HELP! Need to gain weight without high protein.

My 79yo mother went into the hospital septic. After emergency surgery that left her with a stoma she was on dialysis for weeks. She is now, 8 weeks later, much better, home and learning to cope (no longer on dialysis). The problem is she has been losing weight since the tube feeding was stopped upon discharge. I'm trying to find a high calorie diet that's not too high in protein due to her compromised kidneys. I've seen on other forums that many people have had success with high calorie, high carb, protein drinks but am apprehensive to use. Does anyone have experience with the powder supplement drinks and weight gain? If not, do you have advice on how to gain weight? She's down to 95lbs at this point and we're very concerned.

For starters, exactly how many mg of protein a day is your mother allowed to have that won't worsen her kidneys?

I have a shake called VEGA Proteins and Green. It has 20 mg of protein. I don't know if 20 mg of protein per serving is too much. PLUS vitamins from 2 servings of green vegetables etc. 2 grams of sugar, 4 of carbs.

Plus she'd need more than 1 smoothie a day. 3 shakes plus other foods outside of this. She'd get nutrients from this brand above the sugar brands.
Above poster ByeBye is right in that most of the no protein shakes are all sugar. Ensure and Boost are sugar calories. I hope a health place can help.

Vega Protein and Greens is a really flavourful green vanilla flavoured powder. Few fillers.

I put a banana in it, liquid stevia without fillers and it's tasty. The more ice you put in, the more the consistency becomes like sherbert or icecream. (Sometimes I added 4 pieces of mixed berry frozen fruit. Not too much berry fruit, just 4 - 6 pieces as too much goes through iloestomy too fast. Banana doesn't got through fast. It sticks.)

-1 scoop of the powder is 100 calories.
-1 banana is about 100 calories.
-I use water not milk but if she can use milk that can another 100 calories.
-I use Ninja Blender with ice and it's an awesome tasting healthy smoothie.

If she can have 3 of those protein, banana and milk smoothies a day at a total of 900 calories for the day, plus 3 a day are a total of 60 mg of protein for the day, that could be a start.

Then if she can handle no protein albeit high starch high carb foods like mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, or soft pastas, on the side you can up the calories some more and she'll be able to put on some weight.

1 cup of mashed potato with butter and milk averages 200-250 calories.
1 cup of sweet potato averages around 250 calories.
1 cup of plain pasta cooked averages 200 calories.
1 cup rice 200 roughly (Does she like rice pudding?)

Here's a good link for some pasta and rice and noodle calories per cup. If you can add carb sides to smoothies at least you could get her daily calorie intake up to say 1400 to maybe 1800 calories a day..................

http://calorielab.com/foods/pasta-and-noodles/19

I am in fitness but was an emaciated 89 pounds and that high in protein and high caloric food in nut butters and protein shakes, PLUS adding bananas and bread stuffs, starch etc., did the trick quickly. Although I don't eat like this anymore, to put on weight, this diet put me back to my healthy weight of 115 pounds in no time. I'm 5'6". I packed on a quick 26 pounds eating like this out of surgery. (And 8 hour slow cooked chicken, but that and nut butters I guess she can't have.)

And if she has an ileostomy, this type of food high in carbs and starch, slowed me right down for that time as well. So depending on her type of ostomy output, it could be good for that as well. I don't know what kind of ostomy she has.

A lot of starch on 1 hand may not be the healthiest long term but to get quick weight on it may be a realistic start.

I really hope you can figure this out. It's a real catch22 for the both of you.

Thank you so much! It helps to hear that others are dealing with this and have experience in trying to gain. She's down to 94 right now and I can't seem to swing it the other way just yet. I've been feeding her pasta, cheese, peanut butter and crackers, oatmeal, soup (in hopes the already broken down nutrients will be absorbed better), soft veggies, boost, etc. It's just not working yet. She's only been home one week today, but still panicked. Hopefully, once she's settled that will change. Will definitely try the cream of wheat.