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With any procedure over time it is more about food decisions than the actual procedure. You can gain weight back after any of them. For me logging my food always helps me when I feel off track. As pointed out by others the alcohol can add a lot of extra calories. It sounds like you are pushing yourself to eat more...if you are eating as much as your friends and cramping then you aren't listening to your body signals. If it were me, I would go back to the beginning. Do a couple of days of liquids. Then go back to the fundamentals of 60g of protein and 60 oz of water. Protein first. No liquids 30 min. before, during, or after meal. No alcohol. Reaquaint yourself with the fundamentals and then see where you are. Sent from my SM-G920V using BariatricPal mobile app

Hi Shedo / others, I think alcohol for sure has played a part for me however im just curious if any of you after a certain period of time had a moment where the sleeve almost turned off? If I can use that phrase, and felt you had to revert back to full manual control so to speak?

I've worked in drug and alcohol treatment for the past 30 years, currently running a long term residential program for men returning to the community from the county jail. What has been amazing to me since I had my sleeve done 1/22/18 are the similarities between my emotions and thinking and those that client have expressed they struggled with early in their recovery. Acceptance is a b***h, whether it's acceptance of my addiction, acceptance of a medical condition or acceptance that my days of eating a 16 oz steak are over. There is a very old reference in AA's Big Book that goes once a pickle, never a cucumber again. I have told this to clients for 20 years but it didn't settle in for personally until yesterday when I was feeling resentful after seeing a burger king ad and realizing that I could never sit and eat the hamburger. I got angry and resentful and even told myself that it was ok to have piece of ham because I deserved it. Yeah, that entitlement lasted about 1 minute which is how long it took for me to throw up from the cramps I was having. I'm working on embracing/accepting my "pickleness" today. What I has seen over the years is that acceptance brings serenity.

Hi, My guy friend had weight loss surgery in Germany. He lost alot of weight and he gained all of it back 2 years later. He's not as big as he was but he's pretty fluffy and admits he kept drinking beer and alchohol. The beer and alcohol did it to him...On your profile picture it shows you enjoying or holding a mixed drink...I would highly keep beer and alcohol to a minimum.

I take blood thinner normally for an artificial heart valve, so I had to do Lovenox shots for two weeks before surgery and a week or two afterwards. They are no big deal. You pinch the fatty part of your stomach, clean it with alcohol wipes, and do the shot. It doesn't hurt too bad unless you don't grab a fatty part . . . then it hurts like a #$%^&! You might bruise a bit, but even that's not a big deal.

You really can't waste time beating yourself up. Make the changes you need to make and move on. Use some of that energy and take a walk. So what if you only go for 5 minutes - that is 5 minutes more than yesterday. This stuff isn't easy. A lifetime of habits to break - can't be done overnight. Imagine an alcoholic that has to quit being an alcoholic and still drink. We have to eat. You have the tools and you can make it. Congratulations on your 82lb loss.

