Almost a week out and the scale isn't moving. Weird.

You _really_ don't need to worry about protein malnutrition in the first 4-6 weeks post-op.  On the other hand, if they can manage to get you to reach a reasonable about of protein intake quickly, so much the better.  They may be harsher on guys. Unjury Chicken Soup will be high in sodium, but it's far, far higher-quality protein than what you usually find in most "protein shots", most of which are just low-quality hydrolyzed animal collagen (gelatin).  When you ingest 20g of whey protein (like Unjury), you can rely on the fact that your body can use each of those protein grams. Compare this with a clear, fruit-flavored protein bullet containing collagen as its protein.  It might have 42 grams of protein, but not even 4 grams of usable protein. /Steve

You couldn't be more right about the protein bullets. My doc actually pushes them which I talked to him about, told him I think he should stop doing that but he just brushed me off. They're a waste of money, and taking up valuable room in our stomachs that could be holding better sources of protein.

I really like Whey for the first stage when you're sipping all day and keeping it in your system throughout the day but if I was to supplement with it further down the road I might switch to a protein that is more slowly absorbed. I am not sure instantly absorbed protein is the way to go unless it's immediately after a workout long term.

There are really two points to worry about with protein, the point where you have malnutrition which everyone worries about, and the point where you start losing muscle like crazy, which I'm also concerned about but most people don't seem to be. The more muscle I can keep, the better things will go months down the road so I'm keeping my protein high and planning on starting weight lifting as soon as they'll let me.

The chicken broth is alright, very salty. I got one of each of their flavors, as well as some chicken broth from the store. To make sure I get my water in, and to make it more palatable the best mix I found was either two cups of chicken broth and an unflavored unjury, or one cup chicken broth, one cup water, and one packet of chicken broth flavored unjury. It tastes a little more "real" using the broth, but I can't say for certain it tasted better. Having the protein diluted half strength helped the taste though and helped me get my water in. That way instead of having to do my protein and water, I just did the broth all day and got everything I needed.

And this morning results are in.... 279lbs!



Thanks for all of the great responses, just to clarify, I'm not worried one bit. I know this will work for me, and personally do not want to see 20lbs a month dropped, for skin and muscle reasons I am hoping for 10lbs a month but we'll see what happens. I just wanted to post my journey and show some results that are different from the "I lost 20 lbs my first week!" stories. I also thought it was strange that my water weight is increasing at exactly the weight I am losing fat. This isn't post surgery IV weight, it is water I must be putting on every day to match the fat I am burning every day. It's a little odd that it matches so precisely, but I think it's a big coincidence.



I'm was confident that once I switched from clear liquids to full liquids I would wake up 5lbs lighter the next day due to dropping all of the water when I get off the high sodium chicken broth. I tried a cup of the low sodium broth but it just doesn't taste right. This is waaaaay more salt than I normally take in. Now that I have been enlightened by DX's post and see there could be a water rebounding issue due to glycogen I am less confident that I will wake up immediately 5lbs lighter the day after I cut out the salt, but it's coming either way. 3500 calories is a pound of fat and I am in serious calorie deficit.



I do plan to get my calories closer to 600-800/day starting on full liquids, on the clear liquids diet the only thing I have been wanting to eat is unflavored unjury in watered down chicken broth. to answer the calorie/protein question, here's how I'm doing it. The unflavoried unjury is 20grams of protein and 80 calories each packet. I am making four packets a day, (to get my 80 grams of protein and 320 calories) and then adding enough broth and water to kick in an additional 30 calories and 64 oz of fluid a day.



Not particularly tasty, but not hard to do when you are living on supplements and water. Tomorrow I'll be switching to protein powders mixed with Hood low carb milk substitute. That should get me closer to where I am aiming, 600-800 calories a day, 100-120 grams of protein a day, under 20-40 grams of carbs a day and 10-30 grams of fat a day.



If anyone thinks I should modify these goal numbers let me know.

My surgeon and nutritionist run one of the strictest food programs in the country with their logic being you get 1 shot at the rapid weight loss. I was told yesterday my goal is to stay at or under 5 carbs a meal and your meals are pretty close to mine, except I can't get everything in. I added in EAS Carb shakes for the extra nutrients.

I think you're on track as you seem to be willing to put in the work for it. I know out in TT, they're eating WAAAAY different than you and I, so we've got to be doing something right.

Just finishing off this thread in case someone finds it in the future. Yesterday I stopped with the chicken broth and cut my sodium intake drastically. I went to the milk (or more correctly, Hood Calorie Count Dairy Beverage) based protein drinks, pissed all damn day, and this morning I weigh 272lbs.

Nice.

I may rebound due to water weight, no big deal either way, I just wanted to see the scale moving.