Webchickadee

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/249104-the-pre-op-diet-is-not-a-punishment-its-an-opportunity/ I posted this 3 yrs ago, a year after I had completed my 2 week pre-op diet. It was read by quite a few people, and some found it helpful. Perhaps it will encourage you? Good luck! Stay with it!

It depends on your size....for example, I am 5'4" and I was 320 lbs (minus pre-op diet loss of about 12 lbs) when I flew to San Diego. I could have fit in a regular coach seat, but it would have been VERY tight (and a long nearly 5 hr flight). Plus I would have absolutely needed a seat-belt extender. I chose to upgrade to the equivalent of business class, which has wider seats, longer seat belts and more leg room. Even with short legs, the extra space in front is very helpful when bending down, etc. It cost less to upgrade my seat (and I got much better service....) than it would have cost to buy an extra coach seat. A possibility to consider. FYI, we went for a vacation (back to Mexico) 8 months later (and 110 lbs lighter) and I fit comfortably in the coach seat (with LOTS of seat belt length unused).

I was concerned about this myself. I traveled to San Diego 2 days prior to my surgery date so that I could spend those 2 days walking around and making sure I didn't have any clots collected in my legs, etc. I was given injected anticoagulents post-op in the hospital on the day of surgery and the next day. I did a ton of walking the next 4-5 days post-op as well (increasing each day as my stamina tolerated). Of course the walking also helped a lot with getting rid of gas! I had no problems whatsoever with clotting. I arrived in San Diego on a Saturday (surgery in Tijuana), had my surgery on the Monday and left to return to Canada on the following Saturday (7 day stay overall). I was careful to walk as much as possible at the airport prior to the flight (lots of wait time with security, preboarding, etc!) and also got up on the plane to walk the isles at least 1x per hour (nearly a 5 hr flight for me).

Thanks! I've been bouncing around the last two months. I'm doing my first half marathon on Sunday (Maui Oceanfront 1/2). The trip is to celebrate my one year surgiversary and running my first 1/2. I'm struggling with eating enough to have energy to run versus eating to lose. I'm only 6 pounds away from goal and I'll refocus as soon as I finish this 1/2. I'm also going to change up my exercise when I get back and try more weight lifting exercises. Great to see you back! That is amazing! I completed my 1st 1/2 marathon on my 44th birthday this past October 17 months after my surgery. It was a very special day and I'm sure you will feel the same great sense of accomplishment and victory on Sunday! Also, doing it in Hawaii is a GREAT idea.....a victory celebration and vacation....all rolled into one! Good luck. Just remember...hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. And pace yourself....raceday excitement is contagious! I set a PB 21 min faster than any of my training times for the full distance...but ended up with runner's black toe to show for it. Have a great day, have fun and be careful.

Yes, gaining weight after the surgery is very frustrating......and totally normal. You've been pumped full of fluids! You should weight more....believe me, it's not fat and it will come off relatively quickly (within the first 2 weeks), and then you'll be smoothly sailing along (until you hit the dreaded 3rd week stall, which is also completely normal). Don't be surprised if you come home significantly heavier from the hospital. It's okay and to be expected!

Everyone is different. If you're tall, you may have a longer stomach, and even sleeved, your capacity may be more than most others. So 2 oz. may be a lot for me, but not enough for you. Stopping at your instructed amount is a good thing. It means you are following instructions and not testing your boundaries. It's early days yet, this is when you need to be extra careful and give yourself the easiest path to full healing. Don't be worried, you will feel the restriction much much more once you start eating solids. I guarantee it. Liquids are passing right through, but once you're fully onto solids and eating dense Protein such as chicken and fish, you will feel yourself get full fast! As to keeping the weight off.....don't be lulled into thinking the restriction you have at the beginning is what you will have all the way along! I am 20 months post-op and I can eat A LOT more than I could at 8 months. Developing good habits, understanding what your body needs to perform well (especially if you're doing exercise), and training your brain to be satisified with normal (small) portion sizes will make all the difference for you when you are 1-2 yrs post-op and your capacity has increased. For now, just enjoy the easy road you've had. Be prepared for some speed bumps along the way (most of us have them at some point) and follow your MD/NUT's instructions. Lots of great examples and advice to be had here as well. Good luck!

