I'm currently on the 5th day of pre-op liquid diet (down 16 pounds). Basically I can have 4-5 Protein shakes a day and 2 cups of vegetables. The shakes are making me gag with every sip, I haven't been able to finish any of them. No matter what brand, what flavor, I can't take these Protein Shakes. Yesterday I literally had 1 sip of a Protein shake (that I almost immediately threw up) , Water, and a cup of cooked Spinach.

Did anyone else have such a strict pre-op diet? What substitutes are there for the protein shakes?

Strict?.........mine was one WEEK of CLEAR liquids only...no Protein, no salads, no veggies, etc. Basically ZERO calories....and I didn't cheat once. Hang in there. It could be worse.

Not much

My Pre-op starts next Thursday and I was told I can have 2 protein shakes of my choice and a lean protein with 1c veggies at dinner. Sorry you are having trouble with the taste...not sure what you can do about that besides convincing your dr. that they are not working for you.

I asked my nutritionist if I could have a grilled chicken breast maybe once a day to help add to the protein i wasn't getting since i couldn't tolerate the shakes. She wasn't understanding at all and just told me stick to the diet.

I'm currently on the 5th day of pre-op liquid diet (down 16 pounds). Basically I can have 4-5 Protein shakes a day and 2 cups of vegetables. The shakes are making me gag with every sip, I haven't been able to finish any of them. No matter what brand, what flavor, I can't take these protein shakes. Yesterday I literally had 1 sip of a Protein shake (that I almost immediately threw up) , Water, and a cup of cooked Spinach.

Did anyone else have such a strict pre-op diet? What substitutes are there for the protein shakes?

My Dr. did not care what I did, or how I did it...as long as I lost the required amount of weight prior to surgery...just so happens that a liquid shake regime is the quickest...but i did eat at least one meal a day, then went all liquid 2 days prior to final weight-in....if I didn't pass the final weigh in, he would postpone the surgery which I did not want to happen...

Final weigh in was a friday, surgery was a Monday...so guess what I did saturday,,my LAST MEAL..went somewhere I knew I would never set foot into again...an all you can eat Chinese Buffet...sunday right up to surgery I ate absolutely nothing....and went to the gym to work off that saturday pig out...my final one.

I would go back to the Doc and see if you can trade the 4 or 5 shakes a day to 1 a day but with the use of skim, almond or simply smart milk. You can still achieve liver shrinkage. Whole point of this is not to make you sick or starve but if you can't do it the way they ask comfortably and it could cause you to stray (cheat) then they should compromise a bit.

Just my opinion and you know what opinions are like....

I drank GNCs ready to drink Chocolate Swiss Total Lean shake and love them! Easy for on the go! I hope you find something that works!!

I drank GNCs ready to drink Chocolate Swiss Total Lean shake and love them! Easy for on the go! I hope you find something that works!!

By the way, they are a chocolate milk consistency... So no chalky, bland taste!

It is always the smell of protein powders that get me! When I was required to drink the powder I would mix it in a cold bottle of water then shake really well. Prior to surgery I would just down it without thinking about it to much. Since the bottle of water has a small hole the smell did not reach my nose as much . I will tell you that in my opinion Muscle milk light is one of the worst I have tried!!! As far as powders go Publix Greenwize brand vanilla is my favorite.

Im on day 5 of a 14 day pre-op diet of 5-6 protein shakes, 2 cups of veggies, and diet soda sugar free popsicles/gelatin. It sucks. I cheated so far in that I do more than 2 cups of veggies and i HAD to get cheese on my salad today. I feel like i just had steak! Lol

I went and returned all my muscle milks and picked up Isopure, they are not milky so even if they have that "protein" taste, they are easier to drink because it's like a gatorade type of drink.

I'm tempted to "cheat" but not cheat as in eating a hamburger but like having some Turkey or Chicken Breast. I've lost 16 pounds already in 5 days.

RD you are doing great. Glad you found something to work for you! Best of luck to you.

I went and returned all my muscle milks and picked up Isopure' date=' they are not milky so even if they have that "protein" taste, they are easier to drink because it's like a gatorade type of drink.

I'm tempted to "cheat" but not cheat as in eating a hamburger but like having some Turkey or Chicken Breast. I've lost 16 pounds already in 5 days.[/quote']

I couldn't stomach the protein shakes until I found this recipe... 1scoop Choc protein (I use body fortress from walmart) 1tbsp SF fat free pudding and one tbsp torani SF syrup. You can change up flavors by changing the pudding and syrups. Check out bariatricfoodie.com for some great protein shake recipes.

My nutritionist said I could blend them with milk and 1/3 c berries only (no other fruit). I'm not sure why yours is making you be so strict. Try getting some sugar free torani syrups (usually for coffee) and see if you can flavor them up a bit more. Other than that, they taste better the colder they are :-(