on this forum i have read many many posts from people that said that the two week pre-surgery diet is not a "liver shrinking diet". it is just the surgeons way to get you used to following a liquid diet. some people even said they didn't follow it and advised others that it wasn't a big deal if they didn't follow it. last night the dietician told us that yesterday she saw our surgeon and he was very upset. she said he just had a tough surgery where the patient did not follow the diet at all and they had so much trouble maneuvering around his liver and trying with difficulty to retract the liver to successfully complete the surgery. the patient's liver was hanging down too far to retract it. it took longer than it should and finally they were able to complete the surgery. she told us that the liver shrinking diet does reduce the amount of fat around the liver and around your stomach and is an imporant part of this process especially if you have a high BMI or a fatty liver. just thought i would share that story.

Wow, thanks, good to know. I am practicing today to see if I can make it all day on shakes and bars. I am adding a little fruit in there too. I still have over a month to go but what the hey, practice makes perfect.

on this forum i have read many many posts from people that said that the two week pre-surgery diet is not a "liver shrinking diet". it is just the surgeons way to get you used to following a liquid diet. some people even said they didn't follow it and advised others that it wasn't a big deal if they didn't follow it. last night the dietician told us that yesterday she saw our surgeon and he was very upset. she said he just had a tough surgery where the patient did not follow the diet at all and they had so much trouble maneuvering around his liver and trying with difficulty to retract the liver to successfully complete the surgery. the patient's liver was hanging down too far to retract it. it took longer than it should and finally they were able to complete the surgery. she told us that the liver shrinking diet does reduce the amount of fat around the liver and around your stomach and is an imporant part of this process especially if you have a high BMI or a fatty liver. just thought i would share that story.

good luck; this is a tough season to do a liquid diet, but we made this decision and there is no turning back. i received good news last night; the pre surgery diet will allow you to replace one of your protein shakes each day with 3 ounces of plain grilled chicken. i am going to try to not do this at all but on thanksgiving i am going to have this with the 1/2 cup of salad and fat free italian dressing i am allowed and enjoy a dinner with the family. there is a god; i can eat some sort of a thanksgiving meal with the fam.

I also wondered about all this "pre-op" dieting. As of right now, I have only 1 day of a specific "pre-op" diet and that's the day prior to my surgery. I have my pre-op training class tomorrow, so things might change then, but even if they told me tomorrow that I need to do all liquid from there on out, that's only 1 weeks worth. I've seen people saying they had a few weeks to a month or more of pre-op diet. I wonder what each surgeon is doing differently that some folks need to do a pre-op diet and some don't. I have a rather high BMI, like 52 . I guess I'll see tomorrow and if things change, I'll have some blogging fodder.

My surgeon/dietician have me on a 40 carbs or less diet to shrink my liver. I have been following it to the letter because I made this choice and I don't want to screw it up. I have a friend that almost didn't get her band because she didn't follow the pre-op diet. I look at it this way, my recovering will be better the less moving of the organs they have to do. Makes sense to me.

why does the diet vary from surgeon to surgeon? it should be standard, but so should the insurance specifications. some insurances require a dr supervised diet for six months and some do not. just would be nice if we were all on the same page, but i guess all things are worth fighting for. Matt you lucky stiff. i have known about the pre surgery diet since my seminar so if you haven't been told about it by now, i am sure you will not have to do it. Rejoyce, you hit the nail on the head, the better condition you go into surgery, the better you go out. the dietician also said the high protein liquid shakes help with the healing process also 24 hours after surgery, so the week or weeks before, the more protein you consume, the better you should heal after surgery.

My surgeon is putting me 2 weeks of Opti Fast. He explained it was necessary for a few reasons.

He said it does shrink the liver and going in, he wants to in and out of surgery as quick as possible. He said the less a patient is on anesthesia, the better the healing and outcome and chance of anything negative occuring.

As much as I am DREADING a 2 week liquid fast, I will use it to lose weight and get a headstart and go in with a clean slate. I am also a bit fortunate that the 2 week fast will come right after New Years. So I am sure by then, I will be ready to start the new year fresh and get rid of all the holiday food gluttony!!

My doctor advised doing a one week liver shrinking diet, and Clear liquids the day before surgery. Instead of starting the liver diet on Thursday of this week, I just started it on Monday to get a few extra days in (and to start a fresh week). I have a Protein shake for Breakfast, Protein Shake and raw veggies for lunch, hard-boiled egg for mid afternoon snack and fish or chicken and veggies for dinner. If I get hungry I have sugar free Jello. I will do whatever the doctor asks of me before and after surgery to assure a safe and smooth surgery and success after surgery. After surgery I need to be on clear liquids only for a week, then liquids (Protein shakes, tomato Soup, etc), mushies, soft foods and finally regular foods, each stage lasting a week. I will be very excited to move to liquids on Thanksgiving day and enjoy soup of some sort J Yes, the holidays will be hard, but my long term health is so worth it!!!

