Hi all,

I've been a spectator here for a while, reading and learning a lot from all the great info on this site............this is my first post so here goes.

I am scheduled for surgery on Sept 16th (scared) and my dr's haven't advised me to do anything special pre-op.

Should I do a liquid diet like Opti-fast before the surgery, will this make any difference.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks

260/ / 160

Surgery - Sept 16th

Imani girl the liquid phase of the post op can be as long as two weeks. I mean you will lose weight but it is up to you to be on liquids for a month. I would if I were you right now,I would try out different Protein drinks and shakes. Just to see which ones you really like and the ones you can't stand. Then supplement one of them for a meal each day. Start drinking 8 (8oz) glasses of Water a day, and start walking or some physical exercise 30 minutes or more each day. Just get used to doing what you will be required to do after getting the band. If you want to try a liquid diet go ahead, but it is up to you. My doctor didn't require me to do a pre-op liquid diet, thank God. I am barely handling the post-op liquid diet. I just started week two. Hope this helps.

Dee Dee

Ask your doctor specifically if you have to do liquids pre-op. Did you get a pre-surgery packet of information? It would be in there or else call the office and check. Not all doctors require it. Mine didn't. I chose to do it for three days prior to "get the hang of it" going into surgery. Just check with the doc to be sure!

And good luck on your upcoming band!! Whoo hooo!!

I chose to even though my doc didn't require it for me, because I figured it'd give me a jump start on my weight loss that I would probably not gain back like I always have before. And since my ultimate goal is to get rid of these extra pounds, I went for it. I started off with Optifast + my 5-a-day of fresh veggies & fruit (no dressings or anything on them, just raw or steamed veggies and raw fruit). Optifast made my eczema flare up on my face, so I switched to Glucerna weight loss shakes and those worked just fine. I admit to having a couple "last supper" meals of my favorite things during those two weeks, but not large portions. I dropped 8 lbs prior to and 4 lbs since surgery.

Now I'm almost a week post op and frankly the liquid phase isn't bothering me at all. I'm probably still swollen and just not hungry. Plus my pre-op liquids were the Optifast or Glucerna and my post-op liquids are completely different -- Jello, cream Soups, chicken broth, SF fudgecicles and popsicles, a nice latte with SF flavored syrup, etc. I'm actually enjoying it, probably becaues I'm still swollen and not hungry all the time, but when the swelling goes down I'll spend those last few liquid days on the Glucerna again which keeps your blood sugar stabilized.

Sorry, I wrote a whole book... sheesh...

Good luck on both pre-op and the surgery!!

Hi guys,

Thanks guys for the great advice. I did call the Dr's office and they basically told me that it wasn't necessary but if I wanted to do it on my own then it wouldn't be a problem.

Molly no probs on the long reply, all useful to me and good luck on your journey, you're just days out of surgery, hope it all goes well from here.

I guess I'm just a bit nervous about the upcoming surgery and thought that going on a liquid phase might give me a head-start on my diet post-band,

Once again thank you for taking the time to reply.

Good luck to all of us!