Protein Shakes – Revisited

I’m not sure I’ve ever done a ‘revisited’ post before (other than recipes), but, here we are.

When I wrote the original post (Protein Shakes) I was 17 month post-op. I still drank protein shakes occasionally, usually as breakfast. I had tried many different brands and prepared them many different ways.

Today, 12 years later, a coffee protein shake *IS* my breakfast most days. When I wrote that post, I had just discovered making my morning protein shake a, for all intents and purposes, ‘protein Frappuccino’.

Now, I have them E V E R Y day. To the point of doing my best to make sure I can still make it when travelling.

This past July (July 2023) I went on a road trip with my sister from Utah to Texas then spent I few days with her there before flying home. As part of the trip, she made sure, as best as possible (I see you Tucumcari, NM) to make a stop at Starbucks every morning (BTW if you’re ever in Tucumcari, NM, give Jackelope Coffee a stop by, great little shop).

So… I had a plan. We were driving so space, in general, wasn’t an issue. I bought some Premier Protein premade shakes from WalMart (I don’t usually use these) and every morning I’d get a triple shot espresso over ice and add the premixed Premier to it. Starbucks didn’t even blink. Poor Jackelope was confused, but they did as I asked 😉

Beautiful.

Once in Texas, I found cold brew concentrate pods at the store. I’d use those with more Premier and I was good to go.

Other trips, I’ve packed individual servings of the GNC Total Lean and individual instant coffee packets. Aces.

Anyway…

I find it funny that when I wrote the original post I had JUST discovered “pro-ffee” shakes, and now, 12 years later, they’re still a way of life.

In general, my eating habits are ‘normal’, but I still gotta have my morning coffee shake.

So… here’s an update on prices and information, as I can find them. Because, inflation…

Brand	Protein	Sugar	Fat	$ per serving (lowest) (2012)	$ per serving (lowest) (2024)	My Rating
Melaleuca	20	2	5	$1.13	$1.73	*****
GNC Total Lean	25	4	3	$2.15	$1.87	****
Pure Protein 100% Whey	25	2	2.5	??	unsure, can’t check price still	***
BSN Lean Dessert	21	2	3.5	$1.78 or less	discontinued	****
Bariatric Advantage	27	0.5	2	$1.71	$2.40	*
Revival Soy	20	1	1	$2.00	unknown	*

I still use the Melaleuca regularly. Basically every day. I have not used the GNC total lean in a while, and I use the Pure Protein as a back up only, but its’ still great in a pinch. I also buy the Market Pantry brand now from Target which works out to only $0.95 per serving and is also excellent in a pinch.

As for BSN Lean, it’s discontinued, Bariatric Advantage I haven’t tried in over a decade, and I can’t find any information on Revival.

Since my original post, there have been a number of new ‘favorites’ in the bariatric community.

Some swear by Premier Protein (the ones I took with me on my trip), others love Fairlife.

I have not tried Fairlife. In general I don’t enjoy the pre-mixed unless absolutely necessary as I find them a bit thin. But, this is a personal preference. I prefer my shakes to be a bit thicker. However, Premier Protein Cinnamon Roll premixed came in clutch for that trip and were great, so I don’t discount them at all. However, they also come out at $2.24 each serving, so more expensive.

Either way… find what works for you. For me, regular ‘eating first thing in the morning’ just doesn’t work for me. If I’m ‘hungry’, I make my shake blended with ice. If not so hungry, shaker cup works fine.

And that’s … (doing math) … 13+ years later.

7 Years!

Friends of mine are going through the process of their own weight loss surgeries. I refered them to this blog and through that realized it was *way* out of date. So:

To start, let’s pull up that chart.

Time from Surgery	Percentage	Pounds to lose for me	Goal weight for me	Date
1 Mo.	20%	31.47	285.53	09/09/10
3 Mo.	38%	59.80	257.20	11/09/10
6 Mo.	57%	89.70	227.30	02/09/11
9 Mo.	66%	103.86	213.14	05/09/11
12 Mo.	73%	114.87	202.13	08/09/11
15 Mo.	73%	114.87	202.13	11/09/11
18 Mo.	73%	114.87	202.13	01/09/11
24 Mo.(2 Yr)	76%	119.60	197.40	08/09/12
3 Years	71%	111.73	205.27	08/09/13
5 Years	66%	103.86	213.14	08/09/15

Now, I cannot remember where I got this chart and can’t find it online, so… The information may be out of date, but it’s what I have, so, let’s go with it.

