I'm on Day 4 of a very strict Fluid only, 3 week diet outlined by my surgeon prior to my sleeve surgery on April 20th. It's been an extremely difficult transition from eating actual food to only taking in 1 cup of skim milk and 5 bottles of Ensure HP per day. I'm allowed to drink Water, plain tea, and non-carbonated, sugar-free drinks like Brisk diet Ice Tea and Crystal Lite flavoured waters, but my mouth misses the texture and taste of real food. So tonight I cheated at dinner. It wasn't by accident or by mistake, I consciously cheated. I felt like I was crawling walls with this pre-op diet. I understand the reasons behind it, but I just felt I needed the cheat. Being bombarded by food advertisements on tv, photos of food on Pinterest and Facebook, and even food discussions on here hasn't helped either and to be honest, not one moment have I not thought of real food in the past four days.

I aim to get back on track tomorrow, but in the back of my head, I wonder if I'm going to be able to last on this fluid diet until surgery day. I hope I can. I don't know how much my cheat tonight (pizza, chicken wings), will affect my surgery.

Has anyone else been put on a fluid diet similar to mine? If so, how are you getting over the cravings?

I had a 21 day pre op diet that was liquids only and my goodness was it HARD. I cried a few times and was really mad when people around me ate solid foods but I made the choice to eat the bad foods to cause the weight gain and this is a choice to fix it. I would not beat yourself up about it if you still have 2 weeks to go. I think you should speak to you NUT again and let them know you are having some terrible head hunger and texture cravings they might have some suggestions for you to either one emotionally work through it or two have something you can eat/drink that will help with those cravings. Good luck and stay strong we've all been there!

Thanks Veronica. Appreciated. Someone said to try freezing the Ensure like a popsicle for a different texture, and making orange flavoured Popsicles with water and Mio. I might try that tomorrow. I don't mind a fluid diet where I could have jello, soups, or even broth, but having one so restrictive is painful.

Sugar-free popsicles, you can't really have too many! They saved my "bacon" more times than not, I just powered through with those! Get a hobby where you can go to it when you want to eat. Just get your mind off it ASAP when it hits. This is going to be good training for you for after the surgery. You have to get ahold of this as soon as you can, because it doesn't really get that much easier afterward, just read all the posts regarding head-hunger! I know that is discouraging, but I won't lie to you about it. You CAN do this, but it take s willpower. And I have the feeling you have that in you!

Sugar-free popsicles, you can't really have too many! They saved my "bacon" more times than not, I just powered through with those! Get a hobby where you can go to it when you want to eat. Just get your mind off it ASAP when it hits. This is going to be good training for you for after the surgery. You have to get ahold of this as soon as you can, because it doesn't really get that much easier afterward, just read all the posts regarding head-hunger! I know that is discouraging, but I won't lie to you about it. You CAN do this, but it take s willpower. And I have the feeling you have that in you!

Thanks Canyon, it's been hard. I woke up this morning thinking it's Sunday, a new day, a new week. All I can do is move forward. I'm going to make those sugar-free popsicles your recommended. I think those will definitely help!

I made all kinds of Protein popsicles. I wasn't limited to just one brand of shake, so I had a lot more variety. Made dreamsicles with Syntrax matrix vanilla Protein powder and mio tangerine drops. Syntrax nectar grape, lemonade, cherry and peach also made great pops. Premier Protein chocolate makes great fudgscicles. Muscle Milk cake batter with raspberry mio drops is killer. Even 15 months out I still keep protein "ice cream" in my freezer for snacking. I use Torani and davinci syrups for even more flavor variety.....gingerbread, caramel red velvet cake, vanilla almond, Irish cream, pumpkin pie cake batter, chocolate hazelnut, etc.

And if you get sick of all the sweetness (which I did), ask your nut if you can substitute broth with unflavored protein powder added in place of one of your shakes.

I had to stay away from the food Network and cooking shows during my pre-op, and petend like everything else was fatal. McDonald's was McPoison's, Burger King was Poison King, Taco Bell was Poison Bell, pizza Hut was Poison Hut, etc., etc.

I was sleeved on March 18 in Pennsylvania. My 2 week pre-op diet was a protein shake for breakfast and lunch. Dinner was a reasonable dinner with protein first. I was also allowed two snacks per day which was Greek Yogurt Lite or protein bar. I lost six pounds on the pre-op diet and to date have lost 22 lbs. It sounds like each doctor or weight loss center has different guidelines.

You all had strict doctors. My husband and I got sleeved on 4/23. We started pre-op diets a week before surgery. They told us 3 days liquids, then the last 4 clear liquids. We had to drink 2 bottles of magnesium citrate. We lost 10 lbs in one week. Post op for now one week, down 12 lbs. My husband is down a total of 30lbs. Our surgeon left us with only 3 incisions. The lathes in our belly buttons! We couldn't be more happy! Our scars are almost non- existent!