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I spent the six months before my surgery changing my relationship with food. I trained myself to look at food as fuel. I also worked really hard to create a lifestyle where food wasn't central to everything. I no longer Celebrate with food, comfort with food, or do anything else with food outside of getting the necessary fuel I need for the day. Cutting out carbs (20 per day) was central to that for me. I also cut out alcohol for 9 months, and even now (at 4+ months post-op), I only have some occasionally and in very small amounts. You are right. The mental game is the biggest part of this journey. I know that I have issues with food, and I also know that I will have to battle it every day for the rest of my life. Some people won't agree with the stance I have taken, and that's okay. I know that if I don't take this hard line, I'll be 400 pounds again before I know it, sleeve or not. Good luck!

Stay away from the rice! I would go for the shrimp personally. Shrimp are not too calorie dense and when chewed well reduce to mostly Water. So you can feel like you are eating more normally with everyone else. Whatever you do, don't drink alcohol. 6 weeks is still pretty close to surgery and you don't want to risk a bleed.

I made a gin and tonic for a guest at my house this afternoon and, not gonna lie, it was really hard to not make one for myself. I haven't had a drink since Sunday morning, January 22. It was the last day of my cruise and the deadline I set for myself to get serious about my pre-op diet. I also had done a few 2-6 day periods of sobriety/liquid diet in December/January to start practicing for the post-op period. All that to say I'm a pretty serious drinker, and this is hard for me, but I'm going to try to wait at least 12 weeks before I have a drink. I did it when I was pregnant with my daughter, I can do it again now. However, whenever you do decide to have your first post-op drink, do NOT start with a margarita. I imagine you will make yourself quite sick from all that sugar at once. Remember, we're not super prone to dumping syndrome like RNYers, but it can happen to us, too. I was doing low-carb around the holidays as part of my pre-op preparation and I had several vodka & Protein waters, which was totally drinkable. I'd start with that, since then you are just introducing one new thing, a neutral alcohol. Good luck with your choice! Sent from my Nexus 5X using the BariatricPal App

Addictions come in all sorts of forms. The most common forms of addiction people think of are drugs and alcohol. And those are both, obviously, bad. There's other addictions too though. There's addictions to soda pop, bread, pasta, cookies, cakes and other pastries, food in general. I think most people that have gotten to "OMG I have to do something about my weight or I'm going to die" have some form of food addiction. I've been realizing, albeit way too slowly, that I am addicted to sugar. I may even be addicted to food in general. I was at the grocery store with my mom today and at the checkout are the candies. Reese's, Twix, Butterfingers, York Peppermint Patty, M&Ms...the list goes on and on. I nearly cried because I wanted some (and I really didn't care which one either) chocolate yumminess (that usually isn't all that yummy after I eat it) so badly. I am so glad I am going to be going to a therapist starting on Thursday. I HAVE GOT to get this crap under control before my surgery. I should already be at least 20 pounds down by now and I think I'm the same weight I was last month. I'm awful about not logging any meal that isn't good for me. I'll log all the ones that are right on track though. I don't even understand why I want the stuff. It doesn't taste good most of the time and then I feel all kinds of guilty after I eat it. Other times I'm just so depressed that I couldn't give a rats patootie what I eat, so I don't eat what I'm supposed to. Like tonight mom bought pizza for dinner. I could have run over here to my house and gotten the leftover chicken and broccoli from the other night. No carbs hardly at all. I could have been a good girl, but no. I just didn't care. I was tired, hungry, and depressed and so I ended up eating two pieces of pizza, a cheesy bread stick with marinara sauce, and a chocolate chip cookie since I figured I'd already blown the whole meal anyway. Now I'm just tired and even more depressed. How do you fight an addiction to food? I'm scared that I'm going to go from one extreme to the other. Going from a see food diet to a no food diet. I guess that's something for the therapist to deal with, huh? I hate this. I'm going to bed. Night night.

