Carnation instant breakfast for pre op diet?

I need to try to lose about 20 lbs super fast I'm waiting on my surgery date but it will most likely be in early Jan. The surgeon's med assist told me I need to try to lose as much as possible and that a week before surgery they might possibly have me do optifast.
I have seen a couple of places where people did carnantion instant breakfast no sugar added for the pre op diet. This would be much easier on my pocketbook than optifast. Can anyone give me details on how they did it.
Thanks for any help. I'm staying away from sweets but I'm having a hard time not snacking at night and I'm a carb attack big time!!

My suggestion would be to start eating like a bandster now -- protein first, lots of water, 1-1.5 cups of food at a meal and 1200 calories a day.

I did the carnation for my protien shakes.  My nutricianist was not thrilled, but I couldn't choke down the studd they wanted me to drink.  It worked and in fact, I still drink them for breakfast.  I will say that I didn't lose a whole lot on the preop diet though.  And I agree, eat like a bandster now with the protien.  You will lose more weight that way than going liquid early.

I think the carnation shakes..altho the say No Sugar Added they have 27 grams of carbs each, thats really high!..that may really slow you down..you need to keep your carbs under 20 grams a day total to lose at a good rate..
Patty

My doc is ok with CIB (sugar free with fat=free milk) for protein shakes.
I am not sure that I would do them exclusively -- but  you could do 3 of those a day and a 'lean and green' meal ---- 3 - 4 ounces of lean chicken, pork, fish and a green veggie

If you are like I was (obese enough to qualify for WLS) you have plenty of stored up nutrition.
Make sure you stay hydrated with lots of calorie-free liquids (aside from your shakes) and take a good multi-vitamin.

The CIB shakes do not contain that much protein and, as another poster said, do have a significant amount of carbs. Optifast is not your only option.
For my pre-op diet I did one low carb shake (EAS Myoplex Carb Control, I think it was called) for breakfast and dinner and for lunch had 3 oz lean protein, 1/2 cup good quality complex carb (whole wheat pasta, brown rice, etc) good serving of vegetable tossed with a little olive oil. I also ate two pieces of fruit daily. I lost 7 pounds in two weeks. I was starving because this was quite a change from my regular diet.
I cant imagine what it would be like to do only shakes. Why do you need to lose 20 pounds fast? I thought we were geting WLS because we had trouble losing weight...
Good luck, this is really tough but you will be OK.

You arne't going to lose more just because you are doing all liquids.

You can get the same calories and low carb diet with low carb solids.  Your s/f CIB isn't not really a great choice.

Atkins will do the job well and you are more likely to stick to it than just doing high carb liquids.  It's better for your liver as well.  It will get the slime off of it. (glycogen)

Thanks all for the great ideas. I think I would rather eat more food than liquids if I can still lose weight. So I'll probably do the low carb then. My brother bought me some optimum whey and it's very low carb so I'll do that for snacks or when real hungry.
oh and the reason I need to lose weight because they are worried about my liver size.

My surgeon wants me to do Carnation Instant Breakfast SF for 2 weeks before surgery.  I thought it was interesting myself.