As a reminder, my starting weight was 317.5. What I consider to be my ‘excess weight’ is anything that puts me over a high-end normal BMI of 25. At 5’7″ that is 160 pounds for a woman. That means my excess weight was 157.5 pounds. From there, I plugged in my own pounds to have lost by certain milestones.

(For the sake of thouroughness I decided at the end of this post to re-do the chart with anything over the low-end normal BMI of 18.5.)

This chart only goes out to 5 years post-op, but I’m 7 years post op. My current weight is 202.5, with an all-time-low of 183. You can see that from this chart, my being at 183 was below any average expectations, even though it isn’t my goal weight of 160. There ARE people who lose ALL of their excess weight, but it’s not 100% expected.

At 2 years post-op I was comfortably below the 2 year average, and 5 years post-op I was comfortably below the 5 year average.

I will fully admit that the fact that I am again gaining is a bit terrifying, but I can also admit that I have slid back into some bad habits. I could partially blame it on a medication change (one of my medications was going to be $200 out-of-pocket each MONTH, so we had to change it to something I could afford when my insurance changed in March), moving twice in 11 months, buying a house for the first time, job changes, etc. etc., but I think it’s also dangerous to put the blame on those things since blaming is generally how we get to our weight situation in the first place.

So, I’m going to try to do better. I had gotten into the habit of going ahead and eating simple carbs when I didn’t need to, and snacking way more than I should.

I know that I have a carb-addiction-type body chemistry, so I’ve decided to avoid them as much as humanly possible until dinner time. I have noticed that, with this, I am much less likely to get afternoon snack cravings. Instead of having leftover dinner for lunch, which may involve carbs, I have a salad with good greens and protein, and now, frankly, I get cranky when I can’t have my lunch salad, lol. When we do go somewhere for lunch where I cannot as easily control that, I do find I am much more likely to want to snack snack snack later.

I also know I don’t get much exercise. Again, it sounds like I’m making excuses, but when I do get lots of steps in (well, lots for me means 5000+) I HURT. I have arthritis and fibromyalgia. I *like* that I CAN do longer days like around the local amusement park, walking around the mall, etc., but I do not like that it can put me completely out of action for days afterwards. I don’t honestly know if I could even keep up with a regular exercise regimen without my body betraying me, but I will try to figure something out.

Okay, lots of math coming. You have been warned!

Here is what the above chart would look like if I had done it for a goal BMI of 18.5 which translates to a (kind of ridiculous) weight of 118:

Time Post Op	Avg. %	Pounds for me	Goal for me
1 month	20%	40	278
3 months	38%	76	242
6 months	57%	114	204
9 months	66%	132	186
12 months	73%	146	172
15 months	73%	146	172
18 months	73%	146	172
2 years	76%	152	166
3 years	71%	142	176
5 years	66%	132	186
5 years	66%	132	186

With this, I crunched numbers again and decided to see what my goal weight ‘should’ be if I was on track for where the averages expect me to be 5 years post op. That says that if my goal weight were 144 pounds (BMI 22.5) I would be right where the averages are for 5 years post op.

ie, if I had done the above chart with a goal weight of 144 pounds, 5 years post op my weight according to the averages would be respectable at where it is, 202.5

So, now that your brain hurts from all the math (at least, mine does), um, bye!

 

Knock, knock–anyone home?

*blows the cobwebs away*

Helloooooooooo?

Yeah, I’m still here. Just not much to say.

So… the lowest I’ve gotten was 183, back in September. Before then I’d been hovering around 189 for about a month, so it was a good time to update my tracker, lol. Between then and now, I’ve been right around 187 so not really tracking again. But, again, the scale today was back down to 184.5

In short, the scale a year ago said 187 and it has ranged between a high of 193 and a low of 183 for that year.

I’ll call that maintenance

Now. Do I want to be in maintenance? Well… I’m 2 1/2 years out. Let’s look at our handy-dandy ‘Averages’ chart again:

Time from Surgery	Percentage	Pounds to lose for me	Goal weight for me	Date
1 Mo.	20%	31.47	285.53	09/09/10
3 Mo.	38%	59.80	257.20	11/09/10
6 Mo.	57%	89.70	227.30	02/09/11
9 Mo.	66%	103.86	213.14	05/09/11
12 Mo.	73%	114.87	202.13	08/09/11
15 Mo.	73%	114.87	202.13	11/09/11
18 Mo.	73%	114.87	202.13	01/09/11
24 Mo.(2 Yr)	76%	119.60	197.40	08/09/12
3 Years	71%	111.73	205.27	08/09/13
5 Years	66%	103.86	213.14	08/09/15

See those rows highlighted in red? That’s what I’m between right now. It means that, on average, I would be perfectly fine and considered a surgical success between 197.4 and 205.27 pounds. I’m at 184.5 with a high this past 12 months of 193.

