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Had my first wine at 4 months. Had first hard liquor (vodka and whiskey) about six months out. Can't do beer at all...too much carbonation. I did manage to drink hard cider after letting it set over ice for a bit. I probably drink alcohol 3-4 times/month. I did have 2-3 cocktails everyday for 10 days straight when I was on vacation and then at a conference back in October. The 3 notable results were....1) I discovered alcohol does not affect me any differently than preop...I barely get buzzed. 2) that much alcohol gave an upset stomach (gastritis) that was fortunately fixed with 10 days of omeprazole, and 3) I gained 4 pounds that was most likely Water weight because it came off easily in a week. I know transfer addictions can happen after bariatric surgery, and I definitely used to turn to food AND alcohol for comfort. So I make it a point to NOT drink when I'm sad or upset or stressed. I consider those "trigger emotions" and make sure I do not default to the old habits during those times.

Guess I would have made a very bad bariatric program patient! I don't own a scale, I have no idea how many calories I consume and I certainly don't remember what I ate last week. ????. Not to mention the words I would have used if anyone told me I wasn't losing fast enough.

I concentrated on getting 64oz liquids first, but since almost everything I drank contained protein, I was hitting both liquid and protein goals (60+g) by 5 days out. The funny thing is it got harder to meet liquid goals once I was in pureed and soft food stages because just a couple tablespoons would make me full for hours and it was hard to drink. I had to make sure I had most of my fluids in before I ever ate, usually sometime in the middle of the afternoon.

Well here's their official "under 200 calories" drink list..... (The carbs can be found if you check the nutritional info for each individual drink) Caramel Frappuccino® Light Blended Beverage. 100 coffee Frappuccino® Blended Beverage 180 Teavana® Shaken Iced Passion Tango™ Tea 0 Shaken Tazo® Iced Black Tea Lemonade 100 Nonfat Iced Vanilla Latte 120 Nonfat Iced Caramel Macchiato 140 Iced Coffee (with classic syrup) 60 Iced Skinny Latte 70 Brewed Coffee 5 Brewed Tea 0 Nonfat Green Tea Latte 210 Nonfat Cappuccino 60 Nonfat Caffè Latte 100 Nonfat Caramel Macchiato 140 Soy Chai Tea Latte 180 Nonfat Caffè Mocha – hold the whip 170 Skinny Vanilla Latte 100 Steamed Apple juice 170 Caffè Americano 10 All suggestions based on a Tall serving (12 fl oz / 355 ml).

I make my own at home. This morning had a "Venti Salted Carmel Mocha decaf"....Italian roast decaf coffee, premium protein chocolate "creamer", and two squirts Torani SF caramel syrup. 20oz, 25 calories, 4g protein, <1g carbs and about 50 cents. Compare to Starbuck's Venti Salted Cafe Mocha (with skim milk and no whipped cream)...400 calories, 17g protein, 77 carbs!!! and almost $5.00. Sorry to be a smartass, but I always thought Starbucks was a ripoff.

Boy, I thought MY policy options sucked! At least I was able to find something with a $5000 deductible, which really only makes my policy good for major catastrophes (if the insurance company decides they want to cover it...they wouldn't pay for my WLS or my fecal transplant). So despite paying $3600 in premiums for insurance, I still ended up forking out another $10,000 in the last 12 months. What a great healthcare system we have! Sounds like we're both in that working class zone that got screwed by Obamacare.... We make too much to qualify for free healthcare, but not enough to afford the outrageous premiums for a decent policy. I had much better coverage, lower deductible and lower premium before healthcare became so "affordable". Sorry for the rant, but this is a major pet peeve of mine. Glad all went well with your surgery!

This is YOUR journey, not your surgeon's. F***ck their textbook approach and expected weight loss tables. Take responsibility for your own choices and let your body lose at its own pace. It took me 3 months to lose 30 pounds and I didn't have anyone breathing down my neck, telling me it wasn't good enough. Every pound I lost was a success story, and no matter how slow it may have come off, I still reached and even passed my goals. Besides, losing slower is healthier and SHAME ON YOUR DOCTOR putting unnecessary pressure on you to lose x amount by a certain date.

