Hey everyone!!! I need help in finding high protein low fat meal ideas... I'm slacking on my protien intake and need some meal ideas that are well rounded!!! Thanks for the help!!

Hi. I'm just 4 weeks post op, and still finding recipes that work for me. But a friend of mine bought be a couple of cookbooks before surgery that have been amazing. They are written by Sarah Kent, and my favorite is "The Gastric Sleeve" bariatric cookbook. She has recipes for all stages of the diet, full liquid, pureed, soft and general. They are all high protein.

It would help everyone reply if they know which stage diet you are planning for. Clear Liquid? Full Liquid? Pureed? Soft? Full?

Sorry trying to multitask and work and do this. I'm on stage 4 and beyond.. had surgery on 1/11/21

I am 8 months out and up until the last month or so, I usually needed protein powder to reach my goal of 60 grams of protein per day. It varies from one person to the next (and your surgeon may recommend a different protein goal than mine), but it could be a while before you can eat enough to get all of your protein from food. That doesn't necessarily mean you need to drink protein shakes every day (I know we all get sick of those); you can mix protein powder into other foods or beverages (a lot of people like to use caramel protein shake as a coffee creamer).

My go-to breakfast for a long time was half a scoop of protein powder mixed with half a container of triple zero Greek yogurt, for a total of 19 grams of protein (my favorite combo is birthday cake protein powder plus vanilla yogurt, topped with raspberries). Another good one is protein oatmeal. The BariatricPal store sells some with 15 grams of protein per serving, and you can add some more protein powder to that. There are a lot of protein pancake mixes on the market (and you can even buy frozen protein pancakes and waffles). Eggs, chicken sausage, and turkey bacon are always good high-protein options for breakfast.

For lunch and dinner, I usually have about 2 ounces of meat and 2 ounces of veggies, like a salad with chicken, or BBQ chicken (with sugar-free BBQ sauce) and air-fried veggies (green beans, asparagus, carrots, or broccoli), or lettuce wraps (like PF Chang's). Another favorite is Mexican-seasoned chicken with cauliflower rice, salsa, black beans, cheese, and nonfat Greek yogurt. And taco bites, with Quest chili lime protein chips topped with Mexican-seasoned chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, and nonfat Greek yogurt.

You can't eat much at this point, so you have to keep it simple and focus on protein. I love my air fryer and Instant Pot and I make a lot of recipes with them, but if you don't have those, you can find similar recipes that use other cooking methods. Here are some great recipes that I've made recently:

• Chicken Divan with cauliflower cream sauce (the cauliflower cream sauce is fantastic and can be used as a white sauce in a lot of recipes)
• Instant Pot Carnitas
• Instant Pot Mexican Chicken
• Instant Pot Lemon Garlic Chicken
• Garlic Parmesan Carrot Fries
• Buffalo Cauliflower (I make it in the air fryer)
• Turkey Ragu (excellent with Shelly's Ricotta Bake, roasted spaghetti squash, or shirataki noodles)
• Instant Pot Egg Bites
• Instant Pot BBQ chicken
• White Chicken Chili

I have a freezer full of bariatric portioned meals and Pinterest boards full of more recipes that I'm dying to try! If you don't already use Pinterest, you definitely should -- it's a gold mine.

@SheriM Thank you for the cookbook ideas. I just ordered a couple of them.

@BigSue What brand of protein powder are you using?

25 minutes ago, Rhapsody43 said:

@BigSue What brand of Protein Powder are you using?

I use IdealLean protein by IdealFit. The birthday cake flavor is my favorite (especially to mix into yogurt), and they have some other delicious flavors, too (I like chocolate brownie, chocolate coconut, and mint chocolate).

On 3/22/2021 at 1:01 PM, Jmaster2 said:

Hey everyone!!! I need help in finding high Protein low fat meal ideas... I'm slacking on my protien intake and need some meal ideas that are well rounded!!! Thanks for the help!!

I just learned that my hospital has nutrition class as well as post op support groups and they are considering starting cooking classes. If they do I will post the recipes as I learn them but you may consider asking your facilities dietitian if they will do something similar.