How much protein is too much?

[newbegining2024 44]

After about 3 weeks post op, I am finally feeling better. So I am back to focusing on what I am eating and trying to break my stall. I have the stall at week 2, only really loss weight for 1 week after surgery when I was in the liquid stage.
I want to ask all of you, how much Proteins you eat a day?

Before the surgery I was told to have 65-75 grams of Protein a day, but when I follow up 1 week after surgery, my nutritionist told me to drink 2 bottle or Protein Shake a day. That’s already 60 grams! However I followed what he told me for a week. With the 2 bottle of shakes, my protein intake is over 100grams a day. When week 2 ended I didn’t loss any weight, but gained 2lbs…I feel like I took too much protein so when week 3 started I stop drinking 2 bottles of shakes and only drink 1. I can eat 40-50 grams of protein on my own right now. With the shake I am ranging from 70-85 grams a day. I like salmon, tuna and other type of fish and it gives me good amount of protein.

Now after a few days of doing that. I finally loss that 2 lbs and back to my 1 week post op weight 241 lbs. do you think I am doing the right thing here not listening to what my nutritionist tell me?…he said I needed more protein to heal. 85 grams of protein is already 20 grams over what they told me to take initially tho.

My liquid intake is 48oz a day now. This is hard because I literally can only sip very small sips. To finish a full bottle of Water 500ml, it will take a 1 full hour, sometimes longer. With 3 meals a day, not drink 30 mins and 30 mins after, 48 oz of liquid is at my best. My eating schedule is 8am-5pm. 8am Breakfast, 12pm lunch and 4:30pm dinner. Take me 30 mins to finish my meal. I feel like drinking water is like a full time job now.

Surgery date 1/22 250lbs

Post op 1/24 257lbs

1/31 follow up visit and started 2 shakes a day 241lbs

2/5 243lbs I stop drinking the 2 shakes

2/9 241lbs

So after almost 3 weeks I loss about 9 lbs, and it was only during the first week when I was eating! Now I am feeling better I want to continue with the loss and not gain weight. Any input would be welcome. Thanks in advance.

Edited February 9 by newbegining2024

[BeanitoDiego 150]

Seems like you've hit the 3-week stall. Totally normal! Lots and lots of posts here about it in the forums. Keep in mind that with the shakes, you were also getting the benefit of the liquid. In my program, I was still eating Soups at this stage, which also helped with my liquid intake.

I'm 6 months post-op and drinking Water is still a full time job. 80 ounces or more every day 😎

[catwoman7 11,070]

I would follow what your clinic says. Stalls are a normal part of weight loss, and as long as you're compliant with your program, they WILL break. No need to do anything other than to make sure you're following. your clinic's program to a "T".

100 grams of Protein isn't too high. Most of us are told to shoot for the 60-80 range, and even that can be a challenge at first, so It'd be a huge challenge to get up to 100 so soon after surgery (which is probably why he recommended drinking two Protein Shakes a day). Although that said, 100 grams of protein is not too high. I have to average at least 100 grams a day because we discovered early on after my surgery (nine years ago) that I malabsorb it. If I don't get that much, my pre albumin level tanks.

also, you are not going to gain weight, given what you said you're eating. You would not be gaining weight on 100 grams of protein, either, given the amount of calories you're taking in.

[NickelChip 1,012]

There's a very high likelihood your weight stall has nothing to do with what you are eating, and it would definitely not have anything to do with too much Protein. This is your body's natural reaction to severe calorie restriction.

In a nutshell, when you are on liquids only, you rapidly lose mostly Water weight as your body burns stored glycogen for fuel. Once the glycogen runs low, your body turns to burning fat, which is what you want it to do. This takes a few weeks. However, when you start to introduce solid foods again, and especially carbs, your body is very keen to restore those glycogen stores. So it burns fat while also replenishing glycogen. Glycogen is bound to water, which means the water weight you lost in the pre-op diet and right after surgery are regained, which is fine. You need glycogen. It's what helps us get through short periods of lower food intake, like when you have a bad cold and lose your appetite for a week.

