12 weeks pre-op diet???

Ok, so I just attended an orientation seminar at my local bariatric center. (Ellis in Schenectady)
I thought they said 12 weeks on pre-op diet of only 500 calories consisting of Medifast 70 shakes.

I have searched and don't see anyone writing about such a long pre-op diet, I've seen 2 weeks or 10 days, so maybe I heard them wrong. My husband thought they said it too...

Boy, I'm hoping we are both wrong, because it seems like such a long time for so low in calories, I get dizzy and lightheaded on 1000 calorie diet, much less 500.

They also said we must lose 10% of our starting weight, or we will be cancelled for surgery.

Anyone know for sure if we heard right??

Thanks!

You heard right if you are going to Ellis. They do medifast for weeks up to 12 sometimes more if you havent lost the preop wt

Thanks for the response...

Well, that sucks....I hope I can do it...

Along this journey I hav found that there is always 2 ways to frame things, in the negative or the positive. I realize how discouraging and challenging preop wt loss is for folks. I have seen many struggle for eyars to lose the wt to get the surgery, and others seemingly embrace this challenge and find it although not easy a good opportunity to really find inner strength, perserverence and sometimes learn the roadblocks they will encounter after surgery and work on those emotional challenges ahead of time.

You can do it, no hope needed, either you will or ou wont and the choice is yours, the journey may not be completely within your control but how you view it and handle it is.

SUPPORT GROUP can help along the way pre and postop I highly recommend this as well as soem indivdiual therapy to learn the emotional side and coping for before and after. The surgery is not a cure or quick fix, it can and is sadly defeated all the time, for this to be more than a 1 yr failed diet we MUST change ourselves, working on it every step of the way.
You are worthy of the gift and worth the effort and investment in yourself (the time and money etc). Medifast for 12 weeks may seem insurmountable but break it down to a minute a meal a day....
here is what I post to folks looking at surgery, seeing beyond getting the tool and using it for a lifetime.

The single BEST piece of advice I can offer being ~8+ yrs out is this to anyone:
***Disclaimer some may consider this a no-brainer, others a downer, some a new view, psychobabble, whatever thought it is just my opinion, so take it for what it is worth, and it is meant to be helpful/insightful and thought provoking at a time so many of us are caught up with the right vitamin to take, amount of water to drink, etc.. it is meant to challenge beyond those tasks to see the small stuff matters but that there is a larger and more global view as well to consider!!!***

Establish your mindset to accept that weight loss surgery is not a cure/quick fix for morbid obesity, it's a very effective/powerful/wonderful tool that can be used lifelong to combat the chronic/lifelong disease of morbid obesity that has NO *current* CURE (*So at 1 yr out when many say 100# gone forever I sometimes shudder, it is never gone forever it is gone for now but the work has just started at 1 yr out IMHO). The tool is flawed and can be defeated as well (emotional eating, grazing, drinking calories, eating/drinking together, alcohol use, high calorie dense foods, too many simple carbs, overfilling pouch, carbonation, no consistent exercise routine). Considered WLS as part of a life-long process & commitment to challenge your personal awareness/responsibility/consistency/accountability and that a life-long requirement to follow up with physicians, a regular exercise program, and healthy eating. Accept it will come w/ potential challenges & imperfections (risks, side-effects, complications, challenges such as plateaus, not meeting goal, regain, possible depression, grief over the loss/safety of food/obesity may of offered/invisibility it offered although may of been unwanted at the time/the new attention you get, possible anger or anxiety w/o comfort of food as it used to be/limits it may impose, effort it requires to be healthy etc.) that these frustrations are part of the process to make you healthier see them as challenges not difficulties, positive self talk helps!. Your mindset will be the most important tool for success, as all the challenges of traditional diets/exercise plans for health will be present after WLS as well *Yup so many say I will never diet again, well let me say diets don't work *because people go off them* correct but you will have to be mindful of food and pay attention to intake and exercise for life, so in a sense your dieting for life! Even after WLS.... The surgery won't make a person change, but the beauty is YOU HAVE COMPLETE control over those changes/choices needed after surgery for success, the choices are there and the best use of the mind/psychology will harness those. Surgery is such a drastic choice that so many are successful due to a recommitment to healthy living and choices that is one reason it works and we say it is a 'rebirth'.

Changing habits pre -wls is the mindset that will keep you going, the surgery is a piece, the easiest/smallest IMHO. *It is however the milestone/landmark we set to focuses on. But truly the afterlife is the most challenging, the ever evolving challenges from things like getting in enough liquids to food introduction to vitamin taking, new ways of eating/drinking, introduction of exercise consistently to battling with the scale obsessions & disappointments as well as all the wonderful WOW moments. Have the support system needed to create the healthiest environment as well, willpower fades, the tools robust effects fades as well as the honeymoon closes...Harness your enthusiasm and mind for 6 months doing all you can to influence (not only wt loss) but the healthy lifestyle you want to adopt for maintenance, that elusive animal no one has mastered pre-wls. Exercise can become more routine after 6 months as well. Again the mind is just as/more useful than the pouch...it is the operator of the tool! Stress inevitable, so see each issue/stressful time as an opportunity to use your new tool/mindset! (Like I say use things as excuses or opportunities because holidays come and go each year as do parties, office food/celebrations, hurt feelings, sadness, losses, etc)


I know this isn't one message it is a million crammed into one right! Anyone who knows me knows I am never brief, this is my PASSION (giving back), WLS saved me from myself. It isn't easy or fair, but accepting life is imperfect just as the world we live in, embracing that imperfection and controlling what I can has helped me get thru many issues. There is no perfection, I work on that daily. So what to do about all of this babble?

Get a good journal, start writing today all the reasons you are COMMITTED to this change, what your expectations are (hopefully realistic for wt loss 50-80% of excess not an ideal body wt) and that the goals are not wt related alone, the functional ones how you can integrate into life easier, (clothes fitting, less medical co morbidities or risk of, less meds, less pain (physical/emotional) the benchmarks you are setting, take measurements and photos each month along w/ weights to document the journey. the mind is powerful but may be challenging to change so the photos/measurements help when the HUNKAMETAL doesn't register a loss. We are much more than a number on a scale, free from the numbers and see how much you are more than that as a person, your abilities etc....The journey is full of hills and valleys, some bumps and many more pleasures to see, it can be an awesome ADVENTURE!

The letter you may write/journal entry today may save you from backsliding at your first plateau or at 1 yr out, a recommitment to those thoughts, and how you have grown over time. These are the things I recommend. I think everyone else has you covered w/ the 'physical items you need'. These are the ever-elusive psychological things you need LOL!
OK if you have read this far thanks for hearing me out! I wish you well.

Take Care,
Jamie Ellis RN MS NPP
Lap RNY 10/9/02 Dr. Singh
320/169 lowest/194 current 1 yr post baby 5'9'' (lost 45# before surgery)
Plastics 6/9/04 & 11/11/2005 Dr. King
"Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect, it just means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections!"