Thanks for the info....I checked goodrx and the best price was $36 for #30 250mg at Walgreens, (which is a 90 min drive away). They didn't have the 300mg, and taking 2 a day still puts me at $72/ month. I used to pay like $24 at my local pharmacy. Unfortunately, I don't have another TJ trip planned and since the ursodial didn't work to prevent gall bladder issues in the first 8 months I guess i don't see the point. But I will talk to my PCP about it again.

Do you have to stay with gluten free? If not, Bob's Red Mill makes a 10-grain hot cereal that has 24g protein and 20g fiber per cup. A serving is 1/4 cup, so that's 6g protein/5g fiber. I make 1 serving and then add 1/4 scoop vanilla protein powder and a couple tablespoons of of milk that brings the protein up to 12g. Add in a handful of blueberries and some flax seed for even more fiber, and it makes a very filling breakfast.

I had surgery Dec 20 last year. Attended 2 Christmas parties, a birthday party and a funeral while on my liquid preop diet. I just brought my Protein drink along and drank it along with a lot of Water at each of these "food frenzy" events. Everyone knew I was having surgery, so my strange eating behavior was not questioned. Everyone just felt bad for me and I had to reassure them that I was fine and they did not need to feel bad about eating in front of me. No sense all of us suffering! It was tough, but I was 100% committed to my decision, and that was just a part of the process. I was 5 days postop on Christmas Day, so again, I was on Grandma's couch, sipping my Protein shake and watching everyone eat a delicious meal. But I had no appetite postop, so it was actually easier. And I had a great time visiting with family and friends and watching everyone open presents. New Year's Day was the first one I woke up without a hangover in at least 25 years! But really, I was just so excited about finally getting started with my new life, that I don't feel like I missed out on anything. I was still with friends and family, doing all the things that matter, just not stuffing my face. And this year everything is back to "normal", other than I'm 100 pounds lighter and although I can eat whatever I want, the "stuffing my face" days are over. sounds like you will be super busy, so that's probably a good way to get through your preop jitters. Try and enjoy the holidays and know that you will be a new and healthier person this time next year!

That's how I feel exactly. Freedom to live a normal life and never have to diet again. 1 year out and 12 pounds under goal. Love my sleeve!

Weird, because they told me they'd do it for $500, too.

OCC didn't Rx it, but my PCP did. I was taking 300mg BID. Then the price skyrocketed this summer. I had already lost 90% of my weight at that point and since I still had attacks and sludge despite taking it, I didn't feel it was worth the insane price to keep taking it.

My insurance doesn't cover WLS, so I was self pay. I went to Obesity Control Center in TJ. Smooth recovery, no complications, feeling great and at 1 year out am easily maintaining at 12 pounds under goal. I used the money I had been saving for a down payment on a new truck plus about $1000 on a credit card which I paid off within 2 months with my tax refund. Best money I ever spent and I love driving my skinny self around in my 15 year old truck! (Oops, sorry I just saw this was the lap band forum. But Dr. Ortiz at OCC has extensive experience with lapbands...he actually worked with the guy that invented the band and used to teach the procedure to US doctors)

Like others said, the postop diet plans vary immensely. Were you given any heads up on what to expect? As for me it was 3 days clear liquid, day 4-18 full liquid, day 18-28 pureed, day 28-40 soft foods, and after that anything but nuts, seeds and other really crunchy stuff which was restricted for 3 months. So my answer to your friends question is I could eat normal around 7 weeks after surgery.

I never got tired of liquids. Besides the dozens of Protein shake flavor options and variations, I added unflavored protein to every cream soup and broth I could find....all of the Swanson soup bases, cream of chicken, cream of spinach, cream of shrimp, lobster bisque, tomato, butternut squash, cream of asparagus, potato leek, French onion. I just diluted, blended and strained any soups with chunks. I carried over all of these options to the pureed stage, but just didn't strain the soups after blending.

