VSG Newbie - 5 days post op - Concerned about hydration

Hello Everyone! I'm new to this forum and hoping to get some experienced insight into the first four weeks. My post op instructions seem a bit confusing.......drink a minimum 64 ozs of sugar free, non-carbonated liquids per day but only ingest 1 oz at a time by sipping over 20-30 minutes per oz, but get 30-60 grams protein in daily and make it mostly water. I'm no math wizard, but please help me make more practical sense of it. Thanks in advance for your help, input and guidance!

Hey, I'm 6 days out and I was told to drink 24-30 oz of protein shakes, so 3 8-10 oz servings each with a minimum 25g of protein. On top of that 40-34 oz of water or water with a SF flavoring. That makes 64 oz of liquid a day. It should take around an hour to drink.

At week 2-4 (soft foods) my protein shake intake drops to minimum 1 a day, so the other 54 oz of liquids needed will be water or some sort of low sugar or SF electrolyte drink to prevent dehydration.

Hope this helps you figure out the math for your particular surgeon.

This sounds unnecessarily complicated.

I worked on sipping all day - 60 grams of protein from protein shakes and 64 ounces of liquid minimum. I drank protein shakes and diluted crystal light lemonade. Some warm herbal tea as well. And soup.

Thanks Gwen. I'm finding that sipping all day is a challenging adjustment, but know that it's important to stay hydrated and get as many nutrients as I can during this time. At the moment, I downloaded an app that makes an audible alert to drink every 30 minutes. Thinking, maybe I should adjust? Your thoughts, please?

I recommend every 15 minutes.

I drank 1 oz every 5-10 minutes to meet my goals. I agree 1 oz over 30 minutes, considering people usually sleep 1/3 of the day is not gong to work. In the beginning they say protein drinks count as hydration, but they don't feel very hydrating to me so I tried to keep those goals separate. That is your call. It's a challenge, but so important! Wishing you the best!!

Hi, I haven't had my surgery yet so I'm not expert here, but I have been studying on youtube of people who have and who share their eating/drinking. MOST say they do not get all the water down in the first couple of days or even weeks but they fill a container with the daily amount and then work on it ALL day small sips at a time. As for the protein they make up a 30 g. in 1 cup of liquid of choice (many use water and then add a water flavor) and then put it in the fridge and fill a little shot glass which is 2 ounces and sip on that trying to finish that 2 ozs. in under 30 minutes and then refill. Just go slow baby sips. As for soups, that would be clear broth and they say sometimes that feels good. Remember sugar-free popsicles are a flavored water basically so those help keep you hydrated.

For any WLS you should aim for 30 grams of protein by 30 days post-op. At this point (within a week of your surgery) your primary focus must be hydration.

Firstly, always follow what your doc tells you regardless of anybody says here. If what we tell you aligns with the docs instructions, go for it. That said, the easy way out is simply to use protein shakes and measured water amts. Most docs say you can have soups but try to add protein to the soups to get your daily dose of protein too.

Lastly, in addition to what you asked, please be sure to take your vitamins too. Its important.

Thanks! I will try that!