Again, I’ve said it before, many many many people lose MORE than the average, losing ALL their excess weight, plus some. Some lose LESS than the average. I’m pretty happy to have lost more than the average, although not all of my excess weight (as a refresher, in my case I define that as any weight that puts me over a high normal BMI of 25, which is 160 pounds for me). To reach my goal weight there’s still about 25 pounds to go. When I started this, that 25 pounds seemed like The Great Wall of China. During my journey it went down to more like a picket fence. Now, it’s The Great Wall of China again, but I’m more content to let that wall be.

I just realized that I made almost this exact same post a year ago – (Perspective) – so I guess it’s good to know I still feel the same way, lol.

Anyhoo.. I’m still here

Since I’m not providing as much in the way of inspiration and recipes, let me direct your attention to two blogs I follow for MY inspiration when it comes to what to eat, etc.

The World According to Eggface
Bariatric Foodie

If you don’t already follow these lovely ladies, I highly suggest it!

Until then, if you have anything you would like me to post about, I’m happy to oblige, I just don’t have anything original to say of my own right now

Two Year ‘Surgiversary"’

Wow. It’s been two years.

So, my thoughts…

I haven’t quite reached my final goal, BUT, I’m relatively okay with that. Today I’m at 189. A year ago I was at 197.5. The lowest I’ve been was 185.5 back in January. So I guess you could say I’m kind of in maintenance mode (although I was 185 in January, I’ve been consistently a couple pounds up or down of 190 since about March) or a reeeeaaaalllly long stall, lol.

If you look at the chart that lists the average weight lost after surgery, it says that at the 12 month, 15 month, and 18 month marks people have lost an average of 73% of their excess weight. At 24 months that number is 76%. I’ve lost 81% of my excess weight.

Are there people that have lost it all by now? Sure! Do they have some magic secret? No… Are they any better than me? Nope, just different.

Am I happier and healthier. Heck YES.

Last month I went to the mall and a ton of stores were having sales. Lane Bryant was closing so I went in. Not a lot of stock left, but there was almost NOTHING in the store I could wear anymore. I’m at the bottom of their sizes now when I used to be hovering near the top. I went into CJ Banks because they were having a sale and while there were things I could wear, again, it was almost the smallest size they carried. Fortunately, I remembered that there was a Christopher Banks in that mall as well (the non-plus size version of the same store). I found a dress in a size 16 that I loved. And it was too big! I tried the 14. It was better but I decided to go see if there was a 12. Now, there wasn’t so I’m not sure which would have been the better fit, but still, I was amazed that I even had that option.

Another store was having another sale – Size L dress. Not 4x, not even XL in this case – L. (Different cuts mean that sometimes a XL is the fit on top or bottom, but sometimes it’s L).

Health wise, it’s fun to watch the blood pressure monitor at the doctor’s office. I never had high blood pressure (except when I was giving birth to my daughter, but that’s another story) but it hasn’t been this low in FOREVER. Sometimes the alarm goes off because it’s ‘too’ low, it’s kinda funny.

My knees are permanently damaged due to the abuse I have put them through (ballet and weight), but getting 125+ pounds off of them has made them much happier. The first time we came to our zoo here in Utah 3 years ago (so a year before surgery at 300+ pounds), we parked in the upper lot which meant a hike up a hill to go home. And I was MISERABLE. This past week we wound up parking in the upper lot again. And it was soooo much easier. This fall we’re going to Disneyland as a family. For the first time ever I will likely NOT be looking for a place to sit down every few minutes while there. I won’t worry about squishing into the ride cars (which is doubly good since it’s likely my 3 year old will want to be held on a lot of the rides, something that would have been almost impossible at 300 pounds). I will have to worry a bit about what to eat, but I’m armed with KNOWLEDGE!

So, bottom line, yes, I still really would like to lose those last 30 pounds, but I’m still VERY happy with how far I’ve come.

And, yes, I know I need a new picture. I’m working on it

__________________

2 years coming up!

