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Doctors seem to be all over the map on tea, coffee, and alcohol (not to mention other foods). You can find studies that say that caffeine is a diuretic, that it isn't a diuretic, that it makes you eat more or less, that it helps alertness, that it does nothing... I have to wonder if their own preferences control just what studies each doctor decides to believe and transmit as orders to patients. Well, that's no true exactly...I don't really wonder. Since this is a diet for life I am choosing to drink my tea and coffee much the same way I always have...2 cups of hot tea in the morning and a latte here and there through the week. Gallons of unsweetened tea during the day. An occaisional cocktail...calories permitting. My doctor says "whatever works".

I hope that you find the answers that you are seeking. My reason for having surgery boiled down to the sheer amount of food that I was able to eat in a single sitting. I wasn't a huge processed food snacker. I was able to eat 5-7 cups per sitting, which didn't hurt me when I was eating veggies and brown rice. It did hurt me when I ate something bad though. Unfortunately, eating 8 slices of pizza, and 5 tacos on a cheat day derailed my progress during the other 6 days of my diet. I didn't have surgery with the hope that it would make me not want pizza or tacos. I had it with the hope that I would possibly be able to eat 1-2 slices of pizza or 1 or 2 tacos. I also knew that cutting that 5-7 cups down to a more manageable 1-2 cups would make a huge difference in the amount of calories I was taking in on a daily basis. I really had no idea that I would be eating 1/2 to 2/3 of a cup of food per sitting. Since surgery, I have had both pizza and tacos. I have made them myself though. Cauliflower crust pizza loaded with veggies, a very tiny amount of sauce and a very tiny amount of mozzarella cheese. Veggie sausage, egg white and spinach tacos made with 1/2 of a Flat-out light wrap. I could eat a little over 1/3 of a 9" cauliflower crust pizza, and it would be just over 150 calories. The tacos would be a little over 160 calories. That is a win in my book. I once took a month long nutrition class (for insurance purposes) that said that you can contribute at least 20-30 pounds of your excess weight to each group of bad foods you eat. If you eat salty snacks, sweets, fast food, drink alcohol.....Each of these groups can really pack on the pounds. I think that everyone must realize that this surgery doesn't help as much if your problem is snacking on processed junk or eating fast food unless you yourself are willing to change. 5 ounces of candy is A LOT of calories. 5 ounces of Doritos is A LOT of calories. 5 ounces of ice cream is A LOT of calories. These are all sliders, have almost no nutritional value, and will not make you full. Even a small cheeseburger and small fry from McDonalds will carry almost 550 calories. Have that 2 or more times per week, and you could still wreck your progress. There was a bariatric doctor that said that if you want to be successful in weight loss, you must do the right things at least 90% of the time. You will have stalls, but you can still lose fat during these stalls. Get back to your program. If you must snack, find healthy snacks that you like eating. I like crunchy veggies and raw nuts, but have an occasional turkey roll or two (turkey breast slices, cream cheese, chives). Remember, no surgery is going to overcome the brain's urge to eat junk food or processed food. You've got to learn to have that every loooonnnnggg once in a while, and hopefully, in the case of junk food....Make better choices about what you have. You can have a salad anywhere. Just don't pile on the dressing, croutons and/or tortilla strips. LOL! You can do this. It won't be easy. I won't be fun. It WILL make you stronger. It WILL be worth it in the end. Good luck my friends!

My first "holiday" post-op. I have realized even more so - how food was a part of all celebrations. My husband and I didn't plan to go out for Valentine's Day because our youngest is sick. So how to make this day special without centering on food. Wow. Pretty hard for me. Every idea that popped into my head started with some special snack. I could make heart shaped cake...no.....or cup cakes with pink fluffy frosting....no. A fancy dinner with sauces and bread...no. Quite frustrating. What could we do to make it feel like a fun day-- but without the focus being food?? And I am not at stage where I can enjoy alcohol yet. Really looking forward to that! :-) Well I decided to make spaghetti for my husband and our two little boys. And a salad. Nothing special- just an ordinary dinner for the family. I had low fat ; low carb; high protein pureed food.But to the table - I added pink, red, and white candles. And a valentine at each place setting. When dinner was over we decided to go crazy with the boys making Valentines for all the grandparents and aunts and uncles. Sugar-free red jello for dessert- boys loved it. I got through it. No cheating on the bariatric diet. I focused on the atmosphere of love and the memories of the night. I felt fulfilled and happy. To be honest- I am surprised I feel that good. Of course I miss the annual pig-out at the favorite dining place and the big ole box of chocolates. But this year - what I take from Valentines Day is a beautiful card and gift from my husband. Warm memories making valentines with our boys. And knowing the scale will for sure be one pound lighter in the morning. Nothing "sweeter" than that. Happy Valentine's Day everybody.

