A Few Questions need answered. Surgery May 13th :)

1. I'm a bit confused not so much about the stages but how to balance them.. For Instance, My book says I need to get 64 0z and I can have 1-2 Tablespoons of things like Cottage Cheese, Cream o Wheat, Pudding, Etc etc but blended.. That's fine.. But should these be my 3 meals a day or snacks... Does a protein drink count as a meal??  I'm only on Stage one..

2. During Holidays lets say you are meeting family at 1.. Normally you have appetizers/drinks but not your meal... Then they decide to eat the meal lets say at 3 or 4... How do you handle that?? 

 

3. They say I'm supposed to get 64 oz of liquids at least and some proteins.. I assume protein shakes are protein and liquid.. What happens if I get the liquids in easily can I have like 80 oz???

 

4. How should may day be... Normal I have a atkins shake for breakfast and Dinner which is 22oz liquid  30 0z protein, Snack lets say s tablespoons cottage cheese blended, lunch 2 0z Jello then 22oz water with fiber mix in it during the morning time, Then pudding 2tablespoons pudding before bed ...  Is this good?

I don't think it matters if you call your food a meal or a snack.  Call it whichever you want.

If I meet my family at 1 and they are having appetizers and drinks I would have an appetizer or a drink.  then if they eat the meal at 3 or 4, I would eat a meal at 3 or 4 with them.  Maybe I'm not understanding the question.

If you can get liquids in easily, then that's great.  Sure you can have 80 oz.  It is almost impossible to drink too much (a woman once died when she drank four gallons of water in less than one hour, so I would stick to no more than two gallons or so per hour, but I doubt you want to drink that much anyway, right?).

It's all new.. Maybe the question is How long in between meals/snacks should I wait?   I should eat 3meals a day with 2 or 3 snacks right?

Protein Drinks count for both liquid and meals. I tend to drink about 100 oz of water a day.

You should be eating B, Snack, L, Snack, D, Snack before bed if you need the protein.  Always protein based snacked and meals. For my normal days I do :

B: 730 am Shake, 35 grams of protein

S: 945 am Almonds, 8 grams of protein

L: 12 pm Turkey, 17 grams of protein

S:230 pm,  PB on crackers, 7 grams of protein.

D: 630 pm Chili, 18 grams of protein.

Sometimes I do a snack with my evening meds, but nothing big, a slice of cheese.  How long to wait between meals depends on your day. You should be eating something protein rich every 3-4 hours.

Shannon as I replied to the op, not all plans allow or encourage snacking.

What does your plan and doctor say you should be eating? My plan calls for 3 meals no snacking. My doctor had me start doing 1 snack additional at 3 months to get in enough calories, I've continued as I can't get in enough otherwise.

Different plans allow for different amounts, follow what yours states.

What does your doctor say? My plan too does not allow snacking in the initial stages. We are allowed 3 meals of up to 1 cup of food. I also have a bedtime snack as I was not eating enough food otherwise.

I think it depend on 2 things. What does your surgeons program say, and what is your protein goal assigned by your NUT. In my case, I have a very high protein goal that was assigned, between 89-112gr per day. There is no way that I could get that much protein in just eating 3 meals a day. That is because at just about 5 weeks out they only just increased my protein to about 3oz per meal.

So, a typical day for me is Breakfast, mid morning protein shake or protein bar, lunch, afternoon greek yogurt or protein bar, and dinner. This will generally put me in the range I need to be for protein. For clarification purposes, if I have a protein bar, I will only have 1 per day. So, if I have it as the mid morning snack, then I have the yogurt in the afternoon. I sent my NUT, the nutritional info on Quest Bars and she has approved them for me. I am going to be trying the Banana Nut Muffin in a few minutes.

 

I cannot have any of the foods you mentioned until I see my doctor on Tuesday afternoon and I had my surgery on 13 May. I am supposed to get in 2 protein shakes (I use the Premier which have 30g in 11 oz of liquid) a day now and sip them pretty much all day long. When I see him on Tuesday he will *hopefully* move me to 1/4 cup of soft food once a day for a week and then 1/4 cup 2x a day and then I can move to other foods slowly. He is very strict about 3 meals a day and only allows for snacking if you are awake more than 14 hours. I explained that I sometimes work an 18 hour day if we are doing an implementation and he said then he'd add a low cal extra 'meal' but that it was an exception. 

But he wants me to drink 64 oz of water on top of all that once I am 4-6 weeks out from surgery. Right now, the shakes count towards my liquid but after I can go off soft foods, they won't.

I also am not to eat until at least 30 minutes after drinking and then wait an hour after my last bite before drinking again.

But that is what my doctor has determined as successful with his patients. I would work with your doctor and nutritionist on what they determine to be successful for theirs. :)

One week out and it is a struggle to get an ounce of protein shake down. Makes me feel full pretty immediately.