Search the Community

So question...My 26th birthday is tomorrow and I am 2 days away from being one month post op. I am also going on a cruise for me and my husbands birthdays together and I was wondering if I could drink (alcohol) in any sort of form at all?? Or is this out? Sent from my SM-G920V using the BariatricPal App

Pre op tips? Follow your surgeon's instructions for any pre-op diet. If you have one, it will likely suck, but remember it's only temporary! Also, you will likely have moments of panic and anxiousness leading up to your surgery date. Have faith that you made the decision to have surgery while you were being logical and rational. Don't let your emotions get the best of you. What to expect for days after op? You will be uncomfortable at the very least, if not in real pain. It might be hard for you to get your Water in (if the internal swelling is bad), but it's incredibly important to stay hydrated. Just take tiny sips and try to get in an ounce of water every 15 minutes you are awake. You'll likely want to nap a fair amount. It's VERY important to get up and walk a little every hour or two. Even if it's just marching in place. The moving will help you avoid blood clots and it can also help with gas pain. Also, don't be surprised if you are moody and emotional and crying a lot. That's very very normal. What should I have organised at home? Whatever "food" you will need for the first couple of days. If you are on Clear liquids, you will want broth, sugar-free Jello, and sugar-free popsicles. You should be able to go shopping within a few days, so you won't need to stock up for your later food stages just yet. Shopping is a good way to get some walking in. Just make sure you don't try to lift more than a gallon at a time. How to manage with three kids under 5? Prayer? Seriously though, if you have friends or family members who can help wrangle the kids, you need to get them on board. Don't try to manage that yourself in the first couple of days! Pain rating? Seems to vary drastically. I didn't have any real pain, except gas pain. Some people seem to have a LOT of pain associated with their ab muscles and incisions. I didn't have any of that. Malnutrition? As long as you start working on getting your Protein in towards the end of the first week post op and follow all of your surgeon and nutritionist's recommendations for protein and Vitamins, you shouldn't have to worry. Dehydration is a much more immediate risk in the early days post-op. Sip, sip, sip! Excess skin? Not something you should be worrying about this early on. If you have more than 100 pounds to lose, you will likely have some excess skin. What you feel you need to do about it is up to you. There are a handful of things you can do that *might* help some, but it mostly comes down to things like age and genetics. Stay well hydrated, take your vitamins, moisturize daily, and do some strength training once you are cleared for it. Alcohol? Not that I do this anymore with kids but wine, can you still have it? I was cleared for alcohol at 3 months post-op. Some surgeons recommend never having alcohol again, because of the risk of addiction transference (WLS patients are more prone to alcoholism). Just know that if/when you do drink alcohol again, it will likely be very different than pre-op. In my case, I get DRUNK off a tiny amount of alcohol, but then sober up super quickly. Exercise? Can I still do weight training? Once you are cleared for it by your surgeon. I was cleared at 2 months post-op. Some surgeons clear for it sooner. You will definitely at least have some sort of lifting restriction for the first couple of weeks post-op. Energy levels? Mine were VERY VERY low for the first several weeks post-op, until I was back on solid foods and could get more calories in. The fatigue was a real issue for me. I was napping a lot while I was off of work. When I returned to work at 15 days post-op, I really struggled to last through the day. I ended up going straight to bed after work in those early days. Once I was cleared for solid foods at 40 days post-op and was able to eat more, my energy level got back to normal. How has your experience been? I'm 20 months post-op now and I consider my sleeve to be one of the best decisions I ever made! It was hard, especially in the first couple of months, but now I am completely adapted to it I reached my goal weight right around the 1 year mark. I've been maintaining below goal for 8 months now. I ran my first half marathon a little over a week ago. Life is amazing!

