So I had my pre-op appointment and they mentioned that a pre-op diet is not required, but did recommend doing a protein shake for dinner the night before instead of solid food. I mentioned I had read online that most surgeons seem to require at minimum a 2 day liquid pre-op diet and the nurse let me know that they reason they aren't requiring one is because my BMI is not 50 or more. I guess they only require it for heavier patients.

I was just wondering if anyone else had a surgeon that didn't require a pre-op diet. If so, what surgery did you get, and how was recovery?

4 minutes ago, SunnyinSC said:

So I had my pre-op appointment and they mentioned that a pre-op diet is not required, but did recommend doing a Protein Shake for dinner the night before instead of solid food. I mentioned I had read online that most surgeons seem to require at minimum a 2 day liquid pre-op diet and the nurse let me know that they reason they aren't requiring one is because my BMI is not 50 or more. I guess they only require it for heavier patients.

I was just wondering if anyone else had a surgeon that didn't require a pre-op diet. If so, what surgery did you get, and how was recovery?

They did not make me do a pre op diet either. I was told not to lose any weight or I wouldn't qualify for the surgery. At the time I weighed 216, at surgery I weighed 205. I had the surgery mainly because I was a bad diabetic. I couldn't lose weight on my own. I also had thyroid issues, and a ton of other medical problems. I had the bypass and my recovery was not easy. I was very sick for the 1st few months. I lost 40 lbs. in the 1st month alone. I couldn't eat anything or even drink water without being sick. I had to go on a script of nausea patches that you wear behind your ear. Finally in months 2-3 I could tolerate a small amount of cream of wheat and drink peppermint tea. The months after I had a very hard time eating anything more than a few bites of food. I am still having this problem now. I am 9 months out and down to 130 lbs. and look sickly. I am trying to put some weight back on because I am so skinny. Not trying to scare you, just telling my story. Good Luck

not all surgeons require one, even if your BMI is over 50 (yours might not if it's under 50 because they probably presume they'll be able to get under your liver if it's under 50 ). Regardless, consider yourself lucky. The pre-op diet can be hell.

1 hour ago, HealthyLifeStyle said:

They did not make me do a pre op diet either. I was told not to lose any weight or I wouldn't qualify for the surgery. At the time I weighed 216, at surgery I weighed 205. I had the surgery mainly because I was a bad diabetic. I couldn't lose weight on my own. I also had thyroid issues, and a ton of other medical problems. I had the bypass and my recovery was not easy. I was very sick for the 1st few months. I lost 40 lbs. in the 1st month alone. I couldn't eat anything or even drink Water without being sick. I had to go on a script of nausea Patches that you wear behind your ear. Finally in months 2-3 I could tolerate a small amount of cream of wheat and drink peppermint tea. The months after I had a very hard time eating anything more than a few bites of food. I am still having this problem now. I am 9 months out and down to 130 lbs. and look sickly. I am trying to put some weight back on because I am so skinny. Not trying to scare you, just telling my story. Good Luck

No worries about scaring me Thank you for sharing your experience, and sorry to hear it was so rough! I hope that the nausea and such get better for you, and that you can get to a point where you feel healthy and happy with your weight, and your new eating habits.

No pre-op diet was definitely a new one to me, but I suppose people don't really need help with a whole lot if they don't have to do pre-op dieting. It does provide a bit of comfort that I'm not the only one who doesn't have to do one. My surgeon also does pureed foods on day 2 through the first month, which was uncommon as well. While the surgeon is highly experienced and highly rated for the area, seeing such a drastic difference in both pre-op and post-op treatment was leaving me a little anxious. Rational me knows the hospital isn't gonna tell me to do anything purposefully harmful. It's just hard to ignore all the other info out there and question what I should or shouldn't be doing.

1 hour ago, catwoman7 said:

not all surgeons require one, even if your BMI is over 50 (yours might not if it's under 50 because they probably presume they'll be able to get under your liver if it's under 50 ). Regardless, consider yourself lucky. The pre-op diet can be hell.

