tips on losing wt before surgery?

Hi MaybeBaby, I am kind of doing what HollirRose said. I am eating no carbs (no breads, pastas, rice, or potatoes). I am only eating carbs that are in green veggies and cauliflower and yogurt. I was only eating about 1000 calories a day, but I upped it to 1200 because I started getting hunger headaches. I also try and drink 4x16.9 oz bottles of water a day, that is a minimum.

On the week days I eat a Greek yogurt and beef jerky for breakfast,; on the weekends, I eat 1/2 cup of Egg Beaters scrambled with mushrooms, onions, green peppers and 1 ounce cheddar cheese. Today for lunch I am having a 1/4 cup green pepper slices and 1/4 cup tomatoes slices sprinkled with Mrs. Dash and a little salt; and ham roll-ups (6 small slices ham with 1/6 string cheese stick an sliced dill pickle rolled up in each slice). For dinner I am eating 3 oz. pork steak sauteed with mushrooms and onions; cauliflower cooked in 1/4 ff milk with 1 oz cheddar cheese on top.

My nutritionist gave me a list of foods I should be eating and should not be eating and a way to measure foods without measuring cups (palm of hand 3 oz meat, handful of anything=a cup, etc.) I don't have it down to a science, but I have lost about 20 pounds since 12/9. I get off track some days and eat something that I shouldn't, which makes me want to eat more of it, usually a carb food, but then I struggle to get back on the wagon to eat the way I am supposed to. I think it will be a life-long challenge, but I'm up for it 

This is a post I made yesterday to someone asking if we had any advice on things we would have done differently if we could do this over again. I think this applies to you because this will also help you to lose weight:

I have two for you that if I had to do it all over again I would totally have done. 

#1 Hit the Gym - While you can still eat and you have your body weight go to the gym and hit the weights, build as much new muscle as you can and eat tons of protein while doing it. Anything you build between now and your surgery will benefit you greatly later. The more lean muscle you have later the more calories you burn at rest. So hit the gym and go crazy working your legs, chest, and arms the biggest muscles you have. You are going to lose a lot of muscle one you start the pre-op diet so you want to gain as much as you can now.

#2 Start taking Scivation Xtend, this is a post-workout drink that helps to preserve muscle. It is being used by a study down here for chemotherapy patients during treatment to ensure they do not lose any muscle mass during treatment. They are seeing a lot of positive results with little to no muscle loss. Body Builders take it to not lose any muscle post-workout. It is 5 calories per serving and 0 carb so it will fit into your clear liquids no matter which stage you are in. You will want to start taking it now post-workout and then several times a day once you start pre-op diet and then you can really continue to take it until well past your return to full foods. There are other products like it but the Scivation product is particularly good, tastes pretty good and will make it easier to get your water in. The best part in you will come out the other side with much more muscle than you would have had otherwise. I am still not back to my pre-surgery strength and its been over a year of working out. Its harder to build muscle after surgery so take advantage of everything you can now.

For me the most amazing tool I have learn so far is using www.myfitnesspal.com to log everything I eat. I put my self on a  1200 calorie diet before my surgery and lost  40 lbs.  These are the 3 things that worked best for me :

Log everything even the bad stuff because then you can see your patterns and when I had bad food I would try to exercise more.

Planning ahead, Every Sunday I  would cook something to take to lunch everyday, usually chili or a soup, I would put , carrots, snap peas and celery in zip lock snack bag to take to work and everyday for breakfast I had a  cup of cottage cheese and strawberries for breakfast. Because I already knew everyday what I was going to have for breakfast and lunch I did not have to make last minute decision ..and I was able to control my hunger by eating before I was starving which in the past would lead to me making bad food choice.

Lastly move...every little bit helps. I would walk for  15 mintues at a time  3-4 times a day.  At home I would set the timer on my stove for  15 mins and walk around in my kitchens, dining/living area , so it was a big circle but it is not much different than a tread mill.

Logging my food has truly been the biggest change I have made in this journey

good luck

I lost 40 pounds before surgery, I was assigned a dietitian through my bariatric surgery center.  They gave me a huge notebook on the surgery and how to eat before and after surgery.  This is what I did before going on a liquid diet.  It was a tough transition and I am glad I did not try to go from my regular eating habits to a liquid diet without this step.

• tracked everything you eat and drink (even before the surgery).
• eat 6 times a day to keep metabolism at its peak
• cut carbs down to nearly nothing.  stop eating breads or processed foods.
• cut out all forms of drinking calories and caffeine.  No (diet)pop or (decaf)coffee.  (this caused huge headaches for about 2 weeks)
• meals are protein and veggies only.  no Breading on meats, or frying of foods
• snacks were small fruits, small apples, 1/2 banana
• drink a min 80 oz of water day
• eat 80 g of protein a day
• stop drinking during meals, stop 15 min before and do not start until 30 min after