optifast struggle

[Dawn]

Hello friends. I'm having a very rough day. I started opti again yesterday and yesterday was okay today not so much. I've done a lot of therapy to deal with emotional eating and head hunger. I thought I had them under control. Today scares the crap out of me that they are not under control. I feel if I can't do this opti and be successful how can I be successful after surgery. I cheated tonight and had half of my son's leftover hotdog. Feeling hopeless :-(.

 

[Elizabeth N.]

Optifast is nothing like life with wls.

 

[Dawn]

In my opinion it kinda is. There is 3 weeks of full liquids after surgery that is pretty much exactly what I'm allowed to have now. Once I'm pass the 6 weeks it becomes different.

 

[brooklyngirl]

I struggled hardcore with the pre op diet. This is not to say that I don't struggle with carbs nowadays, but not nearly to the same degree as a pre op and what I do have now didn't start creeping back in until month 9ish, after I had lost almost 200 pounds and got cocky!

 

[southernlady]

In my opinion it kinda is. There is 3 weeks of full liquids after surgery that is pretty much exactly what I'm allowed to have now. Once I'm pass the 6 weeks it becomes different.

Actually EN means long term life with WLS.

What you are going thru right now and the few weeks after surgery is just a bump in the long road ahead of living with WLS. You do have to heal but once that is done, full steam ahead and it doesn't even come close to how we eat long term.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

In my opinion it kinda is. There is 3 weeks of full liquids after surgery that is pretty much exactly what I'm allowed to have now. Once I'm pass the 6 weeks it becomes different.

Yeah, but...THEN you will have about 15% of the stomach you currently have, your guts will be adjusting to the insult they receive and everything will taste like shit. Not eating stuff that tastes like shit is way easier than this.

BTW, my surgeon is VERY experienced and I had no pre-op diet. Like almost all of his patients, I survived. Just sayin'.

 

[Dawn]

I know when I had my rny I didn't have to do opti and it turned out fine.

 

[Charris]

Thank God dr Keshishian doesn't require preop diet. He said dr who make patients do that diet should have to do it along with them.

Good luck you can do it

 

[Larra]

After your DS you will have a completely different stomach, different intestinal configuration, different metabolism...no, what you are doing now is not remotely like life after the DS. But you won't be able to appreciate that until you get there.

And I also didn't have a pre-op diet, except for one day of clear liquids.

 

[Dawn]

Thank you so much everyone for the reality check .

 

[Munchkin]

Optifast is nothing like real life post DS. Don't be shocked that you find it difficult to live on a starvation diet. We are not SUPPOSED to be happy on a starvation diet.

 

[Elizabeth N.]

ah, you are rny revision. Now I get it.

 

[JackieOnLine]

why is a revision different?

Dawn, IMO an opti fast is the opposite of success long-term after WLS where you learn to eat food when hungry. it's stupid and mean to require it but, of course, "I am not a doctor"

my understanding is eating LOW CARB before surgery helps make your liver less slippery so a complication is less likely....

 

[Larra]

Now less slippery, but some surgeons want their patients to lose some weight and eat very low calorie for a couple weeks pre-op to shrink the liver and make the surgery easier. If the patient has a really fatty liver, it also helps to remove some fat from the liver and firm it up, which makes retracting the liver out of the way easier.
Other surgeons are very comfortable working around a big liver and don't insist on this requirement. But overall I agree, bariatric surgery is supposed to help people eat more normally, not to leave people needing artificial programs like Optifast (which has a low longterm success rate, by the way, though it will lower your weight short term).

 

[Elizabeth N.]

why is a revision different?

Dawn, IMO an opti fast is the opposite of success long-term after WLS where you learn to eat food when hungry. it's stupid and mean to require it but, of course, "I am not a doctor"

my understanding is eating LOW CARB before surgery helps make your liver less slippery so a complication is less likely....

Sorry, I truncated that thought: She's had RNY, lost and regained and now is getting a DS revision. This is the piece of information that explained to me her fear of failure due to "noncompliance" with this idiotic, draconian, unnecessary regimen. @Dawn I hope it's clear that I'm growling at your doc there, not you .

I now understand better where you're coming from, and I want to assure you that life after DS will be utterly different. Your food choices will expand exponentially, making compliance a LOT easier--as long as you avoid the diet of a carboholic, that is!