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Weight loss before surgery



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Hi all. I am ramping up for the GP, and my doctor wants me to lose 30LBS. Here's the things, I've changed my diet and am trying. Exercise is a bit hard right now due to my lower back pain.

Is there anything any of you can give me pointers on wether poop or preop?

I currentlypost-285238-14579404325456_thumb.jpg weigh 432.

Thanks all.

William

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I was required to lose 25 lbs pre-op, but ended up losing 86 lbs over the course of my 3 month supervised diet. Its a boring tip, I assure you, but all I did was what they told me to do. I was told to track my food (I use myfitnesspal), limit to 1200 cals/day, get in 70-90g of Protein, and exercise as tolerated. These numbers would likely be different for you, being male. The calorie restriction was absolute hell for the first week, but I gave myself some leeway to ease down, which made it more manageable. Soon enough my body was used to it. I wasn't insanely precise about it - some days were higher than 1200 and others were lower. As long as it roughly averaged out, I just let it go.

Exercise was difficult for me to begin as well - I was just so out of shape and winded so easily. Plus I just didnt want to. :) I started by walking to the mailbox to get the mail every day (we have a large yard, so this wasn't just 5 steps outside the door). When I could do that without getting winded, I extended my walks to the corner and back. Then to the next corner, then around the block, and so forth. Now my dog and I take a 3 block walk 3-4 times a day, about a third of which is uphill. Focus on doing what you're able to do, as you're able to do it.

In the end, just do the best you can. Anything you can do is more than you're doing now and will help get you to where you want to be.

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Hi @@thebynum79,

My doctor asked me to lose 25 pounds prior to surgery. He said he wasn't too concerned about it because I would lose at least 15 pounds (in his estimation) during the 2 week pre-op liquid diet.

Given that I want to have the very best chance possible, I started following the diet he prescribes for everyone - WLS or not. It's called the "Pound of Cure" diet - the book is available on Amazon (I believe it's around $10).

I'm sure there are tons of diets you can do that would be successful, but I can tell you that I have lost 40 pounds in the 5 weeks I've been on this diet. In fact, it's been so successful that the doctor waived the requirement for a 2 week pre-op liquid diet (which was kind of awesome).

If you are interested, you can google Dr. Matthew Weiner and either go to his website or his YouTube channel where he has a ton of videos posted about WLS and the Pound of Cure diet. They're interesting videos with a ton of good information.

Essentially, the diet requires a lot of "real" food. Starting with a pound of vegetables (or more) per day. Also you can have all the fruit you want, and several servings of Protein a day (he asks that at least one be a non-animal variety like Beans or lentils). He also promotes raw, unsalted nuts. He is extremely anti-processed food, so the hardest part of the diet is being prepared. The good news is that I have NEVER been hungry and lost a ton of weight.

When it comes to post-surgery, you definitely want to follow your own surgeons plans. Dr. Weiner takes a fairly different approach than many when it comes to post op. Most of the differences come in regards to Protein. His requirements are lower than many (I believe it's like 60g a day for men as opposed to up to 100 that I see others are asked to do). He also wants his patients off of processed Protein shakes ASAP.

Sorry if this reads as a commercial, I really didn't intend it to. But after losing 40 pounds in 5 weeks I am a bit evangelical about it if people ask a good way to lose weight.

Oh yeah, and he himself lives this diet (I even confirmed this with the Psychologist during my eval as she has known him a long time).

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      1. Selina333

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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💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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