My surgery is coming up next week and I feel like I am doing something wrong or that my surgery isn't going to go as well as others because my doctor does not have me on any particular diet going into surgery. When reading this board I feel like everyone else has to do a liquid diet leading up to surgery. Just curious if anyone else did not do diet leading up to surgery and how things went for you?

22 minutes ago, fun_freckles said:

anyone else did not do diet leading up to surgery and how things went for you?

@fun_freckles

i also saw most/many OP on board were/or did have pre-op liquids/diet. Supposed to loose X amount of weight. i asked my surgeon and he said he didn't believe in the above. in hindsight i wish he had "made" me do something so i would have lost weight pre-op. Of course i could have/should have taken it upon myself to do shakes etc.

Even though i did not do special pre-op shakes/diet - I have been successfully/maintaining GOAL. these past 7+ years (slight fluctuations) happy as a clam!!

my suggestion to you is do some shakes, or a "diet" of some sort. The more you loose pre-op, the

less you need to loose PO. You will give yourself a jump start on your weight loss.

Do as i say, not as i do!!?

good luck next week with sleeve

speedy recovery

kathy

25 minutes ago, fun_freckles said:

My surgery is coming up next week and I feel like I am doing something wrong or that my surgery isn't going to go as well as others because my doctor does not have me on any particular diet going into surgery. When reading this board I feel like everyone else has to do a liquid diet leading up to surgery. Just curious if anyone else did not do diet leading up to surgery and how things went for you?

Liquid diet is to shrink the liver to help them see your stomach as they do bariatric surgery. I was not required to do liquids before surgery. My liver size was not an issue.

I think if you start drastically decreasing your food intake before surgery, you won't experience the overwhelming hunger that a lot of people complain about post-op. If you want to decrease the chances of a fatty liver during your surgery, get as close to zero carbs between now and surgery. My surgeon only required liquid the day before to empty my stomach of solid foods. Good luck with your surgery!

Edited January 24, 20197 yr by Ed_NW

I only had to do a liquid diet the day before or 2 days before the surgery. I've seen others on here say that they had to do it for a couple of weeks. My liver shrank significantly before the surgery though, so all was well. Maybe yours isn't an issue. I wouldn't worry about it.

The purpose of the pre-op diet is to shrink your liver (most obese people have fatty livers) so that the surgeon can more easily access your stomach. In higher BMI patients (over 50BMI), fatty livers can be so large as to deny access to stomach entirely through non-invasive surgery. This usually isn't the case for lower BMI patients such as yourself. Still, most doctors require a 14 or 7 day pre-op liquid diet because it makes their lives easier on surgery day, but not all find it necessary. I have heard of doctors that dont' require a pre-op diet. If your doctor has a lot of experience with sleeves, I would just follow his guidelines and trust that he knows what he's doing. That said, make sure you only have clear liquids (chicken broth, bone broth etc.) the day before surgery and no food or liquid after 8pm the evening before surgery. Your doctor should have given you this instruction (maybe in your packet of information???). This is intended to reduce the risk of nausea after surgery and, obviously, you can't have any food or liquid in your stomach during surgery. If you have not been given this instruction already, call your surgeon's office to get clarification on your pre-op instructions. If they don't have any tell you to do this last instruction, ask them why???

I was not required, my Surgeon is a skilled Veteran at the process and didn't require it (also I did not have a lot of fat around my liver)

But

I did one anyway. I was hedging my bets.

I also had no pre op diet, my surgeon also doesn't believe they are necessary.

I can see no negative effects of not having had a pre op diet. I have lost 100% of my excess weight. I'm successfully in maintenance, so far. My liver was perfect and pink, so I was told. I had no physical hunger for weeks post op. I was able to have food funerals, which I believe help me be more focused on healthy eating post WLS.

My required pre-op diet was calorie restricted to 1500 calories/day but not restricted to just liquids. The purpose is to shrink the liver to allow for easier laparoscopic access.

Not full liquids but I did 2 shakes a day and one meal midday. usually a salad with protein like chicken or tuna. I lost 9 lbs. for that two week period.

I also did not have any type of pre-op diet. My surgeon does not believe they’re necessary. I’m about 2,weeks post op and don’t believe having one would’ve improved anything for me.

2 hours ago, sillykitty said:

I also had no pre op diet, my surgeon also doesn't believe they are necessary.

I can see no negative effects of not having had a pre op diet. I have lost 100% of my excess weight. I'm successfully in maintenance, so far. My liver was perfect and pink, so I was told. I had no physical hunger for weeks post op. I was able to have food funerals, which I believe help me be more focused on healthy eating post WLS.

"Food Funerals" ? I haven't thought to call them that but I have also been having those. I keep thinking I should be starting a good diet right now before surgery but at the same time I keep thinking "I'm going to have this because it is the last time I can have it in who knows how long... maybe forever".

4 minutes ago, fun_freckles said:

"Food Funerals" ? I haven't thought to call them that but I have also been having those. I keep thinking I should be starting a good diet right now before surgery but at the same time I keep thinking "I'm going to have this because it is the last time I can have it in who knows how long... maybe forever".

There is nothing you can't have "forever", it will just need to be in smaller quantities and rarer occasions.

3 minutes ago, sillykitty said:

There is nothing you can't have "forever", it will just need to be in smaller quantities and rarer occasions.

So true, Except your exes... We highly recommend you Never have any more of that nonsense.

I only have 3 days to do on the liquid diet - which I'm ok with as it's a lot less than most seem to be. I have a question - how do they know what size your liver is? Just through the bloodwork? My surgeon's office has this 3 day blanket pre-op diet for everyone as it is in their printed brochures, so I don't think they try to hard to gauge size on an individual basis.

No liver shrink diet for me. I was asked to lose 10-15lbs. and I lost 20, not hard at all since I had 6 months to do it. If I had lost any more I would not have qualified because I didn't have 2 co-morbidities. I had to do two days of clear liquids.