I need some help here family!! Calling all vets!!

hey guys!!! 

As most of you know I had surgery on the 18th of May. It was just 2 short weeks ago, and the protein and liquids have been somewhat of an issue... while I was getting all my liquids in, the protein was HARD!!! 

I am back to work as of yesterday and I feel great!! I got all 58 grams of protein in yesterday plus some and all of my liquid! I was also able to eat a soft food lunch! For dinner I decided to do a meal replacement of a protein drink so that I could BE SURE to get all liquids and protein in and it did the trick!!! Today I have devised a 2 hour schedule for my self... Here it is! Let me know if you think I need to make chages, or if this is a good plan to follow: 

8:00 am - (drive to work) Have protein drink with 16 grams of protein mixed with 10 oz of water or skim milk
10:00 am - Protein drink with 16 grams of protein mixed with 10 oz of water or skim milk
12 noon - lunch - still a work in progress, but today I have brought 5 wheat crackers, and some mac and shells... I can only eat like 5 spoon fulls of it, if that, it's crazy but it's lunch!

2:00 pm - protein drink with the same mixture of 8 & 10!

4:00 pm- protein drink with the same mixture of the others! (this will equal my 64 grams of protein and 40 oz of liquids)

6:00 pm- make sure to continue drinking from 4 - 6 to get in my last 20 oz of liquids for the day. Then anything else I have beyond is extra for my workout, etc.

8:00 pm- small soft food dinner ****il I can get into meats!) 

This is just my first attempt to get a good schedule since I'm back to work, and need some help from those of you who have been doing this for years!!! I work 9-6, and get home from work at about 7, then cooking might take me like 45 minutes to walk to dog and get settled. So 8 might seem some what late. I am following Dr. Barkers plan of 6 small meals each day through, along with getting my protein and liquids. Let me know what you think please!!! It will really help me out. I need to get myself into a rut so to speak...

stacy for 2 weeks out this is great - now for the bad news - protien drinks don't count as part of your liquid - I would try to add in more water/tea/cl (anything that is 5 cals or less per serving my nut and doc let us count) sonic has non carbinated lemon aid (thay only have low sugar so don't confuse the poor kids trying to get them to give you diet LOL) and you can add sf Peach, cherry (the only one they have year round) and/or rasberry and a rt 44 is a whopping 20 calories - order it lite ice and it taste good all the way down so you get 44 oz of liquid

another thing that helps me lots is to make cl or tea and take it in a water bottle up to my room at night - I sip some during the night and it is room temp in the morining and goes down better

you are doing great for 2 weeks out - this is a life long journey  - you have lots of time but establishing good habits  - like YOU ARE doing right from the start is the wa to be the most sucsessful

peace
danni

Danni yesterday I read the TINY print on the Sonic menu and it said the ONLY SUGARFREE additive they have is Cherry, the rest ALL contain sugar.  Now that's not a lot of added calories but IF someone is sensitive to sugar, it might make them dump.  Just thought I'd let you know.

strange and confusing - the peach and rasberry sf are not listed but when I asked yesterday they said they had them - a week ago all they had was cherry - I do dump on sugar and was ok - I will go tomorrow and ask a manager if my sonic really has them or if someone was being ummmm misleading

Mystery solved:  I just went to www.SonicDrivein.com and they do have a raspberry iced tea that contains no sugar.  But apparently they don't have a raspberry additive.  Their "Cherry" additive for cokes or lemonade is 90 EXTRA calories and an extra 24g/sugar per route 44 drink.  Cranberry additive adds 75 calories and 19gm/sugar.  The "diet cherry" has no sugar so we can all have that too.  They didn't list Peach so I'm not sure about that.  I'm guessing it's a tea and not an additive.  A "regular" slush (route 44) is about 600 calories.  Thank God they have Diet Cherry!!

The site is really cool in that you can choose what you want to eat and build it the way you want it and it will figure out the whole nutritional values for you.  It's fun to play around with.

You are doing really great only being 2 weeks out.  I do agree 100% with Dani you need to be getting your water in.  The protein drinks dont count as your water intake.  I buy flavored water, do CL or something similar.  I also have a bottle by my bedside that I drink on at night and in the morning.

Hugs B~

Thanks guys!! I totally didn't know that the protein drinks would not count towards my daily intake!!! But, the good news is, I just started that yesterday so let me get on track today!!!! 

So really, today, besides the 4.5 oz of water I had OUTSIDE of my protein... YIKES!! gotta get busy!!!! I'm so happy I posted this!!!! I will begin right after I finish my lunch! (waiting my 30 - 45 minutes of course... then in between protein drinks, I will be sure to be drinking as much as I can! I can tolerate apple juice and white grape juice pretty well, so I'm going to start on this right away! thanks so much for all your help!!

Ummm ... hate to bear bad news, but you should rethink all that fruit juice.  There is LOADS of sugar in pure fruit juices.  I am actually surprised they are not making you dump or feel sick.

If you can't cope with water or Crystal Lite all the time -- which I certainly understand -- you might try substituting low-sugar, low-calorie fruity drinks like Diet Ocean Spray and Diet V8 Splash.  I discovered them because they were on my surgeon's recommended list and they're delicious.

Fruit juices are what they were giving me in the hospital when surgery was over! I do not dump with them, because I drink them in very limited quantities. Maybe 5 oz at a time, if that.

I love water, and I normally drink about 3 bottles a day, so I will just keep doing that. Every now and then I have to hhave something different because water gets kinda old. That is when I go with the fruit juice. I was told as long as it's unsweetened then I'm fine. I willl try your suggestions though!!! For sure.

Thanks!!

Stacey you can also add water to your fruit juice. Mix like half juice and half water. I did that after I had my surgery and it seemed to work. If you haven't tried the Crystal Lite, you'll love the different flavors. You can even mix the Crystal Lite flavors. To me the Orange drink is too strong so I mix 1/2 to 3/4 orange drink to 1/2 to 1/4 water in my glass.

Also try adding lemons to your water. Just some suggestions. Good Luck!

Also to your lunch menu's try adding cottage cheese, string cheeses or yogurt.