You will hear it from your surgeon. You will hear it from your dietitian. You are hearing it from me. Protein is one of the most critical nutrients you need to eat enough of following weight loss surgery. 

Protein is important because it:

• Helps you to lose body fat, not muscle (you want to save your muscle, which burns many more calories than body fat….helping you to lose weight and keep it off!)
• Helps you to heal following surgery, or from any injury
• Helps to keep you full longer after eating (what we call satiety) 

Protein is found in most foods, with the exception of fruit, sugars, and artificial sweeteners. Foods from animals such as: meat, poultry, fish, cheese, cottage cheese, milk, and yogurt contain significantly more protein than plant foods like: beans, breads, cereals, vegetables, nuts and seeds. 

Plant foods are also known as “incomplete” proteins, meaning they do not contain all of the essential amino acids (histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine) necessary to prevent protein deficiency, while animal foods are considered “complete” proteins that do contain all of the essential amino acids. 

How much protein do you need each day? 60-80 grams per day is a good general recommendation for those who have had gastric bypass or gastric banding surgery. For those who have had bileopancreatic diversion or duodenal switch, your protein requirement is estimated to be 30% greater, due to increased malabsorption from your chosen procedure. This means 80-105 grams of protein per day would be recommended. 

Following weight-loss surgery, your stomach will be much smaller than it is now. Many weight-loss surgeries will reduce your stomach to the size of an egg or golf ball, which is equivalent to 1/8^th measuring cup! You will be asked to eat a ½ cup meal (4 ounces) six times per day to receive adequate nutrition. If you are like most people, you will struggle to eat ½ cup food, six times per day. Even if you do eat the amount and number of meals suggested, you will most likely not be able to get enough protein in your daily diet without protein shakes. 

Since protein shakes will most likely be a daily part of your life post-surgery, it’s important to make them enjoyable. I drink a protein shake on most days and have found that mixing it in a powerful, commercial-grade blender, like a VitaMix (Use my affiliate code to receive free standard shipping on a VitaMix blender), really make the shake more enjoyable. A powerful blender will completely crush any ice and frozen fruit added….resulting in a creamy milkshake consistency. A VitaMix also makes it possible to add nutritionally valuable vegetables into my shakes, like raw spinach, which are blended in so well, that you don’t taste them in the shake at all.

The best protein supplement on the market is Metagenics UltraMeal or BariatrX Essentials Meal Replacement Powder.  These medical foods have been tested in case studies and shown to provide patients with easily absorbable protein, vitamins, and the essential nutrients that are typically deficient after bariatric surgery. This optimal blend of nutrients may reduce the incidence of adverse consequences of bariatric procedures such as dumping syndrome.

To learn more about the effectiveness of the BariatrX Essentials medical food, please refer to the detailed case studies at the following link: BariatrX Essentials case studies.

 

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