Pre-op curiousity...

I have a question for all those lurking out there in the peanut gallery. I have been on the two week pre-op liquid hell errrrr diet for nearly a week. The first 3-4 days were misery incarnate, but now that I am coming up on day 7, it's actually become a breeze. I have no problems with the Premier protein shakes and the sugar free jello which is my current intake. Since November 5th, I have lost 18 pounds and counting. I am one week out from my surgery date on November 17th and I am wondering whether I should delay it and just see if I can keep going on this diet I am on right now. To be honest, the forever part of the change scares me a little bit. To also clarify so people formulate an informed opinion, I have always been a big guy, all of my family are. Almost ten years ago I caught a staph infection on the scrotum that swelled up like a beach ball (feel free to chuckle) and I spent 23 days in the hospital over it (that was truly hell on earth). Naturally I eventually healed from it and as you can well imagine, the scrotum didn't bounce back to its normal size. It literally felt like I was walking around with the liberty bell swinging between my legs. Four years ago I was involved in a car accident where my knee ate the dashboard and destroyed it. It was surgically fixed as well as it could be. As such my mobility dropped through the floor even more so. Last year I had the scrotum issue mostly resolved, it will need to have a second surgery once my weight loss goals have been completed. I went from being 6'5" at 325 lbs prior to the staph infection to currently 569 lbs as of today. The highest I was at was 616 lbs. The large weight gain caused due to lack of mobility and exercise that became limited nearly ten years ago. Sorry for the life story, but my question is has anyone started the liquid diet and just chose to stick to it and see how far it wold take them without the actual surgery? If so what were the results, any ideas or opinions from those who have made the sleeve journey would be welcomed and appreciated.

The thing is with the liquid diet, it isn't a long term solution. You are on it specifically to reduce the fat surrounding your liver to make the operation a bit easier.

I struggled with the forever thing as well. However, the sleeve is only a tool to lose weight. Yeah, it is forever, but then, I want something to help me lose weight and keep it off....forever. 

Once you stop drinking the liquid, and trust me, I have now been on the a month, 2 weeks prior and 2 weeks after surgery, I am DYING to eat food, you will regain whatever you lost and then some. Right now, think about your health and how much healthier and MOBILE you will be once the extra weight it gone.

Will the liquid diet help you lose weight? Sure. But HONESTLY ask yourself how long you think you will stay on that. Again, it is NOT a long term solution.

I hear ya.  I am having my surgery tomorrow morning and had to do 4 weeks of the pre-op diet.  I have lost 32 pounds in 4 weeks, but I know it would all come back if I didn't go through with this surgery just because of the way "diets" have gone in the past.  Also, the temptations are too strong to stay on this liquid diet without the surgery.  The only thing that has kept me from cheating and giving into the temptations is the fact that the surgery is at the end of the tunnel, and if I do anything to mess that up, I will make it more risky and/or completely screw myself out of getting it.  The first 3 days or so are indeed the hardest, but when somebody comes over with a big yummy-looking pizza or everybody is eating cake around you, but you can't have any, or when you have a ham in the crock pot that is sending mouth-watering aromas through the house, it's hell all over again.  Also consider the pain in the butt it is to do anything outside of home with the liquid diet.  Going camping and having to make sure you hauled enough ice to keep your shakes cold, for instance... Or when you are out for a medical appointment and it's taking forever and you are feeling sick from lack of food, I haven't found a place yet that sells refrigerated protein shakes for those situations.... It's really up to you, but there is a reason your doctor approved you for surgery and if you are having doubts, you should definitely talk to him.  I don't think the pre-op diet is necessarily healthy, either.  Think of all of the processed crap we are eating.... All of the aspartame and artificial sweetners...  Wouldn't you rather be able to eat a real strawberry instead of artificially-flavored and sweetened Jello?  I've been on this pre-op diet for 4 weeks now and I am DYING to have something different!  Today I got to have a little apple juice and that was a huge deal....  Also, the weight you lose on this diet, I don't think will be dramatic over the long-term.  I think you'll hit a plateau soon and the loss will slow or even stop completely.  I would absolutely talk to your surgeon.

I have to agree with the above post. No one can sustain a long term liquid diet and once you you return to eating the weight will come back on.

I lost 74 pounds pre-op and considered continuing 'on my own. However, my reality was I knew I was never able to control my portions or avoid sweets for long...that is why I ballooned to a top weight of 350!

I think those of us who graduate to morbidly obese...or beyond...for any reason...have some kind of electrical short circuit in their brains that cause overeating to the extreme.

At 350 I wasn't willing to gamble with my health...

Great question! I've actually done what you're proposing. It was one of my many diets that took all my excess weight off when I wasn't as far along on the obesity spectrum as I was prior to surgery. 

The problem with my approach?  I couldn't stay on pre-mixed shakes forever because they didn't meet my long term nutritional needs. When I tried switching back to real food I soon discovered I had learned nothing about how to eat to sustain my new body and my appetite came back with a vengeance. And of course, emotional/disordered eating also returned.  I quickly gained back every pound!  And quite a few more ....

So far, bariatric surgery has helped me have a better outcome. Not only did I lose the weight, but have kept it off for over two years!   Wishing you similar success with this wonderful tool that you're about to be given!

Lots of folks do the liquid diet and don't have the surgery. We call those people serial dieters because 95% of them will regain the weight. You will regain the weight because of the corollary medical and mobility issues.

Do your diet, have your surgery and continue to loose down to goal and then be done with it. The deal with the surgery is it IS forever, usually. As in not having to gain weight and be trapped in our bodies EVER again.

Embrace forever. It's a great place to live!

Almost all of us think maybe we can do it without surgery after all. We all ended up being wrong. We can lose 100 pounds, but we gain back 130. Finally, we have surgery, then beat ourselves up for not doing it sooner.

I don't run into a lot of people on OH, or anywhere, who started out bigger than I was. I topped out at 6'3" and 475. At least, that was my highest when I was near a scale that would take me.

I lost a ton. Actually, a little over 1/8th of a ton. I have no doubt you could be even more successful.

My husband, who has gone through the pre-op process, is still not sure about having the surgery. Due to a health condition that flares up from time to time, he lost 62 pounds in about four month's time earlier this year. After he recovered about 2 months ago, he decided to see whether he could just keep on losing weight and avoid the surgery altogether.

He's already gained back about 20 pounds, despite struggling to keep his calorie count at a level where he can at least maintain the loss. He's still undecided about the surgery. Watching him struggle with his weight is distressing, especially when we both know what the outcome will almost certainly be. I'm hoping he decides to have the surgery by the time we come back to the States next April.

The handwriting is on the wall, ubserved. For us morbidly obese, surgery is usually the only option that will enable us to lose and keep off all that weight. You can't drink those shakes forever. 

psychoticparrot

Thanks for the all the replies. I was just curious as to what everyone thought. I was still planning on going through with the surgery next Tuesday. Sometimes it's just reassuring to hear others say what you are already thinking. 8)

Let us know how it goes. Good luck.