I am seeing Dr Kim in Colleyville and received my daily pre-op diet instructions as follows for 21 days.

4 Protein shakes with skim milk or

5 Protein Shakes w/ Water

water

crystal lite

sf Jello

unsweet tea

black coffee

Diet Green Tea

Koolaid sweetened with an artificial sweetner

Any 0 calorie, sf beverage.

Is this it?? Being in the medical field even I notice something is missing and I'm not going to do so well on this for 21 days.

I agree. My doctor DID require the pre-op but even if he hadn't, I would have done it anyway. It totally prepares you for what is to come and I don't consider it a waste of time. I lost 17pounds on it and my weight was slow initially following the surgery. However, looking back at it and knowing about the liver shrinkage and Lord, the mental preparation, I could not imagine omitting it. Most of the most successful people follow the standard pre-op and post-op diet.Best of Luck!

The pre-op diet also give you time to adjust mentally to the changes that are coming. Resisting the pre-op diet can be a sign that you are not mentally ready to change your eating habits. I think its needed to reset your thinking about food, I have a total different mindset about how much food is normal than I did pre-band, my concept of what a body requires to sustain itself was very distorted.

Like Leigha and Swan said, it is a time to get ready. I considered it time to practice eating/drinking slowly and in small amounts, before my body was put under the stress of the surgery. After I had surgery, I was pretty used to taking small sips and taking a while to finish my shake or drink. Then it was easier once I started on food, to think about taking smaller bites. The popsicles helped me get through the feeling of "I must eat SOMETHING!

I had Dr. Kim too and my surgery went very well. Best to you!

I just cheated on my pre-op diet. Just had tuna!! I'm on day 5 of a 7 day clear liquid diet and getting really cranky about it!!!---broth, sugar free Jello, sugar free popsicles, diet soda, and coffee or tea only!!

I understand that the purpose of the diet is to shrink the liver, but logic says that people of varying weights will have varying degrees of fat on the liver even after the liquid diet. That combined with the other pre-op diets I've read about makes this seem not as necessary as the doctor makes us believe? Any doctors out there that have some comments on this?

Does eating a small amount of Protein in the middle of the diet really make a difference???

I am not a doctor. Do I think having protein is as bad as carbs during the preop Liquid diet, no. Yes, some people will have less fatty livers than others. I saw a video on Youtube where the doctor said that a low carb diet presurgery can shrink the liver up to 25%. That's a lot! I would highly recommend watching a real surgery on youtube not the cartoon versions. They are not at all bloody(I don't deal well with lots of blood even have to turn off Grey's Anatomy when it gets to gory); because one of the tools they use cauterizes which reduces bleeding. The first surgery I watched they moved this big thing out of the surgery field and I though "What the heck is that?" Well it was the liver. They just totatlly folded it in half! When the liver is fatty it is more fragile and does'nt fold as well.