Hello everyone I am booked for sleeve on 26/5. I had initially opted for bypass but decided the sleeve was a better option for me. So many questions: Pre op tips? What to expect for days after op? What should I have organised at home? How to manage with three kids under 5? Pain rating? Malnutrition? Excess skin? Alcohol? Not that I do this anymore with kids but wine, can you still have it? Exercise? Can I still do weight training? Energy levels? How has your experience been? I am really nervous. I want to be prepared pre n post. Really worry about energy levels for my kids etc Help.... Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I love Bariatric Pal, but the site continuously crashes on me! Ugh. I get a repost 2-4x because it reloads and refreshes. Anyway, it forces me to be brief! LOL. I think this girl was an emotional mess to begin with and age and surgery had nothing to do with her lifestyle choices and outcome. There are DEFINITELY mature young adults who have been burdened with obesity who can adopt a new lifestyle with help from WLS. This young lady has major issues to begin with. Losing weight and gaining male attention doesn't translate into crazy promiscuity, drug and alcohol abuse to excess, and other dangerous behavior for most WLS patients, no matter what the age. I think she has an addictive personality, and first it was food, then sex, then drugs and alcohol. I wouldn't be surprised if later there's kleptomania or hoarding, you know? Just moving down the line of obsessive, destructive behavior. I certainly hope the worst of her "obsessions" is working out and staying fit now, but WLS probably gave her the best shot at still being alive at the age she is at given her previous weight. She has been given many gifts; WLS, and then surviving a very dangerous lifestyle for several years.

If it was done properly AND the person was honest - it should identify concerns. A good program wouldn't perform surgery until those were addressed. The Psych Eval should have to be performed by someone qualified in Bariatric Surgery. I think often it's just done to get the insurance to approve and not with the intent to make sure the patient will be a good candidate. I've read and heard people say they were alcoholics at the time of surgery. That should have been a red flag if anyone was evaluating. Like most things - money talks in alot of medical practices.

"Please don't judge me but I enjoy my beer and marijuana and occasionally cocaine in very small doses. I'm a very social person and I have a lot of friends and we like to have a good time. I know that my alcohol intake will change dramatically but if I do a little Coke or smoke some weed, how will this effect my new stomach and my tolerance. This is a very serious question so please be understanding. Thank you everyone." Whatever guy...I think your beer, marijuana and occasional cocaine use is impairing your memory.

Thanks!! I enjoy drinking. We mainly drink at home on the weekends ans grill etx. I live in a foreign country so entertainment is limited. It's going to be strange to figure out what do to now on the weekends. Sounds awful....I know. Good to know I can still be a social drinker if I want. Although I know my taste for it may change after surgery. Thanks for your honesty!!!! Sent from my GT-I9190 using the BariatricPal App As someone who is not a big drinker I would like to add my 2 cents. If the thought of my partner drinking or not drinking is enough to put a strain on my relationship, then it might be worth it to talk to a counselor about 1) the relationship, and 2) the alcohol. Any substance or activity (food, drug, behavior, etc.) that has that much power over either of you has too much control over your life in my opinion. I am not saying that you should or shouldn't drink, but if any change is enough to cause issues then you may need help dealing with that change.

Just to throw in my two cents.........I'm 4 months post op and recently did a test on myself, I was stalling for two weeks and was starting to get frustrated. I went out with the girlfriends one night, had a couple vodka diets and low and behold, I dropped 3lbs. lol I was so focused on staying away from alcohol, that wasteful space in my stomach, but I just relaxed, had a couple drinks and now the scale is moving again. does it mean I'm going to have an after work margarita everyday or go kill a plate of Pasta? eff no (I wish lol)! but WLS works differently for everyone. If you're sticking to your diet and start getting frustrated like I was, just relax! indulge in something you've been keeping from yourself, and then LAUGH because you didn't die from having one relaxing meal. as I'm typing this I'm throwing granola on the food scale to have with my Breakfast, this new life is stressful sometimes, but as long as you keep the big picture in mind, you'll do great!! xoxo Katie

@@Dub ... that is one of the best, most helpful responses on the fraught topic of alcohol consumption for WLS patients I've ever read. Thank you. @@Nikkipit ... my personal experience with alcohol and WLS is that pre-op I was a social drinker -- having a single drink most (not all) evenings. FYI, my husband doesn't drink simply because he doesn't enjoy the taste or the experience. Back to me ... I didn't drink any alcohol for 2.5 months pre-op or for 6 months post-op. Thereafter, I began having a glass of wine (4-5 ounces) or 1.5 ounces of single-malt scotch most evenings before dinner. At 8.5 months post-op, I reached my weight loss goal (150 pounds). I'm now 20.5 months post-op, have weighed 135 pounds for the last 5 months and am maintaining easily. A single drink is still part of my menu most days. I don't think everyone can safely drink post-op. It worries me a bit when I read here about younger patients (especially those in their twenties) struggling with the desire or need to drink socially with their friends in bars, as young people are wont to do. I also know what "girls nights out" are like. And they don't typically involve a single 5-ounce pour of chardonnay. If you can handle the peer and environmental pressure in social settings like that, then more power to you. I do think you're going to find out how much you really like to drink. And you'll need to be honest with yourself about how big a role alcohol should play in your life. I'll close with the question my psychologist asked me a few months ago when I raised the subject of alcohol use: "Why do you drink?" I told him I enjoyed the tastes and the celebration of high-quality alcohol. (He knows I'm a "social drinker" -- defined for women as having no more than a single drink/day and 7 drinks/week.) He responded that he would become concerned if my alcohol intake increased as an emotional response to events in my environment. (And trust me, I do currently have some "events in my environment" -- as most of us do and will always have.) That's my story -- for now. As @@Dub said, things could change.

