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Grace you do a great job on this board. There are just so many people here that just can't handle or accept what is the truth. Its hard to change ways that have become so ingrained that to them they see only see normal. Their view of "support" on this board and many others is some type of absolution. They want to be socially accepted for their failures without having to face the hard reality that they can't make the changes needed for success. From my time here, I've seen a lot of people that haven't reconciled their relationship with food and why they are the way they are. They come here and want easy-peasy, warm and fuzzy and if I screw up, well I'm still a great person. I think that you pulling back the covers and exposing this the way you do is what is needed on this board. This is serious stuff and you can't go through the process and not make significant lifestyle changes and expect to be successful. There seems to be a fair amount of mental preparation in this process that gets completely overlooked. I see that every day I visit here, with the questions about alcohol, eating a week after surgery and the general complaints about the pre-op diets ,people simply aren't ready or are unwilling to commit to the changes they need to be successful. Of course people will fail at this, mess up, eat what they shouldn't and so on, we all do, but coming here to gain absolution seems just asinine. Support comes in all sizes and forms. For those that get upset when they hear something that might be unpleasant, or isn't what they wanted to hear is equally foolish. I urge to you keep up the good work, you are doing a lot of good. I know that you might have to get the Kevlar socks out every now and again, but what you are doing is part of the whole process of support, the good the bad, the truth and the fluff. To the poster that wanted you go off can create your own rant group, well...If you do, I would be the first one to sign up. At least I can tell the difference from what is real and what isn't. Hang tough Grace!

I am only a month post op right now but I have noticed this with sugar. Everything sweet is like... too much, and I was a major sweets eater before surgery, probably 80% of my extra weight was put on with sweet junk food. I cant stand even a little bit of crystal light anymore, I just drink tea or water now. Juice is horrible, even the smell of it grosses me out...

there it's a post i recently read about a young woman who gained 50 of the 100 pounds she had recently lost.....we have careful

i went out with some friends at 8 weeks and had THREE mixed drinks ....a bay breeze, coconut rum n pineapple and a bahama mama. the first one went down really well and 1/2 way into the 2nd one i was feeling great! When starting to drink the 3rd one i was well lit !!!needless to say , i had acid reflux for three days and did nothing but worry .....afraid i burnt up my insides !I am at 11 weeks today , and plan on waiting awhile before i attempt again !!!!To each their own!!!

Thank you for that honest response.

I had my first drink 3 weeks out. I was at my sisters house, she didn't know about the surgery. She pored me a shot, and I knew if I didn't drink it the questions would start. I got buzzed off of that one shot...but it didn't hurt me. After that I waited a few more months to drink again. It still effects me more now then ever before. I only drink socially, and I am currently 20 pounds from my goal weight...not my surgeons goal which I passed 70 pounds ago, but my own goal. As for cross over addictions, it is very easy to develop them so we all got to watch ourselves! Good luck!

PJ please know that I'm not judging you at all. I was a pretty solid drinker in my day. But I never felt that I had to drink to be normal. A lot of times, I went out with friends and didn't drink, just wasn't into it. Other times not so much. But before this surgery, I made a commitment to my self that if I was going to crawl up on that table and let them cut out 85% of my stomach, I was going to do my part and get my body and mind in a place that I could be as healthy as possible. I wanted to eliminate a lot of my demons from my past so that they would not be part of my future. Drink was part of that. I used the opportunity that I was given to make the kind of lifestyle changes that I needed to make in order to live the kind of life that I needed to live. That was my normal. Again not judging and not trying to be all soap boxy but try to understand that normal takes on a lot of different forms and some people are just as passionate about not drinking as those that want to drink are.

I am pre-op (in liquid phase) and my Dr. insists on no alcohol for a year. I don't plan on touching a drop until that time and then it will be very moderate. Alcohol has so much sugar in it in all forms. Not for this chick for all the money sunk into this surgery. (smile)

i had to show 5 years weight history and diet history. After submitting it all i was denied. But i appealed because in one of the years, dont remember which one, they had my height wrong which made my bmi lower then 35. I sent them a snarky letter asking them if its even possible for a grown 30' something year old adult to grow 3 inches in a year and then shrink 3 inches the next year. I was approved. Took about 3 weeks for the approval but i was approved on 12/24/12 and had surgery 1/9/13. Dont give up and send it in. This is Aetna's way of hoping you give up!

The beef broth and protein shakes are for the pre-op diet and the 1st week post op. Some people continue to drink the protein shakes to get in the recommended daily protein. I rarely drink the shakes after the 2nd week post-op. I moved onto creamy soups and and a lot of chicken run through my food processor until very very finely chopped. I believe anyone that has 85% of their stomach removed will lose weight. You can't help but lose, if you are limited to 4oz of food every few hours. Now the big question is, where is your hunger coming from? Only you can figure that part out. Is it from emotional eating, boredome, stress, or is it because you have hunger pangs caused by the hormone ghrelin? From my own experience, I knew that my hunger was real (even though I had eaten 2 hours earlier, I'd be hungry again). It wasn't until I talked to my surgeon that he told me that I had an excess of the hormone ghrelin (produced by the stomach). The bigger the stomach, the more of the hormone produced. The surgery stopped my hunger pangs. I have not had that nagging sense of hunger (other than my stomach growling) since surgery 7 weeks ago. And 4 or 5 oz of food keeps me satisfied, whereas before, I could eat 1 lb of steak and know I'd be raiding the fridge in 2 hours. And I don't have any cravings anymore for certain flavors. Whereas before, I'd think about something that would taste good and I couldn't get the thought out of my head until I ate it. Don't get me wrong, you can sabotage yourself after surgery. There are foods, called slider foods, that are calorie dense (ice cream, peanut butter) that pass through the stomach quickly, so it's possible to eat more. And it is possible to just graze all day on snacks that are high in calories. The sleeve gave me the control over my eating that I needed. I really think of it as an addiction that you can't quit and never touch again. Other addictions can be quit and never touched again. But what if a heroine addict, smoker or alcoholic knew they had to take some every day or their body would die? What if they had 75 TV channels that ran commericals for cigarrets every 10 minutes during their favorite programs? Or had reality programs (like the best places to pig out or the food challenges) devoted to the best places to get their fix and showed people taking drugs and loving it? Could they just reduce the amount they took? Ok, rant over. :-)