If you are pursuing bariatric surgery, you have probably heard a lot about protein shakes. This topic may raise a lot of questions.  Why do I need protein shakes?  What protein shakes are good? How long do I need to drink them?  In this post, we will be doing a deep dive on protein shakes for after bariatric surgery to answer all of your protein shake-related questions.  

Let’s start with most common FAQs concerning protein shakes: 

Why do I need to drink protein shakes?  After surgery, especially in the first few months, you will only be able to eat very very small portions.  We are talking about feeling full after as little as a golf ball-sized portion of food!  With portions this small, you will be lucky to get in 20-30 grams of protein from solid food in a whole day.  However, you need a minimum of 60-80 grams a day, and often more depending on your height, weight, sex, activity level and which procedure you are getting.  A protein drink can help bridge this gap.  While it is difficult to get a significant amount of protein from solid foods that will fill you up quickly, it is much easier to drink a protein-containing liquid.  This makes perfect sense when you think about it.  Of course liquids will pass through the stomach more quickly and easily than solids.  For this reason, high-protein liquids will be key to meeting your protein goal in the early stages.  As a bonus, they will also provide much needed hydration as well.  

How long will I need protein shakes?  For most people, it takes 9-12 months to gradually go from only being able to eat a golf ball-sized portion to eating 4-8 ounces of food.  During this time, you will be able to gradually decrease your protein shakes.  Most people are able to get all of their protein from solid foods by the 9-12 month mark, although some people opt to include them for longer.

Can I get the protein in a pill instead?  Unfortunately, no.  The amount you need cannot be delivered effectively by a pill.  The good news is that there is a wide variety of protein drinks to choose from.

What if I am lactose intolerant?  Many people who avoid milk and/or struggle with lactose intolerance are worried about drinking protein shakes.  You may have noticed that most shakes are made from whey protein, a derivative of milk.  You may be leery of this and of the milk-like consistency of some protein shakes.  Here is the good news—almost all protein shakes available on the market are suitable for lactose intolerance.  Whey is derived from milk, but whey is not the same as lactose.  Lactose is a natural sugar found in milk.  Whey is a protein found in milk.  This means that whey-based protein shakes contain only small amounts of lactose.  If you are able to eat most cheeses and yogurts, you will likely tolerate whey-based shakes as well.  If your lactose intolerance is a little more severe, however, you might benefit from being a little choosier.  In this case, you will want to pay attention to the ingredients.  There are two different kinds of whey protein you will notice when you read the ingredients list: whey protein concentrate and whey protein isolate.  The latter is generally a purer form of whey, which will contain much less lactose.  And if all else fails, plant-based shakes are also an option, which we will discuss a little later. 

Plant-based shakes will also be the appropriate option if you have a milk allergy.  Please, note, though that a milk allergy is different from lactose intolerance.  If all of your symptoms are gastrointestinal symptoms like cramping, bloating, gas, diarrhea, etc., this is indicative of an intolerance.  If, however, you are also experiencing other symptoms such as hives, itching, rashes, shortness of breath, and wheezing, this is a sign of an allergy.  

What should I look for in a protein shake?  It is important to look at labels closely when you are shopping for protein shakes.  Not all shakes are designed for weight loss.  Some are designed for people struggling to maintain their weights and contain high amounts of fats and sugars.  For this reason, it is very important to look at labels closely when choosing a protein shake.  What you want is for most of the calories in your protein drink to be coming from protein. You don’t want a lot of extra calories from fats and carbohydrates. For this reason, it is usually recommended to look for less than 200 calories and 20 grams or more of protein per serving. A good goal is to find the highest amount of protein for the lowest calories possible that you can tolerance. Look at the examples below. The Ensure Complete has 30 grams of protein but has 350 calories. You can see that the 8 grams of fat and 15 grams of added sugar contribute to this higher calorie content. In contrast, the Ensure Max has 30 grams of protein and 150 calories which provides a high amount of protein for a low calorie cost.

There are rare exceptions to those nutrition guidelines. If the protein is higher than 40 grams, the calories can be a little higher. You will see this with the Fairlife Core Power Elite shake, which has 42 grams of protein and 230 calories. Because the protein is so high, this is still a favorable ratio between calories and protein. Half the shake would provide 21 grams of protein and 115 calories. Essentially, this shake is like drinking 2 protein shakes. Another exception that was included below was a protein powder with 18 grams of protein. In this case, this is easy to fix by adding more powder. In this case, this works because adding enough extra power to increase the protein to 20 grams would not increase the calories to anywhere close to 200.

What are examples of protein shakes and where can I buy them?  

This is a big question because the market today offers an overwhelming number of options to choose from when it comes to protein drinks.  For this reason, the rest of this post will be dedicated to breaking down all the different types of products out there with plenty of examples.  

In this section, I have included tables of all the most common types of protein drinks which will help you easily compare most of the most popular products. This will go into the most important stats from these products, including number of flavors, protein source, nutrition information, price and whether there are sample options. The last one is actually very important. Being able to sample an individual product or buy a variety pack is very useful when it comes to these product. In my opinion, products that offer samples or variety packs have a leg up on those that do not. That’s because buying a large amount of something you haven’t tasted can be a risk. I can’t count the number of clients who have bemoaned buying a large amount of protein powder or drinks, only to discover they don’t like it as soon as they take the first sip.

Let’s briefly go over the categories you will find below. First, we will go over Ready-to-drink protein drinks. These are protein drinks that are sold in containers that are, as the name suggested, ready to drink, no mixing required. These comes in many forms including creamy ready-to-drink whey-based and plant-based shakes, as well as clear protein waters. We will also be going over similar options for protein powders. Protein powders are generally less costly than the ready-to-drink options and are often a little thinner in consistency. We will give examples of both whey-based and plant-based powders.

