2 week pre-op liquid diet Questions

 I start my pre-op full liquid diet tomorrow.  I have gotten samples of protein shakes, tomatoe soup, cream of chicken and brocoli soups that have to be strained, greek yogurt, sf jello, sf popsicles and chicken and beef broth.  If you guys have any other ideas for my liquid diet I would appreciate it.  Oh and I also got some crystal lite packets.

I have picked up a timer, digital food scale, a scoop that is 2 tablespoons, magic bullet to make my shakes and puree my foods when I get to the soft food stage.  I also picked up a strainer because I don't know what happened to mine.  Is there anything else that you can recommend that would make things easier for pre and post op.  

Those of you who had to do the pre-op full liquid diet and had diabetes how did you handle your insulin at this time. I take metformin twice a day.  I have asked my PCP and she said I could either stop it all together or go down to one a day.  I am so leary about this.  

Kim

I don't have any advice for you, but it sounds like you are all ready to go! Great list of things to have pre-op. I think I'll copy it down.

One piece of advice is to test OFTEN, pre and post meal. Keep a VERY close eye on your blood sugars during this. Unlike insulin, metfromin is hard to control.

How much metformin do you take? Preop, I took 2000 mgs a day, 1000 mgs each time. You can cut them in half if you have a 1000 mg tablet. I now take 500 once a day for the time being but am still testing 6-10 times a day. (I WAS on insulin pre-op as well but came off that almost a month ago).

Check with your PCP as to the exact amount and make sure you know your readings. If you aren't testing at least 6 times a day, start during your liquid phase and continue after surgery...and ask for more test strips if you need to. Watch your readings carefully.

You may find yourself going low after surgery which means you need to come off all diabetic meds. :)

Liz

 I take 500mg twice a day.  one at night and one in the morning.  I had to use the shots when I was pg with all 3 of my kids but so far have only had to take the oral meds now. My A1C before I started meds was 8.9 then after I started taking meds I got it down to 6.5 but now it is back up to 7.9 so she increased my dose but now says that I can either get off of it all together or I can just go back to taking one a day since I will be on the all liquid diet and then having the surgery.

Our liquid diet was Optifast so I can't help much with variety but we couldn't do tomatoe soup for several months.  It was because of the sugar.So do that carefully if at all.

No diabeties so I can't help with that.  I can tell you the first few days of the liquid diet are the hardest, then you just get bored.  I wasn't hungry, just bored.  And it is great prep for the next few weeks.

I searched out an out of the way Thrift Shop and inquired about appetizer forks and demitasse spoons (rather than plastic coated baby spoons but equally as small).  I also lucked into a cappuchino set that had 4 teeny saucers and 4 three ounce cups.  They've come in so very handy because measuring did not come easy for me. 

Are the soups you have low-fat/no-fat?  I think that's the goal... to shrink the fatty liver we all have at first.

I used ice cube trays for my jello since each cube was essentially an ounce.

A food journal is a PITA but I couldn't keep track without it... and believe me I tried.  LOL

Otherwise you sound very prepares Kim!!  You go girl!

If the doctor says drop to 1 pill or none, do it. It is bad to take metformin without enough carbs because then your blood sugar can drop too low. I stopped taking mine when I went on the preop diet, but I was doing 800 calories a day of Optifast drinks.  I've not heard of doing the pre op diet like you are doing, so I don't have alot of advice. The diet you are doing sounds like what I did after surgery once I moved from clear liquid to full liquid. Most two-week preop diets are not just any liquid. I would carefully count your calories and carbs. You are going to have a full size stomach and only eating (drinking) slider food, so you could easily gain wieght if you aren't very careful. The idea behind the preop diet is to lose wieght and shrink your liver. The first few days you will be starving and going crazy because your body wants those carbs it's addicted to. After a few days, your body adjusts and it is easier. The preop diet is much harder than the post op diet.  Read the ingreadients to your drinks. Many products advertise as a diet meal substitute, but they are full of carbs and sugar. Also, if they have alot of sugar alcohols, it might upset your digestive system. I found it helpful to get off caffeene before the pre op diet so I didn't have to go through caffeene and carb withdrawls at the same time. I put my protien drinks in the blender with ice and ate them with a spoon, which helped me feel like I was eating and it made the meal last longer. After surgery, warm drinks felt better to me than cold, but remember if you put protien powder into hot liquid, temper it first by mixing it with cold to warm liquid, and then adding that to the hot liquid. If you put the powder straight into the hot liquid, it sort of cooks, and you get protien balls that will never mix. Also remember that post op, when you measure, you are mesureing volume, not wieght. The scale is good for calculating protien and calories per a given amount, but nomatter what a serving size is by wieght, don't go over the volume that you are supposed to have at a time, even if you feel like you can. You can't trust feelings of full and hunger after surgery for a while. Good luck, it sounds like you are ready to go.

Hi Amy,
Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it.  I think I will just stop my metformin and hope for the best.  My WLS Center gives you a booklet and it is called Phase 2.  You are correct that it is like your post-op diet.  They want you to do this 2 weeks before and 2 to 3 weeks after.  I am journaling my food so I can keep tract of what I am consuming and the calories and carbs.  The WLS Center gives you a meal plan so I am going by that.  I much rather have something to tell me so it takes the guess work out of it. LOL  My weigh in at the WLS Clinic when I first started was 226 and I am at 205 now because ins. required me to be on a 1200 calorie diet for 6 months.  I am sure I will loose even more with the liquid diet, gosh I hope I dont gain that would be terrible.  This is my first day on my diet.  I had a protein shake for breakfast and for a snack I had some greek yogurt.  I will have some tomato soup made with Skim milk for lunch.  Supper I will have another protein drink.  Right now I am using the samples from Chiki and I have some more on the way from Vitalady.  Thanks for all your advice.  If you can think of anything else please send it my way I can use all the advice i can get. LOL

Kim

Good luck, Kim!

Sounds like you are VERY prepared....keep busy and drink lots of water!

You are on your way!

Meg