Preparing for Your Bariatric Surgery

Written by Rebekah Irwin, APRN, Bryan Bariatric Advantage

One of the first things you will need to do to prepare for your bariatric surgery is to begin a diet. This may seem strange. After all, you are preparing for a surgery to help with weight loss so why do you need to diet to prepare for the surgery? There are many very important reasons why this is necessary for your health and your long-term success.

Why do we put you on a pre-bariatric surgery diet?

• To reduce the size of the liver. Why do we care about liver size? The liver sits directly over the stomach and since that is where all your surgery takes place we want to make the surgery as uncomplicated as possible for you as well as your surgeon
• The proper pre-surgery diet will shrink the liver itself. If the liver is too large it may cause a delay in your bariatric surgery or require the surgery to be performed as an open procedure instead of laparoscopic procedure
• To improve surgical outcomes and recovery time. Reduced fat around the liver and spleen can result in decreased complication rates for patients
• Increased protein intake will help with tissue and muscle repair after surgery
• This will help prepare you and your body for the post-bariatric surgery diet and the permanent change your body will be experiencing

Other pre-surgery diet tips:

• Decrease sugary foods
• Decrease fatty foods such as fried foods, sweets, fatty meats, etc.
• Decrease high carbohydrate foods such as cookies, cakes, white breads, bagels, sugary cereals, potatoes, etc.
• Avoid alcohol
• Avoid eating too much or binging as this will cause you to become very sick after surgery

Final pre-surgery advice to help achieve the best outcome:

Avoid the urge to have ‘one last big meal’ before surgery. This ‘last meal’ often creates more harm than good as it only adds on additional weight and could put you at risk for additional complications.

Important to remember before and after your surgery

• Become very familiar with the different types of protein sources whether in the form of protein drinks or foods that are high in protein
• Daily recommended amount of protein is 80 grams