My VSG is scheduled feb 9th, i have quit smoking since this past sunday the 24th, i've had 1 and 12 cigs since then... I started my liquid diet this past tuesday. Truly the hardest thing I have ever had to do.... Sigh day one i cheated with eating a couple tortilla chips (5 to be exact) with a pickle and a piece of cheese... that was day one, im now on day 4 and last night I broke down hard and collapsed into old ways... It wasent TO horrible of a fu*k up but I feel it was, I had 2 pieces of bread with 2 pieces of cheese heated up in the microwave with a couple tortilla chips and what really topped it off cheat-wise was I had a hostess cupcake (I know... I know) I got 11 days to sugery i just gotta make it cheat free past this weekend and hopefully i can get my act together.... i just needed to vent

We all make mistakes. Just learn from this one and try to get all your Water in. It must be very difficult to be on an all liquid diet. Can you eat any solids at all? I am on two shakes a day with one low-carb meat and veg meal.

Good luck!

Pennie

You are tackling two heavy duty addictions at once. The smoking is the easiest. I am an ex-smoker and can attest to it. Smoking is pretty easy to quit because our bodies are over the PHYSICAL addition to nicotine in about 24 hours. Nicotine is metabolized by our bodies very quickly. That is why we have to smoke so often, to replenish the nicotine that has been metabolized. That is why a smoke after eating is so good because our system is low on nicotine as it is getting metabolized more quickly as our body goes to work on digesting the food in our stomach. If you can make it 24 hours your body is free of nicotine. It does not need it anymore. The problem is your mind. The pyschological need for nicotine takes a little longer to get over, some say a week some say 21 days. I know when I quit I was completely over them by about 10 days. By day three my sense of smell was coming back and when I walked by a smoker the smell was so horrible that motivated me to stay off of them. Now 5 years later I am still smoke free and will never go back. I did use an herbal product called Smoke Away that I ordered online. There were two things that really helped in it. One was the CD explaining the science behind the metabolism of nicotine and some little breath mint pellets. These pellets left the aftertaste a cigarette would leave in your mouth after smoking. I used them for about 2 days, but I don't think they are totally needed. I used to see the product at Walgreen's, not sure if it is still there or not.

The food I can't help you with. My surgeon only required 3 days of pre-op diet and even if I cheated it was okay just as long as I didn't eat or drink anything after 9pm the night before surgery. Once you cross over to post op, eating will be easy to conquer. Focus your energy on the smoking, it will kill you faster than being overweight.

Bill

I was on a 1 week clear liquid preop diet & after the 2nd day it was fine. My surgeon let me have 4 Protein shakes a day. Hang in there, you can do this!!

My surgeon told me that when he gets in & cuts you open & your liver has not shrunk, he sews you back up & sends you on your way without doing the procedure. I also had another lady on here tell me her surgeon did that to her too. Just be careful not to ruin this great gift you've been given to do the surgery. I was once a smoker & I can't even imagine doing both at the same time but hang in there girl. We're all cheering you on!!

Marci,

Your surgeon is great at scare tactics. There would be no way to know if the liver shrunk from a size two weeks prior unless he "opened you up" two weeks prior also!

The whole idea of the pre-op diet is to purge the glycogen from the liver which makes it firmer...not necessarily smaller. When the liver is firmer, it's easier to move it and support it with the paddles used during surgery. Quite honestly, some research has shown that it would take 3-6 months on a low carb diet to actually "shrink" the liver.

Having said all that,Hershey, it's still important to follow your surgeons advice. But, this is also the time to discuss problems with the surgeon if you're having trouble following the pre-op diet. He/She may suggest adding in a lean meat or low carb high Protein shake for satiety. Most surgeons understand they are dealing with food addicts and know how to make concessions to help them make it through the pre-op.

Ultimately, do the absolute best you can, and with all your heart, mind and strength, avoid the dang Hostess Cupcakes!

Tracy, my surgeon didn't tell me this until a week after my surgery. However, the point is don't cheat & follow the rules.

Keep up the good work Hershey. You can do this!! Not only with your preop diet but with your smoking. I've been there done it & you can this for YOU!!! I don't have any advice for giving up the smoking because I quit when I got pregnant but I know you can!!

