11 days and a wake up!!!!

 Ok.. so I am  10 days into my 3 weeks preop diet of shakes and sf jello... idk about anyone else but this sux majorly.  I was told the shakes fill u up so ur good for 3 hours.. i have not had 1 that was filling or helped the hunger pains!!!!  In the 1st 4 days I was sooo happy I lost 8 lbs.  Now I continue to be stuck at  8 lbs and dont know what to do.. I hope i can get the number moving before the 17th!!!

You and I are rocking in the same boat.  I have 3 days to go on my liquid diet and I am feeling dizzy right about now.  The liquid diet is so not satisfying, my shakes are nothing to be desired.  I normally drink the Premier shake and it tastes so much better.  The worst part is no matter how much water I drink my breath is like a nuclear weapon.  I did have an AHA moment----as I was trying to keep the breath at bay I reached for a mint.  Caught myself and realized that it was a peppermint---SUGAR!   It's like dang something as simple as a mint which we think nothing of is a NO NO.  It made me think about how much accidental damage we do everyday.   Made me say HMMMMMM!  Good luck to you and I wish you well with everything.

 i 2 had the lightheadedness till i startd drinkn broth ..yeah the strawberry optifast i like but the choco n french van not so much...gl to you! how much have you lost?

 I remember that dreaded diet!  Its to shrink your liver to make the surgery easier.  My doc allowed me veggies with a little spray 0 cal butter and salt & pepper.  I had a plate full 2x day with my shakes and jello and s/f popsicles.  Do you get 1 yogurt a day?  I thought maybe I did - but maybe not.  You might want to ask about the veggies.  I just bought frz mixed veggies and nukes them.  Those added with the Atkins or Slim Fast sugar free shake was good.
Maybe try some of the powdered protein like Isolyze Whey Protein or Gaspari Myloplex.  Both have great flavors - add some ice and water and put in blender to make a shake.  Its only temporary and you will get thru it, I promise you that!

 i can only have broth, sf jello/popsicles, and the optifast shakes

Some people never feel hungry with the shakes. Not me. I didn't have to do the liquid diet pre op because I had lost well before hand but just the limited food allotment had me near tears from hunger and headaches, feeling jittery, etc. The thing is that no matter what the surgeon recommends rather before surgery or after, it is for a good reason. I thought I might die in there somewhere but of course that is not considered a surgical risk factor. This will all be over before you know it and you will live. Go ahead and complain, whine, cuss, kick someone, pout, or what ever (I think I did all of the above). Just stay the course. You will be glad you did.

Good luck, you can do it. Sue

Don't get hung up on numbers. 8lbs in 14 days is the sort of amount you will almost certainly never lose again! So enjoy it but don't expect a repeat. Did you doc give you a specific number of pounds to lose?

The following explanation is courtesy of Diana Cox.

Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs of water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when you are not getting in enough food, your body turns first to stored glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of glycogen, you also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of a diet.

As you stay in caloric deficit, however, your body starts to realize that this is not a short term problem. You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue and burning fat for energy. But your body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of energy -- like, to outrun a sabertooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. And as it puts back the 2 lbs of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, your weight will not go down or you might even GAIN for a while as you retain water to dissolve the glycogen that is being reformed and stored.

Hi,  I was on Optifast 900 shakes (x 4 per day).  Tastes like cake batter but did the trick really well.  I added flavourings to the either chocolate or vanilla.  I was also allowed to supplement that with steamed certain veggies and I also had crystal light and clamato juice (hard to find in the USA).  I only lost 8 pounds before surgery but that was fine and I've done really well in the just over 2 weeks since.  Hope this helps.

You have my sympathy.  I guess I was lucky, my surgeon only required 1 day of clear liquids, that was enough.  Good luck, it will be worth it in the end.

Three Weeks!!! Yikes!  I thought my 2 weeks was enough!  I fortunately was not that hungry.  I didn't mind my shakes.  I used from GNC, Amplified Wheybolic Extreme 60.  Choc was delicious!   Someone had mentioned to me about putting a bit of milk or FF half & half into your broth.  Sounded gross but it was kinda like having a creamed soup.  I enjoyed that.
I was also on the liquids for 2 weeks after surgery.  I found that harder actually.  I think beforehand I was excited about my time finally arriving but afterwards it was like "enough of this liquid crap, give me some food!"

I know it's hard.  My emotions were all over the place.  It's normal.  You can do this!