In just over a month it will have been 2 years since I had my surgery!

Instead of answering questions I made up, I’d love to answer questions people actually have. So. ASK ANYTHING. Really. Even if you think you know the answer, ask it! I don’t guarantee that I’ll answer every question, but for the most part I’ll answer pretty much any question there is out there about my surgery and life since it.

So. Ask away!

Pinterest

Tags

food, weight-loss

Yes, I’m cheating. This isn’t really a blog post, more a shameless plug. Sort of.

Anyhoo… yep, I’m on Pinterest, like half the internet. I have, of course, been pinning recipes. I have now organized a bunch of them into a board just for the WLS friendly recipes. It can be found here:

WLS Friendly Foods

There is also this one, where I kept ones that are vegan / vegetarian / pescatarian during Lent. Most if not all should also be WLS friendly.

Pescatarian / Vegetarian / Vegan

As for the rest of life – holding steady basically. I gain a few I lose a few but mostly end up right where I am 190-195 and 25-30 away from goal. But, I’m below 200, feel good and don’t have to wear plus size clothes. I’ve lost well over 100 pounds and that is AWESOME. Also, I’m ahead of averages, so I’m pretty happy Do I want to lose those last pounds? Absolutely. Am I stressing over it? Nah…

Cocoa Almonds

Why has no one told me about these?

They have the same nutritional content as regular almonds, but with a dusting of cocoa slightly sweetened with sucralose – and they’re YUMMY. I found this large container at my local Sam’s Club for $10.

Go. Buy some.

Primal Strips Meatless (VEGAN) Jerky

I know, meatless jerky, yuck! Right?

W R O N G

This stuff is GOOD. I was wandering through Whole Foods the other day and remembered that I had seen a meatless jerky (‘jerquee’) mentioned by someone. I hadn’t been able to find the brand they had mentioned yet, so I thought I’d try Whole Foods. Seemed logical.

They still didn’t have that brand, but they had another brand. Primal Strips by Primal Spirit Foods.

The base is either soy, seitan (gluten based protein), or shiitake mushrooms for their 6 flavours – Teriyaki (seitan), Mesquite Lime (seitan), Hickory Smoke (soy), Texas BBQ (soy), Hot & Spicy (shiitake), and Thai Peanut (seitan). The seitan based ones are, of course, NOT gluten free, neither is the shitake based one, but the soy based ones ARE gluten free, for those with gluten issues.

When I asked someone about meatless jerky at Whole Foods, they not only showed me them in the store, they actually opened up a package so I could taste it right there. I was impressed, both with their customer service and with the product, lol. It was the Thai Peanut which is one of the seitan based ones. It was yummy and I was SOLD. I brought home the Thai Peanut, Hickory Smoke (tasted, yum), and Mesquite Lime and Texas BBQ, neither of which I’ve tasted yet.

They have between 6 and 11 grams of protein per serving, 74 – 108 calories in a serving, and 3 – 5 grams of sugar. Oh and between 7 and 11 grams of carbs.

One HUGE plus they have over meat jerky is that they’re SOFT. With even some of the best jerky out there I could chew and chew and chew and it wouldn’t feel chewed enough. If I got a particularly gristly piece – forget about it, I’d have to spit it out.

So. Yeah. Go check it out. They’re at Whole Foods, but at other local stores too.

Homemade (homegrown?) Yogurt in a Slow Cooker

(PLEASE NOTE: you may be seeing this twice as I cross-posted to my Homeschool / Mommy blog. My apologies but I felt it was relevant to both blogs)

So, again, this is something I first saw on Pinterest. Here is the blog link.

Yogurt is big in our house. I eat it for breakfast a lot and both kids like it. So, when I saw this, I thought “I gotta try that”.

We always have extra milk and this seems to me to be a great way to use up milk before it goes bad. We do freeze gallons all the time as well, but still… I only have so much room in my freezer

So, here’s how it goes. You will need (this recipe can be doubled, halved, etc. as needed / wanted):

8 cups milk (about half a gallon)

1/2 cup plain yogurt from the store (one of those single serving sizes of plain yogurt is perfect, after your first batch, just save some for this)

Sweetener (optional)

• 1/2 cup honey (I used sugar free imitation honey and it worked great)
• 1/4 cup Truvia / Splenda
• whatever the equivalent is for stevia
• etc.

Flavouring (optional)

• 1 Tbsp Vanilla
• 1 Tbsp almond extract
• etc.

