LateBloomer

leepizz, I have found nirvana at stores like Whole FOods and my liquid diet has actually become enjoyable. A favourite moment after the 5 days of clear liquids was having my first "full liquid" aka creamy or strained soups. Soups like Roasted Butternut Squash with garlic and sauteed crab meat found at a local high end grocer are so tasty. Strain if you need to. If I was eating canned soups I'd be very unhappy at the moment, even though I usually don't mind them. But when soup is all you can eat, get the gourmet homemade kinds and you will find the liquid diet quite bearable. So far: Carrot ginger, cream of asparagus, lobster bisque (the brand I had was gross though), cream of curried corn and coconut. I have bought soups for the pureed phase coming up next week and can't wait to get to them (like Chicken Tortilla, Curried Turkey Noodle, Cream of Tomato Basil... oh yeah). Also, very high quality yogurt is my salvation. A bit of smoked cheeses melted into plainer soup is good for protein and flavour as well. Let the real chefs help you through this time.

Milk thistle tea also helps detox the liver. It is not only overweight people that have fatty livers, btw. For those who are not required to be on a liquid diet, some foods that kept me going preop (and not all in one day): Jumbo grilled shrimp with lots of zucchini, grilled fish with broccoli steamed in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil, soup with egg in it, dressing made of balsamic vinegar and spices to go with any raw veggies, roasted chicken with a drop of gravy and two little potatoes, grilled steak with the fat cut away and a side of greens, baby carrots for when I was ravenous and felt I had the worst munchies, a few turkey pepperettes, and sushi (once). I had rye bread on one day with my chicken breast, topped it with organic greens and tomatoes and a slice of high quality cheese. A little bit of Montreal Streak Spice makes all meat and veggies very tasty. Lost 12 pounds in 7 days. I also ate non fat gelato a few times in the first few days (it's usually non fat anyway so the flavour is there) when I was having a sweet tooth meltdown. I figured it wasn't much more calories than the sugar free pops which tasted like chemicals (very hard on the liver), and it was much better than really caving in to the high calorie sweets. I think if one of your weaknesses is a sweet/carb tooth then you will lose weight as soon as you curb those carbs. Note: I was not told to go on a liquid diet and am so relieved as it seems so harsh. There seems to be a big difference between doctors but mine is one of the best in my country, people fly from coast to coast to have him do their surgery (He's done in 20 minutes) and very on top of the latest developments so I was very impressed at his willingness to make changes to his previous pre-op requirements as new info arises. Post op I understand the need for liquid diets because of the healing process, but to hear pre-op people taking sleeping pills and weeping, feeling dizzy and unable to function, severely depressed, bashing themselves, breaking down and eating junk, all because they are following an extreme diet is alarming. But who would ever fight back? And who on earth would defend a heavy person's right to eat? ANyhow, I think that by training yourself to think about positive choices rather than Forbidden Foods, you start to move from a negative mindset (restriction! Not allowed! Bad! Evil fatty! Weak!) to a positive mindset (quality! delicious! Worthy of my heathy happy self! Loving choice!). Of course, detractors will disagree and surely a diet of chemicals and powders and vanilla/chocolate flavoured liquids that has you weeping and tormented makes all the sense in the world. Some may see it as proof of your future commitment. If you have a doctor that forces you to do this to qualify, that is one thing, and good luck/hang in there, but if you are given the choice to make decent choices and stick to low carb, you will be much happier and may lose a lot of weight in a positive way as well. For those who say the doctors always know what's best, your health is also your responsibility. You are your only advocate. DO what you have to but always think things through. If someone tells you to do things that make you ill, does it matter what their credentials are? I once had a doctor tell me I should drink alcohol like everyone else does if I'm having trouble getting to sleep. Did I? No. I had another doctor give me a severe ear infection by sticking the ear scope from my infected ear into my good ear. So, think about everything you are told to do and take good care of yourself.

