Hello all. I am new to this group. I am having surgery on the 29th of this month (November). I am on my second agonizing day of the all liquid diet. With thanksgiving coming what is everyones opinion of cheating for just that one meal? I understand the reason for the all liquid diet but wonder if one meal would really be something I would ned to be concerned about. I have plenty more food free days to go. Any comments or ideas?

Congrats on your upcoming band day:heh: My Dr. told me that if I HAD to cheat to eat protein, meats:hungry: , I was really glad to hear that. Needless to say I ate meat almost everyday and lost 16 lbs during the 2 week optifast.

My Dr. told me protien also. I just made my mind up though that I was not going to give in. I went though a anniversary and my sons birthday and didnt eat. Actually the Dr. said that if I ate the pain during recovery would be worse. Did I mentio I hate pain???? LOL.. Stay strong and give it your best shot!!!!

My boyfriend was just banded yesterday, Nov 20th. He was on the liquid diet for a month preop. The Dr. told me yesterday that because he was so committed to this diet and didn't cheat, the surgery only took an hour. His recovery time was cut in half, if not more. He's up walking around and is tolerating clear liquids very well. He says he feels great! Whatever you do, DON'T CHEAT! You can do this! Just stick with the program and you will be fine! Good luck!

My boyfriend was just banded yesterday, Nov 20th. He was on the liquid diet for a month preop. The Dr. told me yesterday that because he was so committed to this diet and didn't cheat, the surgery only took an hour. His recovery time was cut in half, if not more. He's up walking around and is tolerating clear liquids very well. He says he feels great! Whatever you do, DON'T CHEAT! You can do this! Just stick with the program and you will be fine! Good luck!

Wow, a whole month?? How much did he lose?

I would say if you can stick to an all liquid diet for a month then skip the banding and keep on truckin. For me and I'm sure most others if we had the ability to diet we would't have even considered the surgery. As you can tell I'm in the early stages of "This sucks" phase so I'm looking for all the help I can get .

H Tann! My boyfriend lost a total of 29 pounds with the Optifast liquid protien diet. He stuck to it and when he got hungry, he filled up on water. He was very committed to this diet and it paid off. He also committed to the strict diet postop. Paulm235, you can stay on the Optifast diet as long as you want, but one month costs over $600.00, plus everytime he went on a liquid diet, or any diet, the weight came off, but as soon as he stopped the diet, the weight came back on double. The diet is to "lighten" the liver and put your body in a state of ketosis prior to surgery so the recovery time is shortened and the pain is less, not to mention the surgical procedure is cut down so you aren't under the general anesthesia for too long. If he had not committed to this preop diet, he would have been in surgery for two or more hours. He was banded in Troy Michigan by Dr. Zoe Deol M. D. Good luck to all of you!!