Linda,
I think it sounds too drastic. You need nutrition. You need the protein shakes to keep your nutrition up. My shakes were only 120 calories. The main purpose of the pre-op diet is to "rest" your liver. Not giving it anything to work through. So by eating popsicles, broth, and diet drinks you are resting yourt liver and allowing it to "shrink" by not giving it fats. You need to drink nutrition. I had 3 protein drinks a day, ate all the sugar-free popsicles I wanted and all the broth I wanted. It was very tough but we have that goal in mind(surgery) so thats what got me through it. Its not easy. I have 3 kids and one of them is disabled so I hear ya about keeping up energy. So I ate a TON of popsicles and did my protein drinks and made it through the 10 days. I wish you all the best on one of the hardest parts of this process. Good luck.