Search the Community

I had regrets in the first few weeks. That seems to be pretty common. When you are miserable and frustrated and wondering if you will ever feel "normal" again. But now, over a year out, definitely no regrets! Every once in a while, I will hear/see something about foods I used to love and have a brief moment of sadness that I can't enjoy them anymore, but that passes quickly. Notice I said "enjoy" them. That's because I am physically capable of eating anything at this point, but much of my enjoyment of things like pizza or Pasta or eating large meals out came from the sheer VOLUME of food I could eat, not necessarily the taste. So while I can eat those things now if I choose to, I don't enjoy them the way I used to, so I usually just skip them. As for cocktails, why couldn't you have those in the future? I was allowed alcohol at 3 months post-op and I do occasionally partake in social situations. I miss beer (can't have carbonation anymore), but I can have mixed drinks. I do get drunk VERY fast now. I'm a SUPER light-weight now. But, I also sober up really fast.

I have a few drinks a week, nothing wrong with that. But I very rarely have more than 1 - I'm pretty sure I've had 2 in a row before, but to be honest, I can't even remember the last time. I haven't had more than 2 drinks in one day since the surgery, but I've never been much of a drinker. Generally, the normal alcohol intake for women is limited to 2 drinks a day (4 for men). It sounds like you were venturing into alcoholism territory before surgery, so I think this would be prime time to seize the day and consider some counselling. As mentioned earlier, substitute addictions are quite common after WLS and without food to turn to, your tendency to consume too much alcohol may be more likely to spin out of control. I understand your work/social circle forces you to go to bars, but no one's forcing you to have alcohol - you can have a pop, non-alcoholic cocktail, or tea/coffee and still enjoy the social aspect of hanging out.

Hey all! I'm 3 weeks post op today, from band to sleeve revision. I really did not work on my bad habits of drinking alcohol before surgery. Now at 3 weeks out, I'm feeling great, and I'm dying for a glass of wine. Since I can't have wine, then I'm grabbing a piece of dark choc. If I don't have that I'm reaching for my leftover pain meds. I'm feel like I'm controlling these urges but they are coming on stronger. This is only at night too, that was my nightly routine, after 5, glass of wine. I have a very addictive personality obviously, and I'm worried. I don't want to talk about this to my surgeon bc I already feel like she looks at me as a failure bc of the Lapland. I'm sorry for rambling or if this is even making sense. It's so hard to not fall back into old routines when you start feeling back to normal.

Hello my fellow May sleevers! I don't think I have introduced myself yet. I'm in Detroit, Michigan and I am a band to sleeve revision. I was initially scheduled for a gastric bypass in March but I chickened out the week of surgery. My sleeve date is May 16th! I feel so much better about this decision. My docs office was a bit irritated with me but I have to do what is right for me! I have had my crap band for five years with little weight loss and I have been taking off and putting back on the same twenty pounds for the last six months. I'm just sick of it and I need to do something different. I've been trying to get myself ready so months ago I quit soda, carbonation, and caffeine. I also gave up alcohol almost completely (never thought I'd be able to do that). I've also learned to love yogurt which, until two weeks ago I could not stand! I made a list of what I will need and posted in a thread. I purchased my Vitamins, belly band, ear plugs, and eye mask for the hospital today. My goal is to get to the gym everyday until surgery so that I go in in the best shape possible. My doc does not require a liquid diet but I would really like to try to do one for a couple of weeks prior. I figure there can't be any harm in trying to keep my liver out of the docs way! My surgery will include gallbladder removal, band removal, hernia repair (caused by the crap band), and my revision to a sleeve so I am anticipating being in a world of hurt or as the coordinator at the surgeons office put it a "hot mess"! She has assured me they will get me through it. I look forward to sharing this experience with all of you and wish you the best of luck!

Well.... Im going to come clean and say that I have had about a 8 nights since surgery where I have consumed alcohol... one of those being last night.... I dont feel the need to drink alcohol but I find myself in my twenty-something social group going out to the clubs and buying into that lifestyle sometimes..... I am still in my losing stage and I know that this is not a great choice on my part.... AND i must admit ... when i wake up in the morning i feel a little pain underneath my scar in between my boobs... This is definitely a sign telling me that my liver is not appreciating the abuse and I know I have to chill out because I still want to lose another 23lbs to get to goal... BUT most importantly... i want to be healthy .. after all that's why we chose this surgery in the first place.... I just wanted to be honest... but also admit that I havent made all the perfect decisions when it comes to post op lifestyle.