Finally, some experience I can relate to and comment intelligently about. Surgery day: 250 Pre-Op prep: 255 Max weight 2 years earlier: 280 Years jammed up at 250 with daily exercise, spin classes and Zumba: THREE!! 7 months after surgery?: 195 Experience?: It's been a BREEZE like this guy said. I have felt guilty expressing this due to sympathy for so many others. There is so much FEAR and TERROR expressed in SO MANY places. I was PETRIFIED going to Mexico more for the surgery than even going to Tijuana! Physical side effects so far: Nausea ALARM (that's what I call it) to "STOP EATING YOU DUMMY". Best thing ever. Burping. Hilarious. Great at parties. Farting? Not so much fun at parties. What gave me an advantage: I had been a dancer, and competitive and physically active in my 20's after being a fat kid. Mid life crisis issues at 40 set some changes in to motion, but no matter what dietary changes I made . . dropped all sugary sodas gradually, massive carb cutbacks, cutting out of top trigger foods, pizza, chinese . . .it all helped, but 250 was where I thought life would settle. Then came spin classes, zumba, weight lifting - 240 was fun, but crept back to 250 gradually. AFTER surgery - all those lifestyle things HELPED as the psychological hunger and inability to overeat just changed. Combine the surgery with lifestyle changes? I'm living a joyful life, literally and metaphorically dancing through every day. . . looking 10 years younger . . . wearing tight clothes . . . and getting a lot of dates and interest that lead me to believe I might not die alone fat and surrounded by my cats eating me after all. Things people say that were NOT TRUE FOR ME: - you will never have carbonated drinks ever again - you will never enjoy eating again - it's "not a magic bullet". (It was for me) - you will always get gassy and uncomfortable and live with it - you will forever need to be taking a lot of supplements and vitamins/shots - you will get debilitating heartburn and physical pains - you will risk ripping your staples out and bleeding to death if you eat too much. - you will have to get used to vomiting from time to time, and it's painful and dangerous to do so. (twice for me, and only when I mixed bourbon with too many sugar free popsicles! I deserved it! It was just bad that it happened while sleeping - that's dangerous) - you will never enjoy any alcoholic drinks ever again - you will die in Mexico and they will never find your body - you will be so constipated it will affect you all the time - you will go through periods of regret (not so far anyway) Some true ones: - drinking enough water is hard. It tastes awful, and I never liked it in the first place. - protein, protein, protein FIRST. Then the fun stuff, if you even want it anymore after the protein. - Tastes change. sometimes in some bizarre ways that even change month to month. - Remember to eat and keep the food log any way you can more so that you stay in balance, and don't get out of whack in areas like sodium and other things easily overlooked. - Use your URINE as a constant CHECK on your own health. LOOK AT IT. Sometimes pee in urine specific container and check the color carefully. When it gets darker, really dark, or even into a neon type bright green/yellow - evaluate what you are doing carefully and make changes. - The surgery is NOT what it was in it's early years and configurations of bypass and lap band. Sleeve was the way for me, and it all makes sense after the fact now. My mother had this surgery in 1992 and has led a miserable life physically, although she got thinner, it came with much substitute misery. Have fun! It's the best decision I ever made! I would do it over and over again, and I tell everyone I can to not be afraid.

I am coming at it from two different angles, nutrition and research. I set food goals for myself each month. Over the last three months I have weened myself off of alcohol, carbonation, and caffeine and started having fresh fruit and veggie smoothies each morning instead of dunkin donuts. I am a little over two months out from surgery. Over the next two months I am going to begin replacing a meal with a protein shake and focusing on protein and portion sizes. The food stuff sucks, but I was very worried about coming out of surgery having to tackle so many vices at once. I know it will still be challenging, but I am doing what I can now to try and make it less challenging. On the research front, I have read a few books and spending a lot of time on youtube, on this site, and really any other online resource that I can find with information. I find that organization helps me to feel a little more in control, so I have a onenote notebook where I am tracking information and suggestions from all over. I do not know if we can ever be prepared enough for this, but pretending that I am makes me less stressed and makes it easier to answer questions when people I have told ask.

yes- I am in recovery. My surgery was 10/3/16 and I went to alcohol rehab 1028/17.

Just wondering if anyone else is in recovery from drugs/ alcohol? Obviously we’re all in recovery from our FOOD addiction! [emoji23]

You'll notice that the trend for those posts are: I don't eat properly anymore I don't seperate eating and drinking I snack or graze all the time I drink too much alcohol I don't exercise I got stressed and gave up I don't go to support groups I don't see my surgeon or NUT anymore Let their mistakes teach you ...

@elliekay I also think the question has to be asked about the quality of your 1100-1200 calories. What did it consist of? Was there alcohol involved? I generally think that you're traveling so you may have fluid retention in your limbs. You may also be full of poop! But...if it were me, and it has been this past year...I would go back to your 600-900 cals until your weight comes back down. Then start slowly and emphasis on SLOWLY raise your cals with lean proteins, healthy fats (avocado, butter -- yes, butter, etc), and low glycemic veggies and a tiny bit of fruit. I raised cals at first 50 cals per week, then later 100cals/1-2 weeks, then lastly 200 cals/2weeks. I went from eating liquid diet at 300-400 cals/day to eating at 1500 cals that way. The weight loss did level off and I'm basically in maintenance at 1500 cals which is where the surgeon wants me right now. If I had done it quickly though, I would have gained badly. Also, just 1 drink of alcohol makes me instantly put on 2lbs overnight. So it's just not worth it... Hope you get it figured out!!

