I didn't have to do a pre-op diet, however, I see red flags when you say that you feel that by just eating a low fat, high carb diet you can achieve the shrinking of the fat in/around the liver. The reason I see this as a red flag is that, as harsh as it sounds, what you feel is irrelevant. What the surgeon wants you to do is important. Unless you are a subject matter expert, don't change the plan. It's given to you for a reason. Yeah the shakes might not be the most pleasant, but lots of things might not be pleasant in the future - your tastes change drastically. I am not trying to be harsh, just honest. Advice given here might be good, but it's not professional advice. To do this right, you have to follow the directions of your surgeon and his team. I speak from experience.

Echoing Grace and garber, this process will take dedication, diligence and a willingness to follow the program set out for you. There is a wide variety of experiences here, and many programs differ in some of the details, but I use that variety only as information; my commitment is to follow the program laid out for me.

That part is easy for me. As an engineer, I am wired to like following rules. I ask questions, push for explanations, but in the end, I follow the program set out for me. I am still pre-op, but I have been successful following the pre-op plan: 1500 calories, 100+ grams of protein, 64+ ounces of water, stop alcohol and caffeine, increase exercise.

I know that much of what is to come will be difficult and I will want to do it my way, but part of signing up for this life changing procedure, for me, is to give myself to the program that has worked for many previous patients.

In a year, when you are successful at this change, the two weeks of pre-surgery liquid diet will seem like a blink of your eye. I hope you are able to find peace with your program. We are all here to support each other.

Rob

I am starting my pre-op diet in a a few weeks. Right now I'm on 1500 calories, low carb, no caffeine, no alcohol, practicing my protein first and 30-30-30 rule. My pre-op diet will be one week of 900 calories with max of 30 carbs and 10 grams of fat. After that, I have a week of liquids only (protein drinks) at 900 calories. Do I like the sound of that? Hell no. That sounds really hard. But I will follow it, because I'd rather have those two weeks of hard then a lifetime of the hard created by being fat. Being fat is really really hard. Two weeks of hard to get rid of that seems totally worth it to me!

I didn't have a preop diet either. But I do know that when I have thought "this should be fine" going against what the doc says, it always comes back to bite me in the butt. Even though you don't understand the reason behind it, the docs have been doing this a lot longer than we have and I have come to realize they know best. its hard sometimes, but soooo worth it.

FYI the lady who had surgery the same day as I did, the surgeon got her on the table, (laparoscopic) started the procedure and her liver was still too large and closed her up and did not complete the surgery. (p.s. I heard her family talking to afterwards( we were in the same recovery room) and they told her she should not have cheated on her pre op diets. Words for thought. TRUE STORY
Needless to say she was devastated and in tears. Speaking from some experience if you cheat now, YOU WILL cheat later!!!!!

You have to do it.

First of all, the MD says so, and you should do what the MD says. He's done a lost of weight loss surgeries, and you have done none. So, stick with the expert's advice.

My opinion is that I think the diet is challenging, but really helpful. You get used to eating less solid food, and that will help you transition post-surgery, when you are on liquids for a while. Eating less caused me to have less energy, which felt a little like the beginnings of the flu - starting a week before surgery means that you get used to it and your body adjusts, so you won't go through the same misery post-surgery. Also, you will be severely calorie restricted and will lose a ton of weight. I dropped 10.5 lbs pre-surgery from the pre-surgery diet. That's what we're all here for, right? Lastly _I did the pre-surgery diet with not one cheat, and I felt damned proud of myself. You, too, are worth the effort of suffering through this transformation.

I speak for myself here (not a criticism of you) - at some point I had to get into the mindset of "alright, if I knew what I was doing on my own, I wouldn't need weight loss surgery, so I am just going to follow the rules and see what happens". And it has worked.

I had one week liquids only and it sucked! That fact was irrelevant. The diet was necessary to prepare me for a very serious medical procedure so I complained and moaned but did it. That week was the worst, most challanging week of the entire program.

From D-Day forward you add foods and experiment. Positive steps towards a new body. Buckle down, do the hard part and you will set yourself up success.