Let me preface this story with the fact that I know that my current relationship with alcohol is and will be different than it was before surgery. What i'm basically saying is, "INB4 outrage & judgement" Before surgery, I was an avid and enthusiastic party girl. I have an extremely stressful full-time, 24x7 boys'-club, mind-numbing soul-crushing (albeit high-paying) career, filled to the brim with heavy drinkers. More than once a week, I find myself out after work either enjoying cocktails with co-workers or going to vendor/customer dinners, where it's not uncommon to have drinks at the restaurant bar before, wine throughout dinner, scotch after, followed by drinks at the bar after to close the night. I don't consider myself an alcoholic - for the 2 weeks in preparation to surgery and for the 2 weeks after, I haven't had a drink, and it's not like I got the DT's or anything. I have however been very concerned and curious about what was going to happen when I did have my first cocktail. I was worried I would be drunk after one sip, or my new stomach would reject it and I would vomit uncontrollably at the table, or worse - I would never be able to have a drink again... All kinds of horrific scenarios went through my head. So I called my best and most trusted friend last night and told him that I was feeling back to normal (for the most part), and interested in testing the waters. We went to my local low-key boozer, sat at a booth. I responsibly ordered my low-calorie standby: Grey Goose & Soda (single tall), and sipped apprehensively while watching jealously as he took long pulls from his Heineken. (I was a beer drinker in my past life - I'm pretty sure it's responsible for 50 of the 100 lbs I'm trying to lose.) My first cocktail went down very slowly - it took about 45 minutes to get it all the way down. I definitely felt it about halfway in, but i felt well within normal operating limits. I could feel my body processing it a little differently, but no big deal. Even though the drink includes soda Water, there is very little carbonation in the drink, so I felt good about my order, and didn't get the burps or anything. Over the course of 3 hours, I had 3 cocktails and a glass of water. I got home feeling like a solid 4.5 out of 10. I finished my Protein drink and took a big bottle of evian to bed, and sipped on it while watching tv. I woke up this morning feeling fine, a little bit of a headache and pretty thirsty, but other than that, I felt great. Although, I have to say, I am feeling my first pangs of hunger since before the surgery, so that's new... I'm not sure if that's related to drinking last night or if my stomach is just healing up properly. I'm going to go and make myself some grits!

I understand "testing the waters", but with all the warnings and rules about drinking, I would be very careful so early out. I too challenge compliance in most areas of my life, but want to lose my 100 in a timely manner without regret or accidental alcoholism or any other transfer addictions either... Even Grey goose has calories, and three of them have about 189, 2/3rds of you daily at two weeks....

Hi all, <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> I’m not banded yet. I’ve been researching and researching and thinking and thinking. My insurance won’t cover it so I’ve been looking into having it done in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Mexico</st1:place></st1:country-region>. I read these boards all the time and just love it. Everyone here is so supportive and honest. I feel more comfortable on these boards, even though I haven’t been banded, than I do any other weight loss/related boards. <o:p></o:p> My biggest fear is that something will go wrong, I will have complications. The kind of complications that are worse than slippage or erosion that couldn’t be fixed by having the band removed and then I would be buried in medical bills for the rest of my life. My second fear is that if it slipped or eroded and I had to have the band removed I would have to pay for that. So even if I had it installed and removed in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Mexico</st1:country-region>, aftercare and fills, etc. in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>, travel expenses, etc. I would still be looking at around 15,000 to 17,000. My third fear is that it won’t work for me. I won’t be able to stick to the rules and I will eat around it. I don’t think I would, but I didn’t think I would ever end up 290lbs either. My fourth fear is that I lose all my weight, things are great and then something happens and I have to have it removed and then I gain all of my weight back. My fifth fear is that if I don’t do something to change my eating and my weight I’m going to die. If I’m lucky I will have a heart attack and die instantly. If not, my health problems and complications from those health problems, will slowly get worse and I will linger around and slowly deteriorate for another 20 years. At least my insurance would pay for that though. <o:p></o:p> Has anyone heard about The Solution by Laurel Mellin? I think she hits the nail on the head as far as the “why” and “what” needs to happen to turn off that drive to overeat. I love her program but it’s really hard to do on my own. When I am able to do the work I do feel better, more at peace, and emotionally stronger. But most of the time I feel like an alcoholic or drug addict trying to work a self-help recovery program, by myself, while still drinking/using. It just doesn’t work. I thought that if I get banded, I would be able to work this program and hopefully, hopefully, if anything happened and I had to have my band removed I wouldn’t gain the weight back and my drive to overeat would be gone. Or would I just rely on the band to lose weight, be on such an emotional high from the weight loss and not do the emotional work? Just trying to imagine living life without a constant drive to overeat and the constant worry about my weight and eating, it sounds like a fantasy. <o:p></o:p> Sorry about the long post. I’m just thinking, thinking, thinking. <o:p></o:p> PS

