I have my surgery on Wednesday and Have not stuck to the liquid diet except for during lunch, How bad is this?

I have my surgery on Wednesday and although its been difficult, I have stuck to the liquid diet and have lost about 7 lbs. My doctor said it would help reduce the liver and that's why he was putting me on it.

I have my surgery on Wednesday and Have not stuck to the liquid diet except for during lunch, How bad is this?

My dr was pretty strict. She said if I didnt lose the required amount, surgery would be postponed. Hope you make out ok...Dave

I wasen't required to do a liquid diet before surgery, and I did just fine. I did gain like 6 lbs from my initial consult to my presurgery visit. I got yelled at about that and had to lose it before surgery. I did the liquid diet and walking for like 3 days and lost it easily. You should be fine if you haven't gained. Did you need to lose before? If not, u should be good. Good Luck. Surgery was MUCH easier than I thought.

You know what you did and now you have to face the consequences of surgery being more complicated than it should be.

All I can say is after you are banded, you won't be able to cheat.

I think your being a little, no... make it a lot dramatic. A lot of Drs don't require a liquid pre-op diet, my doctor doesn't, and I did great. It's not set in stone. I found it hard to stay on track, but support helps more than your scare tactics.

It is really up to your doctor. Some will not do the surgery if you have not lost any weight. I had my surgery in Mexico and my doc did not make you do a pre-op diet. Some docs do not believe it helps anything. But yours does, so he may postpone. Have you lost any weight??Hope it works out ok. To ease your mind maybe you should call your doc, and tell them you are having a tough time. See what they say. Good luck Donna

This is a major serious decision in our lives and not to be taken lightly. If you don't follow the "rules", there could be serious consequences.

Apparently Dolfan13 was required to follow a liquid diet, so I think he/she should give serious consideration to whether they have made the right decision at this time in their life.

My surgeon is my leader, and I do strictly as he says. That's the only way to play.

The pre-op diet isn't just for weightloss, it's also to deplete sugars from the liver, which will decrease its size. Having the liver smaller in size will make it easier for the surgeon to work in the area of the band. If the surgeon gets in there and does not have the room needed, or the liver does not move as he wants, etc. - you could end up with no surgery or an open procedure. You don't want an open procedure if you can have it laparoscopically.

Do try to stick to the diet. I don't want to be too tough-loving, but this really is a change for the rest of banded life. Compliance is a MUST or you can damage yourself permanently, and can definitely actively avoid weightloss. If you can't do the pre-op, how will you do the rest of your banded life?

I did not stick to it that well either. I did do a few days on it and it helped me after surgery. I know what drinks I liked and that was very helpful. My dr. did not weigh me before surgery. Try to do it day by day!

Good luck!

My surgery is one week from today (19th). I haven't done as well as I wanted on the pre-op diet but I have lost 10 or 11. He wanted me to lose 15. It's just so hard to lose, always has been for me. I feel much better than the scales tell me. I am at the mercy of the doctor in my opinion. I've done my best. Good luck to you.

I am on clear liquids but I use sugar in my tea - is that ok - I am still losing weight.

Good question Missy!! I HATE artifical sweetners and refuse to eat them. They also make me sick. I get violent headaches and I've read to much BAD stuff about it to start now. How will this affect my loss? I don't eat a lot of sweets to begin with, but do like sugar in my coffee, and real yougurt etc. what do I do?

The pre-op diet isn't just for weightloss, it's also to deplete sugars from the liver, which will decrease its size. Having the liver smaller in size will make it easier for the surgeon to work in the area of the band. If the surgeon gets in there and does not have the room needed, or the liver does not move as he wants, etc. - you could end up with no surgery or an open procedure. You don't want an open procedure if you can have it laparoscopically.

Do try to stick to the diet. I don't want to be too tough-loving, but this really is a change for the rest of banded life. Compliance is a MUST or you can damage yourself permanently, and can definitely actively avoid weightloss. If you can't do the pre-op, how will you do the rest of your banded life?

Very true. When the glycogen is removed from the liver it isn't as slippery so surgery isn't as dangerous. I know of one person that didn't follow the diet. The doc opened her up and closed her right back again. She woke up without a band. She finally did the diet and got her band.

OP, call your doc and see if he will still do surgery. He needs to know BEFORE your surgery, not during.

The band is a major commitment. If you cant follow a minor commitment before banding, then you may find yourself very very unhappy after banding.

I know the presurgery diet sucks, but they ask you to do it for a reason. I believe the reasoning is 50/50 psychological and physiological.

That said, if you do get the band, best of luck and may it be the tool you need.

You run the risk of either not getting the band becuase your liver is too big, or waking up with a huge vertical incision downt he middle of your stomach because you've had open instead of laparascopic surgery. I know one person that happened to.

of course its also entirely possible and probably more likely that all will be fine and your liver wont present a problem.

However, I'd question my own commitment, I mean my doc didnt require a pre op diet and I thought I'd do it anyway and failed miserably, but I did not gain any weight or do that last supper thing, I changed my life from the point I made the decision to be banded. Not being able to stick to two weeks of liquid torture is NO indication that you will fail after the band, I did just fine, very well in fact and didnt find liquids and mushies hard in the slightest. But I'd really be doing some soul searching about why I wasnt doing what I was told - I mean I *could* fail at the pre op becuase I didnt have to be doing it in the first place and I knew that.