Difficulty with Pre Op Diet

[MissTimeIsUp 25]

My hospital requires a 3 month supervised diet program and for everyone to lose a certain amount of weight. I started at 258 and have to be down to 237 to be cleared for surgery. I did good and was down to 250 at my 1st weigh in, but I weigh in again on the 9th and I’ve gone UP to 254 again. I’m struggling!!! I think the stress of trying to lose the weight in a small amount of time is just making my eating worse! Any help or advice? Anyone else felt this way too? 😔

[lzucks 232]

My advice would be to find a different program... They are basically making you do what you probably have struggled with for years, before implementing the tool, surgery. The recent data shows there is no correlation between pre-surgery weight loss and long-term outcomes with WLS. This approach is cruel and unnecessary. I sure hope you can shop around and find a different program. 😊

[FluffyChix 17,418]

Don't skip. If you're having probs, look into counseling right now and get that on board. But they need to document your inability to lose on your own. And if you skip, it resets all clocks back to zero. They may be able to give you an appetite suppressant. And talk to your RD about reformulating a more workable eating plan. Sorry you're having probs.

[MissTimeIsUp 25]

Thank you both so much. It’s definitely cruel and I know a lot of hospitals don’t require the pre op program. But it is the only one close to me. And yeah, maybe my doc can help me with the appetite. I’ll bring it up when I go in for my weigh in.

[J San 1,072]

How is your hospital regulating what you have to do and not your insurance. It's sounds odd but there are so many variations in these WLS programs who knows...... Any who. Try cutting carbs out as much as possible. Eat more Protein and add veggies in place of it but don't go crazy. Stop eating sugar, cut out soda and what ever other crappy food your consuming. Well not cut out completely unless your an extremely strong willed person but cut back on those things. Try to keep the reason you want/need the procedure at the forefront and when you go to crap foods let those reasons be a deterrent. Stay positive, YOU GOT THIS!!!!

Edited October 8, 2018 by J San

[CrankyMagpie 509]

My surgeon (not my insurance) wanted me to lose 10% of my starting weight before surgery. (I negotiated him down to "what if I do my best, but we schedule at the beginning of flu season, so I don't lose my surgery spot to the case of bronchitis I catch every winter?" And then, by a single pound, I actually beat his goal, anyway, on the day of surgery.) He makes all of his higher-BMI patients do that. I'm not sure how scientifically valid that extra requirement is, but he's one of the pioneers of the sleeve procedure and has done thousands of surgeries, so I guess he gets to cherry-pick for the most compliant patients.

I felt like it was kind of cruel and unnecessary, for most of the four months it took, but honestly? In the last week before the surgery and the week since? I'm grateful that I had a chance to follow the "long-term bariatric patient" diet, with its focus on lean Proteins and vegetables and fruits and (if those other things aren't filling enough, which eventually they won't be) complex carbohydrates. I learned that it wasn't especially hard, and I could follow it without tracking every bite (which makes me crazy) and without spending hours in the kitchen. I learned that there was room for "cheats"--for breaks from that protocol--and as long as I kept them to a minimum, with maybe a little stricter eating before and after to help mitigate it, I could be successful at following it and not feel miserably deprived.

Now, like ... part of my problem is that I am always hungry (which is wild, when you're just a couple of days post-op; the belly gurgles, but it is lying, and oh how I hope this goes away soon). And to deal with that while still following the rules of the pre-op diet, I would do the normal things--drink and see if the hunger goes away, mostly--and if those things didn't work and it wasn't time for a meal, I'd have the smallest snack I could get away with, to stave off the hunger. Maybe it'd be a cheese stick. Or an ounce of peanuts. Or a Greek yogurt. Sometimes I could get by with just a sugar-free popsicle or a half cup of sugar-free Jello. It wouldn't make me full, but it'd take care of the hunger enough that I could focus on whatever it was I was doing.

If that isn't the problem you're running into -- if it is emotional, say, rather than hunger-related -- my advice won't help much. (I won't claim not to have emotional eating problems. I definitely had some cheat days that were based around the news, for instance. But other than "don't do it often; be strong," I've got nothing for you, there.) I hope it helps someone, though?

[KimTriesRNY 1,853]

It is tough to lose the weight under that pressure with a time constraint, and as others have said, most of us have struggled to lose modest amounts of weight for years and years before coming to the decision to have weight loss surgery.

That being said, even if it took you an extra month to lose the weight the surgeon wants you to, that’s still only four months and many of us here waited six months or much longer even for a surgery date so you still would be in good shape. And it would still likely be less time than joining a new bariatric program.

Focus on lean Proteins, vegetables, and fruits, and stay away from processed foods and soda. Incorporate some modest exercise into your week. These are changes you will need to implement post op anyways. You can definitely lose a few pounds and show progress to the surgeon in another two months just by making those changes.

Best of luck!

[Frustr8 7,886]

And 6 months still isn't all that bad, I struggled 3 years, 3 weeks,for mine. Mama elephants could have nearly produced 2 offspring in that time. Am I still glad? You Betcha! Have hit a blip in my recovery, but that is all it is÷ I SHALL STILL CLAIM MY VICTORY!

[Project Me 24]

The weight loss is supposed to help with liver shrinkage for the surgery and also to prep you on how to eat post op. Try shakes until you get your bearings on meal planning and Portion Control. You’ll get there Before you known it. And DONT skimp on the Water and exercise. It the best things you can do for your body. Good luck!!