Pre op diet help! Feeling weak

I'm going to try take more protein less jello ?

Thank you!

I want to thank everyone for your replies. I'm going to use all of your advice. This is the best board ever. I will stay strong and stay on course NO CHEATING!

It's tough, but it will get better. Be kind to yourself and let yourself put your feet up or take a nap when you feel the need, in so much as it's possible. I know it can be difficult if you've got work or young kids. Drink lots of water.

I'm on day 23 of pre-op dieting, and I've gone through insomnia, oversleeping, terrible hunger, total lack of hunger where it's hard to choke down what I need to eat, diarrhea, constipation, headaches, and feeling better than I have in years. Sometimes all in the same day!

Hang in there. You can do it!

Good luck with surgery, mine is on the 17th...one week to go!

You too!

The first week is really hard. For me, Days 2-5 or so were the worst. From prior weight loss attempts, I believe my weakness and 2-day banging headache came from carb detox. I hope that this is what you're going through because I can say that after you push through it, it will all become much easier as your brain accepts you're not going to keep feeding your body carbs and it switches to other energy sources. That all said, I think it's okay to talk to your doc any time you feel like you need to. You're paying them a lot to shepherd this journey and you shouldn't be shy if you have a concern.

I had the same pre-op diet -- and a similar starting weight. I had to go four weeks at Thanksgiving and Christmas time. It was VERY hard.

I consider these feelings the same as a heroin addict going through withdrawal -- your body will do anything to convince you to feed your addiction. It isn't that you aren't really feeling like **** -- you are!! But trust me, at over 300 pounds -- you aren't starving, or at risk of it. However, you need to drink the minimum amount of protein.

I was a diabetic on insulin -- I was convinced I was sick -- my blood sugar was going to drop too low, etc... If you feel tired -- rest. If you feel emotional and stressed, seek ways to address those feelings. This is the mental work that vets talk about. It doesn't get easier after surgery. Set up a support system and work on those feelings now.

This is a tremendous opportunity to examine your relationship to food, how to manage that relationship, and prove to yourself that you can do this. You aren't alone.

Most people find, that if they are strict and don't cheat --- it gets a lot easier after about day 5. It's never easy, but it gets a lot easier.

You can do this. I promise. You aren't the first or last one to endure -- you are worth the effort.

Edited to add: I found savory broths and Syntax Nectar branded proteins a life saver. I got really sick of the sweet milky shakes. I needed something savory -- I drank a lot of different kinds of broth to keep my belly feeling warm -- like I had eaten real food.

Thank you!

Hi HoJo --

Sorry it has taken me a bit to respond. I had seen your post, but had forgotten to respond this weekend in the scuttle of activity.

There are several schools of thought about carb consumption after WLS, but nearly every program emphasizes a protein-forward diet. The reason for this in the early stages is that your body will need a lot of protein to both heal well from surgery (on what should be a very low consumption diet), and to retain muscle. People often forget that we don't want to just lose weight; we want to lose FAT.

In the later stages, dense protein will keep you satiated longer as it takes longer to digest. It is rarely overeaten, as your pouch or sleeve will feel full sooner and stay full longer. Most of the vets who maintain long term goal weights concentrate on dense protein and limit carbs.

Beyond the physical reasons, there are additional benefits for many of us in limiting our carb consumption.

I started as a "heavy-weight" -- meaning I was super morbidly obese.

This means that just the words morbid and obese were not enough to describe my body weight... I needed super in front of it. My BMI was 57, and I weighed 347 at 5'5".

Despite eating a lot of "healthy" foods, I would argue no one becomes obese eating just strawberries, spinach and grilled chicken breasts. Indeed, when people talk about cravings, it's nearly always something that is processed or carb laden.

For me, part of my success has been recognizing that my weight was (is) a symptom of a larger problem: my addiction to food. I used to food for all purposes -- to celebrate, to relieve boredom, when I was tired, happy, sad, in love, in heartbreak -- for everything except as real nourishment to keep my physical (and mental) body healthy. As such, I also came to see that I would binge, and then often berate myself for it and thus for my weight later.

Feeling like a failure would then lead to even more eating and bingeing. Eventually, everything I did and enjoyed surrounded meals and eating -- I was too big to do a lot of other things.

Anyhow, unlike most addictions, "you can't just stop eating." That is the argument you will often hear from people justifying not dealing with it... but that is not entirely true.

You absolutely CAN stop eating the foods that offer not benefit other than tasting good. You can stop eating foods that trigger you into eating more, and you can absolutely stop using food for everything except what it's indeed for. You can end mindless eating. You can certainly stop eating cake, fast food and chips. You don't NEED any of those things.

Many, arguably most people, who are significantly overweight find that carb-laden and processed foods are those triggers. Most offer absolutely no real nutritional benefit, loads of empty calories and poor health. Therefore, choosing to cut those things out ends up making good decisions easier --- and helps give clarity to doing the mental work of understanding why you (in particular) use food the way that you do. Only when you can separate the feeling from the action (in this case eating) -- can you truly address what brought you to the place of needing surgical help in the first place.

Consider that no one tells an alcoholic or heroin addict to have a cheat day, or to drink or shoot up because "it's Christmas, your birthday, you're on vacation, etc" --- but will sabotage a food addict with the same argument.

All this may be more than what you were looking for -- so I will answer your question simply: I absolutely think it's beneficial to start tapering down your carb intake early. I think that the pre-op diet is unquestionably difficult because you must face head-on these feelings -- both physical and emotional-- surrounding your relationship with food, all while preparing for surgery.

However, I am also a realist. Most of us begin grieving the loss of food, and more, the loss of being able to eat a lot of food, long before our surgery date. We have what we call "food funerals" -- we eat all the things we presume we will miss and "never eat again!" -- and if you do that, I want you to know you aren't alone and you aren't destined for failure.

And yes, I started my vitamins long before my surgery. You can only benefit from having a good reserve in your system.

Good luck to you. I wish you the very best life in the wonderful year you have ahead.