Well, once a surgery date is set, HRRH has an element in their program that requires one to use a product called Optifast for a number of weeks before surgery... usually 2 or 3 weeks. I was on Optifast for three weeks and during that time lost 20 lbs. The remaining 30 lbs I have lost has all been post op.
As for the speed of the process, I have a friend who went from referral to surgery in 3 months! And I've heard of folks who have had to wait 2 years. As you said, different centres seem to have different speeds.
As a further note, the Optifast is NOT covered by OHIP and costs about $100 a week.
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Just as an example... I just had a bowl of chili... high protein content with beef, beans, etc. But the bowl was a small desert bowl, not a soup sized bowl. And I feel full.
It takes a bit of adjustment in cooking and eating, but it all works for me. Recently I went out to Boston Pizza for a meal and had one of their appetizer dishes which was 6 chunks of bacon wrapped steak. I was only able to eat 4 and brought the other two home for a later snack.
I cannot eat some foods.... white bread... I had a bowl of chili from Tim Hortons which came with a white bread roll and butter. Before, that would have gone down right away, but now my stomach does not like it. I had one bite of it and had to spit it out. I gave away all my Kraft Dinner and pasta.....
No carbonated drinks : pop, beer, soda water, etc...
Aside from that I can eat just about anything... just in smaller quantities. No more gorging myself at the buffet.
