I'm so terrified of being hungry and emotional with this new way of eating. If I can't do it pre-op, I start it May 20th, then how will it be after surgery??

In my opinion it was easier to follow ur diet after surgery than before. Don't beat urself up too much about it. You'll do it after surgery because then I won't have a choice.

The hunger u feel before surgery is different than the hunger after surgery. I had physical symptoms of hunger like growling stomach but didn't have much of an appetite. Of course this is just my experience.

I'm 3 weeks out and have not felt hungry once since the surgery. I have to remind myself to eat now. It is the weirdest thing but don't worry because you will have almost no appetite for a while. Now you may have head or emotional hunger but that it different from actual hunger. Emotional hunger is easy to overcome if you just talk yourself through it and stay busy with other things and before you know it you've forgotten all about it. You do have to set up some barriers to avoid battling head hunger though. For me It is making sure not to watch cooking shows or channels, not browsing through cookbooks or any other outlet that causes you to focus intensly on food. Keeping a journal has also been a huge help for me.

I understand your feelings completely. I am on the end of week 2 of the pre op diet and nervouse about the broth phase for 3 days. HOWEVER the fact that I celebrate each day I have succeeded on this 2 week journey gives me the umpf!! to keep going. Last night I was so sick of protein shakes that I just have chicken broth for dinner. the hot liquid and flavor change is all i needed. Don't drive yourself crazy - it goes by fast! Lots of luck. May 7 is my big day

As others have said pre-op and post-op are completely different. It will be hard post-op to get basic liquids. You just won't have the capacity. I'm 5 weeks out and am just now starting to feel tiny flashes of hunger. You'll be drinking constantly, but not making much progress because you can only drink small amounts at a time (I can now pull in and swallow 3 small mouthfuls in a row, but any more is uncomfortable).

My pre-op diet was for 2 days, so it wasn't hard at all. I just gorged on Jello.