Thank you BerryHappy. I was just wondering if it was a mistake to have posted at all. It is because I know exactly how you feel that I shared in the first place. You can search the internet for a very long time to find out what other operations, including open heart surgery, will make patients go through such punishing hoops to qualify, but you won't find anything quite like some of the diets recommended here. I was self pay as I do not want to be derailed by the battles like dealing with insurance and so on. How many people have given up the fight or have been denied because they couldn't drink liquids for a week or more? How many normal sized people could do that? It is so easy for our society to be harsher or more abusive to overweight people and I am starting to see it for what it is. In my heart I feel that the pre-op diets that are the most extreme are put in place to find a way to deny people coverage for the operation. It is like saying that you must quit smoking for two weeks in order to qualify for the nicotine patch or quit drinking in order to qualify for rehab. It just makes more sense to me when the doctors tell patients to be sensible high protein/low carbs and sugars, as I felt I was during my preop. My own doc recently switched from yogurt and cottage cheese only diets to one that includes chicken breast, salads with balsamic vinegar dressing, and an egg every day. He said it was based on new understanding that the diet was changed. At times, I wanted haagen daas so bad and so 50 calories of fat free gelato to keep me on track made sense. It is so acceptable to be abusive and blaming for people who are overweight and I am personally appalled at what some people are being asked to do to qualify. My GP says that not getting coverage has everything to do with the floodgates that would open if this were covered. I just came across a published study which I think is very interesting and applies to lap band people as well. berry Happy, please don't think you won't succeed. Don't be afraid. That is why I shared my experience in the first place. Good on them all those saintly diet followers, but I am not in the state I'm in because of my own Herculean self control. I'm probably in it more because I have absorbed too much negativity from others and never said anything back. It was not lost on me how I suddenly felt hungry after reading the negative posts. You have made me decide to post another message here when I was thinking I was done, and now I encourage you to open up as well. There will always be those who jump on the chance to condescend, so lets let it roll off our backs. Check out this study: http://www.asbs.org/html/pdf/insurance_article.pdf Insurance-mandated preoperative dietary counseling does not improve outcome and increases dropout rates in patients considering gastric bypass surgery for morbid obesity Thanks to all who put forth positivity and for those thinking about jumping on the bandwagon, as I said before if I can do it, you can (4 days on liquids so far- who knew!!) and that is what I want to share as I go along my journey.

My goodness Apples2, accusations of gloating. To be as self righteous as that. Some people just want to see the worst in others. So many people are having a difficult time with the pre op and so filled with the SHAME as you recommend for me, self loathing, and feelings of defeat for not being able to stick to a starvation diet. Sorry you see my attempts to be supportive as gloating but I suppose that is to be expected. I am not filled with shame for sharing my experience and am hoping that others will stop self flagellating for every little transgression, as self hatred is not uncommon for those with weight issues. The pre-op diet is not universal, there is no industrywide standard, and so I am saying to use ones brain. HAving considered the wide range of pre op diet suggestions/requirements, and having done much research, I just shared what worked out okay for me so that people wouldn't hate themselves for the smaller errors they have experienced. If you end up going to Burger King because you coudn't deal with it, or hate your self for having egg in your soup, is that helpful, or are their other things that could have been done, is the point I'm looking at. I guess I'm a little bummed that the first comment to my first post would be negative enough to suggest I should be ashamed for trying to share what I felt was positive and caring. Perhaps if you had shared what you ate, it would have been for gloating reasons, but that is not what motivated me to share. WHy should anyone be scared to death before the surgery?

