Pre-op diet

As I was researching VSG (vertical sleeve gastrectomy), I saw many different versions of the pre-op liver shrinking diet.  The majority of them were some version of an all-liquid or mostly liquid diet.  Protein shakes and sugar free jello, two meals of protein shakes and one meal of lean protein and vegetables, some lasted two weeks, some up to four weeks, some allowed only clear liquids for the final three days before surgery.

Mine came with only one restriction:  no more than 40g of carbs a day.  It hasn't been difficult at all to stick to it.  In fact, the only thing that has been difficult is to get in as many calories as I should.

The scale went insane, and I lost nine pounds in the first five days.  Crazy!  Right around then was when I started to have a hard time getting enough calories, and for about a week, the scale didn't move much-- just a fraction of a pound here and there.

Over the weekend I got my 1200 calories each day, and I'm happy to say I was down another 2.4 pounds this morning.  Yay!  That's 13.6 pounds I've lost since I started this almost two weeks ago.  That is insane for two weeks.  Yeah, I know a lot of it is water, but it's fun to see anyway.  Too bad I can't trust  myself to stick with this for the long haul without the help of a teeny stomach.  I could save $20,000 (actually, with all the pre-screenings and PCP visits and prescriptions, there's another $2000 added to that).  Unfortunately, my problem is less losing weight than it is keeping it off.

I don't know what sparked the scale to move again.  I hate to believe it was getting the calories in, because after surgery it's going to be quite some time before I'll be able to get that many calories in one day.  For the first couple of days it'll be almost no calories.  Once I work up to full liquids, which should start around the third day after surgery, I'll be lucky to get 500 calories in.  I'll only be able to drink/eat around 1/3 of a cup at a time, and I'm sure I'll have to work up to that.

Whatever.  I should stop worrying about that.  This surgery is a proven weight loss method.  I might post more later about my fears there.