2 week diet, is it really necessary?

 I gotta say I don't get it.  No medical study I could find says it helps.  I've already lost 30+ lbs on my pre-surgery lifestyle change and really this seems to me a make fattie pay sorta thing.  I'll do it because my doc expects it but I'm going to grumble about it the entire time.

On the plus side I'm finally 2 weeks out.  Been working on this since August so it's about time.

 Seems to me its kinda like boot camp when someone goes into the military.  You have to break your mind and body of the old habits or your not going to be successful in the long run.  You have to get into shape before you go into actual combat.  Train the soldier on how to fight and be in shape both physically and mentally to prepare for the enemy bullets that will be coming his way.

It's not easy and yes it does suck.  It does seem quite necessary though to prepare for the major life altering event that you are about to undergo.

 I've already lost a fair bit of weight in the time up to now and it is different on the other side of surgery or else we wouldn't bother.  I don't see that it really does anything but break you down and make you god awful tired before a major surgery.

I've been in basic training, not anything like it really.

 Well congrats on your weight loss so far!  I'm very sorry that you don't agree, though you did say that it breaks you down, which was what I was saying its supposed to do.  Breaking your mind of the old habits of eating so it won't be so hard to adjust after wards when you can't eat for a month.

I thought I would think of something having to do with the psychology of it all rather then the usual "you have to shrink your liver"  statements that I knew were going to be following my post.   That's all well and good but, the surgeon is going to do the surgery for his money whether you shrink your liver or not.  I know your pissed off about having to do this.  I was too.  On day 4 I was going so crazy that my NUT told me I could replace 2 shakes a day with 2 very small meals of meat/fish.  That helped quite a lot!  But don't beat up my cool analogy ha ha! 

I always tried to look at it like it was my mind that needed to change its way of thinking more so then the whole liver shrinking business and that was what I was trying to explain to you in the analogy.  Doesn't basic training kind of "harden" your mind and toughen you up to get ready for the possibility of combat?  Didn't basic training get you into better physical shape?  Yet, my analogy is nothing like it really?  

Well that's how I got through the liquid diet by thinking I was getting my mind tough and ready to handle what was coming, my battle with food.  

My doc's official answer for pre-op diet was this: fat cells release hormones in your body that cause an inflammation response. If your body is inflamed, you have greater danger in surgery. Also the liver must shrink in order to give the doc sufficient "room" to safely complete the surgery without damaging your liver. My doc is a former military doc and he is quite no non-sense and I have not received one scare tactic message from him, so I buy that being his reason for wanting his patients on pre-op diet. Insurance may have guidelines for this as well(if you aren't a self-pay. I was self-pay so he had no reason other than medical--or mental--to have me diet immediately before surgery).

I have heard stories of people not having surgery because their liver hadn't "shrunk" enough, but these may just be urban legend as I know of no one directly to whom this occurred.

My other also believed the diet was a test of a person's dedication to the process. She thought it was to see if I was "serious" enough to succeed at this. Could be torture too

My surgeon said that doing a low fat, high protein diet (he wanted full liquid protein smoothies for two weeks) shrinks the liver.  I didn't do any research to see if he had any evidence to back this up, but as a health care provider, I do know that low fat, high protein willl shrink the liver some, so that was good enough for me.  If your liver is smaller, then there is less risk of injury to the liver when doing your surgery.

Again, I haven't done any research to see if there is any evidence to back this up in medical articles or research or such.

AND.....IT'S OK TO GRUMBLE ABOUT IT!!!  

I was supposed to do either a 2 week low cal diet consisting of only green veggies, 2 protein shakes and water or a 9 day liquid diet.
I made it 3 days. I couldn't do it. If I could do that, I wouldn't be fat to begin with. I don't have the self-control.
This surgery makes me have self-control.
I don't think it was necessary to do the diet. My doctor had zero issues with my surgery, I am already ten lbs down, and its only been like 5 days.

 The 2 week diet is, in most cases, a liver shrinking diet.  The primary purpose is not to force you to lose weight, but rather to shrink your liver so that there is a clearer path to the stomach.  Also, by reducing the fat in your liver during this time the outside becomes less slippery.  That makes it easier for the surgeon to handle and reduces the risk of an accidental injury.  

In my own case, I considered the two week diet the start of my surgical journey (as opposed to my weight loss journey which I started months earlier).  I wanted to make the surgeon's job as easy as possible so that the odds of a successful outcome would increase.  By thinking of this as the first stage of the surgery, I didn't think of it as depravation but rather as a signal that change was coming.

Hope that helps.

The pre-op diet is often an insurance requirement or a doctors preference.

My doctor does not require a pre-op diet. I lost 100% of my weight loss post-op and have kept the weight off without much effort.

Laughing I kind of felt the same way but  did it,  and  it  was  ok.   If you think that is  hard,  wait  till post op, each doctor is different,  but  mine  it total  clear liquids  for 2  weeks,  5  days  and  aready  getting to me,  but  about  to great creative.    .  Good  lucj