Not to brag, but I guess I got lucky all around. My insurance didn't require ANY required diet consulations, less the 1 single visit with a nutritionist. So far no pre-op diets (althought I have been reducing carbs, weaned off carbination and caffeine) I've been doing shakes for breakfast, lunch, small salads, protein puddings, LOTS of water, walking and cutting back on my dinner portions, I've been trying to get into the no drinking before or after a "meal" habit, chewing until the food is as liquid as it can be, so it might not be a full on required pre-op shrinkage diet, but I'm sure it will help come time to poke and prod...

on this forum i have read many many posts from people that said that the two week pre-surgery diet is not a "liver shrinking diet". it is just the surgeons way to get you used to following a liquid diet. some people even said they didn't follow it and advised others that it wasn't a big deal if they didn't follow it. last night the dietician told us that yesterday she saw our surgeon and he was very upset. she said he just had a tough surgery where the patient did not follow the diet at all and they had so much trouble maneuvering around his liver and trying with difficulty to retract the liver to successfully complete the surgery. the patient's liver was hanging down too far to retract it. it took longer than it should and finally they were able to complete the surgery. she told us that the liver shrinking diet does reduce the amount of fat around the liver and around your stomach and is an imporant part of this process especially if you have a high BMI or a fatty liver. just thought i would share that story.

Anything they tell me to do to make the surgery smoother and safer, I WILL DO!!!! I have been on the pre-op liquid diet for 21 days, and although I miss solid food, I won't deviate from this diet!!! First of all I want SUCCESS!!!!!!

How hard was it for you to kick caffeine?? I thought I was gonna die. I really don't know how people kick street drugs. I had a week of headaches and some throwing up too. I'm glad I kicked it though. I self paid so I didn't have to jump through hoops either. When are you getting banded??

Not to brag, but I guess I got lucky all around. My insurance didn't require ANY required diet consulations, less the 1 single visit with a nutritionist. So far no pre-op diets (althought I have been reducing carbs, weaned off carbination and caffeine) I've been doing shakes for breakfast, lunch, small salads, protein puddings, LOTS of water, walking and cutting back on my dinner portions, I've been trying to get into the no drinking before or after a "meal" habit, chewing until the food is as liquid as it can be, so it might not be a full on required pre-op shrinkage diet, but I'm sure it will help come time to poke and prod...

How hard was it for you to kick caffeine?? I thought I was gonna die. I really don't know how people kick street drugs. I had a week of headaches and some throwing up too. I'm glad I kicked it though. I self paid so I didn't have to jump through hoops either. When are you getting banded??

Kicking caffeine is easy.. just trick your body. Decaf coffee, tea's etc. Did you know that when you go to a party or wedding or whatever at a hotel or other function hall, and they serve coffee at the end of the night, that's decaf coffee. They don't announce it, but it is. My wife is the head bartender at a local 5 star hotel. lol If you THINK it's got caffeine in it, the withdrawal symptoms will be so much less, the mind is a powerful thing.

I'm getting banded on the 18th. So only one more weekend to go! And lucky me, I have tomorrow, friday, sat and sun off. So I just have to make it through monday, tuesday, wednesday and thursday YAY.

I asked my coordinator how the liquid diet shrinks the liver. She said that the liver stores fat and when we dont take in any, we force the body to use our stored fat. Of course as it gets used up, the liver shrinks. I am 5 days from surgery and was required to use protein shakes and all the fruits and veggies i want.

I had my final pre-op consultation/class yesterday and I asked about the pre-op diet, which I don't have, I don't even have to take any laxatives the day prior, just clear's the day before surgery. Her answer was exactly as stated above, losing weight lowers the amount of fat stored in the liver and makes it smaller. I was informed that the methods in which my surgeon uses, there is no need to reduce the size of the liver and that minimal contact will be made with the liver since it's fragile and has a tendency to bleed of touched/moved too much. Very odd how there is SO many different methods for the same surgery.

As most of the replies have stated the low carb diet does shrink the liver. It uses up the glycogen type molecules stored in the liver. I was told that if I did not follow the diet and when he got in there the liver was still enlarged the surgery would be off. The diet I was given was for 40 carbs per day, but since I was a male he wanted me to cut out carbs all together. That, for me, was near impossible. The day before the surgery I had breakfast and then I decided to go on a liquid diet for the rest of the day. The actual surgery time was about half an hour. I could tell something was changed because the shape of my stomach changed. I too am confused at the different diets imposed by the surgeons. The variety of plans out there to match the variety of people makes sense, but the changes are per surgeon and not per patient. Going on a restricted diet is definitely a good idea, but this is the reason most of us chose the Lap-band. We don't have the will power to stick to a restricted diet. Remember, it is only two weeks and not the rest of your life. Plus I lost 10 lbs before surgery!