Newby here, soon to have surgery

Just registered today. My surgery date is set for August 7th 2017 and atm I'm on my 2 week liquid pre-op diet. This diet is hard, I feel like I have a funeral for normal food every day when I smell or see anything that is not just liquid.

I have stuck to my liquid diet, only drinking soups like low fat tomatoe or cream of chicken (strained to get chunks out) and then my protein shakes. I even changed what type of milk I use.. Vanilla (non sweetened) cashew milk just due to the fact per cup it is only 25 calories and only 1g of carbs. I know we are supposed to be really low on carbs, but my nutritionist said it was ok to have cream based soups and tomatoe. But looking at the content it feels a little high considering it's 1/2 cup per serving.

I am just running out of ideas what to eat though.. I have read through other posts and i see people eat a lot of s/f popsickles and jello. So perhaps I'll try that. I didn't realize how hard having just liquid would be. I have had to go 3 days before (when I had my cancer surgery) But never 2 weeks and I find I'm struggling a bit.

I was told of this site from my bariactric center and immediately found it to be so helpful. Having so many different people to talk to while on this journey seems like a blessing. I would love to have anyones advice about this journey. And hello to everyone, pleasure to meet you all.

Miranda

Hi! The liquid diet is hard. The first four days were by far the worst- after that it leveled out fout for me. Are you drinking protein shakes? Now is a good time to see what flavors/brands you may like. sugar free gum was my best friend to fight off ketosis breath.

Crystal light is a common liquid for me now. And I bought the broth from chicken noodle soup at AJ Bon Pain- much tastier than the canned junk.

Its hard to think it now- but it gets better.

Yep, I am drinking around 4-5 protein shakes a day (1 cup so 8fl oz per shake). Sadly where I live we have no Au Bon Pain place, or I would gladly get some of their broth, it looks delicious. I did get a bunch of crystal lite and will have to work that into my daily intake. I just hate how I drink a shake or drink my water, and I feel hungry not even 30 min later... So between my stomach growling and doing that bubbling painful gurgle.. and the head hunger, this has been really hard lol.

Thank you for the reply, and I'll have to try out some broths here around my home town and see what I can get that doesn't raise carbs much.

Congrats on your upcoming surgery!

Thank you, I'm very excited for it and at the same time wishing it would hurry up :) I have planned for 3 years for this. 2 1/2 years just to decide on if this is for me, and then 6 months do get all my pre-reqs done. :)

There's a few low-carb protein soups out there too that might work if you get too tired of sweet flavored shakes. Unjury chicken soup is a broth-like protein powder. Also BariWise has a line of soups and drinks specifically for Bariatric surgery. Find it on their website or they have some on amazon

Welcome! I did not have a pre-op liquid diet so I don't have advice but I wanted to say I think you are doing awesome sticking to it. You are setting yourself up for a successful surgery and start to your journey. Maybe doing a hobby you like will help pass the time. Keep up the great work.

Thank you for the reply I appreciate it, as well as the encouragement. It is really helpful during this time period for me. I just keep thinking to myself .. I have 7 more days to go.. 5 more of this liquid diet, 1 day of clear liquids only and then surgery day.. so 7 days total. I'm nervous, excited, and hoping among hope that this tool will finally be enough to loose weight and keep it off.

I'm looking forward to when eating 800-1000 cals I will feel full. I have tried everything under the sun to loose weight and keep it off. But discovered through trial and error that if I eat over 1000 cals. My body holds onto everything... a year before this decision I was eating only 700 cals a day. My doctor at the time had me on ER phentermine (this drug is the devil) as well as topiramate (have to take this anyway for seizures) HCTZ (water pill) and lisinopril (another horrible drug) Oh I was loosing weight, but I was always stuck in that "sick and listless" phase. And when I would not be able to eat more than if i was lucky 300 cals, all my doctor would do is congratulate me on loosing even more weight.

Turns out, that would also be the year I had to deal with uterine cancer. Needless to say, I decided after my cancer surgery I was not going to remain on pills for the rest of my life. Phentermine is really only recommended to be taken for 3-4 months anyway but he had me on it for almost a year. I stopped everything but my seizure med and my water pill and started my journey for this surgery.

So sorry for the long rambling reply. :) I never planned to make such a long one, but again thank you for your kind words.

you'll do great.

Hey Miranda,

The liquid diet is hard. You have to white knuckle through a lot of it, eventually the cravings go away.

you might also want to ask your dietician if you're allowed non starchy well cooked veggies. If they say no, then just keep sticking to it. You'll get there. :)