Hi all. I know you’re not supposed to have any alcohol after surgery so I’m talking about a year or more down the line. What alcohol beverages are safe to consume if you were to have 1 drink socially?

hope4momof4, pre-ESG I also had the expectation of "restriction" limiting my eating. It may seem hard to understand however right now the "restriction" is showing itself in a different manner than I expected. Pre ESG I felt like the restriction would be a physical sensation, but as of now I just don't "want" to eat large portions or frequently. Mentally I'm also much more selective (no processed foods, absolute minimum sugar, no alcohol, no caffeine etc.) about what I eat. These choices are driven by the lack of my "cravings" for food and learning from my bad choices what "works" with my new stomach and what foods I need to avoid. I lost 2lbs/week over Christmas and New year's vacation and while we were traveling one night I decided to "splurge" on sautéed mushrooms, one of my favorite dishes. I did not have a good reaction the next morning, upset stomach and many visits to the toilet, so no more sautéed mushrooms for me. I'm still experimenting what works, for example, for a Friday night "splurge" tonight I had 2 onion rings tonight with dinner (grilled salmon). In the past if I started eating good onion rings (and these were delicious) there's no way I would have eaten less than 6-8 of them. I loved the flavor this evening but just had no desire to eat more than 2 of them. I'm hopeful all will go well tonight and I don't have to ban small quantities of Onion rings in the future! The rest of the day I had 2 yogurts (80 cal each) and 2 premier protein shakes (180 cal each), so 520 calories for the rest of the day. The procedure is going to help you a lot and your willingness to be open and committed to changing your life is what will ultimately make you successful! Keep going and sharing, we can all make this change for the positive!

I work in drug and alcohol treatment but that being said, the person to ask is your surgeon. One thing I have seen done with pregnant women on higher doses because of the fetus, is split dosing. Split dosing might improve what is absorbed because you're taking a smaller amount. Also, have you considered converting over to Suboxone? Since it's a film, it might resolve the problem your concerned about.

Hi, i have sleeve surgery planned for the 15th of feb 2018. I have a few questions to the lovely post op members. 1. I want to give up or at least massively cut down on alcohol post op. However I love going out and socialising. What do you drink on a night out with no gas, no alcohol and no (very few) calories? A night out on water is a bit boring!! 2. I have been active in the past running 3-10 miles 3-4 times a week. I have done very little exercise for the past 6months. But I really want to get into ultra fitness post op (obviously not the day after!!) Iron man, ultra marathon that kind of thing. How long did it take before you could do any kind of fitness training? Are there issues with getting the right nutrients for that level of sport? 3. How do you deal with situations where you get offered food and drink? I find I eat and drink stuff I don’t really want sometimes because I can’t stand the “what you pregnant or something” “don’t be boring” “ why you not eating? On a diet or something? You don’t need to go on a diet what you need to do is...(que rubbish advice that you don’t want to discuss)” I don’t want to tell people about my surgery so how will still be able to go out socially without all the questions? Thankyou in advance. :-)

I haven't had a surgery date set, yet, because I am still 2 nutrition visits away from going forward to approval with Medicaid...but I totally get what you mean about the smelling things, and feeling like an alcoholic! The first 3 weeks of my new guidelined diet, every time I passed by a restaurant or fast food joint, it was all I could do not to drool on myself because it all smelled so delicious AND STRONG! Now, 4 months in, I only get the drooling sensation if I haven't had anything to put in my stomach all day, and I've been running around for appointments...or chocolate/ice cream commercials on TV. TV is evil: it will put a Reese's commercial on during every break in a show for 3 hours...and then it stopped, and 2 hours later it was KitKat bars! And it's not even Valentine's Day, yet! Stay strong, hun! If you can't follow the pre-surgery diet to the letter, then there is a high probability that you won't be able to follow the post-surgery diet to the letter, either (which will be much worse for you than before you get snipped). You've got this! I believe in you! Best of luck on your surgery and recovery!😊🤗🤞💪👌💐🐳

I wanted WINGS!!!!! Is like we are alcoholics....and there alcohol EVERYWHERE and we can't drink it. The smells are amazing when we can't eat anymore of it. Honestly, we are addicted to carbs, candy sweets...and now we made a decision COLD TURKEY to not eat it again. I will never judge anyone with addictions again. It takes a great deal of strong will to stop eating the things we loved. Then again, our stomach is so small that we couldn't eat more then 2 oz at the time.lol....I am 3 weeks post surgery. I miss the wings..but I am going to try the Keto diet...all the bread free wings I can fit in three oz belly!!