The preop diet is there for 2 main reasons: 1. To "shrink" your liver (use up extra stored glycogen), making it more maleable for the surgeon to lift out of the way (the stomach is behind the liver), without injuring the liver. 2. To teach you the good habits/routine you will have no choice but to follow post-op. After surgery you will be surviving on liquids for the first 2 weeks +. Getting those habits ingrained now, without the fear of death/injury on your mind if you "slip-up" is a great opportunity to work out your demons. It's not about how much weight you lose. It's about learning to stick to a regimen, putting your health and welfare above all else (damn those cravings....you deserve better!) You've already got some great advice in replies to your post.....drink more Water, eat all the calories you're supposed to! Follow your doctor's plan. This post from last May may be helpful: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/249104-the-pre-op-diet-is-not-a-punishment-its-an-opportunity/ Hang in there! You can do this. I know you can....

Your capcity will increase over time naturally and it's not because you've "stretched" your stomach with fluids. As Indigo1991 mentioned, you would need to be overeating to the point of extreme pain and discomfort many many times over to do any real "damage" to your restriction in the longrun. I am approx. 20 months post-op and I can "chug" fluids now, though out of habit, I do reserve some in my mouth and swallow in more normal gulps. Everyone's healing time is different and progresses at a different pace. You will notice your capacity, tolerance and reaction to different foods will change over time, even well past the 1 year mark (I still see changes now, after 20 months). As a general rule, it is good to get the "lay of the land" from other people, but always remember you are unique and cannot compare yourself directlying to anyone else here (even if they have same height/weight/surgery date, etc.).

So glad to see you back Webchickadee! I've missed your words of wisdom around here! Look at you! Great BMI! You're so close to goal it's fantastic! I took a 6 month "break", much to my detriment. I stopped logging and though I was exercising a lot, my weight stalled (no surprise). Then stopped exercising after doing the Toronto 1/2 marathon in Oct (toe injury) and packed on 12 lbs over the holidays. Back on the bandwagon now (logging every bite!), started crossfit classes (ouch!) and I will make goal this year! Woohoo!

Some people have found a post I made last year in May helpful, or at least somewhat uplifting. Here is the link to the actual posting (so you can see some of the replies): http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/249104-the-pre-op-diet-is-not-a-punishment-its-an-opportunity/

These are inspirational to me. Our height is the same and weight is barely different day of surgery. I hope I do as well as you! I'm only almost four weeks out and the anticipation of getting thinner is killing me!! Do you mind if I ask how old you are and what regimen you followed as far as exercise goes? Thank you for the kind words! I'm 44 years old now (I was 42 1/2 at the time of surgery). For the first year I mostly just walked! I started with a walk around the block, every day, and slowly worked my way up to 5K per day on my lunch hour. I bought a Fitbit which was REALLY motivational in getting me out on my feet every day! I did a 5K race (everyone else was running, but there were a few of us walking) close to my 1 yr mark. I decided that it was a lot of fun and a good challenge to push myself. I signed up for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon (1/2 marathon walk for me), and since it was being held on my 44th birthday (this past Oct), it seemed like destiny that I should do it. I started increasing my distances in my training (still walking 5K/day for min. 5 days per week, and longer distance 1x per week). I did a full 21K test walk 1 week before the marathon and completed it in 3 hr 55 min. On raceday, with the energy of the crowd, my family waiting for me at the finish line and excitement, I was able to cut that time down my nearly 21 min to 3:34:29. I also started (around the 1 yr mark) playing softball again (I hadn't played in 25 yrs!). I ended up joining 4 different teams and played 4-5 games a week and 5 tournaments during the summer. Team sports keep me motivated and showing up (no excuses to let your team mates down). I bought a new bike (a really nice lightweight carbon fibre one) and started riding again (again, after 20+ years of not riding). And finally, last week, I started a crossfit training program (killer!). It's a combination of conditioning exercises (think military style training) and olympic weight lifting. 3x per week, at a beginner pace (about 1/4 of what the rest of the gym members do). It's seriously kicking my butt, but I'm enjoying the challenge so far....