 

And here’s how it’s done.

This is a process that’s a minimum of 13 hours start to finish. 5 hours cooking & cooling, another 8 hours ‘growing’. I start it at about 5:00pm or later the night before and have yogurt in the morning. Just figure when you want it to be ready (unstrained) and subtract 13 hours, lol. I use 1 cup unstrained in a smoothie in the morning and then strain the rest (more on that below).

 

Pour the 8 cups of milk into your slow cooker. I have one that is the perfect size to just fit it all.

Cover and cook on LOW for about 2 1/2 hours (Some things I’ve read say that the milk should be heated to 180 degrees to kill any bad bacteria. Other things I’ve read say that’s not necessary. I was curious so I did a temp reading and it was at 145 degrees at the end of the 2 1/2 hours.)

Turn off the cooker, leave the lid on, and let it cool for 2 1/2 – 3 hours (Again, sites say to cool it to about 115 degrees, I did a temp check and it was 114 at 2 1/2 hours.)

Take out 1 – 2 cups of the heated and cooled milk and put in a bowl. To that, add the 1/2 cup of pre-made yogurt, any sweetener and any flavouring (only use FLAVOURINGS in this step like extracts, not jam, preserves, fruit, etc. If you want those add them later. You can also, of course, skip it at this point and mix extracts in later, but they may incorporate more evenly while it’s still liquid and hasn’t started to thicken). Whisk well. Then pour mixture back into the rest of the milk in the cooker and whisk. (it’s all bubbly from the whisking)

Now comes the growing part. You want to keep it as close to 110-115 degrees as possible for 8+ hours. I wrapped mine in a towel and put it in the oven WITH THE OVEN OFF. This just kept it out of the way, out of drafts and in an insulated space.

10 hours later, it looked like this: (yes, longer than 8 hours is fine, it just may be more sour)

At this point, it’s 100% ready to eat. However, it is thinish. If you want a thicker yogurt, strain it.

This involves a piece of cheesecloth, muslin, or even a coffee filter, placed in a colander, and put over a bowl. I used a piece of cheesecloth the first time, but could see that cleaning it would be a pain over time. I had a piece of medium weight muslin in my fabric stash that I decided to use instead. Worked wonderfully.

Put it in the fridge to strain for a few hours, checking it until it’s the consistency you want. This was mine after about 3 hours. Just happened to be the time we were gone this morning

This is how much strained yogurt I wound up with, this is a 3 1/8 cup container. There was about a cup more that didn’t fit.

The whey that is strained out at the bottom is USEFUL, don’t just throw it away. Put it in a jar or container and keep it.

This is a quart size Mason jar, so you get about half yogurt and half whey if you strain it as much as I do.

Whey is nutritious, full of protein (Know those protein powders? Most are whey based). Add it to smoothies, I’ve read it can be used in bread to replace milk / water, in pancakes in place of buttermilk, etc. I used some from the last batch in place of the water in my pancake mix for the kids and it worked GREAT. Freeze it and use it in place of ice cubes in blended smoothies (I haven’t tried that yet but will soon), Google more uses

 

If it’s still not sweet enough when it’s all done, feel free to add more. You can also add jam, pureed fruit, cut up fruit, whatever. My 2 year old daughter loved it just like this. A little imitation honey (because I can’t handle full sugar) and vanilla and she was a happy camper.

Girl Scout Cookies!

As many of my friends have reminded me by posting about their girls’ upcoming sales, it’s Girl Scout Cookie time again.

*sigh*

I love Girl Scout Cookies. In some ways it’s the cookies themselves, in other ways it’s the memories of my time in Girl Scouts myself.

However, I can’t have them. A couple here and there maybe, but even that’s technically a big no-no. So. Imagine how excited I was to see this post recently:

Girl Scout Cookie Combat – 2012

It’s a list of protein shakes designed to mimic the flavour of the cookies, minus the actual cookies. It also mentions ways to support the cookie selling effort without having to actually take the cookies home and stare you in the face.

Disclaimer – I haven’t actually tried any of these recipes yet, which includes versions for Thin Mints (my favourite), Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-so-dos, and the new lemon cookie – Savannah Smiles, but you can bet I’ll be adding the ingredients I’m missing to my shopping cart when I go grocery shopping tomorrow, at least for a few. Not a lemon fan so I’ll be skipping that one likely.

As soon as I do try some, I’ll let you know my verdict.