I had my final visit with my surgeon today pre op and I learned that I may be doing things wrong (figures). I asked the assistant if Isopure counted toward my Water intake because drinking it throughout the day (1 bottle) made me feel less thirsty. She said that it does NOT count toward water intake because the Protein makes you pee and that I need to cut the bottle in half and use it as a Meal Replacement (1/2 for Breakfast and 1/2 for dinner or whatever). So I'm attempting that today. I had 1/2 for breakfast and I still have 1/2 in the fridge. However, drinking so much of it "as a meal" is just tough for me so I still end up drinking it basically all morning. I hope this counts as a meal? It has helped me increase my water intake but I'm having trouble with the "meal" part of it. There is 40g of protein per bottle of Isopure so if I drink half as a replacement for a meal then that is 20g of protein. Even if I do both halves to take up 2 of my meals I only get 40g. My daily goal is 70-80g so does that mean I need to eat a whopping 30g of protein for the 3rd meal or am I just needing to "snack" on protein more? I've been mixing protein into my Soup and broth but even so, I've only ended up with 48g of protein today. Here is what my day looked like:

Breakfast:

1/2 bottle Isopure - 20g

Snack:

sugar free pudding - 1g

Lunch:

chicken broth with 1 scoop of protein - 12g (2g +10g)

Dinner:

1 can Campbell's 98% fat free Cream of Chicken soup (pureed) with 1 scoop of protein - 15g (5g + 10g)

I will probably have another snack sometime tonight and I suppose I better mix Protein powder into whatever it is but do you guys have any suggestions?

Whether you are pre-op or post-op, we ALL need enough fluids and Protein

If you are on pre-op, why are you having trouble getting enough fluids and protein? Is there some reason you cannot drink normally?

Nope, I'm "eating" Breakfast lunch and dinner with small Snacks in between (either a bowl of broth, Jello or pudding). I drank a lot of Water before all of this but since I've started the liquid diet, I haven't felt as naturally thirsty, I've been forcing myself to drink more water whereas before I would just FEEL thirsty. This would probably be because I'm "drinking" all of my food right now so I just don't feel the urge to drink more water. I suppose I could be doing it wrong?

My eating habits before even thinking of surgery were WAY different. I really didn't keep track of anything other than if I had not eaten all day (which was common practice) I would be super hungry at night and have a very large portion and usually it was something not good and full of carbs (pizza or Pasta was a favorite).

I am a little lost as far as what I should be aiming for with how much to eat at one sitting and how often, especially on this pre - op diet. It's easier to know how much I should eat on solid foods than it is trying to figure out portion sizes on a liquid diet. Right now I'm just focused on trying to get protein into every meal and a good amount of it but if Isopure counts as 2 meals out of a 3 meal per day diet, then I might be a little screwed. I was hoping I could just eat 3 meals a day plus a few snacks and use Isopure in between to fill out my protein and water intake for the day but apparently that's not the case. I wasn't looking at Isopure as a Meal Replacement, I saw it as a drink with protein in it. If this is the case then I'm assuming the Syntrax nectar protein packets that are fruit flavored also count as a meal? I guess I need to have a conversation with my nutritionist again and sort some things out.

This is very interesting. I wonder if pre surgery I was Protein deficient. Even during periods of pre op life when I logged, the focus was only on calories. I had never given protein intake a second thought. Probably didn't help my already out of control appetite.

As a vegetarian, meeting protein goals post op has been like a full time job. I have learned a whole new way of meal prep and can make some awesome mock meat now.

One of the million advantages of losing weight is that my minimum protein goal has dropped to 45g per day, so much more manageable and most days I easily exceed that.

Why has your protein requirement dropped. Mine is at least 100 grams for life, no matter what I weigh. My surgeon based it on my highest weight and explained that my body is not going to respond well unless I get that much because it will think I am starving.

NUT calculates on 0.75g per kg of weight.

And to your other point, in retrospect, knowing what I do now, I was definitely protein deficient pre-op. About all I ate were carbs and starches.