Now that we're all in the home stretch, I'm interested to see what pre-op regimens our doctors have us on. My doctors seem to be almost unique in that they have NO preop diet for patients. (Well, unless you count liquids the day before, and nothing by mouth for 12 hours prior to surgery, which I don't.)

So what's your doctor got you doing?

Well I lived through the preop diet, and I will be banded in a few hours. I was prescribed optifast for 14 days. What I did was start the optifast 5 days early, and had one optifast meal, and 2 regular meals for 2 days, then on day 3 and 4 I had 2 optifast meals and one regular meal. This was my way of easing in to the world of liquid diets. The first three optifast only days were Hell, but it got easier after that.

I started pre op Optifast 800 on May 10. But I had a BMI over 60. My Doc wanted me to reduce that as close to 50 as I could get it before surgery. I think I got down to 57 a week before surgery. He said that would make the surgery easier on both of us. It was hell, but I stayed pretty close until two days before surgery, I just had to have some pizza before banding LOL.

Jim

Jim,

Were you still able to have the sugery done laparascopically? Please advise as my surgery is August 27th. Thanks,

Michelle:ranger:

Hi Michelle,

I understand your concern, I was concerned as well, but I came out of surgery with 5 small cuts, and a band in my belly. So to answer your question I did have the "Lap" band. Good luck to you.

Jim

Thanks Jim - I am hoping for the best!

Congratulations on your great weight loss so far.

Take care,

Michelle:girl_hug:

I lost 14 lbs in 8 days!

My Dr put me on a two week Medifast diet to lose 10 lbs before surgery. The Medifast was so bad that I had to reform the diet. I didn't want to share the details until I could confirm it worked. So, now I can tell you. I was supposed to have 5 Medifast things (shake, oatmeal, Soup, bar or pudding) and one lean and green meal a day, totaling 800-1000 calories.

Here's what I did to improvise:

I choose from one of these 3 to 4 times a day:

8oz iced V-8 juice and 1oz mozzerella string cheese

or

Quaker low fat smores granola bar

or

lettuce w/ low fat italian dressing

or

Starbucks iced non-fat mocha

or

Medifast/Slimfast/Atkins Protein shake

or

anything low fat around 100 calories

Lean and Green

It helps to measure out everything, eat protein first and 1-2 cup veggies with salt and no butter.

Our two best days were when we split our lean and green between lunch and dinner. For example: We had taco salad. I pre-measured 6oz meat (1/2 lean ground beef, 1/2 ground turkey), 2oz shredded mozzarella cheese, 11 corn chips, and 6 tablespoons of fat free sour cream mixed with Pace salsa for dressing. I split each of these things in half and mixed with 1 1/2 cups lettuce for lunch and again at dinner. It felt good to chew and have 2 meals!

It was also VERY important that I journal every last bite. So, I used FitDay.com. You can see my journal here: FitDay.com - Diet and Fitness journal for band chick

I'm not a Dr, nor do I play one on TV. I'm just sharing what worked for me:D

I'll be banded on the 28th with no pre-op diet requirements. I enjoy protein drinks so I'm planning on drinking more of my meals for the next couple of weeks. I want to avoid the fatty liver too. Then onto post-op diet...

My band surg date is August 31st.

I have just finished day two of the 14 day preop diet.

First week: one small meal, 2 liquid Protein meals.

Second week: Full liquids only.

I can do it!!! (I keep telling myself that, just to be sure!)