Start my liquid diet on May 27th. I've tried starting it early but my eating habbits have not been so good lately and now I feel like I have a headache and am hungry all the time. Right noe I still have the luxury of caving into food. But next week I won't have that option. I have learned to love my protien shakes by adding coffee and sugar free flavors like hazelnut, carmel and rasberry. But still feel real hungry.I don't want to cheat or cave into food. Any tips on how I can do this without feeling so darn hungry???

I'm a week in. It gets easier after 3 or 4 days... I am really NOT hungry now. BUT if you don't follow the program, you have to start the 3/4 days over again... and again, and again!

You WILL feel better after 3-4 days as you kick your carb addiction (most of us have one...).

As to beating the challenge of the pre-op diet, it really is alot of about how you approach it mentally.

I posted this a few weeks ago and it seems to be helping some people get their mindset ready for their pre-op. Perhaps it might help you:

Hi guys. I see a lot of you are struggling and worried pre-op about the pre-op diet. It is a HUGE challenge, but for me, it was an important one.

Exactly 1 year ago, I was in the middle of a 2 week liquid pre-op diet because my BMI was 55+ and I was self-pay in Mexico. Traveling from Canada meant that a reschedule would be A LOT of extra expense if my surgeon had to stop due to an enlarged liver mid-surgery. I had NO CHOICE but to follow the diet.

It also meant that cheating would increase the chance of complications and a longer recovery (or worse), all because I could not follow a 2 WEEK diet. Really? Here I was, about to take a seriously radical, life-changing step and get 85% of my stomach cut out permanently. But I can't follow a 2 week diet? That's crazy.

Post-op was going to be difficult for MONTHS, not days. So if I couldn't get my head in the game for the pre-op diet, then maybe I wasn't ready for what was going to follow post-op. I was terrified!

So I started the liquid diet. And I was STARVING. I was dreaming of all the foods I thought were leaving my life forever. Suddenly I didn't care that I had spent my life morbidly obese, I wanted my comfort back. I wanted to fill myself to bursting at every meal, like it was my last meal forever.

But I didn't break my diet.

Because for once, I wasn't going to cheat myself. It was time to grow up (I'm 43....) and take responsibility for my health, my future and my choices. A lifetime of justification, gluttony and excuses brought me to that operating room. Now it was time to face the music and get on with owning my future.

The first 3 days were HELL. That is when your body is detoxing from the carbs. You are using up the glycogen in your liver (to help "shrink" it) and it's screaming for replacement carbs to fill it back up. You can get through it. After 3 days it gets MUCH better. After a week you start to feel normal and more healthy than you have felt in years. You may be hungry, but you don't have the carb cravings anymore.

Most importantly, you feel IN CONTROL; and mentally and emotionally strong for battling your demons and winning. This is the first tangible proof in an unsure future that you CAN get through the post-op recovery and that you CAN succeed in losing the weight this time, FOR LIFE.

Whatever weight you lose during your pre-op diet is really inconsequential. What is important is what you gain:

- Confidence

- Emotional and physical self-control

- The desire to succeed and overcome "impossible" obstacles

- The knowledge that you are a WINNER as long as you do your best

Please don't look at the pre-op diet as a "condition" that your surgeon imposes on you (and some surgeons don't require it!). It is an OPPORTUNITY for you to test yourself, to help build your will, character and emotional toughness BEFORE you have the surgery.

It's like training for a marathon.....you put the blood sweat and tears in before the race to help you finish the race on game day. Without training and preparation, you will likely fail and you can get hurt really badly along the way!

Use your pre-op diet to work through your demons, build up your confidence and prove to yourself you can do it. If you "fall off the wagon" one day, the next day is a fresh start.

Aim for excellence. You owe it to yourself.

(original posting was here: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/78443-the-pre-op-diet-is-not-a-punishment-its-an-opportunity/)

The first few days are the hardest. I would love to tell you it's easy but it's not. I agree with the above posts, it does get easier after the first 3-4 days. I was a grumpy but during that time and just tried to avoid contact with everyone, for their sake.

Just hang in there after you start, by the end of of you will have the confidence to sail through the post op phase!

It's kind of like having a baby, pregnancy and labor/delivery suck but you forget all that afterwards and would do it all again!

You will love your sleeve!

Good luck!

Thank you so much. I am in day 2!! Weekends are tough!

Thank for the re-post and advice. It definitely changed my attitude towards the pre-op diet! Only want positive attitude towards my liquid diet now! Thanks again!