I keep asking myself why are some people on pre op diets, me and 4 other friends have all had done in australia and were on no liquid diet before, and were all on a liquid and mushy foods straight after the op for 1 month.Yet i have another friend who consulted a surgeon to get it done, no pre op diet, and she will be on 6 weeks liquid and 3 weeks mushies after that. this puzzels me. Well my surgeon must of told me something which agreed with my weightloss 67lb since sep 2007,very minimual excercise -- but feel so much better going to tackel the excercise.

I think some doctors get a kick out of pure torture. No, seriously, I have wondered the same thing. i did the 6 week pre op liquid and month of staggered liquids, mushies, hard food afterwards. I think it made the actual eating of hard food easier for me having jumped through those hoops. I was used to eating nearly nothing by the time i got to hard foods. I really dont know the true motivation between all the different doctors opinions, though.

hi there, im in Melbourne, whereabouts are you, I only got banded last Thursday april 24. my surgeon wanted me on the Optifast for two weeks prior. he said it is to help reduce the size of the liver, it can be fatty, so that when they start the surgery itself, its easier to manoeuvre, also to help recover quicker, and to get a head start on losing weight. i lost 3 kg in the two weeks prior to the surgery, i wasnt hungry as long as i stuck to it.. but like you, i know someone else who had the op over 2 years ago, but he doesnt recall any optifast.

I think some doctors get a kick out of pure torture. No, seriously, I have wondered the same thing. i did the 6 week pre op liquid and month of staggered liquids, mushies, hard food afterwards. I think it made the actual eating of hard food easier for me having jumped through those hoops. I was used to eating nearly nothing by the time i got to hard foods. I really dont know the true motivation between all the different doctors opinions, though.

Wow,well you must be doing something right too -- you lost heaps keep going, I have30lbs to go.

hi there, im in Melbourne, whereabouts are you, I only got banded last Thursday april 24. my surgeon wanted me on the Optifast for two weeks prior. he said it is to help reduce the size of the liver, it can be fatty, so that when they start the surgery itself, its easier to manoeuvre, also to help recover quicker, and to get a head start on losing weight. i lost 3 kg in the two weeks prior to the surgery, i wasnt hungry as long as i stuck to it.. but like you, i know someone else who had the op over 2 years ago, but he doesnt recall any optifast.

I am in Perth, I tried optifast before considering lap banding, and ah could not stick to it, i am not a milkshake person, i know people who lost weight on optifast and did it strictly for weeks .

I think Jet's right - I believe it's to reduce the fat around your liver. My doctor asked me to lose as much as I could in the run up to the op for that reason.

I have to admit that post-op I'm being as good as gold, but I failed miserably at the pre-op diet. Essentially, in the fortnight before the big day I went on a 'goodbye food' tour of my favourite treats, which was a lot of fun at the time but the upshot was that I put on weight. That made the operation far more difficult for the doctor than it needed to be.

He very sternly told me afterwards that because of my eating the two hour op took four hours. That's two extra hours I was anesthetised, which is an extra two hours of risk.

So, if I were you I'd listen to the doc and try the diet. Every little helps!

My doctor and my father's doctors have all told us the pre-op liquid diet is for 2 reasons. #1 - to shrink your liver as it is a delicate organ and has to be moved during the surgery to get to your stomach. #2 - to start shrinking your stomach and in advance prepare you physically and mentally for the diet of post-op.

Hi all, anyone know if the weight loss, of lack thereof, prior to surgery has anything to do with or w/o the gas and shoulder pain I'm reading about? (i.e., more room more gas more pain, vs. more "room", and therefore less gas needed to forcefully inflate the abdominal area...)

My doc didn't recommend a pre-op diet. I was on a low fat diet one week before and liquids two days before. He stated that in his experience, a lengthy stint on only liquids weakens the patient and he had better results with recovery time when his patients were in tip top shape and not weakened. I asked about the fatty liver because I had read so much about that on here, and he said that yes, shrinking the liver would make it easier on him as a surgeon, but as a surgeon he felt he should put the health of his patient first and not how easy the surgery would be for him. He said it required a little extra effort and skill, but he was comfortable doing what he needed to do. My surgery was only 45 minutes, so I guess he was right. I haven't had any complications what so ever. So I guess it is a puzzling difference of opinion. It made sense to me, and I trust my surgeon implicitly, so I didn't question it further.