There are very few absolutes in this world, and that also relates to weight loss surgery. My surgeon told me that the key was moderation. The sleeve can tolerate alcohol just fine - the question is can I consume it in moderation and still achieve my health and weight goals. For me before surgery beer was a big piece of my social world, especially on weekends. In years past I had owned a bar for nearly a decade and drank almost daily. I believe alcohol, beer specifically, was a large part of my weight problem. In the seven months post surgery I have learned the following: 1) my sleeve can indeed tolerate alcohol; 2) it is a 'slider' meaning it doesn't fill me up like good quality Protein does; 3) it does hit me a little harder than before, and 4) it absolutely stops my weight loss in its tracks. For all of these reasons I keep alcohol consumption to a minimum, reserving it only for special occasions. For example I'm traveling to Las Vegas this coming weekend and will surely have a few cocktails. However I've invested too much in my weight loss journey to allow regular alcohol consumption to derail it.

hopefully you can find other things to replace the alcohol with. I know for me, right now, I have a glass of diet cran grape rather than a glass of wine, and if people are around, they really don't know the difference. let me tell you this is going to be a wild ride! but I also feel like it has saved my life. my hope and prayer is that you will be able to grow together through this. Also know that how it is in the first few months is not how it will be forever, so in the early days when you have more restrictions remind him it will not *always* be like that. and Dub, I'm not going to quote your whole post, but thank you for sharing your story in such a detailed way. You're just the best.

I won't judge you......hoping you don't judge me. Granted, everyone's sleeve experience is limited to an army of one......themselves......I will tell you how I've proceeded as far as alcohol is concerned. I began last June with a bariatric surgeon affiliated with the area's largest hospital...a place that I'd had success with on prior orthopedic type surges to repair stuff I'd torn up being stupid. He was firmly against three things for his patients: never again smoking, never again having caffeine and never again drinking alcohol. I was with that program 3 months and then my insurance company played the ultimate trump card....they'd only fund wls if I went with a "center of excellence". So.....I swapped over to such a program. They are affiliated with a much smaller local hospital in town. A couple things happened upon switching over.....I discovered that my cost would actually be lower if I simply did 100% self pay (crazy scenario....long story) and I discovered that my new surgeon was uber experienced and had a high level of confidence and approached things.....life choices of his patients.....in a very realistic way. I told him during my two month check in that I wanted coffee. He said, "Sure...I drink two cups a day, why can't you?". I told him during my 4 month check in that I wanted occasional mixed drinks (with skinny mixers) and that I wasn't losing the weight just to live like a monk. He paused at that and gave me a sly grin. He acknowledged that life is best when lived fully. He was very direct about his concerns with drinking. He said that my sleeve would handle it....but could I ? Would I chose to drink responsibly ? Would a couple of drinks lose me up and pave to way towards a poor food choice ? Would I begin drinking beer again (highly caloric beers were my favorites before...go figure)? He then said, "I have a couple glasses of wine when I'm unwinding sometimes....why can't you?" I was glad to hear this and I weighed his advisements heavily. Wanting something....and then being told you can have it brought on some odd feels. It was like I really wanted to bust loose...but then once given the reins....I sorta dug in and shied away for a while. I do enjoy drinks on the weekends. Skinny mixed drinks. An ounce or two of premium vodka on the rocks topped off with a splash of diet 5 calorie Ocean Spray is the normal adult beverage. I'll order similar when I'm going out somewhere. I've found that the drinks do impact me harder than prior to surgery. I think a big part of that is simply due to not eating much of anything along with or after drinking. I keep a calorie tally in my head and I carve out calorie space for the alcohol calories. I don't want to let the occasional weekend enjoyment derail my weight loss. I'll only eat packs of tuna, hardboiled eggs or Protein powder shakes to get my protein on such days. I have learned to limit the frequency and that consecutive days of enjoyment are not well tolerated by my body. A couple of drinks on a Friday night....and then on Saturday night are it. I shut it down for the week then. I learned the limits of what I can tolerate on two recent vacations. One was a bar hopping me-only trip to a place known for fun nightlife. I was sorta proud of how I navigated the potential perils that week. I did okay. I was faced with many temptations, yet I picked and chose wisely. The most recent was a 7-day cruise taken with my wife a month ago. It didn't begin well for her....she was stressed out bigtime by a few delays the ship encountered at departure and a skipped port that resulted. I chose to have enough fun for the two of us that week. By mid week I was getting down with the flow of things onboard and having a bit too much fun. I shut it down for a couple days and killed it in the gym and hot tubs. I did have a big night towards the end.....and didn't fool with the stuff for quite some time after getting home. Again....your surgeon may have different instructions than mine did. I've seen firsthand how they lay down different ground rules. I had sleeve surgery to improve my life. Being able to enjoy some drinks.....in moderation....in social situations....isn't counter to me improving my life. My decisions and approach are not posted here as advice to anyone....simply to reply how I'm currently operating. I may change tactics one day....who knows? For now, though.....it's working. I'm down a good chunk of the weight I wanted to lose and can see reaching and even exceeding my goal. I've picked up some good habits along the way and feel I have a good plan for living lean. I wish you the best and encourage you to seek the advice from your surgeon. Know that they may give you a firm no as my first surgeon did. I get that. They are, after all, accustomed to dealing with people who don't demonstrate self control and discipline. Why the hell would they say, "Sure, have a drink". I get that. I'm grateful that my surgeon possessed extremely high levels of confidence in both his skills, his experience and in me. I'd sort of proven myself to him by the time we had the alcohol discussion. I'm quite sure this was a factor in his response. Had the discussion been had in the pre-op days.....he'd probably have been way more firm. It's all about your overall goals and what you are going to do to meet them. I wish you the best. Having a partner that is willing to slow down is a good thing. Perhaps you'll get him to join you in some other hobbies.....active hobbies.

