Newbie - 21 days of liquid start Tuesday - YIKES

Hi All,

I have been reading all your posts for months.  This forum is part of the reason I chose to go ahead with the surgery.  Because of my high BMI, I have to have all protein shakes for 21 days.  My surgery is 12/1.  I'm excited and nervous.  

For those of you who have done the pre-op diet, do you have any good suggestions for not caving in to temptations and do you have any good recipes to switch up the shakes?

I appreciate all of you *****ply.

Here's to happy losing.....:)

• I'm 5 days into my 2 week pre op liquid diet. Unjury chicken soup (21g protien) has been my life saver!!!! Something warm and savory is exactly what my belly needs after work!! 
• Jello has also been great. I add a little unflavored protein powder. 

Ida,

I did not have to do a pre-op liquid diet, but I did do 26 weeks of Medifast one time, so I understand the challenge.

Clear out as much of your fridge or pantry as you can.  Get rid of foods that may cause cravings.

If you share with others, you might be able to have them segregate a shelf or 2 that they use and maybe put their foods in brown paper bags ..... Out of sight can help keep things out of mind.

Prepare yourself mentally for the first several days to be rough.  Your body will be detoxing from carbs, sugars, caffeine, etc .... That can cause headaches, fatigue, moodiness.

I made sure to have some warm tea in the evenings ... Usually during or after a nice relaxing bath.

I had some movies and magazines on hand so I could tune out food.

While others were eating, I left the room, or had some tea or my shake and visited with them.

I went to bed early ...sleeping means not eating and no being hungry.

I reminded myself that I could do it, that I was not the first or only person ever doing this ...and that a few weeks is a blip compared to the rest of my life.

I sat at the Thanksgiving table and passed food around, sipping some tea (I had my shake before everyone else ate) and was just Thankful for the chance to be with friends and family, knowing that I had eaten enough in the years past to more than make up for 1 missed meal.

You CAN do this!!!

Focus on what you want to achieve, for me, that was enough to keep me from cheating on the pre-op and post-op diets.  Surgery is sort of a big deal and I was very committed to it.  I wasn't going to risk screwing anything up by cheating on my liquid diets.  

It gets a lot easier after the first 3-4 days.  :)

I was allowed to have sugar free popsicles or italian ices after surgery during my liquid phase. You should see if you can have them now as well. They were very refreshing to me after drinking shakes all the time. You can also buy unflavored protein powder and mix it into your own chicken broth. I use Genepro - you can buy it on Amazon. Pretty much tasteless and it's the only one I know of that you can stir directly in hot liquids. I have stirred it into my tea and coffee even.

I'm in the midst of 14 days of a liquid/protein diet before surgery on 11/17.  Here's what I'm learning so far:

1) Miso packets are a nice break between meals - they are savory and fill me up, w/o adding calories.

2) Plain greek yogurt?  I add a small amount of one of those Crystal Light drink mix packs!  :)  Be very careful adding it - too much is disgusting.

3) hot tea, hot tea, hot tea.  And more hot tea.

4) I second the Unjury Chicken Soup flavored protein!  People think it's icky looking when I show them, but it's so, so good. 

5) Swanson's makes a chicken broth that is Thai Ginger flavored.  I add Unjury unflavored protein to it - it's like Pho broth!  (don't bother with the Mexican Tortilla flavor.  It's gross and will make your water bottle smell like old cumin!

6) Sugar-free instant jello pudding - add a scoop of unflavored protein to it.  Helps fill you up but doesn't change the consistency of the pudding. 

I lost over 5 pounds in the first 6 days.

Good luck! :)  

Thanks all!  I don't know what miso packets are and I don't know where th get the chicken soup. Can you tell me?

The Unjury chicken soup is at www.unjury.com.   Miso packets are the powder to make miso soup, which you get at Japanese restaurants. You can get it in the Asian section of most supermarkets. Good luck!