Just a quick question, with no simple answer, I'm sure. I'm just wondering what my protein goal should be? My doctor said 70gr. it the goal, but that was right after surgery. Does your goal change as you move later into Sleeve life? I easily get 70gr. daily just eating healthy with Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, beef, chicken etc. But I also run 5K every day. This drops the protein in my blood. I know this because I donate Plasma, and have been deferred often for low protein. So, I bumped my protein intake to between 140gr. and 160gr. (on really good days). Still I struggle to keep my protein within range.

So, anyone else going through something similar? Is there anything I can eat that will help with absorption? Is there a "golden" number I should be looking for? Seems like everyone else is getting far less protein than I am... are your labs still coming back good?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

PS -> Yes, that is a ton of protein, and always a struggle. Also, yes, eating that much protein has helped me to gain back some weight, about 15lbs.

Edited July 16, 20206 yr by Happyfamilyof5

The program I'm in says 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight, which seems kind of on the high side to me, but it worked out well for me pre-op.

9 years ago, the program I was in for my lap band had a goal of 60g of protein, so there was a little bit of whiplash on my expectations when I went pre-op for revision to VSG back in February.

I'm 9 days post-op and right now I've been getting 89g of protein a day from the liquid diet I'm on.

my clinic told us to get at least 60 grams a day, but we discovered through a blood test a month or two after my surgery that I malabsorb protein (I might have malabsorbed it before surgery, too - but we don't know since they never did a protein baseline). So I'm supposed to get a minimum of 100 grams a day. When I don't, my prealbumin level tanks. I've been doing 100+ grams ever since that discovery five years ago, and my prealbumin level has been fine. SO...that 70 grams you were told is probably fine for most people - but you'll find out if it's too high or low for you through your labs. Are you still doing annual labs? If your prealbumin level is normal, you're probably fine.

this is a brilliant breakdown of the recommendations. You can take these values and add 15%-20% for sleeve (since we absorb slightly less) > https://examine.com/nutrition/how-much-protein-do-you-need/

2 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

my clinic told us to get at least 60 grams a day, but we discovered through a blood test a month or two after my surgery that I malabsorb Protein (I might have malabsorbed it before surgery, too - but we don't know since they never did a protein baseline). So I'm supposed to get a minimum of 100 grams a day. When I don't, my prealbumin level tanks. I've been doing 100+ grams ever since that discovery five years ago, and my prealbumin level has been fine. SO...that 70 grams you were told is probably fine for most people - but you'll find out if it's too high or low for you through your labs. Are you still doing annual labs? If your prealbumin level is normal, you're probably fine.

100g would be just about spot on for your height. You can do nitrogen tests to get an idea of your protein requirements. The idea is to be in barley positive nitrogen balance.

Some of the information my surgeon gave me says, post surgery 60-80 grams of protein daily. I was also given a formula to calculate your daily protein needs. Of course your active lifestyle would play a huge factor in determining your daily needs.

I've always eaten more protein than suggested and it works well for me even 8 months post op still get 100g a day minimum