Hi All, I have just been told by the bariatric nurse to eat a decent meal the evening before my surgery, and drinks lots of water between 12-5am as these will help me recover quicker. My paperwork says do not be tempted to have a large meal the day before surgery as this reduces the liver shrinking effects of the diet. What have your experiences been? I'm very confused now.

I was on a liquid diet (including 4-5 protein shakes a day) for two weeks - and I think just water for the 12 hours before my morning surgery, so that seems kind of weird she'd tell you to eat a decent meal the night before. Although did your pre-op diet include one meal a day (some do...). If so, if your surgery is in the morning, then dinner the night before would be at least 12 hours earlier, so maybe??? Hmmmm....not sure about this. Anyone else?

I was on a liquid only diet for the week leading up to my surgery. No meals to be had at all. You'll find that every doctor has a different pre-op diet plan. Some want liquids only for 1 week, some want liquids only for 2 weeks, some allow for liquids all day and then a small dinner of lean protein and veggies. My suggestion would be to call your bariatric office and ask for clarification, explaining that your nurse said to have a decent meal the night before your surgery but that your paperwork conflicts with what the nurse said. They should be happy to clarify it for you.

I wouldn't think that a single meal before surgery would undo the liver shrinkage to that much of a degree, but the conflicting info is something that you'll definitely want to get clarified.

I have to be at the hospital for 7am, but they can't tell me yet what time the surgery will be, even though I'm having it in 4 days. My pre-op diet has been fully liquid shakes.

Thanks both, I'll contact them again, and see what the outcome is.

Edited August 14, 20205 yr by nanajac

1 hour ago, nanajac said:

I have to be at the hospital for 7am, but they can't tell me yet what time the surgery will be, even though I'm having it in 4 days. My pre-op diet has been fully liquid shakes.

If your pre-op diet has only been liquids so far, then I would personally stick to that in the last day before surgery. The sudden introduction of a regular meal the night before surgery after just liquids seems really odd to me. I'm not sure what surgery you're having done, but I would think regardless, the doctor isn't going to want remnants of a meal sitting there being digested.

I'm having a gastric bypass, and I thought exactly the same as you, regarding the food being undigested. I'll stick to my guns and remain on the shakes. Thanks for your advice.

I was also on full liquids for two weeks before surgery. My "last meal" was the evening before I started the liquid diet two weeks out (and it was fabulous!).

9 hours ago, nanajac said:

I'm having a gastric bypass, and I thought exactly the same as you, regarding the food being undigested. I'll stick to my guns and remain on the shakes. Thanks for your advice.

I also had gastric bypass, which means I had to have a colon prep prior to the surgery. My doc wanted all the pipes to be EMPTY, since he would cutting into them. That meant only clear liquids the day before surgery to clear the top, and then the prep to clear out the bottom.

Is a colon prep normal for gastric bypass? I'm having surgery on the 24th. I've done as much research as I can. Due to covid my educational classes have been on a utube video. Im doing the shakes and vitamins and liver shrinking diet but i haven't heard anything about a colon prep. Sorry just curious.

I also had gastric bypass, which means I had to have a colon prep prior to the surgery. My doc wanted all the pipes to be EMPTY, since he would cutting into them. That meant only clear liquids the day before surgery to clear the top, and then the prep to clear out the bottom.

Strange, I haven't heard of people needing bowel prep because they're only dealing with the top part of the gut and you've been on a liquid diet so there will be very little stool in the bowel anyway. Did they give you a rationale for taking it? I also didn't have one for my sleeve.
Curious [emoji16]

15 hours ago, SMC25428 said:

Is a colon prep normal for gastric bypass? I'm having surgery on the 24th. I've done as much research as I can. Due to covid my educational classes have been on a utube video. Im doing the shakes and Vitamins and liver shrinking diet but i haven't heard anything about a colon prep. Sorry just curious.

I did not have one.

I had no pre op diet at all, but did have bowel prep the day before surgery. This was for the VSG

I was on clear liquids with shakes only for 2 weeks pre-op. I had a Loop DS. I also had to stay on clear liquids 2 weeks post op. I think that's how my surgeon does it for all his Loop DS's, but I know for sure my liver was enlarged because I was diagnose with NASH and hepatic fibrosis in January when I had my gallbladder out, which is why I got wls.

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On ‎8‎/‎14‎/‎2020 at 1:33 PM, nanajac said:

Hi All, I have just been told by the bariatric nurse to eat a decent meal the evening before my surgery, and drinks lots of Water between 12-5am as these will help me recover quicker. My paperwork says do not be tempted to have a large meal the day before surgery as this reduces the liver shrinking effects of the diet. What have your experiences been? I'm very confused now.

My surgeon and nutritionist did tell me to drink an 8oz glass of either apple juice or cranberry based juice (non diet) 3 hours before surgery and to be completed 2 hours before surgery to give the fuel I need to last until the next day but I had not heard of a meal before.