I have the same band date (May 30th) and the exact same experience as mentioned by Jodi of "Tomorrow is the Day". It really helps to read that others have experienced the same thing. Day 2 was the worst of it. I thought something must have gone terribly wrong, as so many people say they were fine right away. I was thinking the dreaded shoulder pain was going to be the worst part but it was the idea and sensation that every time I moved I thought the stitches would rip that really hurt the most. Sheesh, it does hurt but the next day it started to feel a bit better and today (day 4) I drove my child to school (1 1/2 hours round trip - no meds!). So I think I'll live and am shocked that I have not cheated on the post op diet, but all I keep thinking is that I do not want to have myself to blame if I ever have to go under the knife again. Gosh, I barely even go to the doctor, I can't believe I actually did this. So the post op diet is getting a little irritating but not impossible. You start to hear your stomach growling and you know you must be hungry but it feels very bearable and you realize that you can do for a wee bit longer. The stitches are a gentle reminder that you can do what you want but you might not want to sabotage the healing process in any way. For those of you fretting over the pre-op diet, I know that I shouldn't say this, but you will not die for bending the rules a bit. I followed my pre-op diet very loosely and thought about things like what chemicals were in the food rather than if steak was sacrilege. Twice I traded my morning yogurt for a decaf coffee with cream and sugar at Starbucks. I avoided carbs but had four pieces of bavarian rye with my allowed chicken breast and 4 little tomatoes on my last supper. Just make sure that you eat this in a timeframe that will allow you to digest it and get it out the other end before surgery. To this end I drank three glasses of Water right at midnight. ALong with a small bowl of roasted red pepper Soup. WIth cheese and two turkey pepperettes. I'm a bit devilish, I know and I am not telling you this with glee but just so that you don't hate yourself for falling off the wagon and that you will be okay. If you can stick to the diet do it, but doing what I did, I lost 11 pounds in 7 days anyway and know that sugar and carb consumption must be what does me in. Please note, however, if you do not think you are regular enough to be reasonably empty on the day of the op, eat less on the final day. I really think that the key goal to the pre-op diet is to pre-adapt your mind and stomach for the post op days as well as to clean out your liver as best as possible. One of the things I read that is really good for liver cleansing was Milk Thistle tea so I drank alot of that. It is not gross as many medicinal teas can be, just a bit bland and quite bearable. Also, I really learned a lot about my liver before I cheated and came to believe that it is better to err on the side of natural foods rather than lowcal filler full of chemicals. The liver works so hard to detox your body, how can the dyes and chemicals in sugarless popsicles, the starches in low fat yogurt, for example, be good for giving your liver a break? I may have eaten a bit more chicken than I should have but it was free range which is good for detoxing the liver. Also, I traded 4 jumbo shrimp on the grill rather than a chicken breast one evening, I pigged out on baby carrots with a balsamic vinegar dressing to die for when I was starving, and had some nutella once or twice. Well, I'll stop telling you what I ate but just think healthy and if you are strong enough to follow the pre-op, do so, if you cheat, cheat with something your body and liver will appreciate. As usual, as soon as I had seen that I lost 7-8 pounds, I started cheating more... standard dieter behaviour perhaps. So stay off the scales pre-op, as much as possible, and just do your best. SOme post op tips: I had bought tinned broths but then found some really good organic broth made by a celebrity chef (initials WP) and it makes the broth much more bearable post op. Plus it has far less sodium than tinned. If you have to crush your pills, it is easier to put it in your mouth, make the ugly wincing face while crushing it between your teeth, then swallow it with a sip of water, take another wash out sip, then eat a piece of sugarless gum. TO crush it then put it in liquid and drink it washes the bitterness all over you mouth and prolongs the procedure. Just get it overwith. The gum has saved me, however, get a few flavours, as you will get mighty tired of the same flavour each time. I found the ice breakers gum helped a lot. I didn't think I'd need Vitamins right away, surely my big body has an abundance of everything, but found that I was getting too light headed and feeling unwell until I started sipping some Vitamin water. My husband finally found liquid vitamins and so that seems to make a huge difference. DOn't overdo vitamins as that is toxic but having some in your system will save your mind and probably your hair too. Oh, also, you may find the apple juice too sweet and nauseating so get some cranberry juice to balance your flavours out. It tastes so good when you can't handle the sweetness. Also, remember to brush your teeth every day or your mouth will feel like the bottom of a bird cage for the first few days. I am not one of those people who is motivated by people who tell me that things won't work (known as the haters in other posts). BUt things have unfolded so extraordinarily that I know I am on the right path for me. I always feared that I was one of those for whom this whole thing might not work, as I am not one who has a great deal of will power (some overweight people have astounding will power but I rarely even diet), but I am definitely one of those IF I CAN DO IT YOU CAN, and if I managed to stay on the post op diet for 4 days so far, trust me you can too. I'm sort of surrendering myself to the universe and trying not to overthink this as I do with everything else. We'll see. Other things: try to make sure you will not be on your period during or right after surgery. You will be very uncomfortable. They let you keep your undies on if you are on your period however, so I just left mine on with a pad on and wasn't asked to remove them. You will be under the anesthetic and out of surgery before you know it. IT was surreal. Good luck my fellow bandits! Carpe diem!