How to Lose Weight Fast Before Surgery

You should aim to treat an impending surgery as a competitive athlete would treat a major event--prepare for it completely beforehand, and aim to come in on the big day at your "fighting weight." Keeping your body in optimal condition before the surgery can help to minimize risks along with improving your prognosis during the recovery period. While switching from your "normal" diet to a pre-surgery weight-loss diet won't be easy mentally, understand that it will afford you the best chance of coming out of the operation in one piece.

Keep track of your normal eating habits for three days prior to commencing a weight-loss diet before surgery. During this time, write down the foods you're eating along with keeping meticulous track of the caloric content of the items. As weight loss is a process of caloric deprivation, it helps to first know how much you have been eating, so that you can set a proper mark for your weight-loss efforts. Furthermore, visually seeing a list of the foods that you typically consume can help to motivate you to stick to a weight-loss diet.

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Average out your daily caloric consumption for the three-day recording period, and then subtract 300 from this total to find your initial daily caloric requirements for weight loss before surgery. If you ate 2,100, 2,300 and 1,900 calories during your "regular" diet, that averages out to be 2,100 calories per day. Based on this example, your caloric goal while dieting would be 1,800 calories per day (2,100 - 300 = 1,800).

Consume your daily caloric requirement across six small meals spread evenly throughout the day. Divide your total daily calories by six to find out how many calories to eat per meal. In the example listed above, the dieter would strive to consume 300 calories per meal (1,800/6 = 300). Keeping your food intake constant keeps your metabolism constantly burning, resulting in more efficient weight loss.

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Only consume natural foods during your dieting efforts. This means you will have to eat nothing but lean meats (served plain), fruits, vegetables, whole grains and natural fats (as from seeds, nuts, avocados, coconuts, etc.) while losing weight before surgery. Aim to consume one protein item, one fruit or vegetable, one whole grain item and one small serving of natural fat per meal.