Common Creamy Whey-based Ready-to-Drink Shakes:

Common Plant-based Ready-to-Drink Shakes:

Common Clear Ready-to Drink Protein Drinks:

Common Whey-based Protein Powders:

Common Plant-based Powders:

What if I have tried everything and I am having a hard time finding anything at all I like?

By now, you are probably realizing that there are a lot of options out there for protein drinks. But I know there are many people who find themselves in a tough situation nonetheless. Some people feel as though they have tried it all and have a terrible time finding something they like. For this reason, I will dedicate this last section to creative solutions if you identify with this.

Here are some outside-the-box options that might work if you feel like nothing is working:

• If you think the sweetness of the options you have tried is at least part of the problem, you might try using unflavored protein powder. You can mix it in a non-sweet liquid such as unsweetened almond milk or coffee. If you want some flavor and sweetness but find the powders you have tried to be overpoweringly sweet, you may even try a mixture of half unflavored and half flavored to get the best of both worlds. Another great fix for too sweet protein drinks is to use coffee as a mixer due to its bitterness. Blending in some cocoa powder can do the same thing.
• Do you hate shakes? What if you could drink a high protein liquid that is not a shake at all? A 12 oz glass of Fairlife skim milk provides 20 grams of protein and 120 calories. If you compare that to the above protein shakes, you will see that this provides just as much protein per ounce of fluid as many protein shakes for just as few if not less calories. It is also lower in price per 12 ounces serving. Each 12 ounces would cost about $1.04 per serving. There are also generic brands such as Carbmaster and Mootopia which make similar products for an even lower price.
• Similar to the previous point, another strategy could also be to incorporate a high protein yogurt or bar in lieu of a protein shake. Why wasn’t this suggested from the beginning? Protein shakes and drinks are preferred because they provide hydration in addition to protein. Also, it is typically easier to drink protein than to eat protein. This is useful in the early stages when it is physically impossible to eat enough solid food to meet your protein goal and stay hydrated at the same time. Protein drinks are also needed for the inevitable liquid-only stages after surgery. If, however, you are far enough into your diet progression to eat more solid proteins and can incorporate them without falling short of your hydration goal, then this solution may work for you. The best choices are foods that give you a significant amount of protein for as little room in your stomach as possible. A high protein yogurt such as the 25 gram Ratio yogurt is a great example. Yogurts are especially useful because they are a semi-solid, which means they pass through the stomach more easily. And if you can tolerate a protein bar, then as always be sure to check your nutrition label using the same nutrition guidelines as discussed earlier. The brand Quest has several great protein bar options.
• Do you just want to get it over with? Take a protein shot! Believe it or not, this is actually a thing. BariatricPal makes a product that provides 30 grams of protein in just 3.5 ounces of fluid. You can even buy single bottles if you would like to try it before you commit to a larger supply.
• Piggybacking off of the last point, if you find you are having trouble finding a product that is just right, obtaining samples is a great idea. In addition to the websites notes in the charts above, BariatricPal is a great one stop shop where you can purchase samples as well. Brands you can find sample variety packs for include Bariatric Advantage, Syntrax, Chike Nutrition Iced Coffee Protein Powder, and BariatricPal Protein Shots.

Are there any products specifically you don’t recommend? There are some protein shakes that aren’t great fits for bariatric surgery and will not serve your weight loss efforts as effectively. Let’s go over some of the most common examples of this:

• Adkin’s Protein shakes – With only 15 grams of protein for 160 calories, this product provides underwhelming protein for higher calories due to the higher than average fat content. Products such as Fairlife Nutrition Plan or Premier Protein provide twice as much protein for the same calories with a similar taste and texture.
• Ripple Protein shakes – Ripple is another option for plant-based protein shakes that did not make the list. With 20 grams of protein but also 7 grams of fat and 9 grams of added sugar, it is high sugar and fat for the same amount of protein compared to other similar products such as OWYN and Evolve.
• Soylent Protein shakes – This is actually a product I recommend—only I recommend it for people who want to gain weight, not people who want to lose weight. There are 2 products this brand sells: the Soylent Complete protein which has 30 grams of protein and 250 calories. While this technically does have more than a 10 to 1 ratio between protein and calories, the OWYN Elite is a much better alternative as it provides more protein for less calories. There is also the normal Soylent shakes which provide 16 grams of protein for 320 calories, providing a lot of extra calories from fats while also providing lower protein.
• Carnation Instant Breakfast – with only 5 grams of protein per servings for 140 calories, this product has more added sugar than protein. While the Light Start is a little better, it still falls short of the protein and calorie recommendations.
• Regular Ensure and Boost Products – Ensure Max Protein is a product specifically made for bariatric surgery and weight loss. Their other products are mainly made for hospital patients and people with chronic illness that struggle to eat adequately. These have higher amounts of fats and added sugars to provide calories for these individuals. This makes them a poor choice for weight loss purposes.
• For when no caffeine is recommended: Keep in mind that some protein shakes have caffeine, including the vast majority of coffee-flavored protein shakes. This is great for later in your journey when you are cleared to have caffeine again, but not in the beginning stages. It is typically recommended to refrain from caffeine in the few few weeks or months after surgery so that it doesn’t compromise your healing or your hydration. For this reason, unless the product specifically says that it is decaf, you should avoid any coffee flavored shakes and powders until you are cleared to have caffeine.

Conclusion: As you can see, there are countless options to choose from when it comes to protein drinks and supplements. I hope this post has helped shed some light on these options so that you can lose weight while staying healthy and strong. That’s all I have for today. Until next time!