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I have avoided this forum for so long. I had RNY in June 2008 and have gained back weight. I started out at 328 lbs. and lost down to 175 lbs. I was doing well and had continued to lose. In December of 2010, my oldest son passed away suddenly as a result of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (Cirrhosis) due to meds he had been on since a brain tumor in 2001. That completely threw me off track and it has taken a year and a half to get myself together. I had gained back up to 246 by not following the food plan recommended by my surgeon. When Brandon died, I really had no appetite but people kept saying "you have to eat, you'll get sick". I take full responsibility that I took those words to heart and dug right in. Empty calories, slider foods, way too many carbs and no exercise had taken it's toll. I felt like a failure! I was given this opportunity and wonderful gift and screwed it up - again! I didn't feel very victorious. Well I'm happy to report that I AM a success story. I am back on my plan just like post-op and have lost 22 lbs. towards my 70+ pound goal. My pouch is intact and I am able to do this! Tomorrow is my 51st birthday. When I look at myself over the past 25 years, I spent the majority morbidly obese, feeling tired, fat and hopeless. I no longer feel that way and that makes this all a success. I am not bad, I am determined. I took a few hard knocks and got back on that horse that I climbed off of. I started a forum in here called Back on Track and I believe that if all of us "success" stories who have been derailed, stick together we can become super success stories. Thank you all for your brutal honesty and commitment to your health. It is an inspiration and I have such hope when reading your entries....even the sad entries. If I can do this you can too! Smooches to everyone and God bless you!

Can you drink alcohol at all after the surgery or ever? I like to drink and fear that part of it?

We metabolize alcohol the same as we ever did. Unlike our bypass pals, who process it differently. If our tolerance is lower, it is from drinking less often and thus, feeling it more.

A lot of it I think is kind of pointless and will just create unnecessary stress for people. Trying to learn to sip Water is really pointless. The way you can and will drink pre and post surgery are completely different. It really isn't something you can practice. Then there are other variables to drinking water like the temp post op. Creating a healthier relationship with food and getting off soda or alcohol pre-surgery are good ideas, you won't feel so deprived after surgery. A lot of things you experience post op, you can't mimic before surgery. Mainly because how you feel is so important. A tiny stomach that doesn't get hungry is very different from a normal stomach. Keeping your stress levels low are an important part of weight loss also, so creating additional stress can be counterproductive.

Totally agree, I am a recovering food addict. Food is really like any other maladaptive coping mechanism - Alcohol, drugs, shopping - just like anything that will keep your mind off whatever you don't want to think about. The difference is it is so socially acceptable. You cannot have a drink at your desk at lunch, but no one will question a double burger and fries. I am dealing with why I eat and this has helped me tremendously. I am getting banded on the 3rd of December and am really excited.

My doctor allows wine - a small glass, occasionally. Personally, I don't want to drink my calories, but I've had a couple of glasses since having surgery on a couple of special occasions. I've read where some doctors have said no to alcohol for six months, others a year. This is one of those band variables. Now if someone was a heavy drinker, that's a whole other question, and I understand you aren't asking about that. I'm sure a lot of alcohol, in any form, would be harmful to our stomachs, especially after banding.

First of all.. welcome.. I'm per op as well.. I went on vacation and you know how vacations do you.. Yummy food, different places, alcohol.. I did it all. And when I went to the nutritionalist the week after it showed! I gained 4.5 pounds in the week at I was gone.. When they told me my actions could prolong the process that I will have to come back the following week and weigh in again.. I knew I had to straighten up.. I came back did a food journal everyday.. Got all my water and protein in.. And the following week I had lost the 4.5 pounds I gained on vacation.. I was so happy with myself I have kept it up.. And lost 10 pounds total since my bad weigh in.. Keep your head up and know that it's ok to fall of the rocker sometimes.. Just gotta climb back on it.. You got this!,

Well, I am only 1.5 years out... but I concur with just about everything you said! Sleeve was definitely quick... but I think I was in the OR just a little bit longer... but not by much. And I concur... they should offer this as an option to lower BMI people more often. Benefits far outweigh the risks in my opinions. About telling people... yes yes yes! Before surgery especially! Before surgery I waited until mid-way through my pre-op appointments before even telling hubby, knowing he wouldn't like it. Good choice because it meant he had less time to talk me out of it. And by the time he knew my mind was made up. Told daughter a few days before because she lived with me and would know I didn't come home for a night and didn't go to work for several weeks lol. Beyond that... I had a COUPLE people at work who knew. After? I told my boys several weeks afterwards... just before one was coming home for a visit from college. I never did tell anyone else in my family. But when I returned to work I slowly started telling other people until my entire office knew. I like the way I did it. Still have no intention of EVER telling the rest of my family lol. Honeymoon phase... I believe this is true - though I am not as far out as you since I just had my 18 month appointment 2 weeks ago. I just recently started gaining weight in the last couple of months and am currently trying to nip it in the bud. I like my weight the way it had been for nearly a year, so I plan to try harder to maintain. Unsure about counting calories. Right now I am going back to it to make sure I get back on track... but I think once I remind myself what portion sizes look like at the right calories... then I will probably go back to measuring a bit better. I do avoid drinks with sugars at all costs. Alcohol... that is the only that I don't have much experience with. I haven't had more than a couple sips on rare occasions. Just don't feel I want or need it... but not going out of my way to avoid it on purpose.

