HELP!!!!

Ok I have my appt with Dr Carlin on friday and I need to lose 5 more pounds.....whats the fastest way!!!!(short of starvation)Will all liquids do it? I want surgery to be scheduled...not delayed. It' not been as easy as I thought. I think once you have surgery....its like...no way you can eat...cause you are gonna get sick, not much room i there.....but your tummy is still normal before....so you don't realize. I have been sticking to about 1200 calories....thinking that would be good..and thats what the excercise therapist said....but its not working like I wanted. I know its good to lose as much before surgery as possible....helps with healing and surgery itself. So I need to crash lose here!! Any ideas.....

Deborah, Stop calorie counting. It's a pain in the neck and we tend to forget to watch fat grams and sugars. Do the pre-op diet. NO SUGAR. NO CARBS. NO FRIED FOODS. NO DRESSINGS OR CONDIMENTS EXCEPT SALSA. NO SODA POP OR CARBONATED DRINKS AND NO ALCOHOL. EAT SMALL PORTIONS. High protein, low or no fat. Walk, if you can. Get some kind of exercise. Every day. I lost 17 pounds pre-op and was only required to lose 6. Here is what I ate. FOOD CHOICES hard boiled or poached egg (1) avoid the yolk. 2 ounces lean ham or turkey bacon. 4 to 6 ounces low fat cottage cheese coffee or tea with artificial sweetener or Splenda. 3 ounces tuna, use low fat mayo and only 2 teaspoons. No miracle whip---it's high in sugar. turkey or chicken breast, 3 ounces skim milk, 8 ounces boiled chicken livers...3 pieces has about 23 gms. protein. yogurt, but find the lowest added sugar ones. Any broiled or baked fish without breading, 3 ounces Lean beef such as rump, ground round or sirloin, lean steak. Advant-Edge protein shakes for meal replacement (the slim fast drinks are high in added sugar) chunk cheese, any flavor; an ounce or two at a time. add salsa to stuff..it's basically fat free and delicious too. Basically, you will eat only eggs, meat, and cheese for the next 5 days. No crackers, chips, bread, tortillas, or anything made with flour. No dressings, sauces, or ketchup; mustard is ok, salsa is great, and hot sauce is ok. You can have fruit and vegetables as long as they are not from a can, and only a piece or two a day during this time of trying to lose the extra 5 or so pounds. This worked for me and I hope it works for you. It's hard but you can do it, we all have. Most bariatric surgery programs want us to either lose some weight pre-op or at least not gain any more, to make the liver shrink a little. That's why there's the NO SUGAR rule. Good Luck on Friday and let us know how you did! KathyG

Hi Deborah, Try to relax. You really don't need to crash diet. That's not good for you. Besides if you do that, you most likely will gain it back before final weigh-in ~you don't want to do that. You will get your date as long as you have done what you were supposed to do. Did you see Tracey (the exercise specialist), Dr. V. (medical clearance), and any other doctor, Dr.Carlin may have told you to set up an appointment with? You only have 5 pounds to go. You have until your final weigh-in to lose those 5 pounds. You will make it. Final weigh-in is the Wednesday before your surgery. You are in excellent hands with Dr. Carlin, and the rest of the team at Henry Ford Hospital. Hang in there Deborah. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Dr. Carlin is a wonderful doctor he is not going to delay giving you a surgery date because you lost all but 5 pounds of your weight. You will get your date on Friday. God bless you, Annette

Deb, If crash diets worked, none of us would be here!! Losing weight pre op is a great idea.....it shrinks your liver and you are in better shape for your recovery. But robbing your body of nutrition and putting it into shock isn't the best way to get ready for major surgery. Try to eat just whole, natural food. Nothing processed or a bunch of sf stuff with sugar alcohols in it. When you say all liquid, do you mean meal replacements? Listen to Annette's post, she has experience with your doc. And walk as much as you can. I know it's icy outside, so is there something you can do in the house to get that heart rate up? I don't have specific diet suggestions for you.....but I do have one word of caution, just in case you haven't already thought about it: I am 10 months post op and I can eat pretty much anything I want. I get hungry, and I could (if I wasn't careful) pack away the food if I grazed all day. Before my surgery, I thought I wouldn't be able to eat, so I would lose no matter what. But now I am basically "on a diet" every day. I have to make choices and deny myself things I want just like before surgery. While you're healing and losing a ton of weight, you have to change your behavior toward food, or once your pouch isn't so new, you could have problems. Just a word to the wise. I wish someone would have told me that I wouldn't always be full and that food would be calling out to me once again! Good luck with those last few pounds, you've done great so far! Brenda