When you read expected weight loss statistics do you think it includes weight lost on the pre diet or the liver shrinking diet?

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I think it's the weight from when they first showed up at the surgeon's office.

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Edited June 3, 201610 yr by gina171

When you first meet your surgeon and discuss expected weight loss, it would be your total weight loss including pre-op and post-op. But this expected weight loss is just an estimate. I think when I first met my surgeon he indicated a goal weight of 190 pounds. Which was fine by me, it met my expectations. But then in the end my body decided to continue to drop and finally ended up at 143 pounds.

My surgeon's office said to expect an average of 60% of excess weight and they said my ideal weight should be at a 25 BMI. I lost 15 pounds on my own before starting with my bariatric center. I have lost an additional 20 during the pre-diet phase my insurance required and expect to lose 10-15 with the three week liver shrinking diet. I am hoping they are just lowering expectations because I have to say I would be pretty disappointed if I only end up losing 35 - 45 pounds after surgery as that would still leave me firmly in the obese BMI range.

@@j16 They just give standard average loss - which doesn't say anything about the possibility of loss when sticking with the plan.

@@j16, what happens if you don't lose on the liver shrinking diet?

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I guess if it was too bad they would either switch to an open procedure or postpone surgery. The main reason for doing it as I understand it is to make the surgery safer so the surgeon has more room to work and see what she is doing. I would think there would be a greater chance of accidentally nicking the liver if it is in the way.

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Edited June 4, 201610 yr by j16

Wow! Now I found another thing to worry about!

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@@j16, what happens if you don't lose on the liver shrinking diet?

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Nothing... the liver shrinking diet is not for weight loss.... it is to shrink your liver to make it safe for them to move it to access your stomach.. otherwise there is a risk that they could accidentally cut it.

If someone does it for 2 weeks, i would be suprised to find many people who would lose nothing... you loose mainly Water during that time..

I would not worry about liver shrinking... My surgeon as well as others surgeon don't require the two week liquid diet... Different surgeon are adhering to pre op diet practice based on the research provided to them.

On advice I'm adding a disclaimer to my statement.

I'm not a doctor nor is the information I shared intended for anyone to take as a reason to skip their pre-op diet.

Please follow your specific directions to the best of your ability.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"

Einstein

Edited June 4, 201610 yr by nyteacher125

I would not worry about liver shrinking... My surgeon as well as others surgeon don't require the two week liquid diet... You'll be fine

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"

Einstein

Sorry, but it might not be a good idea to encourage people not to do the pre op diet.

People may take your post as gospel and not follow their surgeon's instructions.

The pre op diet is based on the individual and the surgeon evaluates the risk of accidentally cutting the liver during surgery and if a person is higher risk, they need to do it for longer.

I would suggest that you reword the post to be from your experience... not general information that could potentially be detrimental to someone's progress or surgey ☺

@@NYTeacher ... if my surgeon were your surgeon, he would cancel your surgery if you didn't actually do the liver-shrinking diet.

Surgery cancellation for that reason happens not infrequently, btw.

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@vsgann2014... I don't have a pre op liquid diet... Just liquid diet 24 hours before... My surgeon is at a bariatric center of excellence so I can only assume he's work from current research... Irregardless whose surgeon says what I think all the matter is we all reach our desired goal

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"

Einstein

Edited June 5, 201610 yr by nyteacher125

@vsgann2014... I don't have a pre op liquid diet... Just liquid diet 24 hours before... My surgeon is at a bariatric center of excellence so I can only assume he's work from current research... Irregardless whose surgeon says what I think all the matter is we all reach our desired goal

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"

Einstein

Don't want to beat this horse to death, but I'll add one more comment and then leave it be:

I could not agree more that we all want to reach our desired goal(s). And our first goals should be to ensure that (1) our surgeon actually operates on us and (2) we've done everything we could to minimize our risk from surgical complications.

FTR, my surgeon also runs an ASMBS-certified bariatric center of excellence. Also FTR, here's what the ASMBS advises about the pre-op liver-shrinking diet:

Will I have to go on a diet before I have surgery?

Yes. Most bariatric surgeons put their patients on a special pre-operative diet, usually 2 or 3 weeks just before surgery. The reason for the pre-operative diet is to shrink the liver and reduce fat in the abdomen. This helps during the procedure and makes it safer.

http://asmbs.org/patients/bariatric-surgery-faqs

I've read online that some surgeons make very high-BMI patients go on a liver-shrinking diet for longer than 2-3 weeks, since their livers are very likely to be much larger than small-BMI patients.

Bottom line -- to be on the safe side I'd do everything my surgeon tells me to do.

Agreed... My bmi is 40.4 with no health issues, these are my guidelines... I do appreciate your taking time out to drive home the importance of listening to the surgeon, it's very supportive of you

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"

Einstein