I just had my last meal! I'm on day 7 of my 14 day pre-op diet and the last 7 days, I've been allowed one lean-and-green meal a day in addition to shakes. From here on out, it's only liquid shakes.

For my last meal, I had a small filet mignon and my veggies were broccoli/cauliflower.

What was your last meal before surgery?

My program does not have a liquid diet, just clear fluids the day before my procedure, so my last meal would have been the evening before THAT. My gallbladder however had different plans and decided that my planned gorging on chips, salsa and tacos and my favorite Mexican food place would not be taking place. Sadly, I ended up eating mashed potatoes. No butter, no sour cream, no gravy .... just a scoop of potatoes. I was sad lol ....

I had plans to go out and gorge on Thai food...wontons, pad Thai noodles or curry, etc. but by the time I got off work I was too tired so I stopped for takeout at subway. Don't even remember what I had.

I find this post interesting because our surgeon told my husband and I that we SHOULD go all out and have a wonderful meal of our favorite food before surgery. I was surprised. He said the week before surgery that we would have one meal a day and liquids the rest of the day, but to make sure those meals were delicious foods that we liked. My husband was sitting there saying "Yeah!" and I was floored!

I had almost the same thing! Filet, salad, redskins and yummy car billed rosemary rolls at Mr. Pauls. I am on day 5 of the liquids and I would do anything for a bite of that last wonderful meal!! Only 48 more hours and it will all be worth it!

I start my pre-op diet on Sunday. Saturday my husband and I are attending this all-day cookout/pot luck kind of thing that he and his old college friends get together for every year. I plan to eat what I want at the party, but just not eat a TON of it. Even though my pre-op diet doesn't start until Sunday, I am supposed to be losing weight even before that. The nutritionist wanted me to get down to 239 at a minimum and aim for 227. I'm down to 247.4, so I still have a ways to go and not much time to do it in. She said to expect to lose 3-5 pounds a week on the pre-op diet (two weeks), which means I really need to be down to 245 by Sunday to be on the safe side. Hopefully I can not go overboard at the party.

What I am still trying to understand about this WLS is that you have people weighing 400 pounds plus and they get the surgery done. But some doctors want you to lose a certain amount of weight in order to get it. I do understand that the liver must be small otherwise it can make surgery go south, am I correct?

Anyway, for my last real meal, I wanted pot roast, mac and cheese, banana pudding and some kind of veggie. All homemade by my mother and brother. Didn't do the pot roast but everything else was awesome. I also went out to eat but stuck to Proteins and I did have some sushi. I was vacation and had PMS so I went a little overboard. But, my doctor was still pleased with my weight lol

I am day 2 of my liver shrink diet!

What I am still trying to understand about this WLS is that you have people weighing 400 pounds plus and they get the surgery done. But some doctors want you to lose a certain amount of weight in order to get it. I do understand that the liver must be small otherwise it can make surgery go south, am I correct?

Losing weight in the weeks leading up to surgery accomplishes a couple of things, from what I understand:

1. As mentioned a bunch already, it shrinks your liver which makes surgery easier/safer.

2. It proves that you can stick to a committed plan, which you will have to do post-op.

3. Losing 5-10% of your body weight has massive immediate health benefits, which will allow your body to handle the surgery better.

It totally takes committment Jamie. It is hard to cook for a family of 7 and not be able to eat what they eat.

But I decided a while ago that it was time to take care of myself. I am a pessimist at times and I just knew that the insurance was going to give me a hard tiime. So I put it in my mind to eat right and exercise with or without the surgery.

This 2 week diet is a kicker though!