What is the best Pre- surgery eatting plan to go on.to lose weight

   My doctor said I have to lose weight before surgery.   About 70 pounds.  I  now weighed 380 pounds .  I lose 10 pounds after two months exercise and killing my self at the gym. and watching what I eat.   What is the best eatting plan or diet to go on to spend up the process?  How much did most of you have to lose before your surgery?

   I,m confused and angry because allready had to wait almost three years to get medicare and medicaid to get help.  Had to wait another year to find a doctor that would referr  me to a surgeon for gastric -by- pass.  Who could do the surgery.
   I finally I get to see him and tells me I have to lose 70 pounds.  It was like being slapped and kicked  in the face by someone who suppose to help you.    I wanted to tell him if I new how to lose 70 pounds on my own.  I would not be here for surgery.  I would lose the weight on my own without cutting out my stomach.  I been fat all my live.   I  been made fun of,laughed at, discrimated against, talked about.   I been kicked ,hit , punched, and made to feel ashame of myself both by a  kid and even adults.    Their is not a person on earth has gone though the hell and shame of being a fat kid  or adult in Amercia . Who can they have not tried to lose weight or starve them selfs, Or begged God to take the weight away.  I guess because, He is a skinny doctor maybe he does not understand.  that this is a disease that both my brother and my father died from.  I was their because I did not want to die myself.  Not because I want to look pretty.

Hi Doris:

I worked really hard with my nutritionist and I know we are buddies on line now and I have shared with you that I need to lose 69 pounds before surgery and felt just like you.  My nutritionist has been my life saver in helping me lose 39 pounds already.  Here is what she told me to do:

(1)  Cut out bread, pasta, potatoes
(2)  Cut out sodas and sweetened drinks - switch to diet
(3)  Limit my carbs to 60G a day
(4)  Limit my fat to 30g a day
(5)  Limit calories to 1000 per day
(6)  Increase Protein to 100 g per day
(7)  Take chromium picolinate (a vitamin supplement that helps stimulate weight loss)
(8)  Keep a food diary - I did this on www.fitday.com - great site
(9)  Eat five small meals throughout the day to keep metabolism up
(10)  Because of my weight and arthritis in both knees I joined the Y and started doing water aerobics.  She wanted me exercising 1/2 hour a day minimum.
(10)  When you do eat anything that has carbs (towards your 60 carbs) have 2 parts protein to one part carb.  Example - the multi grain light english muffins are really good and if you put peanut butter on them - the PB is your protein.
(11)  For the first few months I could not have fruit, now I can only have fruit with the word berry in it. 
(12) LOTS OF WATER

Good luck!  I know you can do it.   

That sounds ridiculous. Why the hell does he think you're getting the surgery? Because you can't lose a large amount of weight on your own! 

I would recommend low carb. Try to keep it under 30g a day. Drink at least 64oz of water. Do most of your shopping at the meat market. Cut out pop, including Diet.

Hi Doris,

My heart goes out to you.  I also have to lose weight before they even put in the paperwork to get approved for the rny surgery.  I have to lose 10 lbs and I feel the same. I have been struggling with the same 5 or so lbs. I quit smoking 2 months ago and gained and have since lost the 7 lbs I lost but I can't seem to lose these 10 lbs..

I am very frustrated because this extra weight that I have put on in the last year has really deterred me from excercise although I was trying really hard up to going for the heart clearance.

I told the nutritionist that I felt that if I could just lose 30-40 lbs I would then be in a better physical state to excercise. It's not that I don't like to , it's just difficult...even just walking.

She told me and this is where you come in.......when you weigh this much and especially if much of your fat is in the belly area, it is very difficult for the DR. to get to the stomach because the liver is too large and sits over the stomach.  If you lose weight prior to surgery, the liver also shrinks and it becomes easier and safer for the Dr. to get to your stomach and perform the surgery (no matter what surgery you are having). 

Again my heart goes out to you. I can't imagine having to lose 70 lbs before the surgery.  I would try and set smaller goals for yourself so that you can feel like your getting somewhere......maybe 5 lb increments.  YOU CAN DO IT!!!   Just think about how much you want to be thinner and your surgery to be SAFE!!!

I'm cheering for you!!!! And for me!!! 

