As I mentioned before, I was not expecting such an extreme diet prior to surgery. A friend of mine who had the surgery had no such restrictions (none at all that I could find), but it was a couple of years ago with Spivak. My understanding is that they want to shrink the liver and make it more pliable prior to the surgery. Who knew that the liver is the first to gain fat around it and the first to lose it?

I ordered the "Bariatric Advantage" stuff -- Vanilla, Chocolate, and Coffee. It came a couple days into when I was supposed to start, but I ate pretty conservatively until then, with one big exception of a Sunday of buffalo wings! Problem with the shakes -- I realized that I just do not like sweets that much and sweet-flavored things all day is not my thing. The shakes taste pretty good -- a little too sweet, but good texture. I ended up on most nights getting my protein in by boiling a chicken breast in broth and adding a couple of veggies for flavor. Made my own little chicken soup with about 23 grams of protein -- about the same as the shake.

I did have a "last meal" on the Saturday before surgery at Brennan's. We both ordered their Chef's dinner which is always fabulous and did not disappoint!

The day before surgery is all clear liquids - broth and jello (NO WAY for me) and popsicles. I don't think I've ever eaten that much broth in my life! I also took the magnesium sulfate stuff you can buy over the counter as a "cleanser" -- I had read that I was supposed to do it in the book that Methodist gave me, but I did not get any instructions on it from my Dr's office. Decided that cleaner is better, so went ahead. I got the cherry flavor - it didn't taste horrible and filled me up. It also WORKED -- I NEVER KNEW how much could possibly be in me. I was hoping that it could be an experiment to see how much "stuff" is in you, so I did a before/after weigh. Turns out all of that broth had me gaining 1.5 lbs in water weight, so the experiment failed. I also read sometime in the afternoon that I DID NOT HAVE TO TAKE IT UNTIL 4pm! So, I was urgently "going" all day and all night. Probably a good thing, because I might have had to go in the middle of the night otherwise.

I was HUNGRY and cranky all day. Good thing I stayed home from work! I was already cranky on folks at work the day before due to the lack of interesting nutrition in me. I did lose about 9 lbs, though :frown: (until I gained the 1.5 lbs on the broth!).

Night before surgery I slept pretty well, considering I had to be up at 5 to be there at 6am.

The one thing I can tell you is that its very hard the first few days but its worth it in the end. I can tell you what I did. My clear liquid diet was in the morning I had a cup of tea with sweet and low, a cup of chicken broth with a few crackers in it to give it flavor, a cup of fruit cocktail, and a boost. I had the same thing for lunch and dinner. I also chewed on popsicles through out the day, if I got hungry. I lost 26lbs within 5 days with this diet. If you need anymore advice please let me know.