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Why no preop diet?

I've tried to search, but can't find my answer.

For those who were not required to follow a preop diet before the sleeve surgery, did your doctor explain why?

I'm just curious and forgot to ask my dr why they don't require any preop diet for their patients.

Anybody know why some doctors feel it's not necessary?

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I have to do a 3 month diet plan before my surgery, so my surgery won't be scheduled to around January. But my insurance is why I have a diet right now. But In order 4 them 2 pay 4 my surgery I have 2 complete this diet, n it shrinks tha liver.

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From what I've read, if you don't have fatty liver disease, you won't have to have a pre-op diet.

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My surgeon only does a 3 day pre-op diet, and I can have yogurt, low fat soup, and cottage cheese as well as Protein shakes, etc.

He does a liver biopsy during surgery because most obese people have a fatty liver. I don't know if I have one now, I wonder how many people even know before surgery? Is there any other way to diagnose it??

I just googled it and it says that they can diagnose it by doing an ultrasound or MRI. The article that I mentioned in my other post, said that most obese people have it and if you don't, then you are pretty lucky. Maybe the surgeons just assume you do and do the liquid diet just in case. I'm not sure if they can tell by blood work or not.

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I was reading a doctor's advice concerning pre-op at realself.com awhile ago and apparently there is a debate whether pre-op is necessary or not. Both of my surgeons (lap band 09 and revision) required a strict pre-op.

why they don't require any pre-op diet

@@teacherjen

my doc told me i don't have to do a pre-op diet

when i asked him why, he merely said "he didn't believe in them" ??

i was also concerned. - only read that OP have pre-op diet

i was surprised when i periodically read from OP didn't have pre-op diet

good to know that i wasn't alone

i've always regretted that i didn't put myself on some pre-op diet :(

ie doing liquids on my own - oh well, hindsight

good luck

kathy

  • Author

why they don't require any pre-op diet

@@teacherjen

my doc told me i don't have to do a pre-op diet

when i asked him why, he merely said "he didn't believe in them" ??

i was also concerned. - only read that OP have pre-op diet

i was surprised when i periodically read from OP didn't have pre-op diet

good to know that i wasn't alone

i've always regretted that i didn't put myself on some pre-op diet :(

ie doing liquids on my own - oh well, hindsight

good luck

kathy

Why do you wish you had put yourself on your own preop?

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I understand y'all requirements but 4 my insurance(TriCare Prime ) 2 pay 4 my whole surgery I have 2 do a 3 month diet. 45g of carbs a day! Pretty strict right?

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A lot of people have to do several months of nutritionists visits and dieting before they get approved. Many of the California people who have Kaiser insurance have to do this. The reason is that you need to learn an entirely new way of eating. You need to learn portion control and how to make healthy choices. The surgery isn't a magic bullet, if we have it and go back to eating the way we ate before we won't lose the weight and keep it off. Sadly many people gain most of all of their weight back after weight loss surgery.

That being said my insurance, BCBS Texas didn't require any kind of diet at all before approval. I am barely heavy enough to have them pay for the surgery anyway. If I did a diet for several months my BMI would go down too low for them to pay for the surgery.

Every insurance and surgeon is different. Maybe as time goes on they will all become more regimented, or maybe not??

why they don't require any pre-op diet

@@teacherjen

my doc told me i don't have to do a pre-op diet

when i asked him why, he merely said "he didn't believe in them" ??

i was also concerned. - only read that OP have pre-op diet

i was surprised when i periodically read from OP didn't have pre-op diet

good to know that i wasn't alone

i've always regretted that i didn't put myself on some pre-op diet :(

ie doing liquids on my own - oh well, hindsight

good luck

kathy

I would like to know why too, it looks like you have done awesome with your weight loss!

I think for me, personally, I am glad I don't have to do a long pre-op diet. When I diet I get so weak and run down. I would much rather go into the surgery feeling strong. I know many others disagree with this. They feel it helps them get used to surviving on very few calories. I don't think I would get used to that in a couple of weeks, I think I would just feel like crap for 2 weeks and then continue to feel like crap after the surgery until I can get some food in again.

I understand everyone is different though.

I haven't yet met with the surgeon but I did ask the nurse about the pre-op. She said the pre-op is 1-2 weeks, perhaps depends on surgeon, and makes the surgery a bit more safe by shrinking the liver. I think it might make the liquid diet a bit easier to adjust to after the surgery if you've gotten used to it before. I have also heard another slant to this - that some surgeons want the patients to be as healthy as possible up to surgery date and some don't believe in extreme cut-back of calories for this reason.

My surgeon no longer requires a liquid diet prior to surgery. When I asked him why, he said that he found that patients doing an extended pre-op liquid diet were so sick of liquids by the time they had surgery, that they were more likely to want to cheat or become dehydrated in the first few weeks post-op. I wasn't going to object!

I found it to be excellent mental preparation for what would come immediately following surgery, so I'm glad I did it, regardless of whether there was any real medical reason for it. It helped me get my mind in the game.

Why do you wish you had put yourself on your own preop?

that way i could/would have given myself a leg up with the weight loss

practiced Water rules,eaten small bites etc

why didn't i do the above???

i guess i wanted to live my last few days of my life

before sleeve

should have done pre-op - my new life would have already started

no prob - me and my new life have arrived!!

out with the old...........

kathy

I also had a 4-week pre-op diet. It wasn't liquids only, but Medifast, Proti, and Fast-Track food that was essentially all powered Soups, shakes, eggs, oatmeal, mashed potatoes, etc. 650-700 calories a day. I think I was lucky to have a variety of food. It was tough the first week, but got easier. I miss it now, being at the end of a one-week clear liquid diet post-op!

I agree with others. For me, if I couldn't do the pre-op diet, how was I ever going to summon the mental strength to live life after surgery. It's pretty simple, really. It's a reality check... Also, I looked at it as the START of the journey and "bonus" weight loss (I lost about 23 lbs during the pre-op diet).

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