Should I do a pre-op diet anyway?

[vikingbeast 985]

My clinic doesn't require any kind of pre-op diet other than liquids only the day before surgery and NPO the day of surgery.

Am I weird for wanting to do kind of a step-down diet over the next three weeks, just so that it's not all just one "AARGH!"?

My thought is to replace one meal a day with a Protein Shake this week, reduce fruit, and step from 2 cups coffee a day to 1 cup (and no sugar in the coffee, which is about the only place I still eat sugar).

Then the second and third weeks, replace two meals a day with Protein Shakes, and eliminate fruit and coffee entirely. If I get too hungry, I'll have something protein-y like plain skyr. (Skyr is a dairy product that's like yoghurt but is made from skimmed milk and is higher Protein than regular or Greek yoghurt.)

Any other suggestions from veterans? What was hardest for you post-op that you wish you would have dealt with pre-op? I have been practicing "sipping" for a couple of weeks and it's annoying as H-E-double hockey sticks but not undoable.

[catwoman7 10,949]

most of us hated the pre-op diet. I'd consider myself lucky if I were you! Unless you REALLY want to do it...

not all clinics require it -- so yours isn't unique. I thought it was the worst part of the whole ordeal..

[SarahMan80 83]

It wouldn’t hurt and would give you a little preview of your post surgery diet. I did not find the pre-surgery diet too much of an issue. The extra Protein really (and surprisingly) filled me up. I say go for it and get a jump on the weight loss. Your plan sounds feasible. If for some reason you don’t stick to it or “cheat”, just remember that this diet wasn’t mandatory for you in the first place.

[River Moon 52]

My surgeon did not have any pre-op diet either, aside from the Clear Liquids only the day before surgery. I felt the same as you, though. It felt odd to me to just eat normally and then shock my body and mind like that. Not to mention, I know my digestive system and was worried I'd go into surgery with too much moving along in there that would make me sick after surgery. I knew most people are put on the pre-op diet for liver-shrinking reasons too, and I just did not want to wake up in post-op being told my liver was too large to do the surgery. I really did not want to have to do any pre-op diet though, so I negotiated with myself lol. I put myself on a very low carb diet for just a week. I slowly reduced my caffeine to zero. Then, three days before my surgery, I moved to all clear liquids. The morning of surgery I felt safer by doing that and I had lost a nice chunk of weight even (water weight of course, but still felt good 🙂).

As for what I wish I would have prepared for more prior to surgery, Water sipping is actually was actually mine. I think it's great you're practicing that. I did not, and had a difficult time dealing with that in the beginning. Your diet plan sounds great and healthy. I wish you all the best as you head towards surgery and beyond.

[NovaLuna 710]

If you feel like doing it and making it a tad bit easier to adjust to the diet after surgery then I'd go for it! Preparing for what's to come is never a bad thing.

[Tony B - NJ 641]

21 hours ago, vikingbeast said:

My clinic doesn't require any kind of pre-op diet other than liquids only the day before surgery and NPO the day of surgery.

Am I weird for wanting to do kind of a step-down diet over the next three weeks, just so that it's not all just one "AARGH!"?

My thought is to replace one meal a day with a Protein Shake this week, reduce fruit, and step from 2 cups coffee a day to 1 cup (and no sugar in the coffee, which is about the only place I still eat sugar).

Then the second and third weeks, replace two meals a day with Protein Shakes, and eliminate fruit and coffee entirely. If I get too hungry, I'll have something protein-y like plain skyr. (Skyr is a dairy product that's like yoghurt but is made from skimmed milk and is higher Protein than regular or Greek yoghurt.)

Any other suggestions from veterans? What was hardest for you post-op that you wish you would have dealt with pre-op? I have been practicing "sipping" for a couple of weeks and it's annoying as H-E-double hockey sticks but not undoable.

I am in my 3rd week of the preop diet. My doctor only required 2 weeks (surgery 8/31) but my research showed that the more weight lost in pre op diet, the better the outcome of the surgery. I also felt that I would rather be well accustomed to the diet (or lack thereof) and not be quite as hungry. I am finding it much easier than I thought and I am getting a head start on the weight loss, making my body used to dealing with less calories.

[JDLane 139]

My pre-op diet was one of the less restrictive ones. It was shake for Breakfast, mid morning high Protein snack, shake for lunch, afternoon high protein snack, dinner is 4-6oz lean protein, veggie and small carb if you want it, if still hungry another Protein Shake for after dinner snack (I generally skipped this).

High protein Snacks included hard boiled egg, Jerky, lunch meat, string cheese, 2-3oz lean protein, greek yogurt etc. Basically at least 10g protein and less than 200 calories.

It worked out to around 1000-1200 calories per day, 80-100g protein and less than 100g carbs. Definitely less restrictive than all liquids but I still lost around 10-12lbs I think and it was livable.

Something like that may be easier to stick to since it's not enforced by your program.

[Tony B - NJ 641]

MIne was very similar to yours JD, just 800-1000 calories and the only snack was things like Jello, non starchy vegetables and broth.

[vikingbeast 985]

I'm also using this time to try the various kinds of Protein Shakes and see which ones I like now. (I'm aware that my tastes are likely to change afterwards.) I can say that while the OWYN shake has 35g of Protein, it tastes like that cheap chocolate the kids flog outside stores ("World's Finest", my hind foot.)

[FutureSylph 377]

On 8/23/2021 at 10:57 AM, JDLane said:

My pre-op diet was one of the less restrictive ones. It was shake for Breakfast, mid morning high Protein snack, shake for lunch, afternoon high Protein snack, dinner is 4-6oz lean protein, veggie and small carb if you want it, if still hungry another Protein Shake for after dinner snack (I generally skipped this).

High protein Snacks included hard boiled egg, Jerky, lunch meat, string cheese, 2-3oz lean protein, greek yogurt etc. Basically at least 10g protein and less than 200 calories.

It worked out to around 1000-1200 calories per day, 80-100g protein and less than 100g carbs. Definitely less restrictive than all liquids but I still lost around 10-12lbs I think and it was livable.

Something like that may be easier to stick to since it's not enforced by your program.

This seems so reasonable for a pre-op diet, and I daresay it gets better compliance than most. I'd sure rather do three weeks of this than two weeks of most pre-op diets I've seen.

[Candace76 211]

My surgeon did not require one either, and I decided to get a little head start by doing one on my own. I had Protein Shakes for Breakfast & lunch, and tried to eat lower carb/lower fat dinners. I also drank broth, if needed & had sugar free Jello or ice pops when I wanted something sweet.

There were 2 days out of the 2 weeks that I was a little less careful with watching how much fat or carbs were in my dinners.

I lost about 10.8 pounds in the 2 weeks before, including 1 day of liquids only (surgery requirement).

I felt like it did prepare me for what was to come, especially for the day of liquids only & introduced me to some of the Protein shakes & broths that I would need after surgery.

Good luck with your upcoming surgery!