Addictions come in all sorts of forms. The most common forms of addiction people think of are drugs and alcohol. And those are both, obviously, bad. There's other addictions too though. There's addictions to soda pop, bread, pasta, cookies, cakes and other pastries, food in general. I think most people that have gotten to "OMG I have to do something about my weight or I'm going to die" have some form of food addiction. I've been realizing, albeit way too slowly, that I am addicted to sugar. I may even be addicted to food in general. I was at the grocery store with my mom today and at the checkout are the candies. Reese's, Twix, Butterfingers, York Peppermint Patty, M&Ms...the list goes on and on. I nearly cried because I wanted some (and I really didn't care which one either) chocolate yumminess (that usually isn't all that yummy after I eat it) so badly. I am so glad I am going to be going to a therapist starting on Thursday. I HAVE GOT to get this crap under control before my surgery. I should already be at least 20 pounds down by now and I think I'm the same weight I was last month. I'm awful about not logging any meal that isn't good for me. I'll log all the ones that are right on track though. I don't even understand why I want the stuff. It doesn't taste good most of the time and then I feel all kinds of guilty after I eat it. Other times I'm just so depressed that I couldn't give a rats patootie what I eat, so I don't eat what I'm supposed to. Like tonight mom bought pizza for dinner. I could have run over here to my house and gotten the leftover chicken and broccoli from the other night. No carbs hardly at all. I could have been a good girl, but no. I just didn't care. I was tired, hungry, and depressed and so I ended up eating two pieces of pizza, a cheesy bread stick with marinara sauce, and a chocolate chip cookie since I figured I'd already blown the whole meal anyway. Now I'm just tired and even more depressed. How do you fight an addiction to food? I'm scared that I'm going to go from one extreme to the other. Going from a see food diet to a no food diet. I guess that's something for the therapist to deal with, huh? I hate this. I'm going to bed. Night night.

Addictions come in all sorts of forms. The most common forms of addiction people think of are drugs and alcohol. And those are both, obviously, bad. There's other addictions too though. There's addictions to soda pop, bread, pasta, cookies, cakes and other pastries, food in general. I think most people that have gotten to "OMG I have to do something about my weight or I'm going to die" have some form of food addiction. I've been realizing, albeit way too slowly, that I am addicted to sugar. I may even be addicted to food in general. I was at the grocery store with my mom today and at the checkout are the candies. Reese's, Twix, Butterfingers, York Peppermint Patty, M&Ms...the list goes on and on. I nearly cried because I wanted some (and I really didn't care which one either) chocolate yumminess (that usually isn't all that yummy after I eat it) so badly. I am so glad I am going to be going to a therapist starting on Thursday. I HAVE GOT to get this crap under control before my surgery. I should already be at least 20 pounds down by now and I think I'm the same weight I was last month. I'm awful about not logging any meal that isn't good for me. I'll log all the ones that are right on track though. I don't even understand why I want the stuff. It doesn't taste good most of the time and then I feel all kinds of guilty after I eat it. Other times I'm just so depressed that I couldn't give a rats patootie what I eat, so I don't eat what I'm supposed to. Like tonight mom bought pizza for dinner. I could have run over here to my house and gotten the leftover chicken and broccoli from the other night. No carbs hardly at all. I could have been a good girl, but no. I just didn't care. I was tired, hungry, and depressed and so I ended up eating two pieces of pizza, a cheesy bread stick with marinara sauce, and a chocolate chip cookie since I figured I'd already blown the whole meal anyway. Now I'm just tired and even more depressed. How do you fight an addiction to food? I'm scared that I'm going to go from one extreme to the other. Going from a see food diet to a no food diet. I guess that's something for the therapist to deal with, huh? I hate this. I'm going to bed. Night night.