Hi all, thanks you so much for your rapid responses. It is so great to have people to communicate with, it makes the journey all the more bearable. Hi Shireen, in response to your question: I suppose my purees are not really purees, as I add lots of chicken stock and it really is like Water - but it has flavour. I also tried a great liquid yesterday, I took a tin of creamed corn, I strained it and added chicken stock then heated it up - yum. I think my weight has shifted due to my early morning walks. I have been getting up with my husband at 6 am and we walk at a semi fast pace for an hour. It is a divine time of the mroning here in Sydney, the birds are churping, people are walking thier dogs and I live right near the harbour park, so once we reach the park we have the glorious view of the Anzac Bridge over the harbour and the city. I am down 6 kilos now, but have now made a mental commitment to myself not to look at the scales until Monday 6th sep. Oh by the way does anyone dare to drink alcohol once they are on solids ?

I'm 6 years out and I can tell you my biggest downfall is resorting to alcohol in times of trouble. A little here and there leads to a lot and before you know it you are ignoring all the rules. My advice: find a drink now that is low carb and not carbonated so you have a go to if you need it. Beer is not ever a bands friend!! Also, don't fall into the trap of allowing yourself sweets just because you can still fit under your carb max or your calorie max...pretty soon you'll be back to eating way more of those than you can because you started with one and they slide down easy.

I'm sure someone else knows more than I do, but I seem to remember reading that sugar alcohol is metabolized differently than regular sugar. It doesn't seem to count as "carbs" in the same way--though that may be a manufacturer's sleight-of-hand marketing trick. Calories are calories, as we all know.

Yes that is what the dr told me too but you explained it so much better. I have had all these symptoms except being hot, I FREEZE ALL the time. No feeling in my fingers freezing 24/7. I haven't broke a sweat in over 2 years The gastric dr sent me to a diabetic dr who found this in a blood test. He prescribed Potassium and another pill to help my body absorb the salt. I have low BP and don't know how long I've had it, I've been falling, about to pass out and fell once at work and ended up in the ER overnight because my BP was too low to send me home. Somewhere around 80/48. After 3 iv bags, it went to abt 96/56...where it pretty much stays now. I have always had perfect Blood Pressure. My heart rate has always been around 56-60. it dropped to 45-48 in the ER. During the fall, I pinched and damaged a nerve in my left leg...Now I have drop foot. I can't move my left foot up at all...I can move it down and slightly sideways but nothing up. I have a brace on my leg and foot now that I got this week. It helps me not lose my balance and trip over my foot. But I till fall over to my right. My left leg is the one messed up. I started the new meds last night. So, if I get my sodium up and potassium up, my bp will go up and I will stable out? I was skin removal at the end of this year and don't want it to cause me to not have the surgery. As far as how I lost the weight...I still try to keep my calories under 1000 a day. I've had grape Gatorade for the past month. I crave it ...I guess because of the sodium I'm missing. I stalled for almost a month until yesterday. I started drinking chocolate Muscle Milk two days ago for Breakfast and sometimes for lunch and eat what ever I want at night. My stomach is still small and I can't eat a lot. Up until I messed up my left and foot,, I was always on the go..I have a sit down data entry job so I dont get up much during the day but when I get home, I hardly sit. Weekends, I spend window shopping and trying on clothes for fun. This morning I woke up to 203. Its been 205-209 for a month. Hopeful I'll be under 200 and in Onederland by Easter. I don't drink colas at all. Sometimes unsweetened tea with sweet n low. If I have alcohol, its about once a month and is a "sample" from Olive Garden for 25 cents. Its all I need and satisfies me. I am so surprised and excited and how much I have lost and how fast. I don't think its any certain secret but each person is different in losing.

