Hey everyone. I was just telling someone about my "trial liquid diet" and thought I would share:

I attempted to do a “trial” liquid diet this week to see how hard it is going to be. It is super tough. On Monday I only drank 3 protein shakes and worked out for an hour. I felt so weak when I got home I gave up and ordered a pizza (guess it didn’t go too well). But I am happy I tried it because I learned a lot from it. I think the problem I had was going from roughly 2500 calories down to 600 in one day (I’m having “last meal syndrome”) & I think my body freaked out. After that unpleasant experience, I decided to start eating a lot less to get ready for the pre-op diet. I now replace my breakfast and lunch with protein shakes and have a small piece of chicken for dinner, along with rice and corn. I’m counting my calories and eating about 900-1,000 calories a day and I'm also working out for an hour everyday. The first day was hard, but this is day 3 and its going a lot easier. Also, I lost 4lbs.

So anyways, I super recommend you try a “trial” liquid diet before you have to start the pre-op diet. I will be so mad if I have to change my surgery date because I couldn’t follow the diet.

For my liquid diet, my doctor wants me to go on optifast for the 2 weeks before the surgery, and just protein shakes 2 weeks after the surgery. The optifast is expensive; it’s like $175 for 2 weeks.

I just wanted to share that I too am doing something similiar. I was in "Last Supper" hell as soon as I got approved--finally just gave in and ate that whole damn cheeseburger at Red Robin and got it out of my system. This week I went back to South Beach Phase 1, from there I will back it down next week to a shake in place of breakfast, then to the pre-op diet the nutritionist gave me. I have not been as good about the exercise though--I am getting in about a half hour daily. I was thinking like you did, to go from what I currently consume to the pre-op seemed really drastic, so maybe training my body to do more with less seemed reasonable to me!

I am using Unjury looks like $78 for the two weeks plus the other items I am allowed (unsweetened applesauce, cream of wheat, sugar free pudding, and canned cream soups)

Cut out the rice and corn now. They are both serious sugars and are adding to your hunger rather than curbing it. Cooked carrots are also not your friend.

My pre-op diet was entirely food as the shakes came back up faster than they went down. If you want pre-op friendly foods, the list is:

Yes

boiled/baked chicken or fish (no teriyaki or marinade)

avocado -it has good fats & oils

all the veggies you can eat raw or cooked

fat-free yogurt -plain or coffee

nuts in moderation

occasional egg or two but not fried

tofu

coffee/tea/crystal light etc.

spices

milk

light cottage cheese

No

sugars -white, cane, brown or honey, it doesn't matter

fruit -it's all sugar even if it's "natural"

Pasta

bread

rice

potatoes or root vegetables

cooked carrots

cheese

fats -including butter, chicken skin, cream Soups

noodles

fruit bottom yogurt

tomato sauce, ketchup, marinades

juice

I found on the pre-op I could do little more than go for a short walk after work...just wasn't enough fuel to run off of, if I did more I got dizzy, tunnel vision, etc. My pre-op consisted of all the nasty shakes (HMR) my heart could desire, SF popsicles, SF jello, broth, water, crystal light, and the ONLY solid anything I was allowed was pickles...there were many, many pickles in my life, just so I could chew. Some of the other docs pre-op isn't so bad but I recommend if you're cut down to <750 calories a day you take it easy and don't over do it. Good luck! It sucks but you can do it!

I think that if you are only drinking shakes for your pre-op diet (or something similar calorie-wise) then you should not try to exercise. You are not eating a lot of calories, so I think just resting during this time is better.

the ONLY solid anything I was allowed was pickles...there were many, many pickles in my life, just so I could chew.

Pickles!?! What a strange exception. I assume dill pickles only as the bread and butter pickles are full of sugar?

Pickles!?! What a strange exception. I assume dill pickles only as the bread and butter pickles are full of sugar?

I know, I know, but I was so thrilled to have something, anything that was real food I didn't dare question it. My instructions just said pickles so had every type imaginable, I did fine bread and butter made with splenda which turned out to be my favorite. I'm fairly sure the folks at Kroger thought I was pregnant with triplets by the vast amounts of pickles I was purchasing....I also decided that if I could have pickles why couldn't I have cucumbers....soooo...I stretched that a little.

As far as the caffeine, I don't know, I haven't noticed anyone else on here saying anything about it. I have a very conservative doctor who also says no alcohol ever so I'm guessing he just looks at caffeine as not great for you therefore you should give it up. I've never been big on caffeine so that hasn't been an issue.... It is a diuretic so immediately post op when you're forcing the fluids to keep from getting dehydrated I can see why they'd want you to avoid it, after that I really have no explanation!:cursing:

I decided to try the Liquid diet today and see how I am gonna do on it, how is everyone here making it on it?

My bariatric clinic gives everyone in my lap-band program homework. One of our homework assignments this month was to go on a 3 day trial liquid diet. I thought that those three days would be really tough for me, but they weren't. I drank protein shakes for breakfast and lunch and ate sugar-free jello, Greek yogurt, tomato soup and drank FF milk throughout the day. I lost 7 pounds in those 3 days and I was consuming about 1200 calories a day. I have never experienced such rapid weight loss. That was over two weeks ago and I haven't regained any of that weight. I'm actually looking forward to my 10 day pre-sugery liquid diet. Maybe I'll drop 10 pounds in those 10 days!

I'm not sure I buy into the necessity or value of doing this. Haven't we ALL tried and tested our willpower adequately over the years? Isn't that what drove us here in the first place?

The preop diet isn't easy. But most doctors do not recommend just 3 shakes a day, particularly in concert with an hour of vigorous exercise. Some surgeons require NO pre-op diet.

Why not let things unfold, and tackle them as required? There just seems to be so little to be gained from proving, to ourselves (once again) how HARD things can be.

Why not take the path of least resistance? Do what is asked of you, when it is asked. (And yes, if your doctor suggests a trial, comply---but feel free to ask him/her the rationale for doing so before you do so.)

If your doctor is like mine, you might be very pleasantly surprised. Yes, I had a preop diet. It involved 2 shakes a day (spend this preop time seeking out ones you REALLY like), as well as a dinner with Protein and veggies. In addition, we could have broth, sugar-free popsicles, and sugar-free Jello. NOT a feast, to be sure---but certainly not something that required tons of white-knuckling.

You're having this surgery to LET GO of the white-knuckling. Why not start now?

It's weight loss--not punishment.

Edited January 25, 201016 yr by BetsyB
to add a thought

My surgeon requires a pre-op liquid diet so that I can shrink my liver prior to the surgery. He is very conservative and wants to make sure that there are no complications on surgery day. Since he will need to move the liver to the side when placing the band, it needs to be as small as possible. If my surgeon sees a large liver when he opens you up, he'll just close you up and then you have to go through the whole process again. For that, I'm not taking any chances. I'm going to follow the 10 day liquid diet and make sure that I have a successful surgery. Good luck everyone!

My nutrionist suggested that I try the two week pre op diet prior to when I will need to do this for surgery. I just finished the two week diet. The first two days were hard after that not too bad. I lost 22 lbs in two weeks which is crazy.

The down side is when I attended my month PCP appointment and she saw the weight lose she started questioning whether or not I need to have surgery if I could loose weight so easily. Since I need her sign off and approval for this surgary it has me worried now and regreting that I did the trial diet.

Anybody have a PCP deny writting a letter for approval?