Should I start practicing my wl eating habits before surgery?

I just wanted to know if it is wise to start practicing my eating before my WLS. I will meet with my surgeon on jan 19th for our first consultation. I went to orientation and the nutritionist gave us some packet on how the drinking and eating will be like after surgery no matter what you get .. bypass or lapband ... is it wise to start now? or shall i wai**** do u guys think?

I would definately recommend starting your new eating/drinking habits early if you can. One of the heardest things for me was not drinking with my meals. In my program, we have to stop drinking 30 minutes before we eat, and wait 45-60 minutes after we eat to start drinking again. That was my biggest hurdle. Whatever your surgeon's office recommends, it's not to early to start ahead. And.... it might even help you lose a few more pounds before your surgery. Best of luck Molly

Migdalia, Yes I would also say to start learnig the new way of eating now, it can only help. Just know that with a normal sized pouch it might be hard to eat the little amount at this time but learning is still a great idea... I wish you all the best! Debra P

Absolutely, start now......... Most surgeons want you to try and lose weight before surgery anyway. It helps for your liver to shrink making your operation easier since your liver rests on your stomach.Plus it helps with a healthy eating habit making it easier for the transisition after surgery. Marie

Yes Yes Yes!!! U would be prudent and wise to do this!!! Here is what I send to new preops! Jamie~ WT LOSS BEFORE SURGERY/MOTIVATION/AVOIDING THE LAST SUPPER SYNDROME In our program we are required to loose 10% of our body wt before surgery.... Loosing weight pre-op is required by many surgeons & for many reasons... and I am so happy I did! 1.. to show motivation, 2.. ability to adhere to a plan (as we will need to for life!), if you can't be mindful and able to follow restrictions pre-op how will you do it post-op? 3.. to increase your health even a modest 5-10% wt. loss is very helpful, the National Institute of health has even researched this...(hence why weigh****chers is so focused on the 10% wt loss) 4.. decreases surgical complications (by exercise and decrease wt your heart and lungs are in better shape for surgery, anesthesia and healing!)... 5.. Also psychologically it is tough going from a super-sized big Mac meal to clear liquids for 2 weeks post-op! 6.. ***MAIN ONE FOR PROTEIN SPARING or MEDIFAST DIETING***It helps shrink the liver and this eases their surgical procedure and decreases chance of nicking it.... 7.. exercising before helps you continue after! 8..The more you lose pre-op the less you will have to lose post-op and the closer to an ideal body-wt you will attain! I lost the weight by doing the food pyramid. That's it, I was eating so bad (fast food daily, large portions, consuming every high-fat/sugar thing imaginable and NOT exercising that just cutting down and walking 2 miles a day helped! For ME, it was "no one" was going to stop me from having this operation, it was my decision and all that was asked of me was to loose 30 lbs, I figured this is a small price for such a wonderful gift I would be given and the opportunity to have a healthier happier longer life....! I was so motivated/psyched; I dropped 30 pounds in 30 days and went on to drop 15 more before surgery! (Although this took me 2 months, as it got harder and I had a few last meals, we all do but you can't let this ruin your opportunity!) Exercise was another key; I faithfully walked 2 miles everyday..it helped that my mom went with me a lot! (a buddy is so helpful!) I followed the food pyramid given to me by clinical nutritionist Dr. Boham...I also wrote everything down (Many find www.fitday.com helpful for this) that went in my MOUTH!!! Or you can get food pyramid/bullseye version at: http://www.xenical.com/hcp/1400_Am_Beye.pdf I also had to remind myself how BAD I wanted this! Everyday it was/had to be more important to me to change my bad habits and lose weight to have this surgery than to continue to slowly kill myself with food/keep myself from the only hope I had!. I also told everyone about my plans and they helped support me, my friends/family and coworkers! I really can't give you any more guidance than this, it really had to come from within, it was a mindset with me, and I wanted this BAD real bad and I knew it was my last resort/chance! I felt invigorated and motivated by the end results...the long-term had to outweigh the short-term gratification of eating bad choices or overeating! It was a learning opportunity for me to change my habits and practice chewing well, not drinking with meals and eating smaller portions, giving up sugar/caffeine/carbonation/alcohol (if any of those are your issues, carbonation/caffeine/alcohol weren't issues for me)! So a few weeks/months of healthy habits to lose pre-op wt is not a lot if you frame it right! IT IS NOT FOREVER and it is about starting this journey! Take Care, Jamie 100cm proximal Lap RNY 10/9/02 Dr. Singh Albany, NY 320(preop)/163 (lowest)/174 (current) 5'9'' (lost 45# before surgery) Plastics 6/9/04 & 11/11/2005 Dr. King www.albanyplasticsurgeons.com http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/jamiecatlady5/ "Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect, it just means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections!"

It depends on the type of surgery you are going to have....if you are going to have the lap band or the RNY, then it's a good idea. The low carb, low fat, low sugar, high protein diet of those procedures, will lead you to lose weight before surgery. Which is a very good thing, esp. if your going to have a LAP procedure done VS a open procedure. In a LAP procedure, the biggest problem they can run into is a big liver, in some cases it causes the surgeon to have to convert the operation from a lap. to an open surgery. If you are going to have a DS, I'd probably not recommend starting to eat like a post op DSer until you've had the surgery. DSers malabsorb about 80 percent of all the fat they eat, so most DSers eat a high fat diet, because it tastes good, and because fat has a filling quality to it. Also DSers can drink with meals because they have a fully functional pyloric valve, which means the food in their stomach doesn't wash out with water. I think the most important thing for you to do is to start losing weight preop. Even though I've lost 226 lbs since the day of surgery this past february, the biggest regret I have is not losing more preop, because I would be that much closer to my goal weight right now if I did. Scott