Ok.... honesty time. I’m having my surgery 8/12/19. My pre-op requires 1st week 2 meals 1 protein shake. 2nd week 2 shakes 1 meal. Today should be my 3rd day of 2 meals 1 shake but I’m struggling. I think I’m still thinking about how restrictive my life will be post op. Normally I have great discipline. People around me always comment on how when I put my mind to something I do it. Does or did Anyone else have this problem?

19 minutes ago, HipHopDiva said:

You all are making me so EXCITED! I have my EGD today, medical clearance from PC doctor Monday, pre-op anesthesia assessment 8/13, discuss my 1 week liquid diet with nutritionist 8/19 & surgery 8/27!!! I have loaded up on Protein Shakes at Sam ($16.98 a case) on sale till 8/17 I think, so stop by and get you a case or two. Will stop in periodically to see how all my August buddies are doing : )

Do you have a link to your shakes

ARGH ! I can't stop thinking about food! I won't cave because this is too important but I am hungry and want to eat whatever I am cooking for my daughter.

It is driving me mad, my brain just won't shut up

I am also finding that once I have my shake or whatever food I am eating on plan just doesn't cut it hunger or satisfaction wise. Am I the only one? Hoping by tomorrow I will be in ketosis so I won't be hungry at all, but dang this bit is hard!

You gotta be strong. Make sure your shake is high protein Low sugar and carbs. The higher protein content the better and preferably water mixed not milk... You need high quality

I didn't follow the pre-op diet super well because I wanted some last hurrahs. Fortunately, post-op, I don't WANT any of that food anymore so the restrictions don't bother me one bit. It changes your chemistry... and your ability to intake food. Remember that food is for fuel, not fun.

On 08/02/2019 at 10:11, mousecat88 said:

I didn't follow the pre-op diet super well because I wanted some last hurrahs. Fortunately, post-op, I don't WANT any of that food anymore so the restrictions don't bother me one bit. It changes your chemistry... and your ability to intake food. Remember that food is for fuel, not fun.

Good to hear. I went to my nutritionist yesterday because I felt I wasn’t doing my pre-op well enough. She told me I was fine. I think I was just OVERthinking things. I just have chill out a little. Glad to hear post op you’re not interested in certain foods. How are you doing now ?

My sister has a Sams card so she got the shakes for me. Sams is like Costco's or BJ'S , you have to be a member.

OMG I could kill for actual food right now. I’m on day 4 of full liquids. My program requires full liquids for 2 weeks prior to surgery.

My surgery date is Aug 12th as well.. I fell off my 2 weeks liquid diet on Saturday and at a burger. I hope it doesn't does anything bad..

On 7/31/2019 at 8:44 AM, Chiptress said:

Ok.... honesty time. I’m having my surgery 8/12/19. My pre-op requires 1st week 2 meals 1 Protein Shake. 2nd week 2 shakes 1 meal. Today should be my 3rd day of 2 meals 1 shake but I’m struggling. I think I’m still thinking about how restrictive my life will be post op. Normally I have great discipline. People around me always comment on how when I put my mind to something I do it. Does or did Anyone else have this problem

Absolutely many have/had a problem with it. I changed dr's @ the last minute so I ended up doing almost a full 30 days of an almost completely liquid diet. I thought the first 13 days with one dr was hard...but man, starting it back up again - full disclosure, the 'new pre-op' date I got with final dr still allowed me 3 weeks to do 'his full liquid plan' but I had a DAY break on 4th of July!

I was honestly impressed that I did not gorge..and yeah, I'll use that word as I have done that before. Had just lunch and dinner from 4th of July. No desserts. I had been doing keto for 15 months taking maybe a day off every other month as my body would start to stall and just hang onto the weight so I'd shake it up a bit.

However, all I can remember is the LONG 30 days. If I had known up front all of the insurance hassle and scheduling issues that would result from me changing dr's....I would have been freaked at the idea of that long of a pre-op diet.

Now I'm post-op and am on Day 12 of yet ANOTHER 3 week post-op liquid diet so I'm roughly on Day 42 (and yeah, I still had that '1 day break') but today my body just seized up on the liquids. I think it is primarily due to working 75 hrs last week when I was only 2 days recovered from my RNY.

One thing you have to remember - you are NOT going to be on liquids for life! You are NOT going to be doing pre-op or post-op (first X of weeks depending on your dr) FOREVER. Is it hard to get through? I THINK SO! Is it DOABLE? OH YES! You have hundreds upon hundreds of bariatric friends that are either walking in your same shoes now, have walked in those shoes or who will be walking in those shoes in the near future.

