There are a lot of great recipes out there where you can add protein powder to get your needed protein at your level. My favorite is to add the protein powder to milk and stir it until it dissolves and add it to sugar free instant pudding. Great taste and you never know that there is protein powder in it.

As long as you follow your doctors directions and don't eat to fast you should be fine with regular food. Just remember that you don't sit down to a meal and devour your food in ten minutes. You will get sick and throw up or wish you could!!! Take your time and enjoy your meal. Eat slowly and you will be fine. I also bought baby utensils to eat with and I still use them despite the fact that I have many years under my belt. These help you to eat slower as well and take smaller bites.

Also there will be some foods that you can no longer tolerate. This is different for everyone and you will just have to experiment to discover what you will need to stay away from. For me it is beef and pork of any kind. But I get plenty of protein in chicken and fish and I also can eat venison which I substitute for beef.

Hang in there It will all be worth the troubles you are going through right now. There are also cookbooks out there for gastric bypass people that are great. I have one that is like my bible!!! There are tons of recipes in there that will help you get the protein that you are afraid you won't get.

I love all the questions people ask and the responses. I am waiting to have my surgery done, so all the input is great. Keep keeping on, I know the journey will be worth the bumps we may encounter.

My post-op food guideline was this:

first two weeks--liquid only. I used a kitchen timer set at 15 minutes, and everytime it went off, I sipped an ounce or two of something--just a couple mouthfuls.

Week three, I went to soft foods: yoghurt, refried beans, mashed potatoes, etc.

Week four, I was able to start to introduce solid foods from the high protein list I was given--one new food a day, very, very well chewed. Then I'd wait to see how my pouch handled it. It was a very slow process, but it worked and helped me avoid dumping pretty much.

All those foods were in a quantity no larger than 1/4 cup for a long while. At around six months, I could handle 1/2 cup. Again, a slow process.

I hope this helps you. :)

Take a deep breath. This is a lot to handle. We're here for you. Tiny steps. You are doing great.

You are among friends.

I am doing better. Still having a hard time eating all my protein but got a couple of new protein shakes to help. I am only eating about 1/3 or 1/4 cups of food at a time. I am not eating any veggies per my surgeon. I feel ok with fish, low fat cheeses, eggs, and beans. I am not crazy about mashed up chicken. I am just trying really hard to follow the diet and be healthy. I feel great - a little sore from doing to much - but I am trying to take it slow and give my mind time to reset to better habits.
Thank you all for supporting words. It means the world to me that people that are on my same journey is here for me.

Water first, sip all day long. I kept a small bottle of water with me all the time. Carried it in my hand to remind myself to sip. Filled it up every time I passed a fountain. The protein will come. Just start every meal and snack with it. A lot of the bypass people here still have a protein shake every day, so if it helps, don't sweat it.

1/4 -1/3 C of food at a time is great. You're doing well, and it will come.

Using a baby spoon?! What a great idea!!! I'll make sure to get a few.

BTW, I'm a piano teacher and the parents of one of my students are glass artists; they make the most beautiful things out of blown glass. I asked the mom to make me a shot glass so I'd have a visual representation of how much my new pouch can hold.

Last Tuesday she brought me a beautiful sapphire blue shot glass with a pin dot design embedded in the glass.

It's getting real now--my ReBirthday (surgery date) is in 25 days.

Glad you are doing better. Getting all our protein and water in at first just doesn't happen. It does come over time. Check out the world according to eggface. Shelly has a whole page devoted to protein smoothies