I actually had the dual challenge of not only not stress eating, but also stress drinking. I used to have a large (or 2 or 3) cocktails everyday after work. Most of my social activities involved drinking, too. I don't have a magic formula as to how I stopped, I just did. I still have shitty days at work and I still have emotional issues in my private life, I just don't drink or eat my way through them anymore. Surprisingly, learning how to celebrate the good things without food and alcohol was just as hard. I read Cynthia's book, too, and that did help get my head in the right place. And I realized after a few times of not drinking and binge eating when I wanted to that the world was not going to come crashing down. Dealing with life without my crutches has gotten easier as time goes on. And as for socializing, I still do eat and drink at parties, it's just in extreme moderation.

Make sure you pack some sleeve friendly Snacks. I would also request that they order salad and non-alcoholic beverages. Most pizza places do salads. If not, I would eat a healthy snack before you go to the dinner or just eat the toppings off the pizza and toss the crust. Good luck and have fun

I'm going to be traveling from Nashville to Wisconsin for work. I'm not sure what to take with me for food. I'm one year out but I prepare all my meals and snacks. I will be eating out every meal plus we will be doing socializing drinking. I have not drank an alcohol drink since surgery so I'm getting really nervous. My company normally orders pizza and beer/wine for dinner. I don't eat pizza because the dough makes me sick. Any suggestion?

I think you'll probably get different answers to this question, much like is caffeine ok, is alcohol ok, etc. I think your responses will be varied. I can only speak from my experience. I do think that as my sleeve has "healed" and the internal swelling has gone down, etc there probably is a little less restriction than there was initially. With that being said, the kind of food you are eating matters. If you are eating foods that are high in carbs, they tend to slide pretty easily through, not fill you up, and give you the sensation that you your sleeve is "broken" or "stretched" and you can suddenly eat more. However, if you go back to dense Proteins you'll realize pretty quickly that your tool is still in tact and you still have the restriction that you expect to have. So, is it possible to stretch your sleeve? I'm not terribly sure. Is it possible to over-eat or binge eat with the sleeve and have the feeling that it is stretched? Absolutely. So that was kind of a long response to a short question. And my official answer, I don't know. Lol.

I had my eval with a therapist last night. She confirmed that I was a good candidate for WLS and LB. It was great talking to her. I had forgotten how good it feels to open yourself up like that. I used to do indiv and group therapy, years ago (just after college). I have been a school counselor for 10 years and ran an alcohol treatment study as a therapist for a time - you would think I would know how important talk therapy is! While talking to her, I articulated some of the feelings I have been having. She suggested journaling, and I thought, "Aha! I can blog on lapbandtalk!" I have come to the conclusion that I am a spoiled brat.:ohmy: I never really experienced much hardship in my life. I have never been really poor, never did without anything growing up. I hated cleaning my room or any other "manual labor" and would get "stomach aches" when required to do something I didn't want to do. (Ugh. This sounds so terrible! But I have to be honest if I am going to get past it.) I have suffered bouts of depression and had low self confidence for a long time. My confidence has improved, but I think there is still part of me that feels "unworthy". The therapist named my view as "self-indulgent". Totally. I do not want to feel discomfort of any kind. I want to have what I want, when I want it. I don't want limits. I feel like I "deserve" to have whatever I want, including food.:mad: What am I rewarding myself for? I am quick to take medicine for any discomfort, headache, allergies, etc. The therapist talked about the feelings I am suppressing with this self-indulgent behavior. If I didn't distract myself with food, what else would be bothering me? It is so hard to identify! I know I fear feeling sad. I lost my mom Feb 09 and my dog Aug 09. I went up on my Lexapro for a time, but I still cried a lot. Some days, I cried pretty much all day. It was horrible. I am so afraid that feeling sad will push me into that dark pit of depression. I still take Lexapro, and it helps, but I know how it feels to be so low...and I don't want to be there.:frown: Then there is the depressioon that being fat brings. I hate feeling the inertia that keeps me on the couch. I am an artist - but I don't feel like doing anything. I have bajillions of beads, art supplies, etc...but I don't seem able to do anything with them. Why? I have no desire/energy to cook. It used to be a passion. Now, frozen something is a relief - nothing to worry about. I worry that I will end up like my mom: sitting ALL DAY in fron to the TV, doing NOTHING, including bathing, eating, dressing, or anything that requires effort. I get those feelings periodically. Scary. So how do I start? How can I make myself do things? I don't WANT to push myself. I hate discomfort. I told the alcoholics in group that cravings (for alcohol) are like a wave, and they will crest and then pass. Somehow, I can't talke my own advice. I don't want to feel "hunger". Also, I worry about there being "enough" of anything for me, esp. food. Is 1 bottle of wine enough to bring to a party? Is an 8 oz steak enough? Are three yams enough? I buy way too much food. I feels like there is never enough. I envy our cat. She gets all the food/petting and sleep she wants. When she wants more, she just asks. I could sleep all day. I have vivid dreams that sometimes are better than life.:wub: Wow. I do ramble on. But it feels good to get it out there. These are all thoughts/feelings I discovered or articulated last night. I think I need some more therapy. :smile2:

