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It sounds to me like you've already identified some things you know you could change. I'm a big believer in making lots of small, but sustainable changes, rather than huge diet "resets". By that I mean, maybe for the next couple of weeks, you simply make sure you stop at only one glass of wine at night. Then maybe it's cutting the wine down to every other day, or maybe limiting yourself to 1 or 2 bags of chips a week. Try and make just one small change every 2-3 weeks until each small change becomes the new normal for you. Only then, add in another change. I think most people try to drastically change everything all at once and that rarely works. Again, I think you know what you need to do to get back on track, the trick is taking it step-by-step and turning the "bad" habits into good ones.

I’ve gained 15-20 due to chemo, steroids and forced menopause and have no idea how to start with the loss

Thank you. I think that is what I will do. Perhaps will try this much later after, or will just be happy with what I am doing and not want to try. [emoji846] Sent from my SM-G998U using BariatricPal mobile app

This is a fantastic point! The surgery is just a tool, and plenty of people have surgery and fail. Those that are successful have made fundamental changes to the way they eat. OP: either way, if you want to be successful with or without surgery, you'll need to change your relationship with food. For you at your low BMI, that may be enough even without surgery.

Doctors are all over the map with their opinions on drinking post WLS, probably similar to their views on drinking to begin with if I had to guess. My team said it was okay at three months for a special occasion. I have to say it’s not the same as it was pre WLS. I may be one of the few willing to admit but when I drink I do it to get a buzz, lol. Post WLS the buzz comes and goes in like ten minutes for me. I can’t drink fast enough to maintain it and probably would kill myself trying. It’s almost not worth it to me. Waste of calories. That being said my real advice is if you do decide you want to do it try it at home first. Your body may react welrd and the last thing you want is to feel sick or get sloppy drunk on your birthday off one drink. And make sure there is a designated driver around. I still worry about how long it stays in our system and all that being different than before.

From a medical standpoint I have to agree with your nutritionist. Alcohol is a poisonous liquid that has no real nutritional value on its own. Also, WLS patients are more likely to suffer from transfer addiction which includes alcohol. From a WLS patient perspective, one drink isn’t the end of the world and if that’s how you choose to spend your birthday then that’s your business. Just choose a really good drink and just have the one as alcohol can affect people different after surgery.

I agree about adding some milk to thin out the shakes. I do that. I also add a pinch of salt sometimes. I can do about 4 oz of protein drink at a time. I also have a good broth that I generally have for "lunch" and "dinner" and I put a non-flavored protein in the dinner one, so that helps me a lot. I'm just dipping my toes in puree, so I'm not really eating enough of that where it is worth putting protein in it - there's just not enough food. So, for now, I'm stuck with the shakes, clear protein, and broth. There are a ton of unflavored proteins out there, though, that maybe you could put in a warm drink? I am supposed to do 2 multis a day and I do 1 chewable and 1 capsule. I tried taking apart the capsule and it was worse than the chewable!

For clarity, the 65 pounds lost is from when I started working with the bariatric program. I actually lost about 50 of that pre-op. I'm only 1 month post op at this time and lost 16 pounds in month one. I'll definitely keep everyone updated. I suspect as I get closer to goal both of these images will still be there, but hopefully the "fat me" one will fade over time!

In the first month or so, I experienced this too but it went back to normal in the later months (thank goodness).

in addition to what kcuster83 said (which I agree with), stomachs don't "churn" nearly as much after surgery than they did before....so it's doubly important to chew things really well before swallowing. So that could be another factor (although I agree with the dryness of chicken - lots of people have issues with chicken the first few weeks or months because of that)