Your body is still burning fat because you have a major daily calorie deficit. It will show up on the scales in a few weeks when everything else balances out. My advice is to just do what your doctors tell you, stop tinkering with your diet, and don't weigh yourself for a few weeks. Your doctors have advised hundreds if not thousands of patients just like you. They know what they're doing.

[newbegining2024 44]

After seeing what you all said I think it should continue with drinking more than 1 bottle of shake, since with 1 shake I am getting 85 grams of Protein, I will drink another half bottle of shake, that will give me 100 grams.

[Arabesque 6,840]

If you were advised 65-75g Protein as your goal & one shake helps you to reach that goal or just exceed it as this stage you’re doing well. When your nutritionalist recommended 2 shakes did they realise you’re able to get 40-50g of protein in eating real food?

To me the goal was to be get all I needed nutritionally from eating real food. I never had another shake after the2 week liquids stage, so from when I began purées. I ate a high protein yoghurt or yoghurt drink to give me the extra boost of protein to help me get near or to my 60g goal. (It did take me a while but my surgeon & dietician were okay with that.)

To help reach my fluid goals, I started drinking during the night. still do. Every time I get in or out of bed I drink. Get up to pee, drink. If I’m reading in bed, watching tv, on social media, etc. in bed, I sip regularly. I get in another 8-10ozs most nights.

[catwoman7 11,070]

Keep in mind that a shake also counts as liquid. That could be another reason why he recommended drinking two shakes a day - that way you can get both Protein requirements AND Fluid requirements met.

I still drink a shake a day after nine years, but it's because my protein requirements are 100+ grams. I can probably do this with food, but I would rather drink a Protein Shake as my morning snack and therefore be assured I'm going to meet my goal by the end of the day, rather than obsessing all day about how much protein I'm getting and whether or not I'm going to hit my goal..

[NickelChip 1,012]

29 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

I still drink a shake a day after nine years, but it's because my Protein requirements are 100+ grams. I can probably do this with food, but I would rather drink a Protein Shake as my morning snack and therefore be assured I'm going to meet my goal by the end of the day, rather than obsessing all day about how much protein I'm getting and whether or not I'm going to hit my goal..

I'm curious @catwoman7, how did you determine your 100g protein requirement? Has it just been trial and error, or were there tests involved?

Also, this is why I added a scoop of plain Protein Powder to my smoothie every morning (I say this in past tense because I'm on my preop liquid diet now and smoothies seem like a distant, heavenly memory compared to protein shakes). I also got my teen daughter doing this because she's mostly vegetarian and I know the veggie meals at school are questionable in the protein department. My typical smoothie recipe packs in 40g protein so I felt good knowing I was knocking out a big portion of the protein for the day first thing in the morning. I imagine I'll return to that at some point when I have the capacity for them again.

[catwoman7 11,070]

41 minutes ago, NickelChip said:

I'm curious @catwoman7, how did you determine your 100g Protein requirement? Has it just been trial and error, or were there tests involved?

Also, this is why I added a scoop of plain Protein Powder to my smoothie every morning (I say this in past tense because I'm on my preop liquid diet now and smoothies seem like a distant, heavenly memory compared to protein shakes). I also got my teen daughter doing this because she's mostly vegetarian and I know the veggie meals at school are questionable in the protein department. My typical smoothie recipe packs in 40g protein so I felt good knowing I was knocking out a big portion of the protein for the day first thing in the morning. I imagine I'll return to that at some point when I have the capacity for them again.

blood tests. My pre albumin level was too low the first couple of blood tests I had post-surgery, so they had me increase my protein intake to 100 grams. I still have 100+ grams a day, and my pre albumin level has been in the normal range for years, so I've kept up with the 100 grams. I'm afraid if I dropped back down to 60 grams, my level would tank again..