No sugar coating this stage, what helped for me was reading this over and over and over again. " A clear liquid diet helps to shrink the liver and fat deposits around the stomach, making surgery safer. Studies have shown that 80-90% of people having weight loss surgery have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which usually results in an enlarged/fatty liver. This can interfere with the surgical procedure by impairing visibility of the stomach, increasing your surgery time, increasing the risk of complications, and may result in your surgeon cancelling your procedure. ". This paragraph really grabbed my attention and was very effective.

The stretchy part of the stomach is what gets removed during surgery. While there are some cases out there where people have overeaten on a regular basis and stretched their sleeve out to an extent it's not possible to get it back to where you orginally were. There is also the misconception that being able to eat a large portion of slider foods means your stomach is back to its old size. I've avoided things like protein bars because they never leave me satisfied. If anything they make me hungrier too. Finding some good quick-fix options are important to have. For me a lot of times some beef jerky and almonds provide a good fix. Food prepping can be a challenge at times, but also keep in mind when we food prep we can make things last. In the old days when I made chicken salad that might last for 3 meals at best. Now I could make it last for 6-8. I'm on day 2 of a strict low carb diet and it feels good to be back on track. I've gotten discouraged as well since the scale has been stuck. Getting active on the forum again has helped motivate me. I maintain that for many of us this is no different than recovering alcoholics attending AA meetings. It's always going to be a battle. Some days/weeks/months/years will be easier than others. Main thing is to remember that you're not the only one fighting these battles and we can all use support from time to time.

My partner and I ended our relationship after 8.5 years last July. We were both very heavy (at my biggest, I weighed 400 and he weighed 315). He lost down to 200 without surgery, and at that time (about 3 months post-op for me), I was about 250. When I eventually got my weight below his, he had a very hard time with it. (I didn't realize how much of our identity -- in his head at least -- was wrapped up in him being smaller than me.) He was semi-supportive during the entire 225 pound loss journey; however, when it became inconvenient for him, he certainly acted out. (For instance, when I wouldn't drink alcohol for 9 months -- my entire 6 month pre-op diet program and the first 3 months post-op -- he was a b***h about it all the time...) While we definitely had other problems, and everything worked out for the best, the weight loss did have a bearing on the whole thing. I hate being stereotypical more than anything, but it did happen...

My wife and are both post op and prior to were heavy pop drinkers. Both if us being recovering alcoholics we have resigned to treating pop like alcohol. Not taking a sip is the best way to avoid reforming bad habits. Good luck. You can do it. Sent from my SM-G900V using BariatricPal mobile app

??? Caffeine has long been used as an appetite suppressant. In the glory days of ephedrine that taken with caffeine would kill an appetite for hour and hours. I'm sure for some it doesn't make a difference, or could have the opposite effect, but those folks are in the minority. To the original post you'll find lots of conflicting reasons/arguments about caffeine. Some docs worry about the coffee being too acidic, others say it leads to dehydration due to a diuretic, and some just think caffeine is the devil (as with alcohol and anything else that's fun...lol). There is justifiable concern that people turn to empty calorie drinks and will either slow down their weight loss or start gaining if it gets out of control. We all hear about the calorie nightmares of some Starbuck drinks. I drink coffee on a daily basis and I don't have any issues with it. I started with decaf after surgery because that was doc's orders, so I followed them. When I was cleared I started having regular coffee again but mixed with decaf. For me I had to slowly increase the caffeinated portion because it would hit me hard and give me the jitters. That's just me, though. Lot of people could drink coffee after surgery without any issues. Personally I don't care for some of these NUTS that say "never" again. I think it's unrealistic and gives people the wrong idea. As with anything in life moderation is key. I just don't like the idea of making a list of all these forbidden items that we're never ever allowed to have again. It's one thing to follow instructions immediately after surgery to make sure you heal properly, but for the long term they need to be more realistic.

Hey Hanne, Sorry for delay! Been a busy few days. Yes, I've had alcohol a few times now - mostly I'll get a glass of wine and sip on it, which I've done 3-4 times. I had a wedding in December where I had 2 glasses throughout the whole day/night. I read a lot about alcohol hitting you a lot quicker after surgery, which is why I've been very careful and sipped only. Can't say it felt any different to me than normal but I do find it can give me heartburn now. I love wine and I'm sure they'll be times where I miss being able to join in like a I did before, but I can't say it's been an issue for me yet! Your perspective changes when you are forced to think much more carefully about everything you put in your body and the things you think will be hard just . . . aren't.

I have done the alcohol thing but I do t think you guys understand how much there is lol. It’s gonna take days [emoji849] Thanks **I’m losing it**