I am new here and glad I found this group. My husband and I drink socially. I know this surgery will save my life and I am getting sleeved in May. I am worried how this will affect my relationship with my husband? I'm ok quiting drinking. But he is not. He's up for slowing down and he supports me. Since socially drinking is a big part of our lives....what can I expect? I am working to mentally and physically prepared for no alcohol. What about him? I'm excited to uncover other activities we share together. But nervous to let this one go. Will this change our relationship? Been married for 15 years. Please please don't judge me. Sent from my GT-I9190 using the BariatricPal App

I apparently missed something. It is a loss when someone feels they can't share their perspectives...but something to consider -there are lots of us that are experts on "one persons WLS". I drink and am maintaining and have been for some years. Would it be better if I gave up alcohol coffee and British comedies? Probably. Anyway consider if the intolerance isn't a bit 2-way.

My surgeon also prescribed them for 10 days, starting on the first full day home. I did them first thing when I woke up just to get it done. I injected the fattiest part of my hip. Somedays it pinched, other days not at all. The area will be very bruised as you are injecting a blood thinner subcutaneously. Oh--and grab some alcohol swabs from the hospital before you're discharged :-) Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

It sounds like she truly believed the surgery would "solve all her problems". The results of immaturity, abuse, trauma, addiction, and mental illness is not going be "solved" by anything let alone weight loss surgery. Without surgery she would have certainly continued to abuse food and still may have turned to alcohol, drugs, and sex anyway. Blaming the surgery for her issues doesn't sound very healthy to me. What would her life been like without it? You can't compare apples to oranges. If she was unwilling to seek counseling before bariatric surgery should she have been denied? I don't know. A lot of folks of all ages go into this process blindly. Some actually learn and grow through the process. Some do not. Some people have the capacity for personal growth. Some do not. If she was a poor candidate for WLS she still might have been able to learn from the experience. If she had been a great candidate for surgery, she still might have wound up where she is today. I just don't think there is necessarily cause and effect at work here. This is much more complex than she or the article seem to acknowledge. Yes, I think there needs to be many more mental health resources both pre- and post-op for anyone who is obese. There certainly are not enough affordable mental health resources in the US period.