Addictions come in all sorts of forms. The most common forms of addiction people think of are drugs and alcohol. And those are both, obviously, bad. There's other addictions too though. There's addictions to soda pop, bread, pasta, cookies, cakes and other pastries, food in general. I think most people that have gotten to "OMG I have to do something about my weight or I'm going to die" have some form of food addiction. I've been realizing, albeit way too slowly, that I am addicted to sugar. I may even be addicted to food in general. I was at the grocery store with my mom today and at the checkout are the candies. Reese's, Twix, Butterfingers, York Peppermint Patty, M&Ms...the list goes on and on. I nearly cried because I wanted some (and I really didn't care which one either) chocolate yumminess (that usually isn't all that yummy after I eat it) so badly. I am so glad I am going to be going to a therapist starting on Thursday. I HAVE GOT to get this crap under control before my surgery. I should already be at least 20 pounds down by now and I think I'm the same weight I was last month. I'm awful about not logging any meal that isn't good for me. I'll log all the ones that are right on track though. I don't even understand why I want the stuff. It doesn't taste good most of the time and then I feel all kinds of guilty after I eat it. Other times I'm just so depressed that I couldn't give a rats patootie what I eat, so I don't eat what I'm supposed to. Like tonight mom bought pizza for dinner. I could have run over here to my house and gotten the leftover chicken and broccoli from the other night. No carbs hardly at all. I could have been a good girl, but no. I just didn't care. I was tired, hungry, and depressed and so I ended up eating two pieces of pizza, a cheesy bread stick with marinara sauce, and a chocolate chip cookie since I figured I'd already blown the whole meal anyway. Now I'm just tired and even more depressed. How do you fight an addiction to food? I'm scared that I'm going to go from one extreme to the other. Going from a see food diet to a no food diet. I guess that's something for the therapist to deal with, huh? I hate this. I'm going to bed. Night night.

I got sleeved on Jan 31 and I've been adjusting well actually too well, it's kind of scary. Anyway I was quite the social drinker before i got sleeved, heck my dad work at Anheuser -Busch. I tell people that I was weaned on beer. lol. . I think beer is the one thing that I'm going to miss. With that said, I'm not going to attempt to drink alcohol for at least 3 to 4 months. I just know, I need to focus on getting food under control before alcohol can come back into my life. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Me too. 1/30 ...Just turned 54. Cool. Good luck everybody. Closet drinking alcoholic in the past...7 years sober now turned Into a food addict. I'll always be an addict. Had surgery 1/27...1 Week ago. Was easy except for nausia. I have learned to stop drinking via 3 hospital detox stays. 60 days rehab escapee. Then follow-up 30 day rehab and the birth of my autistic son straightened me out quick. Married to an Angel over 25 years. All that's left is me and my choices...Trying to always do the next right thing. Hoping that all I learn in AA will help me be strong versus food temptations. Jumped in quick. Started prep journey at 345....Into survey at 321 am now 307 a week later. Still feel like a fat shit...Which is good enough for now. Gets me off my ass. I hate drinking Protein but I get it down. Can wait to eat a tiny piece of steak in 6 months or so. Goodbye sugar. Its poisen...Just like alcohol. Good luck everybody. Kick some ass. Keep saying the serenity prayer....It helps. Bye...buddyox Sent from my Lenovo A3500-FL using the BariatricPal App

Keep in mind that as we get a handle on food addition, other additions may show their ugly face for example shopping addition, gambling, alcohol addition.... Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I agree with previous posters. I had to wait 6 months (no loss required) and I am very thankful I had that time to research the hell out of the surgery and prepare mentally. But most of all I used it as my last real effort to lose the weight without surgery. I busted my a$$ at the gym, I ate healthy food, gave up Diet Coke and alcohol (those were the last to go). I ended up getting a lot stronger and healthier which made surgery and recovery a lot safer and faster. But I didn't lose any weight at all... That more than anything proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that I needed the surgery. Sent from my XT1585 using the BariatricPal App

I say avoid it altogether, but I totally understand wanting to be social and normal, ya know? From what I've read, after having VSG, it takes half as much alcohol to get you drunk and the effects last twice as long. It enters your small intestine quickly and with little pre-digestion in the stomach. So if a typical margarita has 2.5 ounces of liquor & liqueur, to us it's like having 5 ounces.