[newbegining2024 44]

13 hours ago, Arabesque said:

If you were advised 65-75g Protein as your goal & one shake helps you to reach that goal or just exceed it as this stage you’re doing well. When your nutritionalist recommended 2 shakes did they realise you’re able to get 40-50g of Protein in eating real food?

To me the goal was to be get all I needed nutritionally from eating real food. I never had another shake after the2 week liquids stage, so from when I began purées. I ate a high protein yoghurt or yoghurt drink to give me the extra boost of protein to help me get near or to my 60g goal. (It did take me a while but my surgeon & dietician were okay with that.)

To help reach my fluid goals, I started drinking during the night. still do. Every time I get in or out of bed I drink. Get up to pee, drink. If I’m reading in bed, watching tv, on social media, etc. in bed, I sip regularly. I get in another 8-10ozs most nights.

Yes, when they asked me why am I only taking 1 shake, I told them after calculating what I eat I am able to reach my 65-75 grams a day, but sometimes I can still feel hunger. Right after surgery I felt the hunger. It didn’t fix the hunger part but it limited how much I can eat. Maybe the nutritionist wants the shake to fill me up… but the shake doesn’t. Is it possible to feel hungry when I feel the 3 oz of food filled me up and I feel the tightness? That’s my case anyway. I feel thirsty many times but I just can’t drink more liquid cause I can feel it coming back up.

[Spinoza 1,259]

I know I post the same thing all the time but I was never given ANY goals - Protein, fluids, nothing! It was totally reach your stages by texture. Eat as much as you can of: clear liquids; thick/full liquids; puree; soft foods; proper endgame food. That was it! I've done fine but that was with the help of everyone here. Think my surgeon's 'hands off' approach is probably fine for some people but not others.

[Arabesque 6,840]

10 hours ago, newbegining2024 said:

Yes, when they asked me why am I only taking 1 shake, I told them after calculating what I eat I am able to reach my 65-75 grams a day, but sometimes I can still feel hunger. Right after surgery I felt the hunger. It didn’t fix the hunger part but it limited how much I can eat. Maybe the nutritionist wants the shake to fill me up… but the shake doesn’t. Is it possible to feel hungry when I feel the 3 oz of food filled me up and I feel the tightness? That’s my case anyway. I feel thirsty many times but I just can’t drink more liquid cause I can feel it coming back up.

Liquids won’t fill you in the same way as more solid food simply because they pass through your tummy more quickly.

As for your hunger, yes there are some people who continue to feel hungry after surgery. You just have to work out if it’s real hunger or head hunger. If you’ve recently eaten you really would be hungry. If you are hungry for a specific food, taste or texture it’s not real hunger. If your tummy is rumbling (hunger pangs) that’s not real hunger either (just your digestive system working). Are you on a PPI? Tummy acid can make you think you’re hungry. The surgery is hard on us emotionally. Plus we experience hormonal flushes which can mess with us emotionally too. Many of us used food to comfort & soothe our self during emotional turmoil but you can’t. And of course you always want the things you can’t have more. It’s not easy to work all this out. It will take time & that’s okay. If you feel hungry, try distracting yourself. Play a game, go for a short walk, Water your plants, craft, read a book, ring a friend or family member, check your social media or this forum, etc.

Are you just sipping your liquids & leaving a couple of minutes between sips? Try a warm drink. Many of us found a warm drink like a green or herbal tea easier to tolerate as plain water can almost seem heavy in our tummy & for some cold liquids cramp our tummy.

[newbegining2024 44]

13 hours ago, Arabesque said:

liquids won’t fill you in the same way as more solid food simply because they pass through your tummy more quickly.

