liver shrinkage

I've beenOn Atkins for 14 days and have only lost 4 pounds. Will my liver still shrink enough to have the surgery?

My Dr. put me on a liquid only diet for 2 weeks before my surgery to shrink my liver. It did not matter calories, fat, sugar etc just had to be liquid. My liver did shrink but he wouldn't have known until he was already in the middle of surgery anyways so.... Don't think it is necessarily pounds lost they are looking for. Best of luck and keep us posted :)

Thank you.  I guess we'll just see.

I just had my VSG surgery 2 days ago. The 2 weeks prior to my surgery, I was on a very strict liquid diet with the following rules:

-3 protein powder and skim milk shakes per day

-1 low fat Greek yogurt per day

-small 1 cup lettuce only salad per day

-sugar free liquids and jell-o

-1 can of broth (chicken, beef, veggie) per day

Following this meal plan very closely, and even skipping things like the salad, I lost 23 pounds before surgery. My surgeon told my wife after my surgery was done "his liver looked great. Nice and lean"

hope this helps! Good luck!

I was on a liquid diet before surgery.

I had the same concern before surgery.

my surgeon said it was very unusual to not be able to 

operate as a result of someone's liver being too large

I was concerned because my GI Doctor kept telling me that I had fatty liver disease 

I haven't had surgery yet, but I asked the surgeon about this liquid diet liver thing and he said that it's not a requirement for him at all.  He operates on all different sizes of people all the time and says he never had a problem with somebody's liver being too big or too "slippery" (like to fatty) to do the surgery.  He also said he thinks it's a dubious diet because he said didn't believe people lose enough weight in those 2 weeks to make much of a difference.  FYI my BMI is 52, so I'm no lightweight.  He said the only thing they require prior to WLS is taking all my vitamins and nothing after midnight the night before.  So, I'd say, follow your doctor's orders, but certainly don't stress over it.  I hope this helps!!!!  I'm not trying to discourage anybody!

The diet works, not because you lose fat, but because the liver and your muscles release excess glycogen due to the lower carb and caloric consumption.  

AS a tangent, the results of a low-carb diet on the liver are profound long-term though.  My surgeon said my liver looked perfect and I had almost no visceral fat around it (the bad kind of fat) despite being over 400lbs.