I had one apt. He asked me question about my life, support, surgery etc... for about 10 min then I had to take a 600 true false question test, a 20 question test on drug and alcohol history and two other small tests simmilar to the others then I went home. But really dont worry about the phych eval unless you think this is going to be a cure all and you hear voices that tell you to murder then you should be fine.

I'm sure the answer is no but I forgot to ask the dietician if I'm allowed to have alcohol during my 2 week pre op liquid diet that I started today. Do any of you know?

Headache for me was caused by too few calories post surgery. I've heard a lot of people say alcohol pads under your nose helps with nausea. For me, I usually grab a SF Popsicle and it helps me,

I have been on a two month journey to get a vertical sleeve surgery. Just two weeks to my scheduled surgery date; just to be told the insurance will only pay for RNY. I spent a lot of time researching the sleeve. Now I have to decide in a day or two if I want RNY. Can someone tell me all the drawbacks. (Sweets alcohol etc. ). I don't have a big sweet tooth but do like them once in a while. Also what are the pluses over the sleeve. THANKS.

So since today is New Year's Eve I was thinking about having a glass of wine or two. I am about 5 weeks post op from my sleeve surgery, do you think this would be ok?

I live in NYC so with Jersey my neighbor west of the Hudson River, I see articles on Christie all the time in the NY papers. Just the other day, I saw a comment about his running for president and the poster said specifically that he/she would never vote for a fat person as this indicates an inability to control themselves. I agree with posters on this site who've said that those who abuse drugs and/or alcohol receive more support than those who abuse food. I know I have hated myself bitterly for being so fat and I am having issues even now when I look at all the loose skin I have and now the mammoth swelling in my hip area from recent hip replacement surgery. I can't believe how much that bothers me and it's nothing I did...it's just a fact of life when having such an invasive procedure. Sorry...got a little off track there but any time someone is judged based on their appearance, it brings up all these issues for me about who a person is rather than what a person looks like. Oh...and most folks I speak to are convinced that Christie had the surgery in preparation for a run for the top job in 2016...and not for any other reason. I think that too says a lot about how shallow we can be sometimes... OK, rant over. Thanks for reading.

My first thought was the artificial sweeteners too. My second was lactose - the whey protein many shakes use. Look for plant protein shakes (not soy of course) & avoid shakes with any of the sugar alcohol sweeteners (the ones that end in ‘tol’ like xylitol, erythritol, Sorbitol). https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sugar-alcohols-good-or-bad#other-benefits - scroll down for the digestive side effects. Chat with your dietician & or surgeon about alternatives. They should be supportive of you changing because of the side effects you’re experiencing.

Dumping syndrome for me comes in the form of heart palpitations, and as of last night fainting. So last night I cheated and ate a piece of candy, 3 pieces to be exact. I came up stairs laid down to watch tv. I didnt wait 30 minutes to drink, I waited like 30 seconds. flushing all the stupid sugar (candy) into my small intestine. An hour or 2 later my heart starts racing , once this subsided I got up to use the restroom, next thing I know I'm waking up on the bathroom floor with my face bouncing off the baseboard. First time fainting for me, and a lesson well learned. Oh, let me be totally honest here I also had been enjoying an alcoholic libation. ( I was not drunk, but I'm sure this alcohol combined with candy, along with not waiting to drink all combined to make a perfect storm. So yeah, I'm pretty sure I have a broken nose, my knee, hip, elbow and face are all nicely bruised. This could have been avoided had I not drank alcohol candy and paid closer attention to the rapid heart rate earlier.

03/08/2013 Hi, I haven't don't have any formal training on the subject or had surgery but just thinking about it food it is most likely alot of over weight peoples drug of choice. Then when taken away, even voluntarily, if we are unaware we may turn to other drugs to take the place of food. Be it alcohol, cigarettes, or what have you. Alot of us who are over weight are addicted to food. It would be like we had a bad day so we had a bowl of ice cream and it made us feel better. So we do that every time we are stressed. Then anytime there is even a little stress we look for the food to make us feel better. So eventually that one little bowl of ice cream now is 10 big bowls of ice cream. Even though we get fatter and fatter, doesn't make us feel better, or even taste good most of the time we still do it because we have become addicted. We have lost control. Its probably not that simple but, after surgery and if we are unaware and become stressed we may try to replace that food addiction with another addiction because we can't have the food, (our drug of choice), any longer. I am certain that is why we are told that WLS is one of many tools to help us finally lose the weight and keep it off. Sincerily, Searching

WOW this hit home with me in a BIG way. In a revelation kind of way. I come from an abusive, broken, dysfunctional family with generations of alcoholism and drug abuse. I am not a drinker nor a drug addict, and I've always elevated myself in a small way, giving myself a pat on the back for staying clean and not becoming an addict like the rest of my family. But I did. food was my solution, and it worked for the last 10 years. Thank you for the eye-opener. Whatever I next "cope" with i hope it's something positive like exercise. (sorry I know this is the man room ( though man-cave would have been a better name for this section!) but lets not kid ourselves, we all read the others' threads!)

