Although I plan to slow it way down to plain diet 1 week prior because I’m so scared ... of everything. Would love to hear from others if they also had no pre op diet...

I didn't have any pre-op diet from the surgeon, other than the usual day before surgery thing (though I was obliged to do a six month thing for insurance approval, though it was nothing that would fit the definitions of the typical "liver shrink" diet.)

Docs vary all over the map on the need for such diets, and in what should be done for them if they require one, from those who impose weeks of liquids only and tell their patients that they will close them up and send them home of they don't comply (and occasionally one actually follow through with such threats - there's one to avoid!) to those who specifically don't want their patients fasting for weeks prior to surgery (they want them as strong as possible going into this.)

Congratulations on finding one of the good ones!

Doesn't really prepare you for the post op life though does it?

Like Rick mentioned above, my surgeon’s office has all of the usual requirements leading up to surgery, but no pre-op diet. The explanation was the same - they wanted me to be as strong as possible leading up to surgery.

That being said, there are so many different approaches/plans from surgeon to surgeon that I think people should stick to what they’ve been instructed to do (not trying to imply that you won’t - just a general observation).

Best of luck with your surgery!

14 minutes ago, Superman84 said:

Doesn't really prepare you for the post op life though does it?

It didn't seem to bother me; I haven't seen much that the quickie week or two diets do to prepare one for the "afterlife", as those first few weeks one doesn't usually feel like eating much beyond what one can tolerate in the mushy regime.

I can understand that some programs may hold patients on liquid diets long after what is therapeutically necessary, so those may feel the need to put them on an extensive liquid diet pre-op to "get used to it". But this can be something of a self-fulfilling prophesy, as the long liquid diet pre-op may well require a long post op liquid phase as the GI tract has "forgotten" how to process anything else and has to re-learn it. Our program's experience over the years has been that patients tend to do better the sooner they get back onto "real" foods, and generally accommodates that end, to the extent that patients' tolerances permit.

21 minutes ago, RSMKEM said:

That being said, there are so many different approaches/plans from surgeon to surgeon that I think people should stick to what they’ve been instructed to do (not trying to imply that you won’t - just a general observation).

Best of luck with your surgery!

Absolutely! The docs have developed, or adopted, practices that work best for them, and we want to cooperate with them for best results. Some may be very sensitive to the fatty liver issue and really need their patients to do all they can to minimize that potential problem for them to do their best work, while others may be entirely comfortable working in that environment and find that they get better results with quite different protocols.

some surgeons require it - some don't. Consider yourself lucky!

On 01/24/2020 at 20:45, Superman84 said:

Doesn't really prepare you for the post op life though does it?

No six month diet nor pre op diet. Hasn’t negatively affected my success & I’m two years post op now

I had no pre op diet because I was told I couldn’t lose weight per my insurance. My doctor was fine with that and wasn’t worried about any fatter liver issues when he went in to operate. I personally enjoyed food I knew I was going to be giving up and mentally that was fine for me and I haven’t had a problem after surgery. Everyone is different though!

Mine was only 2 days before. And the first day was kind of optional. But others in my preop class had to do 2 full weeks. For me it was because I was ata much lower bmi and than the others. They didnt want me to drop too much before surgery.

Doesn't really prepare you for the post op life though does it?

Wasnt a problem for me people I know personally who had the same or similar preop diet. ! Having only a 1 day preop diet does not mean you didnt have 3-6 months of nutritional counseling and "diet" before that. My nutritiionist had me eating 6 smaller healthier meals/snacks per day to prepare me for post op life. The preop diet is designed for shrinking your liver and emptying your gi tract.

I had no pre-op diet other than the day before. Just like Rick mentioned, my doctor wanted me to be as strong as possible going into this and I think this approach helped greatly with my recovery.

Mine was a liquid diet but was only for four days. The only thing that was a pain in the butt was the hospital was 5 hours away and I took the train and went up the day before surgery, so I had to drag all that liquid stuff with me!

At my first meeting with the bariatric surgery program (12/17/19) I asked about the pre-op diet. I was told that the latest research shows that liquid fasting for 1-2 weeks prior to surgery does not benefit the patient, but actually causes distress, so they no longer require it as of a few years ago. For the pre-surgery diet, they now require that for 2 weeks, you have one small meal a day, and the rest is liquids. I was so happy to hear that because a month seems like a REALLY long time to be on liquids only (if you have to do liquids for 2 weeks pre-surgery and 2 weeks post-surgery.

I know most surgeons differ on their pre op plans but I will tell you my surgeon differs patient to patient based on health conditions and BMI, I had to do 4 days of pre op and my friend who had her surgery a week later than me had to do 2 weeks and we had the same surgeon

No pre op diet only clear liquids day before surgery and nothing past midnight

I was required to do a liquid diet 5 days pre-op but I ended up doing a week instead. A co-worker of mine had surgery the day before I did (different surgeon) and he wasn't required to do any special pre-op diet. It didn't really bother me and I think actually helped me with the diet after surgery. Every surgeon has their own program and it's probably just best to follow what they ask. Both of our surgeries went well and we're both doing fine now, although I'm able to tolerate more foods than he is (probably totally unrelated to our pre-op diets).