new to this

I too missed actually chewing food during the liquid period.  I also enjoyed home made chicken broth, broth from vegetables such as green beans.  Headaches are natural when you cut out the sugar and starches. They will go away shortly.  If you can tolerate artificial sweeteners, try juices and flavored water.  I lost about 10 pounds in 7 days.

I just had my surgery yesterday (3/14) and was on the two week pre-op diet. Week one was 2 protein shakes and a lean cuisine (00 cal., >15 carbs) and week two was 4 protein shakes. Of course with Jello, powerade zero, broth, Popsicles - I ate a lot of Jello and Popsicles. I lost 22 pounds in 2 weeks, the first 3 days were the worst and then it was fairly easy after that. My surgery went off without a hitch, and I feel pretty good this morning! I'm up and walking around, trying to do as much as my body will let me!

Hi there,

I think most of us feel your pain, I know I do -- the preop diet was HARD. I was so worried that I was going to not be able to stick to it and then completely fail my surgery. I was so emotional from the hunger. 

You mentioned a head ache, if you normally have caffeine are you off of it?  That might be the reason for the headache. Can you have a coffee or tea? That might do you good.

I also talked to my nutritionist about my need for something to chew and my really bad afternoon hunger. She gave me permission to eat 1 cup of raw veggies (no dip) every day. She said it wouldn't hurt anything and they often allow a diet modification of this sort if it will keep you away from breaking down and eating the whole house. If you feel desperate, you might want to talk to your nutritionist. I also froze some of my shakes to make a fake ice cream. The texture helped a lot.

About the weight loss -- I wonder if most of us go into surgery with the worry that we will fail this too. I know I did. I was so scared I might succeed and yet scared I would fail. Weird huh?   The weight loss will come but don't set yourself up for worry by thinking it should come faster. I need to lose 113lbs to reach my ideal goal. Realistically that might not be doable for me if it involves me starving myself or taking up marathon running. And, that is okay.  Once you get into the swing of things, you may find that you end of revising your goal because you just might feel fantastic at 95lbs lost and find the last few too difficult to maintain.  Our bodies tend to settle out to a set point and going beyond that is pretty challenging. Of course you may go totally the opposite too. We've had people purposely try to regain some weight!

Best of luck to you on this new journey,

Trixie

Thank you everyone for your replies!  Its so nice to hear other "banders" opinion.  Not putting down bypass, but they are 2 different surgeries....

Trixie,  I'm starving...I can hear my stomach growling.  i am to have 3 protein shakes a day w/ 2 liquid snacks.  I'm sorry, that just isn't enough and I'm starving.  I asked about even like cream of wheat which is very running, and I can't..they said I hve to follow the pre surgery guidelines.  Well holy hell, on this track I won't need surgery!!!  LMAO  I have 1 cup of coffee in the morning, but coming from 3-4 cups and 6-7 dt sodas a day, I'm pretty sure thats what it is.  As long as I can get "ahead" of it, I seem to do okay, another thing is, we cant do Advil, which is the only thing that helped my headaches....so, its been hard switching to tylenol, but i did it!  Today is much much better then the past couple of days! 

I am worried about failing and succeeding!  You got it!  What if I succeed?  whats that fee like, what happens when I do succeed at this weight loss that I have been losing at for the past 31 years?  My husband, (who is NOT supportive of this at all), thinks I am taking the "easy" way out and thinks I wont feel "accomplished" since I'm "cheating"...Yeah things have been like a warzone in my house.  But then what if I fail..My God what if I fail, that will give him more ammo then I could ever imagine. 

Nonetheless, I am so excited to start this journey with or without his support.  i have a 15 year old daughter that is very supportive and she is willing to help me out anyway she can, what family I do have, they are very supportive as my aunt has had bypass surgery done 6 years ago!  I now have these message boards to bounce ideas around!  Wonderful!

So from the bottom of my heart, thank you everyone that has responded! 

Welcome and congrats on your surgery date!  I know time seems to be going slowly for you, but before you know it, you will wonder how the time went by so fast.  I'm 20 months out and all of that liquid post op diet seems like a faint memory. 

Hang in there and believe!  I am so much healthier and in such better physical shape from all the exercising.  I am so happy to be 112 pounds lighter and I'm taking it one day at a time.

Kristi