I went with the hernia surgery. Months prior to surgery I started talking a lot about having to go on a health kick, eat right, stop smoking and no alcohol.. I started drinking my Protein shakes at work , soon after other co workers were doing the same thing, they wanted to get healthy. When I had my surgery, no one really noticed anything different. I had said prior to the surgery that I won't be going out to lunch because I know I have no willpower and would eat too much or fattening foods. Now they don't even ask me to go out to eat, they know I bring my lunch or go home and that I'm really trying to stay healthy. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I came across this article about a woman who says she regrets her decision to get weight loss surgery 10 years ago. She had the gastric bypass at the age of 22 when her weight was 274 lbs. She lost 146 lbs., and then her life spiraled. She abused drugs, alcohol, and sex, could not hold a job, and even tried to kill herself. She also gained back 100 lbs. Here is the link to the article on Fox News. After being forced into treatment due to an arrest for driving while intoxicated, this woman was able to make the choice to turn her life around. She finished her college degree, got sober, and got the mental health she needed. She now has lost 100 lbs. through changing her diet and ballroom dancing. This young woman regrets getting the gastric bypass because she replaced a food addiction with even more destructive addictions. First and most important, I am glad she has turned her life around! Now, I have some questions for general discussion. I’d like to get your opinions. Do you think she may have been too young for gastric bypass? This is a hard question in my opinion. On the one hand, people in their lower 20s do not have much life experience. On the other hand, I was fairly young when I got WLS, and I have never regretted the decision. So, when should a very young adult get WLS? What do you think about her decision not to have psychotherapy? I think it underscores the importance of appropriate mental help. Maybe it would have prevented her from getting surgery in the first place and instead helped her work through some of the underlying issues. Or, maybe it would have helped prevent her from transferring her food addiction to other addictions. Now, she is losing weight by making the right food decisions. WLS or not, that is the only way to lose weight. I wonder whether her gastric bypass surgery is helping now. It could be helping with portion restriction and nutrient malabsorption. So….what are your thoughts on this story? Here is the link to the article on Fox News.

Oh lord AGAIN? I'm trying to be nice here. I've never had an issue with ANYONE on here but this guy! There would never be a problem if he didn't try to make everyone believe he knows all. We're all damned if we don't do exactly what he thinks is right. Being a "dick" is telling people they are all going to be complete failures if they dare have a drink of alcohol. "Go eat cake" blah blah blah. That's not the attitude to have either. That's not kissing anyone's ass that's allowing people to live their lives without fear of failure every time they live a little. I consider myself a success and I've had a drink more than a few times. I had one at 3 months post op. Do I drink everyday ummm no! Do I feel like I'm going to be a "failure" when I do have a drink? Nope! If he had told me that crap in the beginning and threw a big tantrum and told me I should just go eat cake ect... I would have been insulted and felt like I was a failure. That's not the way to make someone feel. I CANT STAND it when someone says they can "Never have this/that again" because it's simply NOT true. Unless you've become deathly allergic to a food you can and will be able to consume it again. Just because you have lost weight doesn't make you a weight loss expert and you are most defiantly not qualified to tell someone else what's right or wrong. Give advice when asked, sure but you have no right to push your views and nonsense onto anyone else. Unless you have a MD behind your name and you don't. Here's the thing, there's a block button that I know people are well aware of sooooo if you choose to get your panties all up in a wade (over and over again) instead of using it then I have no choice but to believe you like the drama. That's the only conclusion I can come up with. "Leaving" every couple of month only to return and "leave" again (always making it a public "leaving" post) is just ridiculous. You do get the more "likes" and responses to these "leaving" post than any of your others post though so good for you!!!! Toodles!

Hello all, just thought I share this info. http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/nutrition/cmsID,10305/mode,content/a,cms/ Please copy and paste - this is good info. Stay hydrated! Jason

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!