Hey Hershey, Congrats on giving up the smoking. That's a huge step towards better health. I smoked for 22 year, quit in 1990 and haven't looked back. It's great not to stink all the time. :smile:

Keep going on your pre-op diet. You can do this. Take it one day, one bottle of fluids at a time. You're doing this for great health and you'll get your reward. I like that you don't have the F*it, I screwed up so I'll really dive into the dumpster attitude. You've picked yourself up and you're going to do fine.

My surgery is the day before yours!

I am 3 days away from "the sleeve" and have ben on the liquid diet for 2weeks and 5 days. I cheated some, but only with a very small amount of something that was low carb. My coordinator said if you have to cheat, eat very little and make it something low carb. So I have really worked on not cheating at all, but I have had, a couple slices of turkey lunch meat, a couple slices of dill pickle, 3 asparagus spears (steamed), a kids burger at Micky Ds and threw away the bread. The best thing is to not cheat at all, but I do understand. Do the best you can, just dont break down and go for a meal especially one high in carbs. I have done some home projects, when I get a craving I go brush my teeth, that actually helped. If I watch TV, mostly DVD movies with no food commercials. Best of luck to you mate. Look forward to seeing you on the losers bench.

My VSG is scheduled feb 9th, i have quit smoking since this past sunday the 24th, i've had 1 and 12 cigs since then... I started my liquid diet this past tuesday. Truly the hardest thing I have ever had to do.... Sigh day one i cheated with eating a couple tortilla chips (5 to be exact) with a pickle and a piece of cheese... that was day one, im now on day 4 and last night I broke down hard and collapsed into old ways... It wasent TO horrible of a fu*k up but I feel it was, I had 2 pieces of bread with 2 pieces of cheese heated up in the microwave with a couple tortilla chips and what really topped it off cheat-wise was I had a hostess cupcake (I know... I know) I got 11 days to sugery i just gotta make it cheat free past this weekend and hopefully i can get my act together.... i just needed to vent

We are all human and make mistakes, that is why we are here on earth to learn from our mistakes. . . don't feel bad, but maybe you could try "cheating" on healthier snack, sunchips, nuts, dried fruit, gatoraid, etc. . . it's better cheating with healthier Snacks then downright bad snacks. . . just a suggestion. . . good luck

thanks to you all for the support! I got a couple pm's asking me what type of diet I was on. The surgeon has me on, 3 Boost Glucose Control Shakes.... Breakfast, Lunch, and dinner with a low fat yogurt included with dinner. Im also allowed to include two lowfat jellos and another low fat yogurt, also I am able to have 2 servings of 12cup of either low sodium chicken brothbeef broth. The main problem I think is not being able to chew any of the food!!!! So 10 more days!!! Tryin to take one day at a time

You can do it! Like the nik logo states "JUST DO IT" . . . . GOOD LUCK

If you can hide, or get rid of the all the temptations. I can only imagine how hard a liquid pre-op diet is because I just had to do atkin's for a week.

I know you can do it ! ! ! Stay strong. . . It'll be worth it.

Don't give up. I had to do one week of complete liquids and it was SO hard. SO SO Hard. I had to throw away the really bad stuff in the house. Otherwise, it would have gone in my mouth. It REALLY helped that my husband did it with me (for the most part-he ate a sensible lunch at work). I am not going to lie-it sucked. But I am down 21 lbs today and I feel great. (6 days post op) You can do this! You will succeed! Just pick up and move on!

Hershey, that is a very harsh preop diet and you are to be commended for doing a good job! That's a long time to be on a preop diet so strict.

You can do it. We are all pulling for you!

Hershey,

try sticking one of those low-fat yogurts in the freezer for an hour or so and pretend you're having ice cream...

Hershey just wanted to let you know that I am on an equally masochistic pre op diet with 4 shakes a day that s it I struggled and when I slipped it was for want of something salty because the shakes were sweet. I had some clear broth as a solution and yes1 piece of bread at 1 point. I will tell you this--my day 1 I was clearing out all my crap food and I was throwing out a bag of chips and just stood there and ate the entire bag. Don't feel bad! You can do this, we can do this-- eventually we ll be on the other side dishing out the advice; just try your best.:thumbup: