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Does your husband have any vice other than food? Alcohol perhaps? When my husband (boyfriend at the time) and I were talking about his beer habit, he was trying to explain that having a few beers after work really relaxed him and made him enjoy his evening more. I basically said "Pint of beer for you, pint of ice cream for me", and explained that munching does the same thing for me. It gave him a LITTLE better understanding for what I was going through. I really, truly think that this can only be explained to someone who has a vice that they deal with. We also went through a period shortly post op where we were fighting a lot and have a lot of issues. I sat him down and said "we can't keep doing this, you have to tell me what is going on". It came out that he was scared that I was going to leave him. I said "You moved away from your family to be with me. I am scared out of my mind that one day YOU will decide to leave and go back home". His eyes got real big, and we've been great ever since (and after that got engaged and married). I recognize that the 6 years I've been with him and 6 months I've been married doesn't compare to your 36 years (congratulations!), but I hope some of what I said helps.

I would follow your surgeon's instructions. Each surgeon has different experiences w/different patients and base their instructions on those personal experiences. Mine is strict about alcohol use because they've seen transfer addictions and liver failure (resulting in death) in patients. He also prefers chewable Vitamins and calcium for life, but I can swallow any pill the size of a Tylenol tablet or smaller. Some keep you on fluids longer and probably have reasons for it. Whatever the differences in our instructions we should each follow our own surgeons instructions - we chose them, we trust them, so we should do as they say. Just my thoughts on it. :-)

Generally most artificial sweeteners are O.K. unless you have an allergic reaction to them. So if you can tolerate sweet-n-low before surgery, you should be able to do so afterwards. Generally, I use Splenda and Stevia. I also use sugar alcohols, such as those found in Adkin's treats. But I am a 30 months post-op. I have diabetes type 2 that went into remission the day I left the hospital. And it has remained in remission the entire time. I periodically check my blood sugar levels to validate. This link may be of help. http://acsh.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Sugar-Substitutes-and-Your-Health.pdf

alcoholic beverages actually have started causing a stomach ache and wine is the only thing that doesn't seem to bother me.

I am certainly not recommending that any cocktails are lap band friendly:lol:but I recently posted about how I get through vacations successfully with my band and ENJOY myself so you may find a few hints at: Lap Band Success – How To Enjoy Vacation With Your Lap Band If you have not had any alcohol in a while I suggest you REALLY LIMIT yourself. One glass of wine took me for quite a ride after not having any for 9 months after I was banded. Getting your Master's is certainly something to Celebrate. Good luck!

If the sadness and other symptoms of depression is long lasting, intense, or interferes with daily life (work, relationships, self care), you owe it to yourself to see a professional for an assessment. Think about it this way: if you were feeling bodily pain of the same duration and intensity, would you get it checked out? If so, then treat mental pain the same way. One thing I've thought of is what happens to people who use alcohol or drugs to cope (whether they have an addiction or not) and then stop using. The very lack of a major coping tool that was effective for sadness and anxiety (regardless that this was a tool that hurt in the big picture, it can be pretty dang effective for a while) can uncover existing mood problems or simply make every day stresses much harder to cope with until the person forms other coping methods. I think most people in cultures with abundant food use food to cope with stress, sadness, anxiety, etc and those morbidly obese probably more often or intensely than average. Learning new coping methods is a fairly easy problem to solve. Recovering from a mood disorder is usually a bit more difficult but depression is a very treatable problem through therapy and/ or medication.

The food plans really differ. I was on clear liquids for the first 6 days and then we went to regular food. No juices, Pasta, potatoes, rice, crackers or bread recommended for the first six months. Protein first (60 to 80 grams a day is goal) then veggies or fruit. No coffee for 30 days, no alcohol ever. The recommended snack for first 60 days was a Protein shake and then you could switch to a Protein Bar. No salad or unpeeled fruit for the first 60 days. Two multi Vitamins a day, b12 once a week, 1500 mg Calcium citrate a day. No probiotic was recommended but I added one on my own.

I started counseling before surgery and continue to go see a therapist twice a week. What I am finding is that this process is very hard and when I slip up, I feel an even deeper sense of inadequacy. Before surgery I used alcohol and food to help me deal with my feelings and now that those are physically not an option, I feel like I lost 2 of my best friends. My advice would be to be honest with yourself and your own feelings. It makes it easier to confront and deal with those issues when they come up. I don't feel like the surgery increase my depression. I feel like it revealed to me how unhealthy my coping strategy was, and that was probably exactly the revelation that I needed.

As Lia M says, ask your doc. Everyone's different, mine says no alcohol for a year then only in limited quantities thereafter. From what I have heard from other sleevers, one drink can get you wasted with our tiny stomachs! My sympathies are with you as a former champagne drinker myself - but i know the fizz would be agony in my new tummy (think about it feels with a bit of trapped air when you are drinking/eating) so even if I was allowed to drink, I wouldn't have any of that :-((( Happy 21st when it comes x

Well, you are not supposed to drink alcohol for at least two years. My suggestion is to give up the smokes and give up the drinking as well since alcohol has empty calories and can bring up your weight very fast not to mention alcohol will not make you feel very well when you drink it. Be sure to read all the literature BEFORE your surgery.

When I decided to stop losing, I was still food journaling everything on MFP so I calculated my BMR using the tools form that site and added a few hundred calories until I stopped losing. Did that for about another 6 months and finally (and purposefully) let go of the journaling in favor of a more natural lifestyle. For me, the habits are are there... exercise 5x per week, small, high protein meals, etc. I eat what I'll call "righteously" 85%-90% of the time, stay active and have maintained within 5 pounds for the last year and 1/2. If I creep up, I adjust out some of the junk, (alcohol and treats) until I'm back in the zone. Typically takes less than a week.

I am a recent lap-bander - Nov. 7th. I go to the doctor for my 1st post-op visit on Tues (18th). He allowed soft foods on Friday 14th. Very small amounts of food. So far things are going pretty good. I'm not very hungry, no nausea, the pain is better from gas and incisions, etc. But, I have been home the whole time - I haven't been around other people, except my husband since I came home. I am starting to get a little hungrier, but I didn't go through this whole thing to blow it. How do you handle being around people, food, all the t.v. ads, alcohol, the grocery store with holiday stuff piled to the rafters, etc. ? I know I cannot have very much food during the holidays which I am fine with, BUT. . . . I also don't want to struggle with the sense of deprivation I used to have on diets in the past, even when it is just psychological in nature. I also do not want to be "on exhibit" when with others who know about the lap-band. Any suggestions?? Thanks

Wow I can’t believe yesterday has been one month since I got banded. I am happy to say that I have lost 27 pounds and I feel amazing. I really didn’t have any plans yesterday I just made me some coffee and use Atkins French Vanilla protein shake as creamer and worked out for 15 minutes until I received a phone call from my Bestie Mandy. She stated that she had a surprise for me. Mandy had tickets to the St. Louis Cardinal game! I was a little bit excited until my fears kicked in. So what were my fears? Yesterday I was able it start drinking alcohol but will I be tempted to have a beer or mix drink. What if I get hungry and Busch Stadium didn’t have 5 week post op friendly food. Unfortunately I did not have time to research their menus and I need a better cell phone. My least favorite fear was am I ready to do this? I decided to not shelter myself because I am banded I need to live and learn. Mandy brought her cooler and added 4 bottles of water. At the stadium we found an Asian stir fry place and they had shrimp. I ask the hostess if I can just order a side a shrimp because I am lap band patient but they charge me $10.50 anyway. Mandy didn’t care about the price and paid for it. The cool part about it was they gave me a Large Chinese to go box full of shrimp! We got more than $10.50 worth of shrimp. Mandy stated laughing at me because I got full of 12 pieces of shrimp. She ended up taking the leftover home. It was a great game because the Cardinals won! After the game me and Mandy met up with our friend Jessica. I haven’t seen Jessica since she came over and made me homemade soup for day one of my 2 post op diet. Jessica complimented me on my lap band success and told me that I look amazing. I have to admit I felt pretty good. We went to our first bar and I had a glass of water with lemon. I wanted to have a drink at the second bar we were at. I was thinking shot of grey goose with water and I was going to add a crystal light packet in it or maybe a beer and let it fizz out for a bit before drinking. I had all these scenarios going through my head and I decided to drink at home first to see how it feels before I drink in public. So water was my drink of choice last night and I was okay with that. If felt good going out last night and just having fun. I am so bless to have great friends in my life. Thanks for reading.

