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.

Hello everyone. My surgery is November 18th. I was put on a pre-op diet for 14 days and here is what I can have: steamed or raw vegetables at mealtime, protein drinks 3-4 times a day, sugar free jello and popsicles, decaf tea/coffee, and broth. I have to be honest, I have cheated. The broth doesn't settle well on my stomach and the protein drinks are great for 2 times a day. My neighbor had the same surgery, same hospital, different doctor (there are 3 in the WLS Clinic) six months ago and she was given the diet as well, but he told her she could have a "true" meal here and there. I was shocked because there are two doctors in the same clinic saying different things! GO FIGURE!!

my dr.. doesnt give any pre-op diets..he basically wants you to change ur habits from day one that he sees u..he wont operate unless u sees u lost some weight on ur own and that u r trully serious..about what ur doing..

they want u to lose weight...

i know of a dr that still operated a patient after months of waiting and the day of the operation the patient actually had gained like 20 pounds.and already had a high bmi.. the patient died!

So true!

Funny story. I was banded almost three weeks ago and I was sooooo worried about my liver not shrinking enough. So worried that in fact, the first words after I woke up were, "How was my liver?" lol.

It was nice and shrunk

Any diet that causes you to lose weight will shrink your liver. Doesnt have to be liquids. Good luck to all!

This is good info. I too have noticed that most pple I speak to had different diets. I so have to do the 2 week pre-op but not solely liquid. Mine starts on the day before Thanksgiving. Glad I'm not a big holiday person.

Any diet that causes you to lose weight will shrink your liver. Doesnt have to be liquids. Good luck to all!

Exactly. Which is why it's struck me as strange for some people to be on a pre-op diet that doesn't have a specific calorie limit.

I do think the point of making it a liquid or mostly liquid/high Protein diet is to prepare us for the weeks following surgery.

I was on a two week 1000 cal diet which I adhered to probably 95%, and the surgeon said my liver looked great. I still had coffee. I just tracked everything online to stay within about 1000 calories and 90g of protein.