I had surgery 12-29 and I can't imagine having alcohol this early. I get bad indigestion and acid from some foods that I can't say what a sugary/acidic margarita would do. I'm afraid my stomach would hurt so bad. Good luck tonight and update us on how it went. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I am planning on having one margarita tonight. I was never a big drinker. Very rare so of course no alcohol since 12-27 surgery. Thoughrd? Is it really easy to get drunk? I do NOat want to be drunk. Just a small social drink. Any one have experience to share? If it's a bad idea I might just call it off. Thanks! Sent from my VS995 using the BariatricPal App

Here are some recommendations: 1. Give up all carbonated beverages and caffeine from your diet. I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit prior to surgery and dropped 20 pounds on that change alone. But be prepared that if you remove caffeine from you diet that you may suffer from caffeine withdrawal. This lasted about a week for me with severe headaches and body aches. So if you make this change be prepared for a little suffering. Remember you have to do this for the surgery anyways, so why not make this change now. You definitely do not want to compound your recovery from weight loss surgery with caffeine withdrawal pain. 2. After surgery you will need to rely on Protein supplements (Protein shakes and protein bars). So I would recommend you purchase good Protein Bars (low on sugar and high on protein) and consume these as Snacks. Quest make a good Protein Bar with a lot of variety. 3. Get off the sugar. Transition over to artificial sweeteners (such as Splenda or sugar alcohols) or natural no calorie sweeteners (such as stevia). There are many products on grocery store shelves that have "No Sugar Added" label. So have hot cocoa but the No Sugar Added cocoa mix. Adkins makes a number of products that will take the edge off your sweet tooth. Read the labels, if it has more than 5 grams of sugar on the label, you may want to avoid these products and foods. 4. Walk 30 minutes each and every day. 5. Eat meals high in protein and low in carbs. Limit your complex carbs (such as bread and pasta) to one meal per day.

Same, except I'm 46, never have, have no desire to. But I also have no desire to judge. Some turn to the pharmaceutical world to relieve some issues, some turn to pot...they both have their positives and negatives I'm sure. But what I will say, most especially to the younger (under 30) crowd is this...in my experience, both in life and work (I'm a nurse), I've known people who were regular to heavy users of cannabis from a young age into middle age and past, whose minds are so messed up it's sad. There are diagnosed psychoses that stem from heavy and/or prolonged use. Is it personal to me? Yes, my oldest sister is one of them. Was smart as a whip growing up, started smoking in her teens, the only time she did not was at 30 when pregnant with her son. She's now 55 years old, and could barely think her way out of a paper bag. Having a conversation with her is painful. Some will argue pot isn't as dangerous as alcohol, or overindulging in food (in most of our cases), or whatever it is that floats your boat and seemingly makes life easier to get through, and I truly don't know. All I know is what I've witnessed from my sister, others I've known, and from patients, and say what you will now, that you remain productive, and you're totally in control of it, etc, but there is fallout just like any of the other choices. And I'm not talking about people who have gotten in to other "heavy" drugs, but strictly pot use. Before I get any hate, again, I have no dog in this fight... I believe fully in we all do what we do and so what. Like the post I referred to, I wish nothing but peace and blessings to all, but I've been following this post from the beginning, and had to get that off my chest. I do thank everyone for the honesty and bravery in their posts....it's been very enlightening. Sent from my SM-G928V using the BariatricPal App

I was so scared about starting back smoking again that I avoided alcohol. coffee and excercize helped me quit also. I ended up losing a significant amount of weight about 20 lbs. Sent from my SM-N920V using the BariatricPal App

