Hi:

I'm scheduled for surgery Aug. 6, 2007 so I started the liquid diet yesterday. I am so hungry I'm ready to gnaw on my own arm. I was actually hoping we would have communion at church last night so I could eat something. Any suggestions? I'm trying not to cave. I know I can't if I want the surgery. Will it be this way after the surgery as well? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Marcy

My dr didnt say stay under a certain amount of calories so I just ate as much of the allowable stuff as needed to keep from feeling as if I was starving. I also ate every 2-3 hrs. That way I was eating again before I even had the chance to get hungry. If your not restricted to a certain amount of calories just eat more of what you can have. It seemed as if I was eating a lot but when I tracked the calories I was only getting about 1000 per day so I did still lose 11lbs post op. Good Luck.

Me too! I am on Pre op for three weeks. I started Optifast on July 17th. My surgery is on August 7th.

I am also constantly hungry. I usually end up munching on celery, cucumbers or pickles.

Try doing something that takes your mind off the food. I have been packing ( we are moving soon) , and cleaning house!

It gets hard as I have to cook and feed my kids and DH while I graze my salad!

Look only a few more days to go. We can both do it!!:clap2:

I hear you- I just went thru that and it wasn't fun. I drank a LOT of water and slept as much as I possible could. Or I would just lay down on the couch holding a pillow and think positive toughts. It sounds weird but it really helped me. And of course, coming to this site and venting!

Right there with ya! I have to do 4.5 weeks of pre-op diet. (My doc is very conservative.) 2.5 weeks down and 2 weeks left to go. Unfortunately it has not gotten much easier for me. I go from "hungry" to "gnawing my arm off I am so hungry" but that's it.

One thing that helped me a little was a cup of chicken broth. it's not on my diet but it seems to help with the hunger so I have one a day. I make it from that instant boulion stuff so it is only 5 calories, but it makes a nice change of pace from my Medifast. I also mix the Medifast with my (black) coffee in the morning. Not bad. Someone also told me to mix orange extract with the vanilla kind though I haven't tried it yet.

My nutritionist told me that 1 cup of green leaf lettuce has 5 calories.

Hope this helps.

sugar free popsicles ARE YOUR FRIEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What I did.. was have ONE hb egg or 1 can of tuna a day... I kept it very low in carbs and limited it to one time day... but I stress..... FOR ME its Low CARB that works best for my body..... my liver was fine.

and I have to stress.. that I was even stricter with carbs than my docs pre op outline.... I'm not your doc... but looking forward to the egg or the tuna was better than binging on something REALLY bad!

Thanks to all who replied. My doc has me doing the BetterMD liquid protein. I was told I can only have what's on the list. So basically three shakes a day and 2 kool-aid like drinks. I'm hoping it gets better. Sunday is the day before surgery. I think that will be rough. I can only have 5 of the kool-aid drinks all day nothing else. Good luck to all and let's pray for good results.

Tesma--The first two days were the worst. It really got better after that.