Liver Shrinking Diet? Am I too late??

So my surgery is happening in exactly one week, next Monday the 26th. I know I haven't been doing 100% perfect on my pre-op diet and now I'm starting to really worry and freak out that my liver isn't going to shrink enough for surgery :/ I did perfectly today and still have a week left but I just hope it's enough. I know all the stuff that I need to do but I'm wondering if there is anything extra that I can do to help. Exercising? Liver detox? I just finished up finals last week for school so I was totally pre-occupied with that rather than being on the diet. Did I totally screw myself up? I met with the Dr last Thursday and he didn't say anything to me about the diet. When I met with the nutritionist about a month or so ago, she just gave me a list of things to eat and not to eat, a general low fat/low carb thing. If I do full liquids from now until surgery and even exercise will my liver shrink enough? BTW, I know there are probably no doctors on this site but I would still appreciate a common sense opinion of others who have gone through this.

Thank you!!!

i just had surgery on friday.  i have a 41 bmi ,  i was required to eat low carb and low fat for  week before.  my doc said my liver was good in shrinkage, yet fatty but good to operate with so u should be okay?  

i would call the doc just to double check though.  what your doc can do may be diff from mine yanno?

If you're really concerned, you can do liquid diet the last week, or worst case scenario, they may take longer to complete the surgery (means more time under anesthesia) or they may choose to open you up to do the job. 

Just follow your surgeon's instructions.  If you have questions or wonder if you need to be doing anything else, call your surgeon's office today and ask them.

Hi, I had 1 week clear liquid pre op diet. Im not condoning nor am I oroud of this, but I cheated almost ever day. 2nd day a piece of cheese. 4th day a slice of pizza and day 6 a few bites of potato salad. My surgery went great and smooth according to my Dr and when I asked about my liver she said it was "perfect, cute and tiny." I stressed sooooooo bad and made my self so stressed out that I had screwed up. Hang in there!

I think the next biggest reason docs give us pre op diets is to make sure we have our heads in the game before surgery to maximize our success after surgery. It also helps us to detox off of carbs prior to surgery, which I am sure makes post op that much easier. Just a thought. Post op, you cannot cheat without risking making yourself sick or causing physical harm.

They say the more you can do just  before ( like sticking to a protein shake diet ) the easier it is for the surgeon to work and see ( the liver is the biggest organ in the body ) 

Personally I  was scared enough of complications to pretty well stick to  the preop diet .  I DID eat air popped  popcorn though in addition to the protein shakes .  

 

Its a good idea not to eat meat  2 days before - you don't want the toxins from rotting meat complicating  possible gut issues  when they sew U  up etc.. 

dont worry, just take care of your diet, and exercise obviously is a must. wish you good luck.

My dr. wants his patients to do a 2 week semi-liquid diet before the surgery.  Protein shake and a protien bar for lunch and dinner and a small regular meal at night (fish and some veggies or chicken and some veggies).  One week liquid only should be ok.  The smaller your liver is, the easier it is for your surgeon.

I haven't had my surgery yet but I did ask about any pre-op dietary programs during the initial consult meeting.  I was told that no "liquid diet" was required and the only requirement was that you not eat or drink after midnight the day prior.  They did recommend that you don't do any "blow out" levels of eating in the week prior.   While it may depend upon the personal preferences and comfort level of your surgeon, I really suspect it is more of a psychological and to help ease into post-op than anything else.  If you are concerned about your liver size, following a very low carb diet for a few days prior, coupled with a little exercise should take care of it by depleting and glycogen stores.