I did three days. In the instructions from my doctor the number of days is based on your starting bmi. In some cases they want you to shrink your liver.

Or, every surgeon has their own "rules". Same with post op diets. Do your best, stay away from fats, make sure there's nothing but clear liquids the 24 hours before surgery. It gets easier after the 3rd day.

Different doctors have different approaches to how they look at the pre-surgery diet. The bariatric clinic that I had surgery through requires 3 weeks of clear liquid diet for 2 major reasons. First they want to shrink the liver to lessen any chance of complications as a result of the liver restricting access to the stomach. Secondly and more importantly, they find that the longer liquid diet helps in the post surgery psychology. After 3 weeks of clear liquids, the full liquid diet after surgery was simple. It also helped combat head hunger as during the clear liquid diet pre-surgery we learned to identify the difference between head hunger and real hunger.

Don't get me wrong, this was the longest 3 weeks of my life and by far the worst part of the whole surgery but I think it was worth it as post surgery life was pretty simple for me.

I agree! I don't see how 3 days is enough time to shrink the liver small enough to be moving it away from surgical site. I def understand the reason we all have to do this pre-op and it seems the longer your on liquids the safer your surgery will be. Plus the time it takes to do it. My dr explained that the liver is fat and slippery and trying to move it with instruments can be very difficult. Liquid diet shrinks it and takes away the fatty slime feel. Makes total sense��

I never even had to do a 3-10 day diet. I am so thankful.

I asked my doctor about why he required a 10 day pre-op diet and he said it does shrink the fat around the liver but more importantly it shows the patients commitment to changing how they eat and gets them to really think about food choices before they have to deal with recovery from surgery.

As others have mentioned the variance on the duration of the pre-op diet is based on several factors including the patient's starting BMI, size of liver, and the ore fence of the surgeon. Because of my size and the girth of my midsection I was put on a 3 week liquid diet. That said, I asked and was approved to do it for 5 weeks and I am so glad I did. Good luck.

Depends on the dr, insurance, etc. I didnt have a preop diet just clear liquids the day before surgery.