Actually, I didn't find that at all. I could out drink a football team preop and I was looking forward to being a lightweight. Unfortunately I don't feel it hit any stronger or faster than before. Granted, I'm not drinking mass quantities in one sitting anymore, but the 3-4 drinks I've had on a few occasions barely give me a buzz. And definitely not worth the gastric upset it gives me.

Elias Ortiz or Ariel Ortiz? I had surgery with A Ortiz and I asked about getting my gall bladder out at the same time. He doesn't normally do it, but said he would if I really wanted. $500 extra. In the end I chose not to, but have had too extremely painful gall bladder attacks at 6 and 8 months postop. Ultrasound showed no stones, just sludge. Silly me, I'm waiting for a 3rd attack before considering surgery. But it's been 4 months since the last one so...... Do you have gall bladder problems or are you considering doing it for just in case? I've had two relatives have bad GI complications after having their gall bladders out, so that's part of my reluctance.

You can dilute it with milk or water. Then just blend and strain it so there are no chunks. I diluted, strained and added unflavored protein powder to cream of everything....asparagus, chicken, shrimp, mushroom, celery, potato, spinach, potato leek soup, butternut squash soup, tomato soup, lobster bisque, etc. Did the same with strained wonton, hot and sour, tortilla and French onion soups. I never got bored with my options in my liquid food stage.

I am hungry and eat every 3 hours or so, too. But I've never had a grilled cheese while I Was still losing. Way too many carbs. Are you getting 60-80g everyday? If not, that may help with your hunger. Bread is a slider with almost no nutrition and will not keep you hungry. Stick with protein and veggies at this point. That's pretty much all I ate until I was close to goal and then I added in more full fat dairy and carbs in the form of fruit and whole grains. It's great that you have no food intolerances, just be careful what you CHOOSE to eat.

I've liked all of the Muscle Milk I've tried....cake batter, red velvet cake, banana cream and strawberry cream. Premier Protein chocolate is probably my favorite chocolate. I also like premier strawberry, but the vanilla is not my favorite. I like it as creamer in my coffee and tea, but not to just drink plain. Syntrax nectar cherry, lemonade, peach and apple are great summertime Protein drinks. Syntrax matrix vanilla is my goto vanilla. Garden of Life Raw Protein chai and vanilla are both good. I also add fruit and Torani syrups to my shakes for more variety. I did not like isopure grape or fruit punch...they were the only things that ever made me gag. Didn't like optimum nutrition vanilla ice cream and Not really a fan of the Jay Robb whey or egg flavors, except Piña colada. But you're right, there are so many different ones out there. You can get samples of dozens of different powders from Nashua Nutrition. Since I have a Protein shake everyday (even a year out) I just ordered a bunch to try some new flavors and so far the Bariatric fusion mint chocolate was a big thumbs down. I'll just stick with premier chocolate with peppermint Torani syrup.

If you had a cut with stitches on your arm, do you think pouring alcohol on it would feel good or help it heal? Think of your tummy like that...you have an incision running the entire length of your stomach being held together with tiny staples. Probably drinking alcohol tonight is not a good idea. Not causing a leak or abscess is way more important than what your friends think about your alcohol consumption. I made it easy on myself by just telling everyone I had surgery, so my eating and drinking habits were never questioned. Maybe ask the bartender to put Apple juice in a wine glass or sip on ice water and let em think it's pure vodka if you have to ????

You are doing fantastic! Took me 3 months to lose 30 pounds postop....that included a month long stall where I actually gained 3 pounds. Just keep doing what you're doing. Losing slow is healthier and certainly didn't keep me from reaching and even passing my goals.

You might want to pour it over ice and let it sit awhile. With champagne, it's not the alcohol so much as the bubbles. I discovered the unpleasantness of carbonation after a swallow of Mikes Hard Lemonade this summer. ????. @@Aribay1 I had wine about 4 months out, started having hard liquor cocktails around 6-7 months. Alcohol doesn't affect me any differently, but I discovered I get gastritis if I drink alcohol more than 2 days in a row (like when I was on vacation). Had to take Prilosec for 10 days till my tummy felt better. Now I only have a drink 2-3 times a month

Idaho.