Thanks for saying that Melissa <3<3 I worry that I didn't paint the picture clearly. I don't feel like i have to drink in my professional life, I don't think i have to be like a man in my male-dominated career (ever. Ever ever)... I just have one of those types of jobs, where that's what I'm surrounded by. That's the back story. What happened Saturday night is that I just had a couple of cocktails because i wanted to. I'm not an alcoholic, I'm a fun young completely healthy person, and I experimented because I feel awesome and back to normal, and just wanted to Celebrate and see how it would go. I'm not going to start going out every night, i'm not going to turn into an addict. I researched beforehand, I was incredibly cautious, I coupled the drinks with Water, and everything went fine, which is the point of my post. Everything's cool, I promise! <3

By popular demand, re-posting this here: I am under orders to NOT take: iron, Vitamin D, or Calcium. I see the kidney doc again after Christmas. All my orders will probably change. Details: Iron - probably have hereditary hemochromatosis, which means that your body doesn't release extra iron through urine, it stores it in your organs (kidneys, liver, etc.). By the time they diagnosed my brother, he was already in kidney failure and had advanced cirrhosis of the liver. His iron levels were something like 400x normal. Only treatment is bleeding out the over-iron enriched blood. They took a pint/week for months to get him down to normal levels. His kidneys improved, but his liver is very damaged. After he was diagnosed, we realized that this is probably what my dad died from. It can cause all the issues that they diagnosed, but they didn't recognize the cause. He had an enlarged heart and cirrhosis. Doctor would not believe that he was not an alcoholic. We're not positive that I have it and I don't want to do the genetic testing because I am a regular blood donor. (It's really good blood, lots of iron and doesn't hurt the recipient). But if you've been diagnosed with a blood disorder, they have to throw it out. My doctor says that since bleeding is the only treatment, I'm basically self-treating and don't need to be tested so long as I donate blood. My iron levels always test at the high end of the men's range even though I eat almost no red meat and don't take iron supplements. I used to donate double-reds all the time (unusual for a woman to be able to) but now I have to do whole blood because recipients had bad reactions to double-reds from type A donors who'd had many children. Apparently, with each pregnancy, your body builds antibodies and these can affect blood recipients. Vitamin D & Calcium: My blood calcium levels are elevated and they don't know why. Usually, it's caused by a tumor on your parathyroid gland, but I've been checked and that's not it. Again, this is another mineral that should be passed out through urine, but for some reason, I appear to be hoarding. Sorry for the novel (but you asked for it!)

Scotty, I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Alcohol is empty calories that after the sleeve are hard to justify. I'm not clear on any sort of physical damage you may be doing. Is that what it will take for you to quit? Like Desertmom, i'm not judging. I like to partake myself - usually just on weekends. I'm in the pre-op phase, and I did pretty well the first 6-weeks or so, but I had a couple of bottles of wine at thanksgiving and again last weekend. I'm keeping it more-or-less in check, and I know I'll miss it in the months following surgery. Back to my question above.. I guess that's the sort of thing you'll have to ask yourself: what will it take to want to quit? Damage to your body? To a relationship? Losing a job? DUI? Then ask if that's what you want to go through. Many people won't make the change until they hit the proverbial "Rock Bottom." You either need to decide you don't want to hit rock bottom, or wait for it to happen. Good luck to you, man. And we don't want to hear you complaining about a stall! lol

thanks for the tips, seems everyday that goes by i get more and more fed up with my drinking. going to try and go this weekend without drinking. as far as your comment about your friend she must have been a bybass because our pyloric valve doesnt allow alcohol to pass any sooner.

hi guys, before my surgery 2 months ago i was an alcoholic. i kept this even from my doctor. a friend of mine from work informed me that certain draught ales with widgets had low carbination. i have been cheating a bit and even had hard liquer a few times. my surgery was 8 weeks ago, what kind of damage can i be doing to myself? any bad stories to tell?