I'm going to a super bowl party and I just told the host I am on an extremely restrictive diet for the next few weeks, so I'll be bringing my own Protein Water and sugar-free Jello. I'm sure there will be a cheese tray, so I'll let myself have a slice of cheese (chewed to the consistency of applesauce) as my treat. I specifically asked my surgeon if I could have a single shot of gin in a protein water and she said no, so I'm not going to drink any alcohol. If you really don't want anyone to know you had bariatric surgery, the easiest thing to do would be to just skip the party. You can say your stomach is feeling really delicate and that won't be a lie. The only other option is to keep moving at the party. Keep going up to the gif table and pointing something out that looks good. Ask if the person next to you had tried it and talk about how good it was. Probably no one will realize that you aren't actually eating if you keep talking about the food. Also, carry around a solo cup filled with water and say it is vodka. Follow everyone's cues as they get drunk: talk too loud, act as if it really matters who is winning the game, take lots of pee breaks, get a little obnoxious or a little weepy at some point. Sent from my Nexus 5X using the BariatricPal App

If you're on pureed, refried Beans should be fine (ditch the tortilla chips though) and you may be ok with some chili, but careful if it's spicy might upset a 3 week postop tummy. Don't do alcohol that fresh postop, totally not worth the risk, way too soon. Agree with erp.....it's one afternoon, and a HUGE part of succeeding with this tool you've been given, is in learning how to disconnect from making holidays, celebrations, events, and yes, even comfort, about the food. Learn now how to restructure your focus for those things in life, and the rest will easily fall into place. Sent from my SM-G928V using the BariatricPal App

To all the newly post op, please see Super Bowl Sunday for what it is...one afternoon. One afternoon that you tell yourself, no to booze and junk food. Your sleeve is for the Rest of Your Life (assuming you don't eff it up). Stop acting as though one afternoon is unbearable. Pre op, you most likely had a two week liquid diet; that was 14 days and you did it! Now you are 3, 4, or 5 weeks out and you can't handle one afternoon? The wants you are listing- alcohol, tortilla chips, and fried chicken- are what put us on the operating table to begin with. Why let one afternoon get you twisted? Stay the course now so you can be a success story later.

Today was an awesome, albeit a dietetic frustration, day. Mom and I went out today. She had a couple of Dr. appointments and since she pretty much refuses to wear her prescription glasses ("I can see the big stuff" she says) I drive her around on a regular basis (much to the chagrin of my nerves). I get home from taking the oldest to school (the boy refuses to get a drivers license!) and decide to unload some of the articles from my mom's storage locker that I've had in my trunk for the last week. Freezing my arse off I gave up on that idea pretty fast. By this time I decide to go inside and warm up, maybe get some hot tea, and make breakfast. I was thinking my usual 2 eggs, sunny side up with a cup of greek yogurt. Lots of protein! Yeah...that didn't happen because I had just started to get the stuff together to do that when mom asks what I'm doing - we have to leave in 15 minutes for the Dr. "But that's this afternoon!" "Dr. Mike is this afternoon. This morning I have to see Emily" I'm thinking "well, poop. I don't even have time to make a shake before we leave" (and my tummy has already been growling for an hour. Oh joy. We Get her to the Dr. and don't get out of there until almost 11:30. It's lunch time! Ok, mom, where to eat? "How's Panera or Olive Garden sound?" Well, considering the last time I ate at Olive Garden I could find something that I could eat, but it cost a bloody fortune for a lunch menu (which we found out later was actually put in the computer as a dinner item) and I had gas so bad it hurt, I chose Panera. Surely there's something at Panera I could eat without compromising my diet too badly. Then I saw it...New England Clam Chowder. My favorite soup in the world aside of Olive Garden's Zupa Toscana. So I decided on a half Chicken Caesar Salad and a cup of soup for lunch with an apple (which I gave to mom). Big, big, huge mistake all the way around. The salad tasted okay, but it ended up causing pain in my gut. The soup...well, I could only get down two bites it was so icky. Have you ever had potatoes in soup that you can tell they've been frozen by the way they mush when you bite into them and remind you of really nasty instant mashed potatoes that weren't really mixed all that well? That's what these potatoes were like. Eww. My clam chowder tastes like a gourmet chef prepared it compared to what this was today. Thankfully, the lack of desirability for me to eat that soup saved me major amounts of caloric intake for lunch. Not even an hour and a half later, mom states she needs something to satiate her sweet tooth. I managed to put that one off until almost 3. She wanted either TCBY or Olive Garden. I knew TCBY had a greek frozen yogurt so I went there and had half of their little cup of the Greek Honey Vanilla yogurt topped with a spoonful of chopped pecans. Nothing else fancy. It actually ended up pretty yummy. I was surprised. Lots of protein again. Yay me! Mom and I are having our yogurts when she asks what we're having for dinner. Doe in the headlights look greeted this question. I have no clue. We forgot to take anything out to defrost and we aren't going to feel like cooking and cleaning after this. I agreed, but what to do for dinner? Mom's suggestions....#1 on the list - Spaghetti. #2 on the list - Macaroni topped with baked beans #3 on the list - Lasagna (are you starting to see a pattern here?) So I went with #3 and let her know that I had leftovers from last night that I could heat up to eat while they had that. When we went to the grocer, though, I ended up finding this Healthy Choice Steamers Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo and Oikos Lemon Meringue yogurt. OMG! both were so yummy!!! I could so totally see getting some spaghetti squash and pouring that over it! Speaking of Spaghetti squash! This truly is the best way I have found to cook spaghetti squash! It makes the strands actually LOOK like spaghetti! It's amazing, truly! After I put all of what I ate today into My Fitness Pal (MFP) I found out that I actually made my protein goal! 77 grams of protein taken in today and that's before my cheese slice that I have before bed, which will up my total to 80+ grams today. I could actually see myself hitting 100 grams if I had had my eggs and yogurt this morning. That amazed me. What also amazed me was all the things I WANTED to eat today. The San Fransisco sourdough bread mom bought today...the Reeses Peanut Butter Cups at the checkout at the grocery....All the pastries at Panera and the bakery...the clam chowder that I ultimately caved in on (but was thankfully thwarted of because of the taste of it)...the lasagna that the rest of the family had along with the garlic Texas toast...the Hershey Kiss Thumbprint cookies mom bought because the family just HAD to have a sweet treat. (I'm really glad she hid those because I really did go looking for them after dinner because they looked SO good!) I swear I was like a recovering alcoholic that was thrown into a bar! I'm truly addicted to sweets. Not candy, per se, but mostly pastries and cookies and stuff like that. Though even seeing the open bag of chocolate chips in the pantry is a massive temptation to grab a handful to eat by themselves. Do they have sugar eaters anonymous or something like that? "Hi, My name is Alex and I'm addicted to sugar" I am, too. And milk. OMG I think I would die if I couldn't have milk anymore. So, that's my discovery for today...I'm addicted to sugar. I wonder what I'll discover about myself tomorrow?

Alcohol.... Nope. Nada. Not a sip. Take your own food or eat before and say you're not hungry or your tummy is upset so you don't want to eat and be sick. That's as near to the truth as you can get. Enjoy

It's such a trigger for me, I used to eat Pasta daily and have exacty 2 oz daily for years. Then when I stopped, it's like an alcoholic. I have 2 oz, I want 10! Sleeved on 1/10 so can't have for a while. Looking forward to my Tolerant Lentil Pasta though. Sent from my SM-G930V using the BariatricPal App

I would never drink alcohol 3 weeks after surgery!!! I'm 3 months post-op and I still haven't. You need to check with your surgeon before doing anything so drastic.

First of all, everyone is different. That said, I lost 15 pounds in 15 days (not a pound a day, it's been much more erratic than that). I drink 2-3 Protein shakes a day, and have 1-2 meals that include lean protein (usually chicken or fish) and non-starchy veggies. I can have 1-2 tbsp of a healthy oil with my veggies (olive oil, avocado). I'm not allowed any dairy, alcohol, or simple carbs (Pasta, rice, bread, oats, etc.). This is my liver shrinking diet - it's not all liquid, like so many other diets, yet I've still lost weight, even with my calories in the 1200-1400 range. I've been surprised at the weight loss, as I thought I wouldn't be as successful not being on an all-liquid diet. Anyway. This worked for me - I'm just offering it as suggestion. As others have mentioned, you could try a liquid diet too.