Anyone else on their pre-op liquid diet?
My VSG is scheduled 3/17 and I'm on day two of my pre-op liquid diet. So far it's going better than I though, but it's early. I am supposed to have 5-6 protein shakes a day and sugar free clear liquids. So far I'm just finding out what I do (Atkins and Premier Protein shakes) or don't (elite protein powder, muscle milk) like. I've had some jello and popsicles. I've had broth each day just to have something that's not sweet. I tried crushing my pills today just to see how it is. It was easy enough, but some of them taste terrible! Fortunately those are available in chewable or liquid forms that I was able to get today. Is anyone else in the pre-op phase? Any advice?
No advice, but I'm here with you. :) My surgery is 3/21, so just 5 days past yours. My pre-op diet is 3 weeks, so I'm on Day 5 of it now. Lost 17 pounds in just the first 4 days of it... insane. Anyway, my surgeon (I'm from the US, but in Australia now, so my surgeon is Aussie) requires 3 Optifast meal replacements a day, but I also have a little more flexibility in that I also get to have veggies & even a serve of fruit. TBH I'm wondering what the point of it is - my understanding was that it's low carbs that shrink the liver, and Optifast + veggies is definitely not low carb. Anyway, I'm sticking 100% to what he/his nutritionist asked. I also have been drinking some broth here and there (also allowed), and having sugar-free Jello once a day. It's hard, though probably not as hard as just liquids! Poor you. :(
I've actually had a serious amount of stomach pain in the evenings since I started it... I'm not sure if it's hunger or my bladder can't handle all this water or what. During the day I'm fine. Hoping it goes away soon - the last thing I need to deal with is abdominal pain I can't identify right before surgery. I don't want anything to delay it.
It seems like there is a huge variety in what is recommended for pre-op diets. I suspect any low calorie diet has some effect on shrinking the liver, though it seems low carb makes the most sense. I had some mild abdominal pain tonight and though I imagined it to be pains of my liver shrinking, I think it was actually gas. Good luck and keep in touch!
I am on day 4 of my 9 day mostly liquid diet. My surgery is March 10th.I had a crash on day 2 and ate a cinnamon bun... It was horrible, and because I hadn't eaten solid food in over 24 hours, it made me super nauseous.
We are allowed 2 protein shakes made with any protein powder we like, mixed with milk, 1 1/2 cup serving of cottage cheese, 1 100 calorie serving of yogurt, and all the jello and broth we'd like, so long as it all lands below 1,000 calories a day... I'm not going to lie, the first 2 days I felt like I had the flu.. My stomach hurt so bad, my body ached, I was exhausted. Yesterday, day 3, went much better and I had a huge amount of energy.
Along with this diet, I have also had to eliminate caffeine, so I believe a lot of these body aches may be caused by that.
I start my pre-op diet again for the Third time a week from today. My surgery date is March 19th this time.
I had to do it once for 7 days as a prep my doctor requires a trial run so you can find what does and doesn't work for you. I found this one really hard, the first 3 days I thought I was gonna die but i stuck with it and after that I fell into a routine, I did much better after that.
the second one was 7 days of full fluids and day 8 was clear fluids only. My surgery was canceled minutes before being wheeled into the OR apparently the hospital didn't have a bed to put me in after...I would like to add that I had been at the hospital for 2 hours prepping by the time they canceled me. I was not a happy camper.
My doctor recommends an 8 day pre-op diet, 2-3 protein shakes a day, at least 64 Oz of water. I can have anything low carb that pours like milk. With these exceptions, I can also have 1 small tub of light yogurt (I added 2 TBS to my shakes because I hate yogurt) , or unsweetened apple sauce. I can also have no sugar added jello and pudding. The pudding really really helped get me trough. I used it as a reward for doing well at supper time if I stayed on track with water and stuff.
On my last day of the clear fluid diet (so the day before I was suppose to have surgery) I called one of the local restaurants and ordered Turkey veg soup broth. It was so good! I'm sure it was high in salt because it was so good LOL ....I'm a salt addict