MGambino: after only 9 weeks and you look like that? WoW you should be the poster child for VSG. LOL Please tell us that is a picture from a long dam time ago, that you are trying to get back to looking like. huge sigh. anyway, drink a small amount of what ever you want and if it tases/feels good count the calories and get on with it. I used to drink beer too, and still buy it for Hubby. I don't miss it though. I had some champgne punch at a party last night. No problems. I do not believe alcohol per se is a problem with the sleeve its self. I think the problem is the usless calories. And, the fact of staying hydrated. Alcohol will leave you quite de-hydrated. You need to protect your sleeve for awhile yet. I am really watching it until I get my lab work done Jan 15. Be cautious.

One question my husband asked before my surgery was if I could drink. Dr. Aceves said the occaisional glass is fine, just count it into my calories. I do not feel the desire to drink nearly as much as I used to. I have had wine, vodka mixed drinks, and a margherita since surgery (6 months ago). It takes me much longer to drink and I found that the margherita was just too strong for me now - my husband drank most of that one. My friend also had some hard cider, that was a bit bubbly and made me burp a lot. I have felt fine with the wine and vodka mixed drink. I find that I do tolerate less (I used to be able to keep up with the big boys). But now, one glass of wine lasts me all night! Wine seemed to affect me a little more than the vodka drinks, that went down a little smoother and didn't make me feel tipsy. To lower my calorie intake, I have made some adjustments - I use crystal light cranberry or orange and a shot of vodka. This keeps the drink around 70-100 calories (depending on what kind/how much vodka you use). If you're going out, take the crystal light singles, order vodka and Water, and just add your own flavoring. Wine is about 100 calories for 5 oz. (depending on kind/alcohol content) or about 500ish calories per bottle to put it into perspective.

Torose, I am not sure if I am doing anything "special" or different. I try to eat my Protein (60g) , then vegetable, then starch. I also try to drink 64 ounces of Water, very little juice and I don't drink soda. I try to work out everyday but realistically, I average 3-4 days per week on the elipitical, for 25 minutes. I don't eat more than 1 cup of food per meal. I eat 3-4 meals per day and I eat fruits. I don't drink alcohol, also. I attend a monthly support meeting, visit my dietician and doctor, for follow-up visits and tests. Also, I try to track my food and exercise on www.MyFitnessPal.com.

I've had a few cocktails here and there starting the second month after surgery. I know this is not recommended but I checked with my doctor and was told just to not over do it, and I didn't. The alcohol does affect me differently. One or two cocktails over the course of an entire evening is all I drink. My go to drink is vodka and Water (tap) then I add a flavor enhancer to it. There are tons on the market now and you can make yourself a great cocktail.. I also order it tall (twice the water same amount of vodka). This way I can track the calories and carbs without worrying about anything else in the drink. I don't drink often, maybe once a month or so, but I like to go out and have the occasional drink. I stopped drinking wine. I tried it several months ago and just couldn't take it. That makes me sad because I have wine racks in the basement with about 100 bottles of wine! Oh well, they will make excellent gifts!

