The reality that "patients don't have much room for vegetables after consuming necessary protein" is one that makes me think about the rest of my life.

I have to say the thought of living on 4 meals of almost exclusively protein, and a bunch of supplements (to round out how terribly unbalanced that is and keep me from essential vitamin deficiency) is a little depressing.

Not I-wish-I-hadn't-done-this depressing, but still kind of depressing.

I mean, I am not just someone that wanted to lose weight, I am someone that wanted to be reborn as someone that could nourish themselves sanely with balanced meals.

My last meal with an intact stomach was a tiny portion of grilled chicken breast, a tiny portion of spinach, and a tiny portion of brown rice (It was probably a 350 calorie meal tops) and the daydream that someday I could eat this tiny balanced meal and be satisfied

Stage 1 (liquids and protein powders) has got me thinking: what if in the future I use protein powders more aggressively, having two 100 calorie / 25g protein doses (either in water or broth).

If I did that, I'd have the protein requirements of the day practically covered, then I could eat these tiny banana-volume meals, but enjoy more BALANCED ones, with a tiny tasting of a protein (without having to fill up on protein just to make my "quota"), and accompany that with the room to eat some deliciously prepared leafy greens and some low glycemic index unrefined carbs.

I guess stomach capacity is such a premium for a post-op bariatric patient, that it seems unbalanced and wasteful to dedicate almost all of it to protein eating, and then turn to multivitamins for the rest of my nutrition.

Curious what folks are doing and if this question even makes sense to anyone.

Edited May 4, 20179 yr by TheRealSergio

I try to eat as much protein as I can, but I still make a point of eating at least some veggies at my meals. Yes if I eat some carrots that means there's slightly less room for another ounce of protein, but I also like to poop without bursting blood vessels soooooo...

Protein first is definitely the golden rule to follow, but I try to eat at least half my serving of meat, a couple bites of vegetables, and then back to meat again. My dietician wants me to eat more carbs at my meals but I'm not even thinking of that until I am able to eat full servings of veggies and meat in one sitting.

On 5/4/2017 at 10:50 PM, RickM said:

This doc will give you an idea of what to expect regarding your eating capacity as the months and years pile on:

This makes sense! I have his book and will be following his plans. Thanks for sharing!

I'm about 4.5 months out and have noticed in the last month my capacity has grown slightly as expected so my NUT said to start getting more veggies in my diet. I typically have very protein heavy breakfast and lunch and drink about 11 ounces of Fairlife milk to get a good start to my protein. I will have one snack of cheese and one of either Peanut Butter or Raw Veggies depending on if it's a gym day. Dinner I usually have a little less protein so I can throw in some veggies and starches/carbs.

I'm one month out and I too had concerns of the amount I can eat to make the protein requirements. I understand it's for a short time but is still a concern. My Doc recommmended 60g protein as well. I think that's way too low. Caloric intake ,all I can get in at this point is 500-700 cals depending on if I have cheese or not. Vitamins aren't a problem for me at least. Great suggestions on how to get the vegs in during lunch! Right now it's very little for me.

I was an over eater so getting full on small portion sizes is good for me. Gladly looking forward to month 2 and beyond and loosing the fat.

I'm in maintainance phase and learning how to consume more normal meals. I usually drink protein shake in the morning for the reason you've stated-- frees up some real estate in my stomach. Lunch is often tuna salad or lentil soup, and maybe veggies and hummus. Dinner is whatever my family has, but I adjust amounts accordingly. I use an app to track my protein, carbs, etc. As per my plan, I adjust protein and carbs as needed to stay at my current weight and this allows me more ways to eat a healthy variety of food than when I was in the wl stages.