Obesity occurs not in the course of one night, but it’s the consequence of years of unhealthy habits, stressful life, lack of motivation, and so on. So, there is no doubt putting these habits away and picking up new healthy ones is not easy and can’t happen immediately.
Even though I have explained everything about the pre-surgery diet in a specific article, but I’ll give you a brief summary of the purpose so that you can understand the consequences of cheating on your diet, and, finally, how to stick to it more easily.
What do we aim for?
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After consulting, if your surgeon recommended you a pre-op diet, that means there is a chance that you or your surgeon may face complications during and after your surgery. This recommendation is given regarding your BMI and other health conditions. Basically, the purpose is to reduce the complication risks.
1- It Shrinks Your Liver
Having a big liver increases the chance of complications and makes the whole surgery procedure more difficult for your bariatric surgeon because the fatty liver may prevent your surgeon to find your stomach.
2- Helps Your Body to Adapt to a Healthier Lifestyle
The sooner you start making basic changes in your life, the easier your post-op life will be, and of course, the higher your surgery’s success rate is.
3- Empties Your Stomach
This is especially achieved after the 2-day liquid diet because, with a full stomach, the surgery is canceled! The liquid diet, contrary to general belief, might not be necessary, but you should stop eating at 10 p.m. and stop drinking at midnight.
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What Happens if You Cheat on Your Pre-op Diet?
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First of all, you can never trick your surgeon. Your intestine tract and stomach must be empty before the surgery, and your surgeon will check your body before the actual operation to see if there is food in your stomach. Whether you’re having a sleeve gastrectomy or gastric bypass surgery, not following your doctor’s advice puts you at risk both during and after surgery. If they’re not empty, surgery will be either canceled or postponed.
Your big liver causes problems with your surgery. As I’ve mentioned earlier, a big liver puts the whole surgery at risk. If you don’t want to add up to the complications, please stick to your diet.
If you put all the habit-changing processes after the surgery, you’re doubling your hassle. Post-op diet is much stricter, and if you teach your body that you can cheat during this phase, your body will tend to cheat on your pre-op diet.
What to Do If I cheat?
First and foremost, be honest with your doctor. Don’t be afraid of the cancellation of your surgery. It will be postponed to the time when your body is ready.
Also, this is not always the case because sometimes patients cheat on their pre-op diet at the beginning of their new eating habits, so there’s still time to get back on track. Just tell your surgeon and dietitian. With their help, you can take the proper course of action.
Tips to Eat Healthily before Weight Loss Surgery
1. Fill your fridge with healthy food.
If you don’t have unhealthy food, you’re making your options more limited. But if you put junk food right in front of your eyes, you’re just tempting yourself every moment. So, start shopping healthily. We’ve got a complete healthy shopping list for bariatric patients here.
2. Stay away from the junk food section in supermarkets.
Don’t even think about checking those parts. Your happy place is where vegetables, fruits, and proteins are found. Try making a shopping list and sticking up with it. You’ll just focus on the list and won’t tempt yourself during your shopping.
3. Know what you consume
Carbohydrates turn into sugar in the body and these foods are not only bread, rice, and pastry. Some of the natural foods also consume sugar. If you consume a fruit or a vegetable that has high level of sugar, your blood sugar level will rapidly increase and consequently rapidly decrease. When this happens, you will feel an extreme urge to eat, and you won’t be able to control your portions. Also, your body will want to increase the sugar level immediately, so you will be directed to eat foods that are basically carbs. It is also known that caffeine urges you to eat more and frequently.
4. Follow your designed diet.
Most dietitians provide their patients with a detailed diet before and after the surgery. In case your dietitian just offers you some general guidelines, but you feel like you need an organized, detailed eating plan, just ask them to give you one.
5. When necessary, consult with your dietitian.
Your dietitian, bariatric surgeon, and psychiatrist are like your family. Even if you hide some things from your family, don’t do this with them. Rest assured, they know what’s best for you, they won’t judge you and will definitely help you!
6. Increase your water intake
Water is a miracle beverage. Not only will it fasten your weight loss process but also it will increase your energy level, prevent headaches, and relieve constipation. An average person should consume 90 ounces per day. Drinking that amount of water will keep your stomach full. However, there is also another matter here. Drinking not only water but also any kind of beverage with your meals will shorten the digestion process. Consequently, you will hungry sooner and will have an urge to eat.
7. Motivate yourself.
This tip helps you to stay on track for the rest of your life. Whenever you feel like you want to disobey your eating rules, think about all the hassle you’ve gone through, all the challenges obesity has brought up, and how you can change all this for the better.
8. Exercise
Being active will distract your focus on food, and you will lose weight faster. This will motivate you before your surgery as this weight loss is so much less than you will after the surgery. Personal trainers suggest cardio for people who wants to lose weight. If high-intensity training is too much for you, you can just start hiking on a daily basis to be more active. Also, because of the dopamine hormones, even if you feel more tired, you will feel happy.
9. Sleep
Even though an inactive action, sleeping burns a great number of calories and gives you energy at the same time. This activity creates miracles if given the right amount of time. An average person should sleep approximately 8 hours a day. Regarding many obese or overweight people suffer from sleep apnea, quality sleep is not very possible for them. However, there are ways to treat this. Losing weight by exercising will help you before your surgery. Minimizing alcohol intake and smoking less will give you relief.
If you have any questions, just ask me in the comments section 