Greentealael shared GREAT points about the benefits of the PRE-OP diet most have to follow in some form or another. To be honest by the time I got to..um..Day 19 or 20 of liquid pre-op...I was SO DONE. The ONLY thing that kept be going and refusing to cheat is my BMI is so high, I COULD literally not afford physically, mentally or emotionally to have my dr call off surgery because it would be too dangerous to operate. I also knew I didn't want to ever do any more days of pre-op then I already had to.

POST-OP I'm living through...and it has not been easy except for first 2 days...but I remember that this is helping my body to heal..helping our new pouches adjust. I've read what happens when someone pushes the envelope or even more bizarrely..they seem to have not been given a 'post-op' diet..and I know I will make it one way or another to PUREED FOODS. NEVER thought I'd say I was fantasizing about pureed foods, but fantasize I do indeed!

You are at the right place, you did the absolute right thing and as a person also known for her discipline when she puts her mind to something, that means YOU HAVE THIS - IT IS YOURS FOR THE TAKING!!

Edited August 6, 20197 yr by KarenLR75
'off' surgery, not 'of' surgery..LOL. Why can't I be succinct..

On 8/2/2019 at 4:30 PM, HipHopDiva said:

My sister has a Sams card so she got the shakes for me. Sams is like Costco's or BJ'S , you have to be a member.

YES, they have great prices..I drink the Premier Protein drinks. I did notice that having different flavors that YOU LIKE is also key on anyone who is supplementing with protein drinks like this. I LIKED chocolate the best (so burned out now).

My eldest daughter, who is not obese, actually drinks 1 every day for breakfast and she found out they had a banana flavor and when visiting she asked me to order some. It was Banana Cream. Now, I like 'bananas'. was not sure about the Banana Cream. I do like the Strawberry flavor and Cookies and Cream so I just picked up 4 packs of those to have something to break 'chocolate' monotony. OMG, the banana cream was the BOMB!

I only drank 1 as I had gotten the 4 pack for her..wish I had snagged another..LOL

I am on day 3 of a 4 week preop diet. I am required to have 5 Optifast products a day. Only 1 can be a soup or bar, the other must be shakes. I can have one meal a day that consists of 3 to 4 ounces of an approved meat, 1 cup of approved vegetables and 1 cup of fresh fruit. I must also have 80 ounces of liquid in addition to the liquid in the shakes. Must be sugar free, calorie free, non-caffeinated and non-carbonated. It is much harder than I anticipated.

^^ that seems like an awful lot of calories involved pretty sure optifast is like 200 kcal per serve.

I've been told 3-4 shakes a day (max 600kcal a day) preop with 25-30g protein per shake!

I feel like i may be the only one who was told she was to be on a purely liquid diet for 2 weeks. With the possibility of suger free italian ice.

43 minutes ago, ladypatricia said:

I feel like i may be the only one who was told she was to be on a purely liquid diet for 2 weeks. With the possibility of suger free italian ice.

Don't feel alone. There are many on here who had to do primarily liquid diet for 2 weeks and some for 3 weeks. As I stated in earlier post, I ended up doing one for almost 30 days BEFORE surgery. MOST pre-op liquid diets that I've seen ppl post about seem to all have a couple things in common - you can have sugar free jello and sugar free popsicles.

Maybe something to inquire about to see the reasoning on no sugar free jello/popsicles? Or maybe you already know why your dr prefers that you keep limited..to just s/f Italian ice?

1 hour ago, Mikeyy said:

^^ that seems like an awful lot of calories involved pretty sure Optifast is like 200 kcal per serve.

I've been told 3-4 shakes a day (max 600kcal a day) preop with 25-30g Protein per shake!

Not sure what the 'progam' is like now although I briefly peeked. WAY back in the day when I did Optifast (after Oprah Winfrey made it popular), they had us mix our shake packets with WATER, averaging between 80 - 100 calories a day.

We did not have a 'meal replacement option'. Did it for 90 days...3 LONG MOS! Lost 80 lbs and kept it off for a decade.

I do see that if a person mixes it with milk or maybe there is now a ready to drink shake..that this would be 200 cals (which you referenced)..so hopefully for the purposes of losing for pre-op, a dr might put someone on Optifast with a requirement to use water, that would be roughly 500 calories a day and would allow a small food meal.

Again, this is just conjecture on my part but was interested to see Optifast is still around..and back in my 'dinosaur days'..we had to walk uphill in the winter for 10 miles and ONLY mix our shakes with water!! LOL