Fair warning – This was a lot longer than I thought it would be. You might want to have your Water bottle with you before starting! Today (plus one day that I've confessed to above) makes one year out for me. WOW! What an incredible year. In some ways it seems like forever and in other ways, just like it was yesterday. As my signature states, I’ve gone from an 18W to size 4/6. My BMI changed from 32.8 to drum roll please .... 20.1. Hard to believe!!! My surgeon was Dr. Thomas Umbach in Las Vegas, NV. I found him through Medical Tourism and am very thankful that together we’ve made sure I have a nice long, healthy life. The typical question – would you do it again? YES, YES, YES! I was known as a “lightweight” since my BMI was “only” 32.8. Was I fat? Definitely! Did I have risk factors? Definitely! I’ve often said that I was the smallest obese person in my family, but I had to personally realize that I was still obese. I really considered this surgery due to my father. I lost him in March 2009 due to complications from his obesity – congestive heart failure and uncontrolled diabetes. He was only 64 years old. It broke my heart to lose my dad at such a young age. I want to be around for my kids (currently 20, 17, and 9) and their kids! Not only do I look better, I feel better. I can run up and down our stairs all day! No more having to sit down because I’m tired after one trip up. I can go to costco, shop, put the food away & still have energy for more chores/tasks. INCREDIBLE!!! With that being said, I still have not been good about regular, planned exercise. My stomach may look better if I had (but part of me thinks not – skin just isn’t going to bounce back but so much). I am thinking breast augmentation, but I probably won’t. Just invest in more push up/padded bras. Do I want to punch out people that say I took the “easy way”? Yep! Is it hard? Yes. Do people who say I’ll gain it all back annoy me? Yep! Does my new tummy give me a tool that can make me successful? Heck yeah! Am I already successful? YES I AM! Am I concerned about maintenance and gaining again? Yes, but with continued dedication & support groups like this one, I can make it! The next question – how much can you eat now? Slider foods – more than I thought I could/should. I can pack down close to pre-surgery amounts of Cookies, ice cream, popcorn, etc. I have been testing a bit with “normal” foods … the other day, I was able to eat almost all of a McDonald’s hamburger with just the top bun & all but 3 slices of the Apple Dippers (no caramel sauce). I had one or two more bites left of the top bun, but knew I was done. I can eat about 3 ounces of steak with a bite or two of salad & maybe 1/4 of a baked potato. My biggest battles right now are (1) head hunger at night and (2) not counting foods as “bad” or “good”. I am trying to change my thinking to “good for me” or “tastes good, but not very nutritious”. I met with a nutritionist last week to talk about my eating plan for life. While she questioned if I still needed to track every bite I eat, I told her that it helped me be accountable. I am now tracking to 60g Protein, 64+ ounces of water, 100+ grams carbohydrates, and somewhere between 1500-2000 calories a day. I will add a confession here – I track Monday to Friday, but rarely on Saturday & Sunday. I just kind of eye ball/mentally track on the weekends. OK – enough rambling … Just want to leave with 2 more things. (1) If you are on the fence about this surgery, I want to strongly encourage you to investigate further. This surgery has truly saved my life & given me a new future and (2) At one year out, I thought it would be fun to go back and read some of my old posts – my worries, fears, doubts and successes. I don’t know if it will help anyone or not, but I’ve listed a few here: Surgery & Post-Op: · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/3255-on-my-way-to-the-airport/page__p__29783__fromsearch__1#entry29783 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/3363-weird/page__p__30519__fromsearch__1#entry30519 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/3403-surgery-recovery-sucks/page__p__30905__fromsearch__1#entry30905 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/3471-im-gagging-over-here/page__p__31374__fromsearch__1#entry31374 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/3538-concerned-should-i-be/page__p__32047__fromsearch__1#entry32047 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/3602-finding-the-time-to-stop/page__p__32545__fromsearch__1#entry32545 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/3687-advice-for-road-trip/page__p__33232__fromsearch__1#entry33232 Losing: · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/3884-took-measurements-today/page__p__35215__fromsearch__1#entry35215 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/3944-time-to-increase-the-portions/page__p__35826__fromsearch__1#entry35826 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/4565-need-some-support/page__p__40607__fromsearch__1#entry40607 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/4263-wanting-to-eat-more/page__p__38113__fromsearch__1#entry38113 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/4778-size-12s-and-medium-tops/page__p__42293__fromsearch__1#entry42293 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/4827-gotta-get-serious-about-exercise/page__p__42772__fromsearch__1#entry42772 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/3769-am-i-the-only-one-wanting-sweet-liquids/page__p__34103__fromsearch__1#entry34103 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/5217-its-a-fat-day/page__p__46024__fromsearch__1#entry46024 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/5065-post-op-when-did-you-have-your-first-carbonated-drink/page__p__44749__fromsearch__1#entry44749 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/6305-my-funny-nsv/page__p__55830__fromsearch__1#entry55830 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/5869-normal/page__p__51835__fromsearch__1#entry51835 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/7060-why-cant-they-just-say-congratulations/page__p__62386__fromsearch__1#entry62386 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/7964-irritated-with-people/page__p__69470__fromsearch__1#entry69470 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/7376-i-cried-tonight/page__p__64804__fromsearch__1#entry64804 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/8064-need-to-be-accountable/page__p__70372__fromsearch__1#entry70372 Moving to Maintenance · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/8602-calling-those-on-maintenance/page__p__75039__fromsearch__1#entry75039 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/6171-weight-regain-with-vsg/page__p__54548__fromsearch__1#entry54548 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/8392-today-7-months-out-and-642-pounds-gone/page__p__73224__fromsearch__1#entry73224 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/9506-goal/page__p__83431__fromsearch__1#entry83431 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/9995-almost-9-months-out/page__p__87012__fromsearch__1#entry87012 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/10260-i-am-not-controlling-my-sweet-tooth/page__p__89285__fromsearch__1#entry89285 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/10135-holiday-strategies/page__p__88283__fromsearch__1#entry88283 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/10981-nsv-nsv-nsv-for-me/page__p__95104__fromsearch__1#entry95104 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/11548-so-discouraged/page__p__99499__fromsearch__1#entry99499 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/12379-this-is-why-journaling-food-is-so-important/page__p__106369__fromsearch__1#entry106369 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/12406-fruits-and-veggies/page__p__106553__fromsearch__1#entry106553 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/12769-not-quite-a-year-out/page__p__109462__fromsearch__1#entry109462 · http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/11607-i-have-a-question-about-alcohol/page__p__99986__hl__alcohol__fromsearch__1#entry99986 For newbies … this is a great place to start: http://www.obesityhe...or-New-Members/ (yes, I know this is another website, but many of us frequent there as well as VST.J)