Yay!! Nice job!!! I started at 319 too!!! How tall are u? What size were and are u? U look great!!! Thank you for the compliment! I'm 5'4" and I was a 26/28 when I started. I'm a size 14 now (borderline 12 in some things, and more like a 16 in others). Darn designers! I suspect that when I lose the last 35+ lbs, I will probably get down in to a comfortable size 8. Crazy....single digit clothing. I never would have dreamed it possible! I'm a large in ladie's tops and pants, but again, it varies alot from brand to brand. From what I can see, your stats are quite similar to mine....you're about 1 inch taller. I was about your current weight at the start of 2013 and by May, I was close to your goal weight....so if you follow a similar path to mine, you'll be at goal in about 4 months! Keep up the fantastic work. You look great in your gallery photos.....just look at the smile on your face!

These are my 1 year anniversary photos. Down 137 lbs. Still have another 38 lbs to go.....

Welcome to the board! You may find something useful in a post I made last year: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/249104-the-pre-op-diet-is-not-a-punishment-its-an-opportunity/ I'll quote it below, but you may want to read some of the responses, for inspiration and ideas! Keep in mind, after surgery you'll be on liquids for at least a couple of weeks while you're healing, then slowly reintroducing more solid foods. So an extra 2 weeks pre-op won't seem so long after surgery and you'll be a "pro" when it's post-op time. There's a lot to think about and deal with in the early post-op days, so if you're already in a "groove' with an all liquid diet, it will really help! Good luck with the 4 week pre-op. Lots of great info and support here, and keep the questions coming....we're all happy to share our experiences.

I am 20 months post-op and did GREAT during the first year. I lost about 135 lbs, logged all my food, was careful with carbs, started exercising regularly and was on-track. Then when I hit the 1 year mark (May 2013), I started playing alot of softball and the extra exercise upped my appetite. Since I was exercising so much, I was able to maintain my weight, despite eating more (per meal, quanitity-wise and more often daily). However, I stopped logging my food, didn't pay attention to carb #'s (I was "cheating" a lot!) and I stalled bigtime. I was training to complete my first-ever half-marathon walk on my 44th birthday (Oct. 2013) and did complete that in a great PB time, but injured my left great toe (runner's "black toe") and the exercise stopped. Blammo! Appetite still big, capacity seemed alot bigger (especially with sliders/carbs/junk). I put on 14 lbs from Oct 20, 2013 to Jan. 5, 2014! I'm still 40+ lbs from my revised goal, so I'm back on the wagon now. Eating clean, tracking everything, keeping carbs reasonable and watching my portion sizes. Down 2.5 lbs this week, and hoping to keep a 1.5 lb loss per week for the rest of the winter/spring/summer. As to capacity, today, for the first time in about 6 months, I had sashimi for lunch. In the past I could eat about 3 oz. of wakame salad (seaweed salad) and 3 oz of salmon sashimi, then I was FULL. Today, I at 5 oz. of salmon and 3 oz of wakame, and I could still eat (though I do feel the restriction kicking in). This is where it gets hard! The sleeve is still there, but the capacity is much more "normal" that what were first used to post-op and during early recovery. Now some extra degree of willpower and self-control must be partnered with the sleeve to meet our goals. sigh. I was hoping the VSG would help me avoid this, but alas, reallity kicks in. The good news is I know I can do this. I just need to restablish my good habits (eating) and get my exercise sorted out (did my first cross-fit class this week!).

