Some Dr's are different in that they vary the length of time and what your pre op diet is.
The Dr I have wants you to loose 5% of your weight prior to surgery for a few different reasons. Main one is like you say shrink the liver. The liver is in the same area as where the band is going to be placed. If the liver is too big they can not get around it properly to do the surgery. Just loosing the 5% can greatly reduce the size of your liver. I personally have been on my pre op diet since I decided to do this which was the end of Dec 2008. I did it for a couple reason, one to loose weight but also to see that I could do it. I do 2 Protein shakes a day and a sensible dinner. I figured if I could not do it before, who was to say that I could do it after. And since I am self pay I wanted to make sure that I coud do it.
Hope that helps!
Julie