Be careful about sugar-free candies with sugar alcohols--they cause some people serious intestinal distress.

Stomach erosion is something rare but can happen. It can happen for many different reasons. There are factors like alcohol, spicy food, bad eating habits ( not following doctors orders), nick during surgery, rapid fills, large fills etc that can cause stomach erosion. If your erosion is very small then your doc might unfill you, put you on meds for a few weeks and then check your stomach again. If the hole in your stomach healed a lot then a simple stitch can be placed to fix the problem thus not needing to remove the band. There is no perfect and exact way that all doctors remove the band. When I had my band removed my doc removed it laparoscopically the same way it was put in. He used the same incisions too. I know that if the erosion is bad and way into your stomach then the doctor can remove the band endoscopically ( going down your throat and cutting the band in half inside your stomach) and laparoscopically ( pulling the band out ). All docs are different though. If your getting your band removed you can ask him how it is done. This is just what I know my doc does

Six strong alcoholic drinks.

HW 238 SW 216 CW 141 TPL 98 TGP 88 Gained 4 pounds...pretty much what I expected since my 4 food groups last week were sugar, alcohol, fat and whatever other carbs I could cram in. I am actually happy to be back on the Protein train....my sleeve was starting to protest.

I'm almost 6 months out from RNY and literally so happy I made this decision. I'm 25 and my parents had said the same thing. They love me but elective surgery is a scary thing for a parent to support for their child. When I told the chances of me losing in my own and keeping it off after a lifting of obesity they were still skeptical. Now my parents are 100% supportive The drinking part or not drinking part is hard socially. My friend had the surgery and drank about 8 months out, she just gets completely **** faced after one glass of wine and her drink choices changed. It's suppose to be one year with out alcohol, if you can't do that you might want to think about your life. It's weird socially eating out / drinking at first but you'll fall into a routine Seminar 12/27/16: wt 304 Surgery 3/23: wt 287 3 months post op : 236

@Sheribear68 Ouch! So sorry to hear about your friend!!! ((hugs)) TG you are escaping that fate with every day of your lifestyle change!!! I know how you feel and can relate! And for anyone who is genuinely interested in hearing my journey and not just a rubbernecker, I will discuss the specifics. But for anyone else who looks at me, there is no doubt that I'm somewhat fanatical religious about making good choices--cuz like you, we have some big strikes we deal with. But sadly, no one likes reformed smokers or reformed alcoholics. So we do just have to live our lives. And sometimes the best testimony is through action rather than words. Live your life hon. Let your friends feel safe, coming to you when or if they are ready. ((hugs))

i stopped drinking in the first day of my 2 week pre-op diet. And no, i didn't have to take a blood-alcohol test at any time. Had my first drink (2-3 sips of red wine) at around 3 weeks post op. Had my 2nd (partial) drink around 2-3 months post which gave me one of the worst dumping experiences i have had to date (it was a sugary soju-sake cocktail). I had maybe 4-5 (partial) drinks during weight loss phase: vodka sodas or very dry red wine. Now im just a normal regular drinker for the most part (but i still try to stay away from overly sugary drinks). Im 4 years post op.