As for your hunger, yes there are some people who continue to feel hungry after surgery. You just have to work out if it’s real hunger or head hunger. If you’ve recently eaten you really would be hungry. If you are hungry for a specific food, taste or texture it’s not real hunger. If your tummy is rumbling (hunger pangs) that’s not real hunger either (just your digestive system working). Are you on a PPI? Tummy acid can make you think you’re hungry. The surgery is hard on us emotionally. Plus we experience hormonal flushes which can mess with us emotionally too. Many of us used food to comfort & soothe our self during emotional turmoil but you can’t. And of course you always want the things you can’t have more. It’s not easy to work all this out. It will take time & that’s okay. If you feel hungry, try distracting yourself. Play a game, go for a short walk, Water your plants, craft, read a book, ring a friend or family member, check your social media or this forum, etc.

Are you just sipping your liquids & leaving a couple of minutes between sips? Try a warm drink. Many of us found a warm drink like a green or herbal tea easier to tolerate as plain Water can almost seem heavy in our tummy & for some cold liquids cramp our tummy.

Thank you so much for all these suggestions!

Yes I feel hungry sometimes after 30-60mins of a meal. So I drink water or Protein Shake. I do take PPI, that could be a possibility of why I still feel hungry.

Most of the time it’s my head hunger craving for certain food. Also my tummy does rumble but don’t really feel hungry. I’ve been able to tell what type of hunger I am feeling.

when I drink liquid, I literally sit there and drink with small sips through out the hours….when my tummy feel full from it, I come back to it later. I can feel the liquid traveling down when I drink.

Yesterday was my first day being able to reach 60oz of liquid, but at night I didn’t feel well. Had my dinner at 6pm, went to sleep 11pm. I woke up feeling something up my chest and when trying to get up, I vomited. Sorry if TMI. It’s was all slimy mucus. No food. I was shivering, chills, Migraine. I vomited a few times then vomited foamy bubbles… well after that I felt so much better.

In search to see what is going on with me, it seems many bariatric patients go through this, but usually right after eating if they didn’t chew well or had too much food. I have tofu last night tho. It’s soft and should be easy to break down.

On the bright side, It seems I am breaking my stall. From 241.6, I am now 240.6 lbs. even it’s only a little bit I am happy, because I am on this stall since 2 weeks ago, only 1 week after surgery.

[catwoman7 11,070]

8 hours ago, newbegining2024 said:

On the bright side, It seems I am breaking my stall. From 241.6, I am now 240.6 lbs. even it’s only a little bit I am happy, because I am on this stall since 2 weeks ago, only 1 week after surgery.

my first stall was during weeks 2 and 3 post-surgery, so it started one week after my surgery, too. Just stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days if it's messing with your head. As long as you stick to your plan, the still WILL break. It usually takes 1-3 weeks.

[Arabesque 6,840]

The PPI won’t cause hunger. It reduces the acid in your tummy. You’re ahead of the game if you can differentiate between head & real hunger. Yay! Those distraction activities will help when you are experiencing head hunger. If you feel hungry after you’ve eaten, that’s head hunger too. Try a warm drink instead of a shake. They’re a Meal Replacement not a snack. Many are advised to wait at least three or four hours between eating & only three meals a day & maybe a snack.

I still have times I can feel liquids go down. It’s a bit weird at first but now it’s just one of those things like my vey noisy, rumbling, grumbling tummy.

Your experience last night sounds like late stage dumping not the foamies. The foamies (frothy, thick saliva & bringing up what you ate that was stuck or too coarse or too much) occurs pretty soon after you’ve eaten the offending food. Dumping symptoms can include chills, weakness, light headedness, nausea, bloating, heart palpitations & vomiting &/or diarrhoea. Dumping usually occurs if you eat foods that are too fatty, have too much sugar. Even dairy can cause it. It occurs when these foods go through your tummy to your intestines very quickly (dumps through your system). About 40% of bypass patients can experience dumping. Once you work out what causes yours, you can avoid those foods. Some say in time they work out how much of those foods they can eat without experiencing dumping. Worth a conversation with your team to diagnose & management.