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How long was your pre-op diet?



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Hi there!

My surgery is scheduled for May 18th and I start a 4 week pre op diet on April 20th. I'm just curious about how long everyone's pre op diet was. I haven't met anyone yet that had a four week pre-op diet and it has me a little curious.

my pre op diet is complete Meal Replacement that I have to buy through my surgeon's office. Mostly shakes and other Protein Drinks that are like hot chocolate or juice drinks. I'm allowed to have One Bar a day.

My surgeon's office has a scale based on BMI and since I'm over 50 BMI I am in the four-week category. I've already been on a low carb diet for about 6 weeks now and I've lost 26 pounds but I'm still over 50 BMI. so I guess it's four weeks of liquid diet for me.

so what was your experience like? How long was your pre op diet?

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My surgeon doesn't require a liquid diet at all. No real pre op diet at all actually. Obviously if you gain within the process he will stall surgery because the commitment doesn't seem there, but he recommends a low carb high Protein diet but it's not a necessity.

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I was required to do a 2-week 1200 calorie diet and then full liquid diet 2 days prior to surgery.

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My surgeon didn't require a liquid diet. But I did have to lose a minimum 5% of my weight using South Beach diet. I had to lose 17 lbs (5%), but I lost 25lbs before surgery, also had to meet with my NUT a few times, keep a food diary, all before I could meet with my surgeon to schedule surgery, but of course they stagger the appointments so you can fit in all the tests, psych eval, blood work, etc. I had to have liquids the day before surgery and nothing after midnight.

Good luck to you!! Congrats on your 26 lb loss!!

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My starting BMI was 40 and I had to lose 5% of my body weight (12 pounds) on a 14 day preop. 3 Protein Shakes and leafy green veggies. I started 2 days early just to be safe, and I ended up losing 22 pounds instead. Yay! just that much closer to goal.

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My surgeon required a one week diet for bmi under 45 and a 2 week diet for bmi over 45. But it wasn't a full liquid diet, we could have applesauce, grits, oatmeal, 3 ounces of chicken, veg, etc

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I just had a clear liquid diet the day before surgery, but nothing else required before that (with a low 40s starting BMI). Likewise, when my wife went thru this a few years ago (with a mid-60s BMI) she had the same plan.

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I had a two week pre-op diet. It consisted of four Protein Shakes, puddings, and Soups provided by them. They wanted me to lose ten pounds by consuming 800 calories daily. I don't miss that time!

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I did 4 weeks of a liquid diet, didn't kill me, I'm still here standing ;). I was warned by my surgeon that if he opened me up and saw that my liver wasn't shrunk that he would not hesitate to close me up and have me come back when i was mentally ready for this. Well i showed him how serious i was and after i woke from surgery he was there bright eyed bushy tailed with the biggest grin on his face and then have him thank me for following his advice as it made the surgery go without a hiccup :).

Wish you all the best with your weight loss journey xox

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Thanks Mary! It's really nice to hear from someone with the same long pre-op diet. I'm nervous about how hard it will be but I'm determined to do whatever I can to have a safe surgery and be successful. Thanks for the encouragement!

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Today is day 3 of my 14 day pre op diet. I have only lost 6lbs, is that normal, shouldnt I be losing more?

Um, 2 pounds/day is a HUGE loss!

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Six pounds over three days is a fantastic start! :)

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Hi there!

My surgery is scheduled for May 18th and I start a 4 week pre op diet on April 20th. I'm just curious about how long everyone's pre op diet was. I haven't met anyone yet that had a four week pre-op diet and it has me a little curious.

my pre op diet is complete Meal Replacement that I have to buy through my surgeon's office. Mostly shakes and other Protein drinks that are like hot chocolate or juice drinks. I'm allowed to have One Bar a day.

To me, it sounds like your surgeon likes the extra income of the Meal Replacements that he is making you buy. I could be wrong, I just don't like the you have to buy this from me for 4 weeks or I won't do your surgery....

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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