So it turns out I may (actually, no may about it) be an idiot and am allowed to eat food

If you have noticed my posts lately, they're all centered around going insane over not being able to eat any solid food due to the pre op diet.  Well, it turns out I may have been wrong.  Some backstory:

I originally met with a surgeon near my home.  His office told me a 2 week liquid diet was required.  I switched doctors because I didn't feel totally comfortable with him.  However, my nutritionist meeting was thru my old surgeon.

Now, my new surgeon gave me some paperwork for getting ready, and I never really bothered to look at the information part of it, just filled out the paperwork.  Given my recent bout of insanity over lack of solid food, I've needed different things to distract me.  So I read the paperwork.  And the pre op diet is COMPLETELY different then the one my old surgeon had wanted.  It involves replacing two meals per day w/ protein shakes, but getting 1 lean meal per day of solid food.

I almost slapped myself.  I'm going to wait for tomorrow to call my surgeon's office and confirm, but as long as this is correct, I will be getting myself some delicious grilled chicken or steak tomorrow night.  And you will all be getting apologies for me whining.

Oh that will be great if you can eat something like chicken or steak! Steak is one of my favorite things to eat. I really hope six months or so from now it sits well with me. I will be excited to eat it again. I hope that doesn't sound bad haha. I know I won't be able to eat much of it so if we went out and ate it I'll just get to bring home most of it with me and eat it over 3 or 4 days haha!  ;)

I can actually tolerate steak much better than I do chicken or any dense protein.  Give me some marbeled ribeye any day. I'm a Tennessee girl, too. :)

Yeah i really want to go to Longhorn Steakhouse when I can eat steak again haha.

I am close to Knoxville . . How about you? =) 

Mine was like this - the meal had to be under 300 calories I believe. I looked forward to that meal each day, but it really made a difference.

Congrats on being able to eat a meal; that should help a lot. I was on liquids for 2 weeks. It was tough. 

The reason for the liquid diet is to lean down the liver prior to surgery as it can cause issues for the doctors when trying to access the stomach during the actual surgical process.  Many/most of us who have WLS have fatty livers and they need to be shrunk prior to surgery.  Knowing that, ensure you stick to very lean meats and not lots of them.  I had to do 2 weeks of protein shakes and although it was a challenge for the first couple days I made it through and you can, too.  You have to remember that the restrictions are not for you to suffer but for actual medical reasons to ensure surgical safety.

My surgeon used to require a liquid diet before surgery, but he discovered no difference in the size of the liver in those who complied and those who didn't. Now he only requires liquid the day before and the morning of surgery. I was allowed to have clear juices , sugar free jello, broth and stuff like that. I had so much apple juice that day that just the thought of of makes me queasy. Enjoy the steak if he ok's it. Bless you on your journey.

Start think about doing more than the minimum requirement. I know how hard it is. I've been there. But you've gone this far. You're halfway there. Keep going, instead of falling back. The greater head start you get now, the more it will pay off for you.

I understand the concern, but please understand I'm not doing the bare minimum.  I am just happy to be able to eat some lean protein.  I've already dropped 13 pounds thanks to the combination of no foods and my exercise regimen.