I haven't had my surgery yet. But I know I will absolutely not be having alcohol during the first 12 months after surgery. Have a bar tender put some water and sliced lime in a cocktail glass for you. That way you have the look and feel of a cocktail. I did get this tip from one of the vets here ????

I suggest going to your local deli and try some new things...some of my favorites are BBQ ribs, roasted veggies, turkey curry salad, meatloaf, garlic sesame pork loin, seafood kabobs, crab salad and broccoli bacon salad. One small container will last me several meals. Visit areas of the grocery store you don't frequent and really look things over for new ideas. If you are miserable with no Pasta, bread, rice, etc. go ahead and eat some.....in moderation! No sense losing weight if you are miserable. Just try to make it as "high protein" as you can. There are some breads higher in Protein than others. Use a thin wrap or flat bread to make a sandwich. I eat chicken salad and tuna salad with Pita bite crackers. I pile on the salad and am stuffed after just 3 crackers.... a "full serving" is 7 crackers. If you make a pasta dish, add extra protein ( pasta salad with chicken, spaghetti heavy on the meat sauce, light on the pasta). Barilla has a "Plus" line of pastas that are higher in protein. Have Chinese food or curry with just a little rice. I've had sushi roll with rice and yum. Visit the recipe sub forum on here for some recipe ideas that might not be so blah. Google "the world according to eggface", too. She has some incredible recipes....cake, ice cream, donuts, smoothies, etc. I am not a fan of cooking myself, (thus the deli suggestion), but I even made my own protein pancakes using Red Mill pancake mix, unjury Protein powder, Garden of Life Raw Protein and an extra egg. They are better than any pancake I ever had preop with 8 G protein. Basically, if you REALLY want something, figure out how to make it work, or at least practice serious moderation. Hell, I've had ice cream, cake, cheesecake and alcohol when I wanted some and there's nothing high protein about any of those! Hmmmm, I wonder if I could make protein cheesecake?!?

Well, I have had such a busy week this past week getting prepared for surgery. I'm mentally and physically exhausted, but excited about having everything out of the way. Now, I just have to continue my pre-op diet and make a few last preparations before my surgery on the 22nd. I thought it might be a good idea to post what I went through with pre-op appointments in case anyone out there is wondering about this aspect of things. I actually scheduled all of my own preop clearances. (The surgeon's office scheduled the preop appt I had with them and the hospital.) The surgeon's office has specific doctors they work with for the clearances and I went with those instead of trying to do something closer to home. I didn't want any delays with the results getting to my surgeon. This actually ended up being for the best because the surgeon's office and all of the doctors they use for clearances are tied into the hospital's computer network. They are all able to view most of the same info, reports, data, etc. about patients using the hospital's doctors. This should help prevent any delays if a piece of paper gets lost along the way. I actually had my first preop clearance last week, which was pulmonary. This appointment was quick and to the point and a total breeze. I guess that's because I don't have any pulmonary isses, but it felt somewhat like a waste of time. I wish I had scheduled this one on the same day as one of the other appointments and that would have been one less day of driving 45 minutes each way to the hospital offices. This past week, I had the Upper GI, cardiac clearance, phone intake with the hospital admissions department, pre-op appointment at the surgeon's office, and pre-op intake at the hospital. This was all done over 3 days. Wednesday morning I went in for my Upper GI. This required that I have nothing by mouth after midnight. I was allowed to take my meds that A.M. with a sip of water. As others have said, this test is not pleasant. It's not the one where they put you to sleep and put the camera down your throat. This is the one where you drink a ton of nasty stuff and roll around on a table like a beached whale while the GI doc looks at live action xrays of your stomach handling all the nasty stuff you drink. I got a quick look at my GI system in action at one point during the test. It was pretty cool to see the liquid running through my system on the screen as I drank, but I was too queasy to stare at it much. I managed to drink everything they threw at me, but I was SOOO sick to my stomach afterward. I had planned to run and eat immediately after, but I didn't feel like it. My stomach was full of chalky stuff! But, I decided that instead of walking around without any sustenance in my body, I would make myself eat something. I went and got a meat omelet from IHOP and immediately felt better. Lesson for me, go ahead and eat after the Upper GI even if you don't feel like it. The stuff seemed to move through my system fairly quickly after I ate. I learned a couple of days later that the results from this test were that I have significant GERD. Go figure. That explains all the recent burping - which I never did up until about 3 or 4 months ago. I did my phone intake with hospital admissions after the GI appointment. This was basic info gathering, a review of my current medications, and somewhat of a test of my understanding of what I was about to do to myself. Later that afternoon was my appointment for cardiac clearance. When I got to the back, I was given an EKG. Then, the cardiologist came in and reveiwed the EKG and my history information. He said that the EKG was normal and that I seemed to be in good health for my weight. He then said he wanted me to do the treadmill test. Now, I had thought this was automatically part of the cardiology clearance, but apparently it's not because they had not scheduled me for one. They couldn't fit me in that afternoon, so I had to come back the next day. GREAT! :cursing: But, I didn't balk because I am too determined to have this surgery to let an extra appointment get in the way. For the treadmill test the next day (which was Thursday), I had to have nothing to eat or drink - except small sips of water - 4 hours before the test. I was instructed to wear or bring something comfortable to wear during the test. Since I had to go in to work that morning, I took a gym bag with me. I changed in the private exam area and the tech swabbed off my chest area with alcohol and hooked me up to an EKG machine. I was allowed to keep on my bra, a hospital gown, and my bottoms and tennis shoes. She took my vitals and then had me get on the treadmill. I started off at a moderate paced walk and then the speed picked up. I never had to actually run but I did get sweaty and exhausted toward the end. The point was to assess how much exertion it took to increase my heart rate and how my body responded during the phase with a high heart rate. I was able to do this at a fast walk. I think the whole thing took about 30 minutes from the time I entered the room. The actual treadmill time was about 5 to 8 minutes. The next morning, Friday, I had my appointment with the surgeon. This went really well because my diligence with my preop diet paid off and I came in 1 pound under weight from my initial consultation.:thumbup1: Lord I was so worried about that because my weight had been up and down (mostly up) since that initial consult appointment and your surgery can be cancelled if you gain weight. I think I"m in the clear now because I don't expect to gain any weight on this low carb preop diet. I turned in all of my surgical clearance forms to the insurance coordinator and she put together the packet for me to take to my hospital appointment later that am. She had to get the GI clearance from the computer network through the hospital because they hadn't given me anything after my GI appointment like the other two had. I then spent some time with the nurse reviewing my preop and postop instructions and the progression of the diet. This was really interesting because my surgeon has changed his bariatric diet progression recently and it's much more liberal than it used to be. I plan to post it in another blog, but I'm thrilled to only have 2 days of clear liquids post op!! Yay!!! :thumbup: By day 7/8 postop, I'll be on pureed/soft foods. I'm really excited about that. After talking quite a while with the nurse (she also took some measurements for reference points), I got to meet with the doctor. I think I surprised him with my list of about 20 questions, but he took a seat and answered every one of them. I'm going to try to post that as a separate blog also for anyone who needs ideas of questions to ask. I thought of a couple more as we talked, so it was very informative. I'm very comfortable with getting the procedure done after our Q&A session. After that, I went over to the hospital and completed my preop admission. I met with the intake rep and handed over my ID and insurance card (for the umpteenth time) :scared0: and got a nice little armband for the remainder of my preop. Then, I went to the testing area to meet with the preop folks. First, I talked to the anesthesia nurse practitioner about my anesthesia history. Nothing significant there. Then, I met with the bariatric nurse specialist to review everything I would go through on the day of surgery, immediately post op, and long term post op issues. This aspect of the preop visit was unexpected and very helpful. I learned about the bariatric wing of the floor I would be on postop, some things to remember for the morning of testing (like to request an antinausea patch before surgery), got to review aspects of the diet progression, and got some tips and tricks for eating postop. The bariatric nurse specialist will be visiting me throughout my stay in the hospital and checking on me post op for quite awhile. It will be nice to have another point of contact when I have questions. The last leg of my hospital preop appointment was the general surgical nurse. She took some vitals and reviewed my chart and history briefly. She made sure that all clearances were in order and on file and made sure that my chart was complete. She then took a few vials of blood and took that hospital bracelet off my arm. I was so glad of that because I once had to wear that thing around for almost a week before a surgery because "that" hospital had to know that I was the same person who had given the blood during the preop - STUPID. The nurse reviewed the procedures for the morning of surgery with me and that was it. Anyway, I hope this "book" I just wrote about my preop tesitng helps someone get a better idea of what they might be in store for in the days before surgery. I'm sure it's done differently in many places, but I guess the overall point is the same - to make sure we're healthy and sane enough to go under the knife. If I had any advice, it would be to plan your appointments strategically and be clear about what's expected at each appointment. I'm not sure that I could have cut down on my driving any because there was so much to get done, but I might have been able to cut out at least one or two days of the back and forth with better planning. Now that I'm done with that, it's on to week 2 of my preop diet and just trying to keep my head on straight until surgery day. I'm still getting a case of the nerves here and there, but I'm going to see it through. :thumbup:

Ah... the good old caffeine and coffee debates... Some surgeon's absolutely forbid coffee and caffeine... others say whatever you can personally tolerate... I love telling people of the story of my surgeon coming into the recovery room and letting me sip coffee... I have drank coffee ever since... I'm not one to encourage breaking your surgeon's rules, but I would encourage you to challenge their advice with logic. There really isn't anything I don't eat or drink these days, even if only once in awhile... And yes, that includes coffee, ice cream, alcohol, diet soda, pizza, and every other thing that some people are strictly forbidden against or their band might swell up and cause their head to explode...

I felt the same way yesterday when I started my full liquid diet - which I have to be on until they call me on Sept 15. Who would think I would get so exicited to eat 1/4 cup cream of wheat or a sugar free chocolate pudding cup. I had my cream of wheat for Breakfast this morning and a sugar free popsicle a couple of hours afterwards. My program is pretty strict - no smoking of any kind, no alcohol, no straws, no gum, using my Spirometer etc. I have been reading some of the posts this morning about some people wanting to smoke pot, cigarettes, drink alcohol, eat solids too early, etc. I think every program's guidelines are different and as we are all adults, it is up to each of us to decide what we are going to follow. I plan to follow my program's guidelines and food directions they way they were given go me. I have to be accountable to only myself as far as what I decide to do and also then how successful I am. I don't think they require psychological counseling and all the classes just to be a pain to us - overeating is an addictive behavior and if I get my overeating under control, I don't want to transfer that addictive behavior to alcohol or drugs. Why would be have surgery to get healthier to then only have other unhealthy behaviors? Just my opinion - not meant to offend anyone. Pam orientation 5/9/08 285 lbs surgery 8/26/08 255 lbs 8/30/2008 248 lbs

alcohol is fairly high in calories. I am sorry...

So I had my surgery 5 month ago...lost about 54 pounds. Last week I went on a cruise for 5days and I drank alcohol and over ate. .infact I even drank and ate at the same time...so I started back on my diet and my stomach began to hurt so bad..I almost went to the hospital .. I worried I did damage and stretched my stomach... is there anything I could do? Sent from my SM-G892A using BariatricPal mobile app

Well Tuesday, after posting my garden pics blog after dinner, things got a little crazy around here. One of the couples going to the concert with us/old neighbors that moved close by was in the area (birthday dinner out for one of their teens). They called us and we invited them over. We invited another couple (going to the concert) over, had drinks on the patio (perfect weather) and discussed our plans while all the kids visited. The last couple (going to the concert) was returning from vacation that evening and we got a call that an Uncle in their family had died (expected, Hospice had been there). After about four more calls back and forth we found that the viewing would be during the concert, so they couldn't go. Then we got a call from DS1, that he'd been in an accident; no injuries. I always hesitate to share negative things about my kids here, but I will just incase it keeps someone else from having an accident (or your kids). He works with one of his good friends and after work his friend was performing in a band at a local bar (they have events scheduled on occasion just for underage teens, no alcohol). He was following his friend's car through the parking lot to park (probably too closely) and looked down 'for a second' to tune his iPod…friend stopped, DS1 didn't (even with hands-free phone calls there are too many distractions in cars these days with all the electronics...FYI we've always limited the number of kids he can drive and he's supposed to set the iPod to a playlist before he leaves and phone is supposed to be on speaker and only for important things). Bottom line is the friend's car had a higher bumper with a long/large trailer hitch and my minivan's front end (must be made of cellophane) was no match (minor damage to friend's car). He was going between 2-5 mph at the time (that was the prediction of the auto-shop manager the next day, as the airbags would have gone off if he was over that for the kind of accident he had, and they hadn't deployed). So that evening we spent some time sorting that out. Somehow (LOL) we also ended up with everyone's kids spending an overnight at our house, so there was popcorn to be made and sleeping bags and fresh pillowcases to be rounded up after the parent's left. We spent yesterday morning getting kids fed/home, then lunchtime calling; insurance, the friend's father (DS1 called to apologize, etc.), the rental car place, and we took my minivan to the car shop (5-6K or possibly totaled; and yes, DS1 was there at each step to hear it all); the hitch punched into my minivan killing the radiator and A/C fan (maybe more) and wrecking the hood, front end/bumper and front side panel…ouch! DS1 is going to be paying what the insurance wont (we made a deal with our kids that we'd pay for their first accident only). He had a similar wreck just about 8 months ago at the stop-light right in front of his workplace. DH's car that time…a bumper miss-match with a tall SUV in front as they were all stopping for the light "she made a hard stop sooner than he expect" and even though he was down to under 10mph DH car went under the other car's bumper (can you say TAILGATING!). Again, the SUV had hardly a scratch, but they almost totaled DH's car. Insurance yesterday said 'Didn't he just have this same kind of accident?' 'Ummm, yes, just a different car.' AHHHH! I know some of you'll think we're the strictest parents (we all do the best we can), but I'll tell you anyway (and no, he didn't get any consequences other than a long talk for the first accident, but the second time it becomes carelessness)…we'll only be letting him drive to/from work, but with us in the passenger seat for awhile to 'coach/tune up' his driving skills (punishments always seem to punish the parents too don't they...can't wait for the late night pick-up when the restaurant closes), and no, he won't have the iPod (or even the use of the radio or phone) in the car for awhile even when he returns to driving…we need this one to 'hurt' as he doesn't really have an appreciation for just some money coming out of his savings account. We'd also had already been talking to him about getting a second job as he wasn't getting enough hours at a restaurant, so we forced that issue yesterday and he called and got rehired at his old job (retail store). Of course it's not the hassle or insurance rate going up (it will) that we care about; he just needs to learn the lesson now before he or someone else gets HURT or worse…that's our real worry. Driving is a privilege and he's gotten over-confident in his abilities (we've seen that watching him drive recently…he started off as a careful driver, but now he's gotten complacent after driving for 3 years and needs an attitude adjustment). He needs to take it seriously and understand the responsibility of driving. We've had several sit-down discussions with him and I'm sure well be talking more about it on the way to PSU tomorrow (fun, fun, fun...NOT). In the afternoon we ran and got things for our tailgate and got ready. We thought we had someone set to take the now extra set of tickets, but that fell through less than an hour before departure. So more scrambling with others trying to find friends to go and finally the concert attendees suggested we take our daughter/BF (about 10 min. before departure). I grabbed DD some clothes in case they could come and off we went (the neighbors picked us up and had fully decorated the car and had bought us all kinds of whacky stuff to wear and display at the tailgate. We had a great time people watching (a major spectator sport at this concert) tailgating with the neighbors (I ate some sub (VERY carefully) and none of the sides we took, but I did have a two Corona's/Lime as it was all we had there (with some Gas X, and yes, my doc says carbonation is OK after a certain point post-op...and I nursed them forever...the tailgate is longer than the concert at JB). DD/BF got to the concert about ½ hour late (she had to work until 7pm), but they had a great time too (virgin Parrotheads). We danced, we sang, we had a blast…Buffett was awesome as always! What a way to celebrate our 50th birthdays! TERRIBLE phone-camera pic attached of us doing the Big 5-0. We picked up a rental car for me today and I'm off to pack for our orientation overnight at PSU tomorrow…it's been a busy, sometimes very stressful 48 hours. *Portion of Post Deleted for Lap Band Book

I was released from te hospital after a two day stay and put on full liquids for two weeks and then two weeks of puréed. I was told I could have alcohol six weeks after surgery. They frown upon it because it's liquid calories. I am 27 years old and would like to have a glass of wine every now and again.

I had my RNY Gastric Bypass on November 14, 2016 and lost most of my weight in the first 9 months. I started this journey at a maximum weight of 360 pounds, and on my day of surgery, weighed 334 pounds and am down to 234 pounds. When I was released from the hospital after my Gastric Bypass, I wasn't sent home with instructions to stay on any PPIs or antacids, so since I was feeling great, I stopped taking my daily regimen of Pepcid. In February earlier this year (2017), I had a perforated intestine that nearly killed me (became septic) and was hospitalized for nearly a week after they repaired the hole in my intestines (near the pouch). I went through another treatment for H. Pylori and was on strong oral antibiotics for 6 weeks, and then have been continuing 20mg of Prilosec every day (have recently started weening myself off of it). In mid-April, I became severely constipated and impacted and was back in the hospital with a diagnosis of Prostatitis. Since then, I have suffered from chronic constipation and have had solid plateaus for several months at a time. I am posting my story because I am trying to see if anyone else out there has gone through anything similar, and I would like to understand if anyone lost more weight after their first surgical anniversary? I am having a Resting Metabolic Rate test tomorrow morning, so I am trying to figure out why I'm not losing more weight, but thought I would post and see if there is any hope. I am taking Probiotics (Culturelle), multi-vitamins, Calcium/D3 chews, and get all my Protein and Water in every day. I also exercise at least 2-3x per week. To get by, I wind up taking milk of magnesia roughly every other day...I only recently stopped taking Stool Softeners...I had been taking a Stool Softener (2x at night, every night for months). Ironically, I notice things move more easily on their own when I drink a glass of red wine after dinner, but don't want to depend on alcohol to help me go. So, I'm posting because of 2 things: the constipation and the amount of weight loss (the length of time, the plateaus, etc). I am hopeful that as I reduce the Prilosec that things will get better as my body starts producing more acid. Keeping my fingers crossed. Any thoughts?

Hi There, My Doc says to try anything that I want and I will find out just what works and what does not. I have found that soda is okay or carbonation is okay but in small amounts. I get a feeling of being bloated that lasts a while. I drink wine but try to keep it to a very minimum! Like Band Groupie says everything in Moderation. But what you really need to know is that all of these tasty drinks are empty calories and you will pay for them in not loosing weight or having it slow down. I have found this to be true for myself. I have slowed way down on the weight loss and I am rethinking my need for Alcohol! Good luck! The Skinny Margarita sounds really really good.

Yes, we do follow a high proteing/low carb diet. The liquid diet and soft foods is for right after you have your surgery. When I am out and socializing I will have a couple of glasses of wine or a drink. You just have to be careful, you may feel the alcohol faster. I could only do 1 or 2 drinks depending on what I am drinking. Plus drinking alcohol may make you start eating junk food. But everyone once and awhile is no problem, we are human. Good luck to you if you decide to go with the lapband. Just do your research and go to a Seminar to see if it is the right thing for you. For me it was. I had my surgery in Sept. 2010 and have lost 130 lbs. I have a few more pounds to reach my goal. I don't think I never would have lost it without the lapband. WW and other diets just didn't work for me. Good luck again.