when to exercise

Hey I hope this isn't too silly of a question but here goes....
Is it better to eat or do your protein drinks before of after exercising.

Never a silly question. :)

Couple of questions -

what time of day are you exercising?
What type of exercise - walking/running?

If you're exercising first thing in the morning you might want to have at least 1/2 the shake before you head out and the other half afterward. you want something in your tummy after fasting overnight.

If you're exercising later in the day or in the evening it doesn't really matter unless you're doing high cardio exercise. If you're running or something intense like that then make sure you've had something 30 mins prior to exercise. If you're walking then you're fine.

Eat if you're hungry. :)

Thanks, I read somewhere it is best to do your proteins after your workout. I want to be sure because I am 4 weeks out and I already have hit a plateau. This can't be ok? I have been the same weight for a whole week. I walk every other day in the mornings, and I do water aerobics five days a week. This week I go back to weights but I will not do the lbs. that I did before surgery.

Don't worry too much about before or after at this point. It's more about your hunger levels and time of day. If you start training for a race or something like that (running/biking) then it would be a different story. Also, at 4 weeks you're still healing so just getting out for a good walk is good.

On the plateau...at 4 weeks it's totally normal and probably not exercise based. Your body burns glycogen (not fat) to fuel itself. Carbohydrates make glycogen and fat can be converted into glycogen. Over the last 3 weeks you've been using up all your glycogen and converting your fat. Your body is a little freaked out so it's probably converting a LOT of your fat into glycogen. Hence the stall. why? because 1gram of glycogen requires 3grams of water, 1 gram of fat requires 1 gram of water (to store it in your body). Therefore, if your body is converting a lot of fat into glycogen you're storing more water in your body. Give it a week and it will start too come off again. This cycle will happen lots of times. I've found that it happens about every 10lbs for me.

Good luck and keep walking!

I use the body building sites as my guide.  I workout on an empty stomach a few hours after eating so I deplete the glycogen stores from my liver quickly then go on to burning fat.  Immediately after my workout I have protein to replenish my muscles. 

Weight loss is hard for me despite wls.  Working out upon awakening and following it with protein and one small serving of carbs for breakfast follows this principle and improves my results.