I definitely consider myself lucky! Just a bit of anxiety surrounding my rules being so different from the vast majority of what I see online about people's requirements and all. Was hoping to quell it a bit. I considered maybe imposing my own liquid pre-op diet for a couple days leading up to surgery to play it safe, but I know I'll be miserable if I do. When I've cut out sugar in the past to do do keto, the first few days are just migraine ridden. I also don't know that 2-3 days would actually be enough to shrink the liver at all.

26 minutes ago, SunnyinSC said:

. My surgeon also does pureed foods on day 2 through the first month, which was uncommon as well. While the surgeon is highly experienced and highly rated for the area, seeing such a drastic difference in both pre-op and post-op treatment was leaving me a little anxious. Rational me knows the hospital isn't gonna tell me to do anything purposefully harmful. It's just hard to ignore all the other info out there and question what I should or shouldn't be doing.

I was on purees before I even left the hospital. I didn't have to do liquids the first two weeks post-op, like most people do. My surgeon is on the faculty at a major medical school, so he's definitely highly rated and experienced, too. Don't worry - some surgeons have different ideas, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad ideas...

31 minutes ago, SunnyinSC said:

No worries about scaring me Thank you for sharing your experience, and sorry to hear it was so rough! I hope that the nausea and such get better for you, and that you can get to a point where you feel healthy and happy with your weight, and your new eating habits.

No pre-op diet was definitely a new one to me, but I suppose people don't really need help with a whole lot if they don't have to do pre-op dieting. It does provide a bit of comfort that I'm not the only one who doesn't have to do one. My surgeon also does pureed foods on day 2 through the first month, which was uncommon as well. While the surgeon is highly experienced and highly rated for the area, seeing such a drastic difference in both pre-op and post-op treatment was leaving me a little anxious. Rational me knows the hospital isn't gonna tell me to do anything purposefully harmful. It's just hard to ignore all the other info out there and question what I should or shouldn't be doing.

Every doc is different. They all have their way of doing things. My dad had the surgery 5 yrs. ago and he was told that he could never have pasta or rice. He came with me on my 6 month check up and heard them tell me that I could start eating small portions if I felt up to it. He was mad. LOL I was also told that I could never drink carbonated beverages again, EVER. A lot of people told me that they are allowed to. It is very different for everyone.

We didn't have any pre-op diet, either, neither me nor my wife, who was around a 65 BMI; they don't require it for any of their procedures, though they do (or did) a colonooscopy bowel prep the night before - overkill for the sleeve that I had but reasonable for the DS that they routinely perform. From what I have seen, most of the legacy DS surgeons don't do any pre-op diet, either which at first seemed strange to me, given the very fiddly work that they do underneath the liver for that job, but then those who go into that end of the business tend to come from the top of the class, so it seems that they have developed the tools and skills to not need the diet. Either that, or they ate totally clueless, but their record seems to refute that, so it seems that you have indeed chosen one of the good ones - congrats.

I won't have to do a liquid pre-op diet, but it will be low carb and low calorie and I believe high protein and low fat.

Count your blessings. The preop diet was not fun. Although I get your concern but I have heard of others who didn’t have one either. It just boils down to surgeons preference.

23 hours ago, RickM said:

We didn't have any pre-op diet, either, neither me nor my wife, who was around a 65 BMI; they don't require it for any of their procedures, though they do (or did) a colonooscopy bowel prep the night before - overkill for the sleeve that I had but reasonable for the DS that they routinely perform. From what I have seen, most of the legacy DS surgeons don't do any pre-op diet, either which at first seemed strange to me, given the very fiddly work that they do underneath the liver for that job, but then those who go into that end of the business tend to come from the top of the class, so it seems that they have developed the tools and skills to not need the diet. Either that, or they ate totally clueless, but their record seems to refute that, so it seems that you have indeed chosen one of the good ones - congrats.

Ah, I wonder if that may be it. The surgeon I'm going to is also part of the Medical University staff here, and he also does DS. I can't remember the exact number, but I believe he's got 25-30 years experience in the field as well.

Thank you all again for the input. It's help eased some of my anxieties. Thankful I have the forums to turn to during this whole process so that people who are more likely to understand or have experience are always just a few keystrokes away!

Same here, no diet and thought it was odd (especially since my surgeon is so young). I’m personally going to do it for 10 days anyway - can’t see how it would hurt.

Glad to see others received the same advice!