Do you count coffee as a meal?

My plan is to eat 6 times a day, getting in 65-80 grams of protein and not to exceed single digits of sugar intake grams at any "meal".    I have been counting my morning coffee as one of those meals.   The coffee is usually decaf with about 30 calories worth of milk, sugar free syrup and a scoop of protein making it somewhere between 10-15 grams of protein depending on the type I have in the house.    

Now that I am nearing 5 months post op, my hunger is returning a bit.  The coffee isn't sustaining my hunger until my mid morning snack.   Should I exchange the coffee for something more hearty (HA!) in the morning, or should I not be counting the coffee as a meal at all and just as one of the drinks I get in during the day -- like I don't count my protein orange flavored drink thing that I might have later in the day.

Just wondering what everyone else does.

I count my coffee as a liquid not a meal. Add a protein bar after your coffee and that should help with the hunger.

I don't, but I just drink straight coffee. Nothing else in it. Maybe some Splenda but that's it.

I don't drink coffee with protein unless it's Click. I consider it a snack (if it has protein), otherwise, it's just a beverage. 

I don't know about you, but I feel better if I eat 20-30g of protein at breakfast. This morning, for example, I had 3/4c. egg whites with 1/4c. reduced fat cheddar and a clementine. That gave me about 27g of protein. 

Yeah, I do feel better when I eat like that in the morning.   I guess, maybe I'll switch...have eggs first thing then protein coffee later in the morning.

Does it matter whether you call it a meal or not?  If you're getting hungry, then either trade the coffee for something more substantial or add another snack.

Well it only matters in that I'm supposed to eat 6 times a day -- is a cup of low calorie coffee with protein one of those meals.

See, I don't see why it really matter how many meals we eat in a day.  What matters is how much protein and how many calories we get in the whole day. 

You could keep drinking the coffee with protein and add a seventh small snack, or you could stop drinking the coffee and eat a meal with more calories and protein.  Either way should have the same effect of helping you feel full and will have the same impact on your weight loss.

With that few calories I would consider it only a beverage-at least that is what my dietitian said!

On January 2, 2013 at 6:48 AM Pacific Time, karenp8 wrote:

With that few calories I would consider it only a beverage-at least that is what my dietitian said!

It's more than 30 calories, that was my first thought also.  The 30 calories is from the milk......she didn't mention how many calories in the protein?  I'd guess somewhere around 100-150 calories so the drink would be between 130 - 180 calories with these numbers it should not be considered as a beverage. 

Actually the less calories we drink as our beverages (water needs) the better off it is for us to not add empty calories that CAN add up.