I had my eval with a therapist last night. She confirmed that I was a good candidate for WLS and LB. It was great talking to her. I had forgotten how good it feels to open yourself up like that. I used to do indiv and group therapy, years ago (just after college). I have been a school counselor for 10 years and ran an alcohol treatment study as a therapist for a time - you would think I would know how important talk therapy is! While talking to her, I articulated some of the feelings I have been having. She suggested journaling, and I thought, "Aha! I can blog on lapbandtalk!" I have come to the conclusion that I am a spoiled brat.:drool: I never really experienced much hardship in my life. I have never been really poor, never did without anything growing up. I hated cleaning my room or any other "manual labor" and would get "stomach aches" when required to do something I didn't want to do. (Ugh. This sounds so terrible! But I have to be honest if I am going to get past it.) I have suffered bouts of depression and had low self confidence for a long time. My confidence has improved, but I think there is still part of me that feels "unworthy". The therapist named my view as "self-indulgent". Totally. I do not want to feel discomfort of any kind. I want to have what I want, when I want it. I don't want limits. I feel like I "deserve" to have whatever I want, including food.:drool: What am I rewarding myself for? I am quick to take medicine for any discomfort, headache, allergies, etc. The therapist talked about the feelings I am suppressing with this self-indulgent behavior. If I didn't distract myself with food, what else would be bothering me? It is so hard to identify! I know I fear feeling sad. I lost my mom Feb 09 and my dog Aug 09. I went up on my Lexapro for a time, but I still cried a lot. Some days, I cried pretty much all day. It was horrible. I am so afraid that feeling sad will push me into that dark pit of depression. I still take Lexapro, and it helps, but I know how it feels to be so low...and I don't want to be there.:drool: Then there is the depressioon that being fat brings. I hate feeling the inertia that keeps me on the couch. I am an artist - but I don't feel like doing anything. I have bajillions of beads, art supplies, etc...but I don't seem able to do anything with them. Why? I have no desire/energy to cook. It used to be a passion. Now, frozen something is a relief - nothing to worry about. I worry that I will end up like my mom: sitting ALL DAY in fron to the TV, doing NOTHING, including bathing, eating, dressing, or anything that requires effort. I get those feelings periodically. Scary. So how do I start? How can I make myself do things? I don't WANT to push myself. I hate discomfort. I told the alcoholics in group that cravings (for alcohol) are like a wave, and they will crest and then pass. Somehow, I can't talke my own advice. I don't want to feel "hunger". Also, I worry about there being "enough" of anything for me, esp. food. Is 1 bottle of wine enough to bring to a party? Is an 8 oz steak enough? Are three yams enough? I buy way too much food. I feels like there is never enough. I envy our cat. She gets all the food/petting and sleep she wants. When she wants more, she just asks. I could sleep all day. I have vivid dreams that sometimes are better than life. Wow. I do ramble on. But it feels good to get it out there. These are all thoughts/feelings I discovered or articulated last night. I think I need some more therapy.

I would ask her if she yells at alcoholics for having their disease; trying to stop for a moment in time to lower risks during surgery has nothing to do with lifestyle change. If it were that easy, modern medicine should have come up with a cure for food addiction a long time ago. Makes me mad to think insurance co's are allowed to dictate how much out of control are bodies need to be in before they "grant" approval. Seems like the medical people ought to be dictating this decision. but don't get me started. personally, I'm going to pay out of pocket and go to Mexico for my banding next month. Wish me luck! Sufina

I have to admit that I'm puzzled by the mindset of some of the families who don't want to 'sacrifice' but then the majority of people see obesity as a character defect. We're lazy and have no willpower (their view) and all we need to do is practice a little self-control. If we were alcoholics, they'd understand and accept that having alcohol in the house is counterproductive to the person's healing. Yet they don't make that same connection to our addiction to certain foods...and it is to 'certain' foods, not all. If you notice what people 'cheat' on, it becomes clear that we aren't addicted to all food...just those wonderfully carby foods...and, like the bottle of alcohol, need to be put out of our reach. I guess I feel blessed by my husband because the first thing he asked was, "How can I help?" and when I said I needed to remove all temptation from the house, he helped me clean out the pantry. Oh sure, he still eats the things I can't have, but he does it at work or his mom's.

Mine came of by my 2nd shower with a soapy washcloth. I needed a little rubbing alcohol to get the residual adhesive off.

Brenda-A "pb" is a productive burp-I've never experienced one but from what I gather it's when you don't tolerate some kind of food (either because of not chewing or your pouch doesn't like it) and when you burp the actual food comes with it. A golf ball is the feeling like you've swallowed a golf ball-I've only had this a couple of times-once with meds and once with food-I think it's caused by muscle spasm, swelling (my doc calls this "pouchitis") or gas. Whatever the cause there are several different remedies to help-most people recommend warms sips of something. Check on the main site and there is a thread with all the definitions of these acronyms and many other good tidbits. I've only lost 15lbs since surgery so as you can read from my above post I've been discouraged as well. I also realize I'm mourning my love of food (cue violins please) and I had hoped that this would be offset by bigger wt losses but no such luck. (i've told this story before but it's very illustrative of my feelings): I was crying one day feeling very frustrated while I was cooking dinner for all the kids-I desperately wanted to eat spagetti (mmmm) I should point out at this point that my husband is an engineer who has never had a wt problem-but anyway he was attempting to comfort me (notice the word attempt) I told him that I felt like an alcoholic bartender while I was cooking and he looked at me and said "But I thought this is what you wanted" Nooooooooooooooo-I don't want to be hungry-I want to be skinny.Uh I meant to say healthy, yeah healthy. No really I want to be able to shop something other than the "Beautiful Woman" section. Plus size? Plus what? Hi Brenda-nice to meet another mom of many!

i was told 30 days. it is not recommended to combine alcohol with pain meds. i have mixed pain meds with alcohol nothing happened. but its bad on the liver

My surgeon says no to alcohol because you might not make your weight loss goals. He is good friends with the doctor I work for so he is straight up with me. I had a half a beer at my dads 60th Suprise Bday Party on Saturday. I felt fine. I will wait to drink my 2nd half a beer until New Years :-)