Has anyone done any reasearch or spoken to their Dr. on why bariatric patients may be more likely to have alcohol issues? I have alcoholism in the family... And it kind if scares me to hear that. Is it it just the replacement of a food addiction with something else perhaps?

Cigarettes and alcohol can be given up. But food...we have to learn to make good choices for the rest of our lives in order to live linger.

My brother is a highly intelligent man. This was proven decades ago, when IQ tests (performed while his teachers and parents tried to figure out why he was a miserable little bugger) showed a genius level IQ. I know that sentence sounds unsympathetic to my brother, but we were all miserable - our parents, his teachers, me, and my brother. The decades that have passed since then haven't given him any more common sense or made him any less miserable. A good example of that is his reaction when I first talked with him about my weight loss surgery. This highly intelligent and (by then) well-read man said, "Wow! So, you have the surgery, and then you eat anything you want and you still lose weight!" Well, no, I told him. Not really. In fact, nothing like that. During the 6 years of my weight loss surgery journey, I have (over and over and over again) witnessed bariatric patients who came out of the operating room after surgically successful procedures still wondering why they couldn't eat anything want and still lose weight. Their disappointing weight loss was and is a perpetual puzzle to them because somehow they had not grasped that behavioral change is required for weight loss success. It's easy to label those patients as stupid or ignorant or deluded, or to blame their bariatric team for failure to properly educate those patients about what would be required of them both pre- and post-op. All of those things could be a factor. In March 2012 I attended 2 sessions of a required pre-op nutrition and education class. My BMI then made me obese, but not morbidly so. I had gained weight after a complete unfill and was preparing to say goodbye to my beloved band due to medical problems aggravated by my band, planning to revise to vertical sleeve gastrectomy in the same procedure. The dietitian leading the class was a perky, pretty 20-something girl, adorably pregnant, who had clearly never struggled with her weight before. Her slightly condescending attitude was hard to take, but about halfway through the class I thought I could understand her attitude. She had just named a long list of foods we should not eat after surgery (including fried foods, candy, baked goodies, soda, alcohol, salty snacks, etc.) when I heard a woman nearby say bitterly, "I don't know. That seems like an awful lot to give up." Since I had known the before and after of WLS, I was strongly tempted to respond to her, but I held my tongue (wisely, for once). I don't know just why so many people think that WLS is magic, that you can eat anything you want and still lose weight; that you don't have to give up a single food or behavior or attitude in order to succeed. Maybe we can blame that kind of thinking on the media, or maybe we can blame it on the deeply-entrenched denial that tends to go along with obesity. But the fact is, you can't eat anything and still lose weight unless you're dying of cancer or AIDs or some other fatal disease, and probably don't want to eat a single bite of anything anyway. And I'd trade dying of cancer for WLS sacrifices and success any old day, wouldn't you?

Hi, Jojo! I go to Dr. Ren (Dr. Fielding's partner and wife -- though my surgery was in MX with Dr. Rumbaut) and they are OK with alcohol in moderation. Definitely check with them on timing though. The shakes are pretty gross -- I hated them, so I got Isopure Protein drinks (taste/look like Gatoraid) from GNC, which was SO much better (42 grams of protein, zero carbs). That did the trick. As for good mushies, you can still have everything you had during liquids (Soups really carried me through liquids & mushies), and other things I enjoyed were mashed potatoes, refried Beans with cheese, pureed turkey chili, cottage cheese, and yogurt. Best wishes for your success! Catherine

Check with your doctor about alcohol. They all seem to have differing instructions on that.

A small amount of wine goes wayyyyy further than it did before surgery. I'm being truthful here and having a hard time with stopping when I know I should. I really don't want this to get out of hand. Advice appreciated but please don't give it if you choose to judge me. Thank you.

I didn't like the Lean Dessert either. I get my Chike from ExpressMetabolics.com and it's around $38-40 a tub. But I just noticed that the Chike web site is selling it for $27. Well, shoot. I just bought a bunch at the higher price too. Yeah, Splenda is sucralose. Yesterday I got "Erythritol" at the store. It has no calories. I think it's a sugar alcohol though so that means it will give some people gas. I'm working on an Energy Bar recipe that calls for almost a cup of Karo Syrup and I'm looking for other things I can use instead to get the carbs and sugar down. I figure I'll use some of that and some of my whey Low and maybe some stuff that is already sweet and gooey like Peanut Butter.