The pre-surgery diet my doc uses seems very liberal based on what I have read on this forum. A typical lunch/dinner is 4 oz of protein, 2 servings of veggies, and 1 starch. I have been wanting this surgery for 3 years but insurance wouldn't cover it so I decided to self pay and I am concerned about complications. (a co-worker had complications from bypass, which almost killed her and would have cost over $250,000 if she wasn't covered by insurance) I just want to make sure my liver is sufficiently shrunk!! Anyone else follow a similar diet?

I would suspect your doctor has had good results from his patients on this diet, or he wouldn't recommend it. I'd stick to his meal plan. I think the overall reduction of carbs with the percentage increase in Protein in the pre-op diet regardless as to whether the protein we're getting is in liquid or solid form is the most important factor in readying our livers for this surgery.

What are you're other meals? My pre-op diet was similar to yours, with one mini-meal and two sf Protein shake meals. I think I was allowed unlimited (within reason) vegetables (not corn, potatoes, beans), one small fruit, 2 slices of LF whole wheat bread, and 4 oz lean meat. My doctor said my liver looked great. I know, because as I was coming to, I asked..lol

Thanks Kiz. The diet sounds very similar to what you did. However, it is three meals a day. No shakes. I am just a little anxious. I met w/ the surgeon for the first time last week and scheduled my surgery the same day so it is just moving a little faster than I thought. I am thankful though. I am a CPA so busy season picks up in Feburary. I wanted to have the surgery in early January so I will have time to recover before the long hours start, and I figured it would be much easier to stick to a liquid/soft food diet after surgery when I don't have a lot of social activities to attend.

I'm not in the medical field, but I honestly think a low carb, high Protein, low fat pre-op, diet would be just as liver friendly as the all liquid diets.

Best of luck to you on your surgery, and I'm glad you were able to get it scheduled so that you won't have a conflict with tax season.

Your diet is perfectly reasonable.. I'm a on 2 shakes 2 meals per day diet.. I've been doing mostly shakes because I just don't like to eat that much.

That being said, as long as you're avoiding fats, sugar and High Carbohydrate foods (usually anything made with white flour) before your surgery you're fine

Fats - butter, fatty meats, fried food, whole milk products

High Sugar Foods

High Carbs - breads, Pasta, starchy foods

Carbonated drinks - best to get this out of your system now, since you won't be able to drink much if at all after surgery.

Hope that helps

If you need to take proper diet schedule please do consult with your medical practitioner. Anyways from my point of view your pre- surgery diet schedule should be...

Breakfast

* One serving of any two of the following: (toast, eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, fruits, or cereal).

Lunch

* One serving of Myocel (or any Protein supplement providing about 20-25 grams of protein per serving) mixed with skim milk, Water, or fruit juice.

Dinner

* One serving of lean meat or fish (pork, beef, chicken or fish) and one serving of green vegetables (lettuce, broccoli, etc.)

Dessert

* One serving of Myocel mixed with skim milk, water, fruit juice, or any high protein, low carb drink.

Hope this will help you a lot...

Thanks

I have my pre-op on the 29th and I am so worried about the pre-op diet, I wonder if I should go ahead and start something similiar so that when they probably look at my liver its not that big? I recently had a scan of my adrenal glands because they were concerned about something else and the technician reported on the report they were normal but that I had a fatty liver.

Thanks Kiz. The diet sounds very similar to what you did. However, it is three meals a day. No shakes. I am just a little anxious. I met w/ the surgeon for the first time last week and scheduled my surgery the same day so it is just moving a little faster than I thought. I am thankful though. I am a CPA so busy season picks up in Feburary. I wanted to have the surgery in early January so I will have time to recover before the long hours start, and I figured it would be much easier to stick to a liquid/soft food diet after surgery when I don't have a lot of social activities to attend.

We really need to stay in touch. I am a CPA also and am having the surgery in January for all the same reasons you mentioned. My surgery is scheduled for 1/4. However, my busy season picks up on 1/2 because we do a lot of W-2's and 1099's in our office. So basically from the first Saturday in January to April I am working overtime.

I am really nervous about how I am going to handle eating well during this time of year. My office provides meals on Wednesday evenings, Saturdays & Sundays. It will be strange to have to turn it down in the early stages because I will be on liquids/mushies. I haven't told anyone in my office that I am having the band done because I didn't additional judgement. So I think this will be difficult.

How are you planning on handling this?

i'm on the same pre-op diet as you, except i can also have 3 protein shakes/bars a day. I started Dec 14 and I've lost about 9 lbs. i also lost about 6 lbs before then, so a total of about 15 lbs. My surgery is on monday!

I totally plan on eating xmas eve dinner tonight, though...

We really need to stay in touch. I am a CPA also and am having the surgery in January for all the same reasons you mentioned. My surgery is scheduled for 1/4. However, my busy season picks up on 1/2 because we do a lot of W-2's and 1099's in our office. So basically from the first Saturday in January to April I am working overtime.

I am really nervous about how I am going to handle eating well during this time of year. My office provides meals on Wednesday evenings, Saturdays & Sundays. It will be strange to have to turn it down in the early stages because I will be on liquids/mushies. I haven't told anyone in my office that I am having the band done because I didn't additional judgement. So I think this will be difficult.

How are you planning on handling this?

Well, I have told all of my friends at the office. I haven't told the partner I work for b/c someone in our office had bypass surgery about 5 years ago and he paraded her around the office like a circus any time a client was thinking about or having a similar surgery and I do NOT want that. I told him this week that I was having surgery and his response was, "I assume it is female." I said, "no, it's not, but I don't want to discuss it." Our firm doesn't provide any meals so I don't think it will be hard for me to stick to the plan. Last busy season I was particapating in a clinical weight loss study and brought my lunch and dinner every day so I don't think it will stick out that I am eating mush for the first few weeks.

My sister has has this surgery and other than post op sticking to the liquid/mush diet, her diet hasn't really changed much. She still eats most of the same things she did before just in smaller portions. So when I read about people talking about not being able to eat certain foods it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I don't really plan on giving up any of my favorite foods, I just plan on eating less of them. Feel free to shoot me a private message if you want to stay in touch about combining busy season and pre/post opt diets! Good luck!!