Preparing For Surgery: The Diet

In preparing for surgery, there are a few things that my surgeon is requiring me to do:

• Have a sleep study
• Get cardiac clearance
• Do a liquid protein diet for 4 weeks

Yikes!  Four weeks!  I'm a little more than two week into the liquid diet and I'm doing OK.  The purpose of the diet is to shrink your liver prior to surgery.  Dr. Kim says that overweight people tend to have big livers due to the amount of carbohydrates we have stored there.  Some of us may also have fatty liver disease.  He also commented that I am carrying so much weight in my middle right where he needs to perform the surgery.  So he wanted me to take some weight off before surgery.

The liquid protein shakes are actually not too bad and I think I will incorporate them into my post surgery diet as a meal replacement occasionally.

The product I am using is called BariEssentials.  My surgeon only had it in chocolate, although I do believe it comes in other flavors.

I can have 4 shakes per day if I make them with skim milk, 5 if I make them with water.  I do my with skim milk.  I was concerned about how I was going to have my shakes at work.  I am trying to keep the surgery to myself at work so I didn't think lugging a blender to work would be all too discrete.  At first I tried just stirring them up but that left lumps.  Then I found this shaker bottle at GNC and it really does the trick.

As you can see, it has a little whisk ball you put inside when you shake it up.  I was skeptical, but it really does make a nice frothy shakes and no lumps!

This is the end result.

I'm not gonna lie, the first week doing this was HARD.  And I did fall off the wagon even though I was allowed a few "extras" to help with hunger pangs....sugar free popcicles, broth, sugar free jello.  When I went a bit off, it wasn't terribly so most of the time.  After about 3 days I was REALLY HUNGRY and was getting headaches.  So on days I felt bad and like I really needed something, I ate a couple of string cheeses and that helped alot.  Once I was past the first week, it got easier.  The shakes to satisfy me as long as I don't let myself get too hungry before having my next one. 

I will admit that I did fall off a bit harder than that last week.  You see, I finished my MBA classes last Monday (hip hip hooray!) and on Tuesday my boss took me to dinner and drinks to celebrate.  And I really wanted to celebrate.   So I went ahead and had a couple of margaritas, and enchilada, and little beans and rice.  Clearly not doctor recommended.  But I got right back on it the next day and have been ever since.

I feel really good on this liquid diet.  Yes, I am definitely looking forward to getting to chew my meals again.  But the liquid diet has really arrested my compulsive behaviors around food.  And it's made me realize how much better it feels to NOT have a belly stuffed full on junk.