No pre-op liquid diet required?

Hey VSG friends,

I have a quick question. My surgery is in a few days (7/22) and my doctor has had me on an Adkins or Paleo type diet for the past month, which has gone pretty well (I'm down 18 pounds!). But, he does not require a liquid diet, just that I stop eating and drinking at 10pm the night before.

I was just wondering if any of you had the same requirement. I read a lot of posts from VSGers who had up to 2 weeks of full liquids before surgery. I am wondering if I should go on liquids for the last 3 days prior to my surgery, just to make sure I've done enough liver shrinkage... what do you guys think? Is this necessary? Or should I "enjoy" food while I still can? Advice is appreciated!

Hi! Congrats on your upcoming surgery! I did not have to change my diet or do any pre-op liquid diet prior to surgery. Just no eating or drinking after 10:00 PM the night before surgery. 

Count yourself lucky.  I bet since you have recently lost 18 lbs the doctor isn't worried about your liver.  You are going to be on liquids for a while afterwards, so I wouldn't put yourself through it.  BUT I would recommend avoiding any food funerals in the last few days. 

Good Luck!

I didn't have to do a liquid diet before surgery either. I did high protein/low carb the week before surgery but ate up until 10 pm the night before surgery. I wouldn't put myself through a liquid diet if it isn't required by your surgeon. I would just eat like you have been the last month and that should be good. :)

My two week diet consisted of three protein shakes a day and a healthy meal with veg,  lean protein,  and a whole grain.  I split it up throughout the day. And I could have all the veggies I wanted.

I am 3 weeks away from my VSG surgery and I do not have to do a liquid diet either.  I need to follow a high protein low carb diet, I am doing the Atkins too. I do not have a calorie limit just no carbs. 

I had pretty much the same plan as you and everything went swimmingly. I wouldn't torture yourself with any amount of liquid diet if your surgeon doesn't need it -- and my advice is to trust him to know what he needs for a safe surgery and not second guess him based on what other people on the internet are told to do by their doctors.

When I was banded I think I had to do liquids the day before the surgery, and for my revision 2 days liquids pre-op.

Three weeks before surgery, I started 2 liquid meals and one high protein meal. At two weeks, I went to full liquids. I'm 3 weeks post off and am finally going to soft solids. Being on almost 6 weeks of a liquid diet has definitely been rough, but I can tell you that doing the pre-op diet beforehand got me in the post-op mentality easier than if I was eating solids. At this point, I wouldn't change your diet too much. If you haven't starting experimenting with different protein drinks, I would try that so you have some options post-op. Good luck with your procedure!

I just had surgery 3 weeks ago. That is the same diet I had to follow and everything went fine. My surgeon stressed that the diet was to simple soften my liver so they could move it out of the way, not to shrink it. I think that is why it was a no carb diet. I also asked the nurse about the liquid diet because a lot of people on here have to do that. She said they don't want their patients to be malnourished going into surgey so they don't required that diet.  Good luck on your surgery! You shouldn't have anything to worry about with the pre op diet!