I would like to know the following about the pre-op diet. I am currently doing this diet, and I think it is a horrible. It is not heathy and teaches you the opposite of what you should be eating post op. Mine consist of a protein shake and protein bar three times daily. I am curious what everyones pre-op was and how compliant they were. IE Did you cheat?? Alot?? I am interested in this from a medical stand point as the hospital I work at is working on becoming a "Center for Excellence for Baratric patients" and I want to find out how to develop the best program that pt's and Dr's can live with so both have a high success rate. Thanks for all input and opinions, but PLEASE keep it friendly!! :kiss2:

Guess I'm lucky too. Just had to go on clear liquids (strict) 3 days pre-op. You can bet I ate my way through a ton of restaurants right before that! Lost 5 lbs. I hadn'y ever heard about a fast for your liver. I thought the 3 day clear liquids was for anesthesia purposes.

Question -

For those of you who were on a 2 week pre-op diet (or longer) did you ever get emotional while you were on it? Yesterday I cried for a while, and today I got teary eyed over something that made me really sad. I'm not usually like this. It's not nearing my time of the month or anything. Just curious to know if anyone else experienced this.

Nathalie

I did a 2 week liquid diet and it consisted of Carnation Instant Breakfest No sugar added, broth, sf jello, sugar free popsicles I never did find the sf popsicles before surgery... I never cheated I followed the diet and lost 10# However towards the end The CIB was making me sick it was tasting horribly sweet so I stopped drinking that a few days prior to surgery. I have tried drinking since surgery and it is still horribly sweet... so I guess I broke my sugar addiction! And the Liquid before surgery is to help shrink the Liver

I believe there is an emotional component to overcome when we begin recognizing we are coming to the end of our 'comforable~secure~Morbidly Obese~run-from-confronting-conflict-by-OverEating' stage...

Could be, Jack. Could be. I'm not thinking so much about the food, but it could be purging of other kinds of feelings. I'm seeing a therapist to help overcome my psychological need to be obese. Maybe that has attributed to my mood as of late.

No pre op diet here. I can see benefits for both approaches. I'm sure it makes it a bit easier to transition into liquids...:phanvan

I have been on Optifast since Jan.12th and have lost 21lbs. I am supposed to lose 30lbs before surgery. My friend and I are having the surgery the same day and went to the surgeon on the same day for our first pre=op. She only has to do the Optifast for 2 weeks pre-op, however her BMI is quite a bit smaller than mine. The surgeon that I am going to requires all his patients to follow Optifast for at least 2 weeks pre-op. The dietician said we could have some green salad and lean protein if we were really hungry, although the surgeon doesn't want us to eat anything except the optifast which is 3 shakes, 1 bar, and 1 soup a day = 800cal. with ff broth, sf jello and at least 64 ounces water. It really isn't bad after the first 3-4 days.

Jean

Jillrn.. The pre-op diet seems to do 2 things..

1) shrinks your liver (so they say), my surgeon was impressed with mine

2) proves you can follow important instructions

An important part of this journey is making the needed changes in our lives to work with the band in a healthy way. As we all know, regaining the weight is not the worst thing that can happen if we don't follow instructions.. There are serious negative results for doing the wrong things.

Part of my pre-op testing including a psych eval to make sure I was in the right mental state to learn and follow the instructions.

I did cheat some on the pre-op diet, but it was really pretty minor and obviously worked since my surgeon reported a "nice and small" liver to my wife in the waiting room.

I agree, I believe it helps shrink the liver & proves you can follow important instructions. I was on a 1 week total liquid non-fat diet. It was hard for a couple of days but I got through it ok. I just kept telling myself it's only a week & it's a brand-new start of my new life. It must have worked! Good luck!

I followed the post-op diet strictly for six days and almost had a car accident due to my vision blacking out. I also made many mistakes at work, was forgetful and couldn't muster up the energy to do anything other than work. There were also changes in my personality and conversation.

I finally crashed and burned and make some cakes deliberately after my ultrasound showed that my liver/other organs weren't enlarged. I then ate the cake but tried not to swallow any and spat (spit) it back in a bowl. I was disgusted with myself but happy that I had some cake. This is a typical pattern of mine when I starve myself. I know it's immature and weak but it happened. I thought I would go the pre-op three weeks without difficulty as I'm normally quite determined.

I called the dietician the next day and told her about my problems. She allowed me two 70g servings/day of complex carbs. This soothed my desperation a lot and made me feel human again. I'm a bit worried that I'm not ready for a band if I self-sabotaged like that. No one seems to mention eating disorders much.

My dr. requires 4 weeks of pre-opt diet. The first week you can have Breakfast that consists of Baritrx Essentials, a fruit for both your morning and afternoon snack, Lean Cuisine under 300 calories for lunch and dinner, and Baritrx Essentials shake for the evening snack. The second week you replace lunch with the Baritrx Essentails shake and approved vegetables with no dressings for lunch. The last two weeks is all shakes for Snacks, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Again you can have approved vegetables with no dressings for lunch and dinner..

I am having a hard time on the last two weeks. I am on day 4 and hate the shakes.:huh2:

My dr. requires this from everyone. If your BMI is over 50 then you have to do the total liquid diet for a month.

I did the Optifast pre-op for 10 days prior to surgery, which was 3 x 150 cal shakes + 2 cups of steamed low carb veges at dinner. It would have been for longer, except that my surgeon had a cancellation earlier in the week and moved my scheduled date back a couple of days. It was hard but I was doing the nicotine patches at the same time and found that those were better than any appetite suppressant drug I've ever taken (and I've tried a few!). I lost 10lb in 10 days, which made it worth it!

Hi All

My pre-op diet is for two weeks & reason given to shrink the liver size by as much as 50%...

Breakfast

Fresh fruit juice and black tea or black coffee (as much as you like)

lunch

Slimfast Product - ie shake or soup

Supper

One less than 3% fat ready meal + small amount of green veg (but not

root veg)

In between times can drink as much Water,low-cal squash or black tea or coffee

If in an emergencies & desperate can have 1 piece of fruit - ie apple,orange,banana!

I have to admit found this hard but have managed it. The only thing I can't to is have a black tea in the morning (yuk) So put in a tiny amount

of skimmed milk in morning cup of tea only!

Its been effective & lost loads of weight + has got me into 'mind set'

for the surgery & future eating patterns. :huh2:

Gingercat x