It is true it is hard. But it's going to be hard after the surgery too. And then you will have a band in place that can make you feel not too well if you eat too much. 1. After about 3 days of true compliance your cravings for sweets and carbs WILL go away. No lie. That crazy drug addict feeling does pass. 2. Those feelings of needing to eat the PB&J or pizza (that's mine) or whatever -- will pass also. They are just feelings and you need to say to yourself "Can I handle this for the next 2 minutes.", "Can I handle this for the next 5 minutes" and so on and so on. Sounds rediculous but I have a friend who is a recovering alcoholic and this is similar to what they have to do. Trust me some days you'll be able to say "Can I handle this for the whole day" and that seems 100% doable. There are other days where "3 minutes" seems way too long. Do NOT take this on as a week long or 9 day long or 6 month long or 100 pound losing long task. You need to break it up into teeny tiny pieces. 3. Keep in mind that it's just food, it's not going anywhere and it never tastes as good as we thing it does. I know we all have unhealthy relationships with food -- but you can make the choice. And you can do it. I know you can. 4. Find something to keep your mind busy. I bought a dumb mindless craft project at a store. I didn't even care what it was I just wanted something to do with my hands. I'm sure it's harder when you have 4 kids -- but maybe that's the perfect time to start a very messy project like finger paiting. 5. Make sure you are having shakes w/enough protein (based first on what your doc says). 6. Drink a lot of water or crystal light 7. Plan out your food/liquid consumption hour by hour. I found this was very helpful -- I mean I made myself little charts while on LD like "6am coffee" "7am protein shake" "8am crystal light" --- and then I checked it off. It was easier, made me feel in control and didn't feel like I was awash in a big abyss of liquids. Ok, those are my words of advice. I'm am a horrible dieter and I've managed to stay true to my pre-op LD (13 lbs down!) so if I can do it you can do it. Good luck and stay strong.

I agree with ABP. There's no reason to test whether there'd be any ill effects of smoking the day after, right? There's certainly no benefit to it, and you'll have pain meds to use if you're uncomfortable. Give yourself AT LEAST a week. And even better, wait until you're fully healed and back on solid food so the loss of inhibition that goes with getting high (and this goes for any mood-altering substance, alcohol, whatever) won't send you grabbing for the chips before your body is ready. Your stomach needs to heal so your band will set in place properly, and that process can take way more than a week. Good luck with your surgery!

Here is a June 18th article. Please click on LIKE in corner if you read this. Gastric bypass for weight loss increases alcohol use, study says: Patients who undergo a gastric bypass for weight loss are 30% more likely to develop problems with alcohol. (National Library of Medicine / National Institutes of Health / June 18, 2012) By Thomas H. Maugh II June 18, 2012, 12:11 p.m. A major new study confirms previous sporadic reports that weight-loss surgery increases the risk of alcohol abuse, researchers reported Monday. In the second year after having a gastric bypass, technically known as Roux-en-Y surgery, patients were 30% more likely to have problems controlling their alcohol use, a team reported online in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. and at the annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Previous reports have suggested that alcohol abuse could be a problem following bariatric surgery, but the studies have been small and generally involved collecting data at some point after the procedure. In the new study, a team led by epidemiologist Wendy C. King of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine began studying 2,458 adults before they underwent bariatric surgery at one of 10 hospitals. Of those, 1,945 could be monitored for one to two years after the procedure. The team found that 7.6% of the patients suffered from alcohol-abuse disorders (abuse and dependence) in the year before the surgery. At the end of one year after the procedure, the percentage was about the same, 7.3%. But by the end of the second year, the prevalence of such disorders had climbed to 9.6%, a 30% increase. Virtually all of the increase occurred in patients who had undergone gastric bypass, with no increase among the roughly 30% of patients who had a banding procedure. Some research suggests that the increase in problems arises because the metabolism of alcohol changes after gastric bypass. "Given a standardized quantity of alcohol, patients reach a higher peak alcohol level [in the bloodstream] after surgery compared with case-controls or their pre-operative levels," the team wrote. In other words, bypass patients get drunk faster and with smaller amounts of alcohol. The excessive drinking may be a greater problem for bariatric surgery patients because alcohol abuse can affect Vitamin and mineral status and liver function, which are already potential problems for the surgery patients, King said. She urges clinicians to perform a better job of screening patients for abuse before surgery and to offer counseling to help them combat the problem. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ I love my sleeve and have no regrets.

yes they had me on heparin injections my right side looks like purple marble from the lovly bruises. In the hospital they gave me a shot to overcome my nausea but it was fast and as soon as they shoved alcohol prep near my nose it was ok. Yes it takes me all day but i can sip 65 ounces. do I have a sleeve?

Alcohol and NSAIDS are big no-no's. The acid in coffee can cause problems, as well.

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