Its not particularly fair how these things go.  My thought when I read your post is that your doctor wants you under a 50 bmi. Some doctors don't want to do surgery at over a 50 bmi - although there are plenty that will...   Bottom line is you have worked hard to get to this point to let this doctor take you to a place of shame and helplessness.  10l years ago, when I was in my 30's a doctor told me I was going to be on a cane by the time I was 50 and I WLS surgery was my only hope.   At the time I was in grad school and didn't have decent insurance so surgery was out...I walked out of that office feeling like I had been given a death sentence [and I had sorta] but after I finished my pity party - and I had one for a short while - I got mad and lost the weight on my own.  Unfortunately, I didn't keep it off and when I regained about 75% of that weight, I knew I needed to do something that would not only enable me to lose the weight - I've done that a time or three in my life - but would help me to keep it off.  I'm finding the pouch rules and I am taking my honeymoon time to learn a new way...

I lost 40 lbs prior to surgery.  I didn't have a particular amount to lose but the surgeon told me that the surgery would go easier the lighter I was.  I had to have an open RNY because of a previous surgery. 

I looked at all the different things I had done to lose weight over the years and picked the one that had worked best for me.  I do buy into the whole "lifestyle change" vis a vi a diet but for this purpose I wanted a diet - something I knew I wasn't going to be doing for the rest of my life but would get this weight off of me.  As my friends and I joke: "this milk carton has an expiration date on it".  For me, it was what was called a "modified fast".  I drank 2 protein drinks a day and had one low carb meal.  I loved chicken and I would get a salad and some rotisserie chicken and eat as much as I wanted of that.  Back in 2000, I was able to afford Optifast to do this with but this time around $$ was a little tight so I did the same thing but used slim fast instead.  Regular Slim Fast is a little high on the carbs and sugar but it served my purposes just fine. 

My suggestion is some version of high protein low carb.  You get tired of "brown food" but you don't get hungry and it does work.

Best wishes,
Rhonda

I was told at my first consult with the surgeon that I needed to lose 20 pounds in order for him to do the surgery, but he was pretty sure that would come off in the 2 week high protein diet pre-surgery.  The only reason I had to do that was because he won't operate on patients above 60 BMI.  I was at 61..so just on the cusp.

I ended up losing 35 pounds in 6 months.   I jus****ched what I ate--really paid attention to my physical hunger cues.  I found that if I used thedailyplate.com to track what I ate I was more accountable and actually got in 8 glasses of water and didn't go over my calories. 

The big changes I made were:
Eating at least 3 meals a day - I skipped breakfast for most of my life and usually ate 1 large meal a day and some small snacks.  Not good for the metabolism.
Lose the white starches - no potatoes, corn, white flour, white rice..I switched to sweet potatoes, whole wheat bread and brown rice
Ditch the prepackaged foods - I was able to control what I put in my mouth.  I read labels and stayed away from high fructose corn syrup and sugar.
Vitamins and supplements - I started taking daily vitamins and supplements.  I figured it would be good to get in the habit pre-surgery.  I took 2 chewable generic centrum daily (am/pm), Citracal (2x am/pm). chromium picolinate, B12 and cinnamon.  As someone else mentioned the chromium pic helps fat metabolism.  The cinnamon helps regular blood sugar and metabolism.
Protein shakes - I usually drank one for breakfast.  I bought a few sample packs online so I can go through and test try a bunch of flavors and decide which ones I will give a shot post-op.

Just stay positive and try your hardest.  See if you can't get through all the other hoops while you're dieting.  At least you'll have something to look forward to so you know all your hard work won't be a waste.  Just remember once you lose it you'll never gain it back..that kept me going for the past 6 months!

My heart goes out to you. Like you, I would be very hurt and angry. The doctor sounds like the only weight he ever lost was  between his ears.  My doctor wants everybody to lose at least 10 pounds before surgery. I've been followin  the Weigh****chers diet and have done ok with it.  What I have done really well with is an earlier progrm of Weigh****chers.  I have the cookbook that came out in 1973. It's hgh protein, vegetables, and fruit and extremely low in carbohydrates and fat. (carbs are limited to 2 a day and fat is 3 teaspoons a day). Protein is 4 ounzes at lunch  and 6 ounzes at dinner.  If you want more specifics, let me know. 

Have you thought about trying to see if there is another surgeon around who might have a different opinion? If you find one, maybe your doctor will do the referral easily.  It worries me that your doctor doesnt think he is capable of managing surgery on a person of your weight. That's a red flag to me that maybe he isn't the most experienced surgeon.

I had to lose about 35lbs before my suregon would operate.  I used Medifast and the wt came off super quick.  The suregon gave me a plan of 3-4 protein shakes a day and piece of protein and veggies for dinner.  I tried it for a while but it didnt work for me, so I did the Medifast.  Good luck to you!