I started my pre-surgery diet just over a week ago, planning to be on it for four weeks - my surgery date is April 15th. After loosing a couple of kilos rapidly at the start that I assume were mostly water, I actually haven't lost any weight despite sticking to this pretty restrictive diet. I'm a bit confused about how that is possible, on the one hand, and worried that I won't be ready for surgery at this rate. Did anybody else experience this at the start of their LRD?

This is a toughest part of the surgery . No person in the world [or so it seems] has the same pre op diet as you, so its difficult to equate. Some have dieted before hand and some like me had lots of food funerals. I did mine for 3 weeks and lost 15 pounds. You are going well. Call your team if you have been in a stall longer than you think you should.

Doing this process you will get lots of baffling losses and plateaus. Its just your body wondering why you are not feeding it the same as before.

It took me 2 years to loose my weight, be patient . Stick rigidly to your teams regimen. Your liver will tell them if you have cheated or not. They won't operate if your liver is fatty. It makes it fragile to move away from the surgery site.

Sometimes you have to do things differently than other people or use some of other people ideas to help with the pre-surgery weight loss task goal. When I started, I drunk two meal replacement shakes that was high in protein (30mg) and for dinner I would eat a small portion for dinner. The amount I would eat for dinner was the amount you are supposed to eat after surgery. I even started drinking my water 30 mins before my meal and 30 mins after my meal. I actually have been keeping this going for the past four months and within the last two weeks I did the full on liquid diet that helped me reach my goal weight before surgery. I know some people talked with their provider and got on medication to help them lose their goal weight before surgery. It will be okay; you will get there.

So the reality is that we can't cheat physics. I want you to remember this both now and after your surgery. While I can't make an super accurate assessment of your total kcal expenditure per day right now, I'd guess it's probably in the range of 3000 to 4000 kcal per day based on your current weight.

I'd also guess that your total intake right now is around 800-1000 kcal. This means you are absolutely burning massive amounts of fat currently.

So I know you're thinking if that's true, then why isn't it reflected on the scale? The short answer is scales lie. They only show total weight, but as you alluded to above, our bodies are made up of lots of "stuff" other than fat, so scale weight can vary widely just based on how hydrated you are, how much glycogen you're storing, and the weight of your stool.

In short, trust the process. You'll be fine.

My pre-op diet was 12 weeks of milk with added skimmed milk powder, and one salty drink a day (broth) (This was the diet my doctor put me on as they are researching it, not some weird fad diet I'd heard about to be clear.)

I lost quickly for the first 2 weeks, hit a plateau, gained weight, plateaued, jumped back down and repeat. It's not a straight path downwards, sadly. I did lose the required weight. If you stick with the programme, you will get there. The bus kind of drives it self in terms of where toi body wants to be at.