PreOp diet starts in 2 weeks. ?

So I have a little less than 2 weeks before I have to go on my preop diet for 2 weeks. I guess I feel like I have only 2 weeks and then I will never get to eat anything I want ever again. So I am eating all kinds of JUNK. Things I would normally limit I am not limiting at all. I feel like I have to eat what I can because in 2 weeks I can never do it again.

Is this a normal reaction? Has anyone else done this? And is this really bad? Is it going to make the diet/lap band harder for me to deal with?

I guess it's like a last hurrah. kwim?

Thanks
~Emily

I'm about a week from starting my pre op diet. I have what Ive coined (or perhaps taken from somewhere) last meal syndrome. Ive gone out to eat way more than I have in the last 6 months and actually before thinking planned a big night out the day before my liquid diet starts. I think its completely normal to be going through a mourning period and we are trying to hang on it as long as we can. 

A little indulgence is acceptable I believe but we have to remember its these choices that in part brought us to this place. 

Good luck!!

Hi

I am 2 weeks post-op. I felt the same way (like everything would be the last time I eat such and such). However I controlled it becuase my surgeon told me that gaining weight rapidly is sure to make the liver more difficult to manage during surgery.

I had one last meal before starting pre-op and that's it. KFC, gross out! I lost about 9 pounds in the few weeks before commencing pre-op so I was pleased I controlled my mourning 'urges'.

Congratulations on having your date set.

Cat.

I did feel that way, but when it came down to it and mine was only a 3 day liquid pre op diet. I was not hungry for some strange reason, I wanted to go crazy but I didn't.


BTW...It's not forever. You will be able to eat those things again. As long as you learn
( LEARN is the key word here ) to eat them in moderation AND you fully MAXIMIZE the
" honeymoon " phase of your surgery.

I've never understood the "honeymoon" phase when applied to lapband.   Personally I don't think there is one for bandsters, but maybe that's just my experience.  :) 

For me, the " Honeymoon " phase was about the first 3 months when I was still dealing with swelling from the surgery. The swelling was restriction in itself and helped to maximize the feeling of satiety. After I healed. That feeling of satiety was gone and I was pretty much having to teach myself that this was just a tool and I had to put in a lot of hard work.

People are always saying to pre-ops that this is just a "tool" and they have to use it or it won't work. I believe that some pre-ops are so excited to get this tool that they are really not fully comprehending exactly how hard it is going to be, and with most of us being unable to successfully diet on our own pre WLS
. That means that there are going to be people who are not fully prepared for what it really means to
" Work their tool " Then there will be some like myself who are/were working their tool and their tool wasn't working with them.

Instead their tool worked against them and they are/were unable to eat " The Bandster Way " It's not like we wanted to jump off " The Band Wagon " it was more like we were shoved head first off the wagon.

I learned and was quite depressed by the fact that I was on a diet forever. They didn't operate on my head and I had to dig deep down to keep my mind and mouth in a healthy place, but as my band started to tighten on it's own and I was doing the yo-yo fill and unfill routines. I started suffering from severe acid reflux which no OTC or prescribed medication was going to fix.

I started having night coughs and I was burning my throat nightly with acid reflux. I started having trouble getting water down too. I remember one night walking briskly on the treadmill trying to get a sip of water to pass and when it did finally pass, I started the process over & over again, just so I could get some water in.

The honeymoon phase of any surgery should be taken seriously. This is not the time to experiment with what you can get down past your band. This is the time to get your head in the right place, so that you will be able to get control of the " Head Hunger Monster " that will come knocking on your front door.

PREPARE yourself cause that MOFO is on its way and you need to have all your resources in place to fight him/her.

Another thing to keep in mind is that. When you're told to do liquids, mushies, and soft food. It is because they ( the doctors ) don't want your guts churning so aggressively to digest the food you are putting into your freshly operated on gut. It needs time to heal and nest.

Not at all uncommon to have a last hurrah.   Often called the "last supper syndrome".

I didn't have to do a pre-op diet, but the weekend before surgery on Monday, I was in a nearby city to pick my DD up at the airport.. she had flown home for spring break.  While there, I had my "last" Whataburger, Onion Rings and Diet Coke.   It honestly made me feel sick for a bit.. had a reaction similar to what I hear RNY'ers go through with dumping... nauseated, weak, shaky... very strange.

And then.. knowing I was about to have surgery and would be on liquids for a while.. I went and bought 10 or 12 boxes of Girl Scout Thin Mints.  Why in the world would I do that to myself?   I rationalized that I was buying them for DD who loves them.. but I was the one faced with them in the freezer everytime I opened it post op..

Our minds do strange things to us sometimes...   You are not alone.

I did not have a pre-op diet at all.  I was told to "not eat excessively" for two weeks before.  Well heck, I didn't pay much attention to that.  I didn't eat boatloads of food but I did eat!!  One of the things i did was eat full fat icecream every night before surgery. LOL I NEVER ate full fat icecream, preferring the light version or frozen yogurt.  Anyhow, the Sunday night before my Tuesday surgery my stomach said no more, and I couldn't even finish the bowl of icecream.  It might have been that sleeve of thin mints i was eating with it. LOL

It's normal to feel like a last meal is necessary. You'll be nose to the grindstone when you get your band, so just know that you will need to be ready for that!

good luck on the dreaded pre-op diet. 

Donna

Thanks so much for all the replies. Sorry it took me so long to get back! I am happy to know it is common and that I will still get to eat some of these foods, just differently.


Thank so much everyone
~emily