So before i walk out the door, as this place is simply no longer worth the time, Ill focus on my other areas to help those who need and want it, here is just a few articles for those who call me a liar. Oh and to those who do call me a liar, just because you do something , that doesnt make it right. https://www.facs.org/media/press%20releases/jacs/gastricbypass0311 http://www.obesitycoverage.com/before-after/alcohol-after-weight-loss-surgery/ https://asmbs.org/patients/life-after-bariatric-surgery for RNY https://www.thefix.com/content/gastric-surgery-alcohol-abuse-switching-addictions8421 For bypass https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110310121029.htm there are literally hundreds more. But dont bother looking because I lie evidently because someone once took a drink and said it didnt hit them harder. So by their view, if one person smokes and doesnt get cancer then cigarettes dont cause cancer. Okay then. Have a good life BP people. I will no longer deal with the BS. If you want someone to kiss your ass and tell you you're doing wonderfully as you fail, enjoy it here. its a mutual maturbation society lately. People obsessed with power and their flunkies. Im able to walk away and enjoy this amazing thin life. Trust me when i say this most assuredly will be the last post. Alex has made a great place, unfortunately it eventually gets taken over by those who want nothing more than to be "bitches" and yes thats a quote from them directly. I once left here for 6 months then came back to se if things had changed and unfortunately we have people who now think they know everything about the journey even though they have only just barely started their own and have little compunction against derailing someone else's weight loss journey so they can enable their own destructive behaviors. For those that truly care i urge you to get involved in Surgery help groups and the national obesity awareness campaigns. Or just write your own blog and show the world how this can work. Unlike others i don't hide behind a screen name, heck if you follow my links you'll find my full name, address and even phone number on my blog I will answer any questions directly anyone may have. My pictures are always posted I dont believe in hiding or lying and I do believe in being blunt. Failure is not an option for me as I want to live and hare my life with my wife for as long as possible, it took me 44 years to wake up and see what fat does to you and to me. And you cannot hide being fat, even though we all have tried, I will continue to work with several support groups and with a Protein manufacturer directly as an ambassador. Fort hose who dont like my blunt upfront approach, great, thats your right, what you dont have the right to do is to tell others to ignore their surgeons, to ignore their nutritionists, and to impose your own weight loss cheating and failings on them. If you want to contribute to minimal weight loss and fail, thats your right, dont be a total dick and try to take down others with you. 'My last words, are simple. I will not fail at this, I thank those who helped me along this journey so far, and from the bottom of my heart and soul, I truly wish all of you do not fail as well. see ya.

yes maam i can show you the science behind alcohol absorption rates and gastric sleeve patients if you like. its been posted on here often enough as well. yes you drink and work out hard etc and let me ask while you were in your honeymoon, were you eating cake and drinking beers as some have said and did you ignore you surgeons guidelines? Thats what started this whole thing, I can show you all the posts here where people tell others to disregard their surgeons words. That just stuns the hell out of me. especially since its usually from people who themselves are still obese. I really think there is a misery loves company vibe floating around where others are out to sabotage others weight loss in order to look better themselves if they fail. Youve done great, no one can deny it, its inspiring its great and truly I am extremely glad of that fact. Are you advocating cheating during the honeymoon period for others as well? I dont think you are. and those who are truly anger me. EDIZT* i said alcohol metabolism which of course does NOT change, but alcohol absorption and Blood alcohol content are much higher and much faster with LSG patients To wit* Interestingly, 4/10 patients reached the legal limit for driving in the United States at 20 min after the dose of alcohol administered at baseline, 3/10 at 3 months and 1/10 after 12 months. Patients were asked to fast for at least 6 h and were also placed on a hypocaloric liquid diet before surgery and early post-op that may have influenced their hydration and consequently their BAC measured by Breathalyzer. Compared with a normal anatomy where alcohol is absorbed 20 % in the stomach and 80 % in the jejunum, RYGB induces a rapid emptying of the gastric pouch, particularly liquids, and facilitates their absorption into the jejunum where most of the alcohol is absorbed [9]. Additionally, the source of ADH available for first-pass metabolism is less because of decreased gastric volume [21]. LSG produces less drastic gastric anatomical and physiological changes thereby leaving more ADH available for first-pass metabolism of alcohol and increasing the gastric emptying but at a slower pace than in RYGB [22]

That's a little extreme. I drink beer, whiskey and coke, vodka and diet cranberry and various other adult beverages. I am three years out in May and maintaining fine. (I also eat cake, candy and an occasional french fry.) Alcohol doesn't hit me "seven times harder" (can you show me the science behind that?) and I am not an alcoholic. Just because one was a former fatty, does not mean they've lost all sense of self control when it comes to alcohol. My advice? Follow your surgeon's direction, try your beverage of choice at home the first few times to see how it hits you and tread lightly. Make good choices and if you choose to drink, don't drive.

I'm nowhere near maintenance, but speaking only for myself, I can tell you that sugar alcohols and I are not friends. And I would rather have one lovely bite of premium, full-fat, real sugar ice cream than all the "lite" versions in the world. My personal preference is always for the real deal. Now that I have a sleeve,my restriction means I can limit my portions more easily (just now they're ridiculously small portions, but I expect that to change a bit in the next year or so).