do. I hope it helps. Good luck in getting that protein!

What is the calorie content? A lot of helpful info from a lot of sources is either missing protein gram total or calorie total...

Drasan - Any suggestions you can give us newbies for getting that 60-80 grams? I am using Protein shakes, but the calories definitely add up! What is a typical day's menu for you?

Thanks!

What I like to do is wake up around 8 or 9 and I take a couple Protein pills with a bite of cottage cheese. Then I go to the gym, come home weigh myself (when you are the lightest) and shower. Then I make my yummy Protein shake. It is at least 30 g of protein in one meal. I put 5 ice cubes in my magic bullet then about a cup of 1% milk which adds alot of protein, then about a teaspoon of Peanut Butter, half a banana, and 1 scoop of slim fasts Protein powder mix in chocolate. Then I make sure I get some almonds and cashews cottage cheese deff some lean meat for dinner.:thumbup: