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Don't panic. You can get back on track. You were pretty vague. How did you fall off the wagon? Was it too much food, the wrong foods, alcohol? If you provide more detail, we can be more helpful.

I've been less active around the forums lately - I know we all go through it, our interest waxes and wanes. Sometimes I feel like I have nothing to contribute. Sometimes I feel like I'm just at a different place in my life now, and I'm no longer desperately searching for as much information as I can find. Someone wrote to me privately recently, and told me that my post about coming out as poly gave her the courage to come out to some of her family as poly. The words that I keep seeing like a flashing neon sign are these: "I really admire you for your authentic living - I am not quite there yet (as evidenced by this private msg and not public on your thread)." Welllllllll. Time to confess I'm human. And I don't like it one little bit! I've been hovering between 246 and 247 pounds for 17 days now. Am I in a stall? Hell no. I've let things creep back into my life that shouldn't be there. Alcohol. Snacks. Not enough fluids. I'm human. Make it STOP! Being human is wayyyy overrated! F**k!

How long after surgery before you have a drink?

sooo today is my first saturday being out of bed / post op comma ,,, and my house mates have a few friends around having drinks in the shed and the all decided to get pizza : / and my favourite drink rummmmm EEEKKK so much temptation ,,, i knew that weekends would be hard as most of my friends head out clubbing and to partys on the weekends as do I ,, but not drinking alcohol is just al adjustment ill have to get used to ,, not just cuz the soft drink in the drinks will make me burp which is a little uncomfortable,, but also cuz there is soooo many calories in those drinks that its really NOT WORTH IT,, so yea just thought i would give you all a quick update,, get that off my chest as it is going to be one of those hurdles ill have to get through,, hope you all have a lovely weekend

I quit all of my vices within three weeks time. On day 1 of my pre-op diet I quite Diet Pepsi, Caffeine and sugar I had my last cigarette the night before surgery and of course since then have kicked my addiction to food/emotional eating. About a month or two post-op I went through a couple of weeks of being a ball of nerves and desperately looking for an outlet. Admittedly alcohol came to mind a couple times but I made it through without picking up any new bad habits. I guess my only regret it taking on all of that at once but I figure what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger! I am very proud of myself now.

sooo yesterday afternoon i ventured out of the house to go catch up with some family,,, i was a little nervous as i hadnt really hung out with any one other then my house mates since the surgury and they are used to my little after drinking and eating dances and faces lol well it actually went really well,, of course there were lots of questions and humour and support as my family are great that way, but there was a little akwardness when it came to stuff like offering me tea and coffee and what not,, but i guess thats to be expected cuz most people dont really know much about banding or how it works or what we can eat and stuff , but once we got past that it was all pretty normal and awesome,, it was a great feeling a lifted alot of fear from me about feeling out of place because of my eating restrictions, but it as quite easy to adjust,,, they decided on fish and chips for dinner so i just got one peace of crumbed fish and ate it slowly like we bandits have to and in the time it took me to eat my peace of fish they were all finishing their meals,, so it as alot less akward and such a relief i dont think they really even noticed how little i ate,, or maybe my family are just that awesome they just took it on board either way SUCCESS ,,, i even actually had half a glass of rum and coke,, naughty naughty i know but it was a bit of a reward for me,, but as i havnt been eating anything sugarly or fatty latly the sugar in that half a glass sent me a little hyper LOL,,,, which my family ( who all quit enjoy there alcohol) thought was quit funny,, i also noticed last night that my attitude and confidence has changed a little bit already ,, usually im shy and timid around my family , but last night i didnt have the usual feeling of not fitting in,, ive only lost 5 kg but the knowledge in the back of my head that i am making these changes and that i am GOING to do this ,, just that knowledge alone and the confidence and energy i get from having my band is boosting me so much and my family are noticing already,, so hopefully that lasts through out my journey,, i know it probably will waver here and there but again a perk of my family know and my close friends know is they can spur me on so yea great start to my second bandit week,,, tata for now

You can and WILL Do this!! First, drop the alcohol. Maybe go back to the very 1st part of your journey: Protein drinks, counting and writing down everything that you put into your mouth. Move more and keep coming on here for some support from like minded peeps!! We are all here to help you. You know what to do because you have already proved that!! Welcome

You know where to start to get back on track, your health is more important than anything else, alcohol only makes things worst, you did it at the beginning of this journey and you can do it again, stay strong and focused, whatever happenes in your life wont get back to the way it was by drinking, its only 50 lbs to go you can do it Sent from my SM-G935P using the BariatricPal App

You are pretty much supposed to leave those on (steri-strips) until they fall off. If they are a little ragged on the edges, trim it up so it doesn't catch on something. I wasn't given any instructions regarding those other than that they'd come off in about a week, so after about a week, I used a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol on it and it came right off, but you might talk to your doctor first just to be sure.

Nahhhh... Unless you are planning on drinking directly from the ocean, you should be fine. I was. Take your favorite insulated Water bottle, fill it with ice and the non alcoholic beverage of your choice and sip sip sip. If you must, set your timer to remind you to take a drink every five minutes. I actually think there is an app for that. For realz...

Hello every one , I am new to this site and still trying to figure out everything.. I am scheduled to be banded Dec. 14th if I dont chiken out.. I haven't seen anything so far on the use of alcoholic beverages.. Will I ever be able to go out and have a drink with friends? Iam not talking about getting drunk just a drink. Has anyone ever mentioned this? Thanks

I say no time like the present to start adjusting your mindset for social situations...choose something else to drink that is non-caloric...will prove to yourself that you can do it, and post-op you will have to get comfortable with how you navigate both eating and drinking in social situations...if it is helpful, imagine yourself pregnant...you wouldn't feel "pressured" to drink alcohol with everyone else because you would know that isn't a healthy choice...or if you were on medication that couldn't beiges with alcohol...you wouldn't take a drink then, right?

So the big day is closing in…and I’m starting to freak the hell out!!! I’m scared as frack for a multitude of reasons and my trepidation is increasing with each passing day. Tomorrow I start my pre-op diet. I did try to be good this past week, at least in the beginning. But then I seemed honestly, legitimately more hungry than usual and my junk food cravings were unbearable. I would be good all day then come home and give in to the ice cream in the refrigerator or feel the intense need to stop at 7-11 on the way home and pick up a candy bar (or two). This definitely didn’t help my nerves. If I can’t even go two days without chocolate, how the heck am I supposed to go two months without solid food? What if I really can’t do this? What if I fail? Sure, I’d considered the possibility of failure going into this. I know the statistics. I know it doesn’t work for everyone. I know a lot of people find ways to eat around the band and manage to eventually gain back any weight they lost in the beginning stages. I knew that I might never reach my goal or that I might, in the long run, not lose any significant amount of weight at all. I knew these things from the beginning, but all those images of skinny me at my sister’s wedding this fall, or my ten year high school reunion next year, or me in a sexy outfit in a bar in the city getting hit on by cute boys sometime in the foreseeable future, were the possibilities my head focused in on. I figured once the changes had been made to my body from this surgery I wouldn’t be allowed to pig out. I wouldn’t be able to binge on junk food. And I’m a good girl; when there’s a rule I follow it. So long as I had a hard and fast reason to eat better, I would stop being able to rationalize the bad things I ate, and I would succeed. Or at least that’s what I believed—or what I wanted to believe. But I know it’s not going to be that easy. I’m going to be fighting those cravings all the time, especially in the beginning and If I couldn’t say ‘no’ this week, how will I do it next week, and the week after that, and for the rest of my life? Will I find a way? Or will this just be another failed attempt of mine to lose weight? And that’s not all that scares me. Because let’s be honest here—I didn’t get to be 315 lbs by not liking food. In fact, I love food. And I don’t just love food. I love sitting down and stuffing my face with mass quantities of disgusting, bad for me food. Right now I’m living at my parents house, since I had no money when I graduated vet school, and decided to stay at home for a year or so and save up money to buy my own place (which I will be moving into in a couple of months, but that’s a blog for another day.) Anyhow, the point is that even though I’m living at home, I’m 27, an adult and a doctor who is responsible for many lives on a daily basis. I should be adult enough to be responsible for my own life. My choices should be my own and I shouldn’t have to hide things from my parents just because I’m living under their roof at the moment. And yet, I do. I don’t hide boys, or pot, or alcohol--I hide food. When they go away and I know I’m going to have the house to myself, I think—“oh yay! I can stay in and watch a movie and order an entire pizza and eat it by myself.” I know this is not a healthy view to have on food, or on life in general, but it’s the way my mind thinks. I actually look forward to the opportunity to binge. And now I won’t be able to do that again—ever. Which is good. I shouldn’t ever do that. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to. And knowing that I can’t use large quantities of food to comfort myself is scary. Now I might actually have to deal with my emotions and to be perfectly honest, I don’t even think I know what my emotions are any more, I’ve been eating them down for so long. And then there are the minor scary things. I’ve never had anesthesia before or even spent a night in the hospital (except the sleep studies I had to do) both of which I will have to do next week for the surgery. How will the recovery go? Will I be in much pain? How will I survive a week at home with my mother without the possibility of escaping to work? (that last one is definitely the scariest.) So well, the freak-out isn’t exactly over, but I guess I’m done ranting about it for now. I’ll probably be back a few more times this week as D-day approaches. Tomorrow I think I’m getting weighed and measured by my PT at the gym so I’ll have some accurate starting stats to share with you. Until then, I’m going to try and convince myself that a week of Medi-Fast and fat-free, no sugar added yogurt sounds delicious.

I was surprised as well. My list from my doctor is: Clear Liquid Diet in hospital (day of surgery + next day) Full Liquid Diet, 1-day post-op - 1-week post-op. Chopped Diet, 1-week post-op - 1-month post-op. Avoid foods with more than 2gm sugar alcohol 8 cups of fluid between meals Take multi-vitamins Exercise - No lifting over 10lbs first eight weeks after surgery. I do have the Premier Protein shakes, which I liked before the surgery, but after the only one I can tolerate is the chocolate one. I do like the clear one, but it is only 20g, but it also counts as a liquid, so that is a win-win. I was all prepared with caffeine-free coffee and everything, but I was told coffee is fine, so happy dance. I do like seaweed, so I am going to get some of those for snacks and just add protein powders to everything I can since 92 grams seems like a lot.

Amanda, we are so in the same boat. I did the 3 month insurance required diet and lost, but the whole time I just kept telling myself I was making better choices and choosing to eat smaller portions - I never really had a hard time with it and didn't have that "I'm STARVING" feeling, like I do on most diets. I had my pre-op on Wednesday and my pre-op diet consists of 3 or 4 replacement/protein shakes and a small Lean Cuisine type dinner. I tried to do some of it on Wed night, but didn't go so well. So on Thursday and Friday I tried to follow it, and now I feel like I'm STARVING! When I was on the 3 month diet I hardly ever felt hungry, went hours between my morning shake and lunch shake without a problem, and now I can barely go 15 minutes without thinking of something I can have, or feeling the need to eat. My stomach is rumbling and I'm grouchy and I feel like I did on every diet before. :-( My doctor wants me to lose 10 pounds in 7 days - I thought it would be easy, but since I lost over 20 pounds already that quick weight loss isn't happening now. Hopefully it will be fine no matter what - the nurse said since I've already lost a lot and I'm not that big anyways (one of the ONLY times I've ever heard that for many years!!!!) that even just a few pounds should be fine. Oh, and adding to the stress of a starvation diet I now have PMS, and I can't take anything but Tylenol. Or alcohol. I feel bad for my family having to live with me for the past couple of days. Thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one having a hard time with this. Yesterday I ate about 1-2 cups of pistachios....definitely NOT on my pre-op diet. ~Kelly <3

If you saw one of my earlier posts asking the removal of the drainage tube and how that felt, surprisingly that was the biggest thing I was concerend with in this surgery; not the possibility of risks, not the posibility of no weight loss. Had my surgery on Tuesday morning. Took the nurses quite a while to find find a vein to start the IV. The told me that most overweight people have this problem so I shouldn't worry. I was little upset because I drank so many Clear liquids the two days up to it and still they had problems. The IV going in hurt like a MOFO. I can't stand needles at all, or any kind of pain. I'm a 32 year old male that screams when I see a tiny spider in a corner. Yea, figure that one out. Then came time for the surgery, I actually started to cry as the nurse came in and said the doctor is ready. I was crying because it was finally happening - all the waiting, insurance approval, 2 week Protein diet, everything had come down to this. I remember going into the OR and they moved me from my bed to the operating bed. The anestesiologist put an oxyegen mask on me and said to take some deep breaths and that I should start to feel sleepy soon. I vaguely remember having my arms and legs strapped in? But that might have been my imagination. I also remember there were two attractive nurses in the room with me, and then I zonked out. Next thing I'm waking up and the anestesiologist is talking to me, saying things like "Jason...can you hear me?" "Jason, are you awake?" I'm rolling around in the bed all groggy, not really in pain or discomfort, but just trying to figure out what the hell is going on. He asked me what I remember and I said the oxygen bit and that there were 2 hot nurses in the room and he laughed and said "That's why I keep coming back!" He asked if there was any chest/shoulder pain and I said no. The first few hours of the surgery were the worst. My abdominal muscles were tight as hell, and I kept dosing in and out of sleep for the next 6 or so hours. By the evening the nurses were getting me up and having me walk to the bathroom to see my urinary output. Some of my friends visited me which was nice. I had an extremely hard time falling asleep that first night - strange hospital, only 12 channels on TV with stupid shows and infomercials, pain for the most part was non existent because I was on a comination of tylenol drips and morphine. The next morning they did the final blood draw, had me do my barium exam and I was discharged. I've got to say, before I continue, the nursing staff and the surgeon, as well as the anestesiologist were of the highest professionalism, care and bedside manner. I could not have asked for a better team. In fact, overnight I was the only one in recovery and I had both nurses to myself! Then I was being discharged. My dad was driving my car, and I rarely ride passenger, I'm normally the driver. His driving has always made me groan a bit because he just doesn't drive like me....I'm a little more agressive. I started to get naseaus right away and thought, am I having motion sickness? Getting in the car hurt like hell, bending those adominal muscles as well as getting out. My parents let me stay with them for a few days to recover and immediately I decided to lie down. I slept hard for about 2 hours. Here is an outline of the pain/discomfort I have had since surgery - Surgery day - Not much because of the morphine and tylenol drip Day after surgery - Not much until I got home. Sipped on a Protein shake and took another 2 hour nap. As I was sitting up I started to feel naseaus and there went the protein shake. It was dark in the room and I thought for a second I vomitted blood. Thankfully is just a light brown color reminiscent of when I drank too much alcohol and bile would come up. Called my surgeon to let me know and they said that was common after surgery but not to worry. Started feeling sharp pains in left shoulder/chest area. Worried I had a leak. Thursday - Off and on discomfort - still feeling sharp pains in left shoulder. Occassional naseau. Friday - Off and on discomfort - still sharp pains. Went to surgeon for first followup to get the drainage tube removed. Ok, I'm going to digress here, but that was the most unfomfortable, oddest, strangest sensations I have ever experienced. It was quick, but honestly felt like he was rummaging around my organs. I pray I never have to feel that experience ever again. Sharp pain in chest IMMEDIATELY went away. Who knew it was the drain causing it??? Saturday - I took 2-1 hour naps today, much imrovement from the days before. Had a lot more energy. Very, very little abdominal discomfort, only when changing positions from seated to standing, laying to standing, standing to seated etc. It's not as bad as it nearly was. Either I'm getting used to the pain, or the muscles are finally healing. Now here is a diary of my liquid/protein intake - Day after surgery - Got 30 ounces of liquid...if I was lucky. The one protein shake of 13g of protein was lost when I vomitted up. Thursday - Got around 30 ounces of liquid. Finished one protein shake for 13g. It is so difficult to get in the required 64oz and 45g for the first five days. Friday - Got around 40 ounces of liquid. Finished one and a half protein shake for 20g with skim milk in both, so around 25g of protein. Told the surgeon I would like to extend the liquid diet past day 4, as he had originally planned, because I want to make sure I'm up to 64oz liquid and 45g protein before moving to stage 2. He said I can stay as long as I want on each stage, just don't end it early. Saturday - Got around 55 ounces of liquid. Had Jello, half cup skim milk, popsicle, about 30g of protein. I'm getting there. Tomorrow, Sunday, I should be starting the 2nd stage of purreed foods. But I don't want to yet, I really want to get up to the 64 oz of liquid and 45g of protein for a solid 4 days in a row before I got to stage 2. I owe it to my new stomach to get used to all liquids and actually completing a stage before moving on to another. Plus, I think in the long run that will help to heal my stomach better than by forcing myself onto a new stage when my stomach isn't ready it. Each day gets better, and I'm hoping I can get the 64 ounces of liquid and 45 grams of protein tomorrow for my first official day at that mark..... .....as much as applesauce, cottage cheese, and refried Beans sound right about now! LOL For everyone that has said it before, as soon as that drainage tube was removed, so much discomfort IMMEDIATELY went away. My only concern is right now I'm developing a cold, and my ears are popping and I have a slight cough. I am sure this is due to not eating and staying hydrated. I am taking my required multi-vatamins and supplements daily. Finally, I have not had any stomach or head hunger. I'm watching tv and I will see commercials for Steak and Shake or donuts and think, "Hmmm, I remember how good those tasted" but I am very happy with the decision I made. The hardest thing for me is just sipping ice cold Water, because I'm so used to chugging ice cold water, especially when I'm thirsty.

He said that his doctor was very mad at him and told him that he had probably stretched it out but he didn't go get it checked out. I don't think he cares....doesn't want to give up his alcohol enough. Oh well, I was just curious.

These are my personal observations about my own weight issues. I have spent years struggling with real and imagined issues with food. I decided to have the lap band surgery after about 4 months of deep and meditative introspection about what my true 'issue' with food was. I had tried everything as many of you have. But when I took a good look at why diets, exercise & food control issues failed for me I realized a lot. One thing that became clear was that I was using food to 'medicate' myself. Every issue, large or small good or bad was medicated with food. I used food in place of dealing with my true issues. Tired, bored, happy or sad I solved the problem with food. It was no wonder I was never full. It was no wonder I was always reaching for something to eat. I would attempt to make healthy choices, I would exercise and I still did not lose weight for all the biological reasons doctors explain about metabolism. But the bottom line was that food was always front and center in my mind. I hated the grocery store like most people hate going to the dentist. I realized at one point that food, for me, was in actuality, an addiction (I speak for myself only, of course). And I realized that this was the worst kind of addiction ever. People can give up alcohol completely and live, they can give up cigarettes & drugs and still live. They can completely remove themselves from temptation of those substances (in extreme cases of course) and function. But food addicts can't. No one ever says, "Oh, I'll just have a little heroin today." But food addicts do. We attempt to restrict the thing that helps get us emotionally and physically through the day. The bad news is that we can never truly escape our addiction to food, after all, we need food to live. The only thing we can do is make vital attempts to undertand our relationship with food, make changes where necessary, & most of all understand ourselves and WHY food is so gosh darn important to us. If we could simply view food as fuel we wouldn't overeat, right? After all, there's no sense in overfilling your fuel tank in your car, is there. But that's not so easily done. Food has a powerful influence in our lives. We Celebrate with it, we suffer through mourning with it, we simply need it to survive. So I had to ask myself, "What the heck are you trying to avoid by numbing yourself with food?" It took a ot of time and listening to things my inner self didn't want to listen to but in the end the answer to that question was...."Everything!" What I lacked in my relationship was covered by my relationship with food. What was lacking physically after a workout was covered by the physical apsects of food. What was lacking in the department of self-love was covered by food. For me food was a cure all. I didn't have to search for answers anywhere else, I didn't have to look for solutions to deep and heavy issues in relationships because food cured those for me. Food, for me, simply made those things go away. Unfortunately the side effects were a catch 22. The food made me feel better in the moment but then almost as soon as I'd eat it I'd start to realize that I did not do myself any favors and of course would feel intrinsically bad and would search for more food to cure the problem...creating a catch 22. For me the answer came one day when i took a good hard look at myself. I realized that I really did love myself but what I was doing with food was inherently NOT loving to myself. I knew then and there that the best way to love myself was to overcome my addiction to food and start solving the little issues of life some other way other than food. But how? I attempted to gain control of my eating. I made health choices, exercised and foced on all foods I put into my body as a gift of love to myself. Food is fuel not medication, I would tell myself. Some days I would do very well, and others I would fail miserably. Days when emotional issues, fatigue, stress or other stressors increased I would feel myself quickly losing control over my new found 'self-love' mantra and back through the drive through I'd go. After many attempts to control increasing hunger after workouts & emotional eating I decided I needed help. I did my research on the lap band and decided that it was the right thing for me. I'm a natural health kinda person so the thought of surgery was not an easy prospspect for me but I knew this was the right thing to do. I did struggle a little with the thought that I SHOULD be able to hand this on my own, after all I did have good in-control days, sometimes. But my weight was getting dangerously high and I knew I had passed my personal point of no return, weight wise. So I chose the surgery. I came to the conculsion that I would probably always have an addiction to food deep down. Just like recovering alcoholics say...you are always recovering. I knew I'd always be recovering from my food addiction but made my peace with the fact that alcoholics get help, drug addicts get help, gamblers get help, why shouldn't people with food addictions get help. The lap band was my addiction help. I knew I'd have to do some work too but I figure that if I could get a little help on the really bad days I just might be able to fight this addiction. It has been a year and two months. I've lost 80 pounds. I struggled with new issues after the band such as exercise. I knew I was supposed to exercise but exercise never worked for me before. I feared failure or even muscle weight gain so I didn't exercise much. Yeah, a new issue to deal with. I feared I spent all that money on the band and it wouldn't work, because after all, nothing else had and this was (for me) an addiction which is all in the head right? But as weight slowly started to come off and I recieved support from friends and family who loved me (but admittedly knew nothing of how hard it is to struggle with food issues) I began to see the light. The band helped me gain control where I was simply ill-equipped to do so previously. Can you fail with a lap band? Probably. Can you sabotage yourself? Probably. Did I want to? Absolutely not. In my mind, this was my last chance and I was going to do whatever it took psychologically & physically to make it work. Even if that meant I'd have to search elsewhere, namely deep in my soul for answers to those daily stressors and emotional issues I avoided and had medicated with food for so long. Do I still crave food when I am angry, hungry, happy or stressed? Not really. Does it cross my mind? Yes, on occasion. Why? Because over the last 14 months the physical attributes of the band and intense personal exploration has helped me develop new habits. I use the band like alcoholics use Antibuse. I know that if I eat more than I should out of compulsion I will get sick and that's not good for me. So over time, I have come to the understanding that my band is there to help keep me in control of eating while I use my mind to solve emotional stressors. Of course I still need to eat, but out of nutrition needs, not emotional needs. I let the band help me get the proper nutrition and use it to assist me in dealing with stressors appropriately. It's sort of my version of 'tough love'. It won't let me have what I want because it knows it's not good for me and forces me to deal with the rest of life the way I should. And the only side effect is that I am losing weight. Recently my band became lose with weight loss & increased exercise. I was hungier than usual, could eat more and I did. I felt like I was a little out of control. I attempted to handle it on my own for a few weeks understanding that at some point in my life the band may not work well anymore and I needed to see how much progress I had made in my emotional journey. The answer to that was...only a little. I didn't feel bad however, after all, I'd spent a lifetime developing my food issues. I didn't expect them to disappear in 1 year. I found myself able to eat larger portions, reveling in it, & in truth thinking "Oh, I bet I could have a Sonic hamburger." In essence, I was having a relapse. I was thinking of all the wonderful things I could have to 'love myself' with. But! the funny thing was, that the food didn't have the same medicating response anymore. Nothing that I ate gave me that sensuous UMMMM! response I thought it would. I didn't have one of those...."Oh my God, I haven't had this in a year and it tastes incredible!" feeling. I simply just ate a little larger portion than ususal and felt kinda bad about it, simply for the fact that I was pretty sure I didn't need that extra portion. So I learned that just because I could eat more, I didn't really need to and in actuality I wasn't getting that response I had expected. And no, I never really did eat a Sonic hamburger. It was at this point I chose to get my band adjusted a little to give myself the assistance I needed. I know I am making progress and my goal is to some day get to the point where I am in control of all food issues band or no band. I think I'm well on my way. I no longer fear the day I may not have use of my band because I have seen progress and I know I will get there. So for those who still struggle with hunger, compulsion to overeat or cravings I feel for you. All I can suggest is that maybe you take a good hard look at what food means to you and how you are using is. Be honest with yourself, I know it's hard. Society doesn't make weight loss or body image easy. After all, simply take a look at your next restaurant portion and you'll see that. Your body probably only needs about a quarter of what is put on your plate to survive nicely. No one can come to these realizations for you. All I know is that I was tired with struggling with my love/hate relationship with food. I was tried of trying to bend food to my will skipping this, substituting that. I wanted my relationship with food to be normal. And I can honestly say that with the help of my lap band I'm as close to normal as I have ever been in 41 years, but still a work in progress. I am slowly making peace with food, using it for what it was intended & loving myself in the process. I used to tell people who said I need to love myself more...."I'll love myself when I'm a size 8 again." I finally realized I was missing their point. Loving who you are, doing things that honor & love the self is a process not a size destination. I am now 185 pounds, 41 years old, a size 12 and if I never lost another pound I honestly think I'd be perfectly happy with myself, physically and emotionally. If you have ever uttered the phrase "I love to eat." or "I just love food." I would highly suggest you take a good hard look at why you made those statements and you'll get some good insight as to your personal issue with food. It may not be like mine but it just might. Thank you for reading my story and I hope you have a wonderful learning experience with or without your band. Sincerely, Samantha Hall

Not to pick nits, but there's a big difference between liquid calories and "empty" calories. Empty calories are those that come without any nutritional benefits--and while one can indeed make that claim about alcohol, it's far from true about all liquid calories. If it were, we'd all starve to death on the liquid diet! Once bandsters are on solid foods, we are indeed told to avoid liquid calories to maximize the effect of the band. But that's not the same as saying that all liquid calories are "empty" calories. Sometimes liquid nutrition is VERY important!

The band has no effect on the way your body metabolizes alcohol. With Bypass however you can become impaired with very little alcohol because your body simply does not have the plumbing it used to. Just be concerned with the liquid calories and you will be fine. You should avoid carbonated beverages for at least a year because you could stretch the pouch. Some people have said they can no longer tollerate carbonated beverages because it just comes back up on them. What it comes down to is drinking responsibily.

I had that too. It turns out that it was a stitch poking thru! What I ended up doing was getting a new CLEAN shaver, soaked in alcohol, and I actually very carefully shaved it flush with my skin. It worked! But since you're going to the doctor, I'm sure they'll take care of it for you. The fill is a piece o' cake.

Hey! Hope all is well with everyone. I was just wondering, after having Gastric Bypass are you allowed to drink any types of alcoholic beverages?

Okay…..so I am officially 3 weeks post op today, May 20, 2008 and am seriously ready to eat a cow . I have been this way since last week and the doc, oh I love him but hell, told me that as long as I am losing weight he is not too concerned about anything. My issues, I am not eating the 4oz that is suggested, but more like 10-12oz, and he said that is fine because I am losing weight so long as I am not eating crap. :sleep: I must confess, I did have 3 Cookies last week although totally drowned in milk, I did eat them and I told him this:thumbdown:. He asked if that was it and I honestly told him yes. I had not even eaten the recommended oatmeal, mushy Cereal, in fact no breads, rice, Pasta, etc. Right now, I want to dive my big ol but into a plate of nothing by carbohydrates or a greasy cheeseburger with some chips and queso, but I have refrained. :eek: Quitting sugar and, well hell the “good foods” (aka: fattening foods) the way I did was like telling a drug addict, alcoholic or smoker to stop cold turkey. I was told my insurance approved me on April 18 and I needed to start my liquid diets because they were scheduling my surgery for April 25, which ended up getting pushed back to April 29, 2008. Now, I am not ungrateful because I appreciate the opportunity to have this surgery, I am sure as much as any of you, but someone please tell me what I can have because right now I want to cave in and eat something that I know I do not need, should not eat and is totally against what this procedure is for. BTW……I have eaten the sugar free jellos and puddings, the sugar free popsicles and the yogurts, but I think it is the bread my body is craving as I have had ZERO of that (except those three cookies). I feel tired, worn out, not really wanting to do anything, which I am thinking is the lack of carbs as my intake is very minimal right now. Any suggestions would be most appreciated!!!!

I'm curious for the replies also. I have surgery in July and in January I'm going to a 5 star All Inclusive Mexico resort for my wedding. Same thing I didn't know about the surgery when we decided. However it was where I met my fiancé so the destination picked itself. Normally I would be up for partying all day long in the pools, and enjoying the delicious food..I've taken a different mindset because there's no other way to do it, and I'm going to make my vacation all about looking fantastic in awesome new outfits and picking alcohol more carefully. I'll also need about as much willpower as possible to stay away from cold beer and tequila, my vacation favorites. I've just got my fingers crossed that habit will have set in by then and I'll be okay without the normal binging that comes with vacation. Plus I gain about 10lbs every vacation I go on, so I won't have to deal with that this time

Oh good that's comforting..lol. I'll test my alcohol endurance at home first too... I'm so nervous about alcohol because little sister had gastric bypass years ago and after she became a raging alcoholic and now she just eats gummy bears, drinks and smokes. I'm shocked she's still alive. she's a mess but she hardly drank before the surgery. I recently quit smoking so the 2 weeks not eating pre op and not being able to smoke is gonna be rough... Did u find the pre op fast unbearable? I'm so nervous I have to start liquids only July 5. I'm trying to do low carb now also ...