Hello Jenn,

Everyone is welcome regardless of the surgeon, hospital or type of surgery. Whether you have had the surgery or just need questions answered...all are welcome!

Ada

i dont think there is a set limit.  just as much as you need to keep you on track.  most are really low in calorie and as long as you are eating them without any fat from frying or dips, you are fine.  The ones to limit are the tomato, carrot, snap peas, since they are a bit sugary.  broccoli, cucumber, cauliflower, radish, cabbage, lettuce, etc ... go to town.  lol.   I didnt think to ask lisa about this, but you might want to check it out.  Walden farms makes a 0 cal, 0 fat, 0 sugar salad dressing ... that might REALLY help.

good luck on your pre-op and surgery.  you are just about through the tougher part of the pre-op, and the pre-op is probably the hardest part of the whole process.

The first 5 days are tough, it takes that long to kick your carb addiction.  You might feel irrationally hungry (like right after a shake) and you might have headaches for a few days.  But it's really important to stick with it and get past these first few days ... if you slip up and eat something you will just end up prolonging the difficulty.  I didnt try those specific shakes, i was on optifast.  But dont discount the vanilla ... if you have some flavoring like the tonani/davinci syrups or packs of crystal light ... they can be pretty versatile. I had 4 shakes a day, so between those and drinking tons of water, i didnt really have time to be hungry.  I was also allowed steamed low carb vegetables if i got stuck (brocoli was my savior a few times!).  Also chicken broth (I didnt like the actual broth but i did like making a cup-a-soup and straining out all the chucks and noodle with a fine mesh stainer)

As for weight loss, please remember that pre-op diet NOT really about losing weight.  It's about reducing the size and inflammation of the liver and preparing your body for surgery.  Stuff like surgars, carbs, grains, fats, oils .. these cause inflammation.  They also result in  your liver (and muscles) to store glycogen and the associated waters (this makes your liver big and hard to manipulate).  When you do the pre-op diet, you will lose a bit of fat just around the liver and other internal organs, but the majority of the weight loss will be your glycogen, storage water, and inflammation fluids.  How much you lose depends on how much muscle mass you have.

I started my pre-op diet at 366 lbs and i lost 16 lbs over the 2 weeks.  Some people lose nothing, some people lose 30lbs.  The 2 weeks after surgery, when i was eating hardly nothing, i lost 14 lbs.  pretty big numbesr because i started so big