Pre-Op/Carbs

[jhawkchick75]

OK, so i'm doing a modified version of the pre op diet to get some weight off before I really start the pre-op in October. I'm doing 2 Atkins shakes a day then a sensible dinner and some healthy snacks. I also started doing fitday.com which I LOVE! I love the chart that shows you exactly how many calories you have eaten and the graph showing how many carbs/proteins/fat you have had.

But here is my question - on this pre-op diet I feel I am getting WAY too many carbs - am I just looking at it wrong? When I bought the shakes I made sure and got the ones that had a lower amount of carbs in them too. That is why I went with Atkins. But it still shows me as having like 25-30 percent of my diet each day being carbs. Is this OK? Just seems like a lot to me.

I know this is what they recommend so am I just being paranoid?! I want to make sure and lose enough weight before my procedure and I just don't see how i'm going to with that many carbs in my diet. I have to lose at least 10lbs before the surgery.

Thanks!!!

Shelby

[Kittycat]

That's a good question, compare your healthy dinner to a lean cuisine for carbs, fat, protein etc.

From what I have seen, the standard pre-op diet is two shakes and a lean cuisine per day, no snacks indicated.

The goal is to reduce the amount of fat in your liver to ensure it can be moved laproscopically during surgery. My surgeon told me not to focus on weight loss, just follow the plan. Sometimes fat reduction internally does not really show up on the scale.

Too many carbs convert to fat, be careful.

[jhawkchick75]

Yeah, I guess that is where my concern is. All these protein drinks seem to have a lot of carbs in them! And when that is all you have for breakfast and lunch then the large part of your food each day comes from carbs. I'm not going to weigh myself until Monday, but it just doesn't seem like I will lose a lot this way. But i'm going to give it a shot.

Suprisingly the shakes haven't been too bad! Although sometimes my brain function doesn't seem to be where it should. But the protein water seems to help a lot and they are really good. Tastes like kool aid!

[Kittycat]

Do they recommend a particular shake? Most are formulated to include everything you need for meal replacement, so I wouldn't worry about it.

You will do fine!! Good Luck!

[jhawkchick75]

They didn't tell me any in particular shakes to drink, but I did try to find one that had less carbs, but the one that had the least carbs I heard just weren't even drinkable (optifast). I know a lot of folks have done slimfast which has more sugar and carbs than the Atkins ones so I didn't know what their experience has been. I'll see what the results are on Monday, but I want to make sure i'm doing this right.