LD, Wedding and Liver Fat

I am on day 3 of my liquid diet and it is going better than I expected. I journaled my protein shakes, milk, jello and broth and i am actually eating around 1100 calories and 70 grams of protein.

I have a wedding to go to this weekend and I am a bit nervous. My folks and a cousin are riding with me and I told them that we could stay for the wedding, but when it is time to eat, we would have to leave. But I just read someone else's post and the comments really made me think. I can not hide from food. So I will be emailing my NUT to ask her if I am allowed to drink a ready-made Muscle Milk and take that with me.

I read another post about fatty liver. I have been on Zocor for my cholesterol for several years  and have heard that it can make your liver fatty. Do you think the liquid diet will shrink my liver enough to have the surgery if it is excessively fatty to begin with? I have heard horrir stories about people being opened and then sewn back up without the sleeve being completed because their liver is too fat 

Dawn I don't think you have to worry about your liver being to fatty .m just keep up the great work ... and everything will be fine!!! It looks as if your surgery weight is just over 200 so I think everything will be ok... keep doing what you doing!!! :-)

♡ Kelly

Hi,

Your message made me remember some of my feelings early in the weight loss process.  I did avoid challenging food situations when I started my weight loss process.  I remember having a pot luck business meeting, and choosing to come after the dinner.  My hostess said she'd be sure there was food I could eat, but it wasn't that.  It was about being around people eating pizza and deserts when I had to be eating dense protein and green veggies.  I just didn't want to see it.  I think its ok to protect yourself in this way. This is about your health and the rest of your life.  And its a hard thing to do. 

It didn't take long until people eating pizza and ice cream no longer bothered me, but at first it did.

In terms of fatty livers, I was a heavy weight, and I dieted faithfully for 3 months pre-surgery losing 50 pounds.  And after surgery the one thing the surgeon shared with me was that my liver was fatty.  This worried me, and I shudder to think what it looked like before the three months of dieting. Follow your surgeon's advice and don't worry about your liver.  Every day you stick to your diet, your liver is getting healthier.

best wishes,

Carol

Easter fell during my preop period - and my nut gave me the green light to eat a reasonable 3-4oz of ham and veg and then get right back on program.  It was nice, i was able to participate in the holiday.  Are they serving a sit down dinner at the wedding or a buffet?  Also if you aren't eating you should let the bride know.  Weddings are costly and they probably would appreciate the savings if several of you aren't eating.

Dawn - I agree with Kelly.   You've already done a ton of good work to get weight off and reduce the size of your liver.  You should be in great shape come surgery day.  

Good luck at the wedding!  I think that getting through the food part and seeing that you CAN do it will be good for you 

After my surgery, my doctor came in and told me it was a good thing I did the pre-op diet, because my liver was very fatty and fragile. He said it will improve with continued weight loss. And, thankfully, he didn't sew me back up before doing the job! :-). You'll be fine. 

~Jan

The pre-op diet actually isn't to reduce fatty liver but to deplete glycogen in your liver. Glycogen is storage of carbohydrates for later use, and it's bound up with a lot of water as well. If you eat carbohydrates, your body often doesn't have to dip into its glycogen stores, but if you switch to low carb, your body will switch to ketone bodies for energy and use up the glycogen first. I've read that livers with less glycogen are easier to handle, although I'm not a surgeon so I couldn't really say. If you follow your surgeon's diet, which is almost assuredly low carb, you're going to use up the glycogen before surgery. So, follow the diet and you should be fine!

Those 'horror stories' you've heard about "people being opened up and then sewn back up without the sleeve being completed because their liver is too fat " are just that---horror stories.

For a surgeon to open and patient and use a fatty liver as an excuse not to complete a simple Sleeve amounts to malpractice. Yes, a hugely fatty liver can make a laproscopic procedure more difficult, but almost all fat people have fatty livers. Bariatric surgeons should expect the majority of the their patients to have one.

In the rare case where a liver really is huge, most surgeons would simply convert to an open procedure.

The 3-week pre-op diet you're on is intended to make the liver easier to manipulate with laproscopic tools. It does this by reducing the glycogen stored in your liver, making it less slick and slippery. There is no particular virtue in a liquid diet vs. eating real food. What you need to be eating immediately before surgery is a moderate-calorie diet that's high in protein---you'll need it for post-op healing, when you'll be least able to actually take it in---and low in carbs, because eating low-carb is what actually depletes that glycogen in your liver.

I had a surgeon try the operation on me and when I woke up he told me that my liver was still too big. Is there really a malpractice suit in that? I was so disappointed and sickened that it took me almost 2 years to attempt it again.

Thanks for all the information and the encouragement. I think I just have the jitters and doubts since my date is approaching. I keep thinking about the fact that I could fail at this if i am not dilligent (and that fear quadruples because i have shared that i am having the surgery with several people).I am amazed at how often I randomly think about food. At work and while visiting my folks, I thought several times "what am I going to make for dinner tonight" only to remember that I am having a shake LOL. Anyway, this forum has been a huge support system for me and I will strongly lean on it for the rest of my process.Thanks again.