Hi guys. I see a lot of you are struggling and worried pre-op about the pre-op diet. It is a HUGE challenge, but for me, it was an important one. Exactly 1 year ago, I was in the middle of a 2 week liquid pre-op diet because my BMI was 55+ and I was self-pay in Mexico. Traveling from Canada meant that a reschedule would be A LOT of extra expense if my surgeon had to stop due to an enlarged liver mid-surgery. I had NO CHOICE but to follow the diet. It also meant that cheating would increase the chance of complications and a longer recovery (or worse), all because I could not follow a 2 WEEK diet. Really? Here I was, about to take a seriously radical, life-changing step and get 85% of my stomach cut out permanently. But I can't follow a 2 week diet? That's crazy. Post-op was going to be difficult for MONTHS, not days. So if I couldn't get my head in the game for the pre-op diet, then maybe I wasn't ready for what was going to follow post-op. I was terrified! So I started the liquid diet. And I was STARVING. I was dreaming of all the foods I thought were leaving my life forever. Suddenly I didn't care that I had spent my life morbidly obese, I wanted my comfort back. I wanted to fill myself to bursting at every meal, like it was my last meal forever. But I didn't break my diet. Because for once, I wasn't going to cheat myself. It was time to grow up (I'm 43....) and take responsibility for my health, my future and my choices. A lifetime of justification, gluttony and excuses brought me to that operating room. Now it was time to face the music and get on with owning my future. The first 3 days were HELL. That is when your body is detoxing from the carbs. You are using up the glycogen in your liver (to help "shrink" it) and it's screaming for replacement carbs to fill it back up. You can get through it. After 3 days it gets MUCH better. After a week you start to feel normal and more healthy than you have felt in years. You may be hungry, but you don't have the carb cravings anymore. Most importantly, you feel IN CONTROL; and mentally and emotionally strong for battling your demons and winning. This is the first tangible proof in an unsure future that you CAN get through the post-op recovery and that you CAN succeed in losing the weight this time, FOR LIFE. Whatever weight you lose during your pre-op diet is really inconsequential. What is important is what you gain: - Confidence - Emotional and physical self-control - The desire to succeed and overcome "impossible" obstacles - The knowledge that you are a WINNER as long as you do your best Please don't look at the pre-op diet as a "condition" that your surgeon imposes on you (and some surgeons don't require it!). It is an OPPORTUNITY for you to test yourself, to help build your will, character and emotional toughness BEFORE you have the surgery. It's like training for a marathon.....you put the blood sweat and tears in before the race to help you finish the race on game day. Without training and preparation, you will likely fail and you can get hurt really badly along the way! Use your pre-op diet to work through your demons, build up your confidence and prove to yourself you can do it. If you "fall off the wagon" one day, the next day is a fresh start. Aim for excellence. You owe it to yourself.

My husband and I go out quite often lately as we seem to have very little time to shop/cook this summer. I can always find something on the menu and when I place my order with the wait person I ask them to bring a "to go" container out with the food. I then immediately pack about 3/4 of the meal in the container and put in on the seat/bench closest to me. This way I get to "clean my plate"; not be tempted to overeat, and I don't get asked by the waiter/waitress "is everything okay"? when they see I've hardly touched my meal. And of course, as most people have stated......at least 2 meals for leftovers! Sometimes if I'm eating something my husband would also like, I give him most of my meal and we don't take anything home. But he's also trying to lose weight (without the sleeve), so that doesn't really help him reach his goals!

Fantastic work! I know you're tall, but now you look ever taller! You've got the "lanky slim" thing going on.......

Exercise, especially something strenuous like running can cause additional water/fluid weight to retain in your muscles. This is normal. Stop weighing yourself every day. You're going to drive yourself insane! Continue eating/drinking "on plan". Get your Protein and Fluid requirements in every day. Over time things will even out and you cannot continue indefinitely in a big calorie deficit without losing body fat. That is your goal, after all. To lose fat, not just weight. You have not been measuring body fat (have you?), so you don't know if the weight changes you are seeing are fat % changes. Fluid changes will move the scale up/down. Muscle density changes will also +/- the scale. Neither one is easily identifiable from one day to the next without a body composition meter or scale. Is your endurance improving during your runs? Do you have extra energy? Do you clothes fit more loosely? Are you sleeping a bit better? You are about 6 weeks post-op, correct? You're still healing from your surgery! At 6 weeks I wasn't even walking for exercise yet, never mind running. You need time to heal. Then your body needs time to adjust to the MASSIVE changes this surgery has introduced: - a lot less food - different types of food (mostly liquids in the first few weeks) - big changes in carb load, fat%, protein levels - recovery from a general anaesthetic - hormone level adjustments (the body releases extra estrogen as it breaks down fat) It is STILL way too early to think this isn't going to work. And I'm now 14 months post-op and I can gulp liquids all I want as long as they are not carbonated. You are probably NOT "sipping liquids for life". Things are going to change a lot for you in the coming year. How well it goes depends a lot on your attitude. Try to look on the positive aspects of each situation. Stalls, slow loss and recovery are something that every single VSG patient has to deal with at some point in their journey. This is not a quick fix. You didn't gain the weight overnight, you won't lose it overnight. But if you're really committed to making a lifelong change for the better, it begins with ONE step (wake up today in a positive mood and make THIS day count). String those one steps together and you'll finish the marathon and get to goal. You can do this. Just quit the pity party, rededicate yourself to success and keep going. Success will come with hard work, patience and desire.