I was sleeved along with hiatal hernia repair on 4/9 and so far my recovery has been great for the most part. Very little pain, I haven't taken any pain meds since the day I got home from the hospital. My abdomen was very puffy and swollen for several days, I'm sure from pumped in gas and fluids. I joked that after surgery, my belly is now bigger than ever, wth? The puffiness seemed to subside quite a bit yesterday. I still have an occasional shooting pain in my left shoulder, especially when I hiccup or burp, I'm sure that's gas. An abdominal muscle than seems to run under the largest Incision is still very sore, especially when coughing or sneezing. Chewbacca my growling tummy loves to talk when I feed it.

Post op diet is two weeks of full liquids then transitions to mushies for two weeks. I'm able to get 64 oz of liquid down easily, but yesterday was the first day I met Protein goals. Not sure how often I'll be able to do that on liquids, as I had to use Gatorade Recover drinks to get there and whey Proteins break me out in weird bumps and hives. Sure enough, I woke up to several welts on my face this morning. Going to visit Sam's Club today to see if I have any luck finding good soy protein supplements. Even our GNC didn't carry soy in stock, gotta love the South. Been averaging 300-500 calories a day until yesterday when I bumped it to almost 800.

Stepped on the scale this morning and I'm down . . . wait for it . . . 3 pounds since surgery. I'm not going to say "only" 3 lbs because I know it's still net in my favor, but SERIOUSLY?!?! Yes I have metabolism issues, yes I'm hypothyroid, but dang. I did lose 20 lbs in the five weeks before surgery. I think I'll have to really try to bump up my calories somehow to try to get close to 800-1000, my body must be in starvation calorie hoarding mode. My fat loves me very very very much!

On the plus side, I tried on some shirts last night that I haven't been able to wear in a couple of years, and they fit, yay!

So, I need some ideas, friends. One week to go on full liquids, and I need ideas on bumping up protein and calories while avoiding dairy/whey. Any suggestions? Isopure and protein shots are whey based, so that is out.

Any input would be welcome!

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So happy that you are recovering so well. A friend of mine (non-surgery) uses Hemp protein... but I don't think it is as high in grams per serving as IsoPure. Are you able to place orders on line, because there are services through Amazon.com and netrition.com has lots of protein options (though mostly whey) with soy and hemp, I believe. Good luck!

I use the unflavored protein and put it in soup. You can put it is anything you drink and make it protein. So far, so good. I get it from unjury. Unjury also has a chicken soup protein powder that's really good.

I usually order online but my bad reaction to the whey protein left me scrambling. Unjury is whey, like Isopure. Just trying to think of some short term solutions to get me through the week until I can start mushies. If I order online it'll be a week between get the package anyway. I did find a small jar of unflavored soy protein, but it clumps in just about everything, and stays as sediment on the bottom of drinks.

I only had to be on full liquids for 10 days after surgery, and you might consider asking your doctor if you can go to mushies sooner because of your allergic reaction to whey protein. I think protein is pretty important for a lot of reasons, and so you should definitely try to get it in. Milk, egg whites, and beans are a good source of protein, and quinoa is a soft grain that has protein as well. If you want soy protein, try putting "soy protein" in Amazon's search and see what comes up.

I use a muscle milk light has 20gms protein and contains no dairy. I have not used calorie count I was told in the beginning to get 60+ protein and at least 50 carbs. other than that I don't worry bout calories. Good thing too cause I was always bad at counting them! Nut. told me to keep doin what I am doing works for me. Surgery was 1/20.

I use a muscle milk light has 20gms Protein and contains no dairy. I have not used calorie count I was told in the beginning to get 60+ protein and at least 50 carbs. other than that I don't worry bout calories. Good thing too cause I was always bad at counting them! Nut. told me to keep doin what I am doing works for me. Surgery was 1/20.

Muscle Milk Light is made with milk Proteins and is not dairy free. I just double checked the ingredients online. Thanks for your input, though. I really don't give a flip about calorie counting other than I'm not losing weight right now because my body is in starvation mode, and I think I need to bump my calorie levels to see if it helps.

Appreciate everyone's tips!

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I only had to be on full liquids for 10 days after surgery' date=' and you might consider asking your doctor if you can go to mushies sooner because of your allergic reaction to whey Protein. I think protein is pretty important for a lot of reasons, and so you should definitely try to get it in. Milk, egg whites, and Beans are a good source of protein, and quinoa is a soft grain that has protein as well. If you want soy protein, try putting "soy protein" in Amazon's search and see what comes up.[/quote']

Great to know, I'll call my doc tomorrow! Thanks!

I've ordered soy drink mixes off websites for years, I was just caught unprepared this time because I didn't expect to get hives from "lactose free" whey. I did blend some black bean soup last night, but in the tiny portions I can consume at a time the protein amounts are piddly. Did find some soy protein at Sam's that has 13g per serving. Hopefully they will clear me to add some egg and maybe mushy tuna, can't do milk because of the lactose/whey.

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You may want to look into the Protein Bullets as well and see if you can tolerate one of those. I think many of them are whey isolate, but they are 42-50 grams of protein in about 3 oz of liquid. I've been reading about those lately, and apparently whey isolate is only part of the protein. The other protein can be collagen protein, which may not be ideal, but in your case, it may be a second choice. From what I understand, they don't taste all that great, but they aren't much to get down: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=protein+bullet You may want to ask your doctor about that as an alternative also.