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@@VSGAnn2014 I know that wasn't your meaning, I was just responding to the concept that there is a clear line when a person is an alcoholic. Where I live, there is a big wine and beer with dinner culture, and there are plenty of people having wine daily with dinner that dont get drunk and are not alcoholics. Those recommendations come from studies about health risks like cancer etc. For some sad reason, even at the same bodyweight, alcohol is more harmful for women than men.

@@jj7481 I see this all the time with my sister n law and brother n law. Both get disability and Medicaid. Both are addicted to prescription pain medications and one to alcohol. They must go to the ER at least once a week, seriously. Their attitude is I am not paying for it so what the hell. And what they do have to pay for my father n law takes care of. He is a constant enabler of this behavior and honestly is so stupid about it that he will believe anything they tell him. For example once a week he writes them a check for between 500 and 1000 without ever seeing a doctors bill at all. There has to be a way for people that abuse the system and ruin it for everyone else that really needs it.

Just to be clear, I didn't say (or mean) that someone who drinks more than 7 5-ounce servings of wine per week is an alcoholic. But a woman who drinks more than this is drinking more than the broadly acceptable definition of a "social drinker." There are lots of other (defined) terms that describe other alcohol drinking behaviors, e.g., alcohol abuse, problem drinking, binge drinking, heavy drinking, underage drinking, blood alcohol levels, patterns of alcohol consumption, episodic drinking, etc. For those who want to go deeeeep into this subject, here's a place to start: http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/research/guidelines-and-resources/recommended-alcohol-questions BTW, I agree that substances that can derail weight loss and weight maintenance include not only too much alcohol, but too many sugary foods, other high-carb foods, calorie-laden drinks, nuts, salty Snacks, and any other slider foods.

There is a difference between having a glass of wine with dinner to compliment the meal and downing a whole bottle of 2 buck chuck from Trader Joes just so you can fall asleep at night. While I think mild alcoholism is a dumb term. The bar for what makes you an alcoholic from a medical standpoint is too low, too black and white and too linear. I would say the thing to be watch for especially if you are young, and even more if you are single is that once you start socializing and dating, it is easy for calories to creep in. This happened to me at the tail end of last year. Started dating, going out more and it was hard to track and estimate calories from restaurants without nutritional value. It is too easy to start enjoyying your weight loss and pick up bad habits you didn't have before.

So a woman who has more than 7, 5 oz servings of wine in a given week is an alcoholic? As someone who lives in "wine country" I guess there are alot of them here. I have known alcoholics - their consumption impacted their lives in a negative way. I am not defending drinking, as it really is just empty calories, just saying that I am not sure comparing it to a yes/no condition like pregnancy is quite accurate. I don't consider someone that has dessert every day as part of an overall decent diet is a food addict either - again empty calories so I don't think we should do it, but it isn't a clinical addiction. This. It's kind of like being pregnant. No such thing as being just a little pregnant. You either are or you aren't.

For health reaaons, 1 drink a day is considered max for healthy for women. It's pretty easy to go over that if you often have a glass of wine with dinner (i think a serving is 5 oz). I don't think I'd call a woman who has 8 drinks a week an alcoholic, but have more than is healthy. I think the reason is your body handles alcohol differently post sleeve. I have gone through times when I was having more than my 7, but like now I haven't had ANY in around a month for health reasons (recovering from surgery) I have a girlfriend who is not a wls patient, going through a difficult divorce and she definitely drinks 2x the amount that is recommended for women. Not sure I'd call her an alcoholic, but it's more than is healthy. Anyway, empty calories, doesn't help you build lean mass, lots of reasons to limit jt.

I'm curious - just what is a "mild alcoholic"? True alcoholism is an emotional and physical dependence on alcohol and there isn't anything "mild" about it.

@@Afrikanaaa i was going to say the exact above phrase @@Daisee68 beat me to it she is such a smarty pants!!! (i taught her everything she knows) LOL since you (or anyone) no longer has the vice of overeating it's possible you might turn to some other bad habit (like alcohol) smoking, shopping etc in excess or.............coming to BP too often!! i was never much of a drinker now i drink all the time Water of course drinking to your health good luck kathy

I quit drinking before surgery long before, in an effort to lose weight on my own. I still have no interest. When I go out I drink Water with lime and tip very well. I only know one person personally that had WLS. They never drank before surgery. They were a homebody and felt unattractive. Fast forward to them being down 100lbs. They feel better, more confident, going out several times a week. Lots of drinking. I think that is how some people become alcoholics. Other people who have not done the emotional work, need alcohol as a replacement coping drug because they dont have food.

Many folks don't know the definition of "social drinking." For women it's one serving of alcohol a day for no more than 7 drinks a week. (BTW, 12 ounces of wine is at least two servings.) For men it's 2 drinks a day for no more than 14 drinks a week. More than that and you're no longer a social drinker.

I am nearly 8 months out. I was nearly paranoid about drinking and decided to have a glass of wine at six months. Not sure what I thought would happen...spontaneously combust maybe. All went fine. I don't know about anyone else, but I can't hold enough alcohol to get tipsy, much less get drunk or become an alcoholic. I now enjoy a glass of wine about three evenings a week. I make sure to choose a wine low in calories and I measure out 1/2 cup before I drink. I like having my wine back. I now know I can enjoy my old pastime of visiting wineries.

This is true to some degree,not for me though.I was a mild alcoholic before surgery .I am 17 months out of surgery and I hate liquor.Some ppl I know are full blown alcoholics and gain weight back.

Before getting my sleeve, the pre-op cardiologist made a remark that I didn't really remember until now. He said "I see a lot of people get weight loss surgery and become mild alcoholics. Don't know why that is but be mindful of that." It was weird to me because I don't drink, but for those of you who are much further out than I, have your liquor consumption habits changed? Did you not before, but do now? Did surgery change how you feel about alcohol? Or is this just one of those things I shouldn't be too worried about?

"I feel skinnyyyyyy, oh so skinnyyyyy....." So this happened. I'm back to my lowest post op weight today. Yay. This is big. I've been bouncing into and out of Onederland for SIX months. A month and a half ago I made some big changes to my food and behaviors. It resulted in the loss of ten pounds I gained back from my low weight last year up to that point. So today I'm back down to 193, back on track, and feeling great. Less than fifty pounds to goal. I started thinking I'd make a list of what's going right. When I can't figure out why things are slowing down or going in reverse, I'll pull out this list and see what I'm doing or not doing. Here goes. Feel free to add your own tips to this thread. Tracking food in MyFitnessPal. Weighing daily. Going to OA and CODA meetings. Therapy every two weeks. Planning food the day before and committing it to my OA sponsor. Staying under 1200 calories a day. No fried food. No carby Thai noodles. No movie crapcorn. Two fruit or p rotein shake s nacks a day. Measuring out nuts instead of guessing the portion. No alcohol. Healthy, boring, simple foods like eggs and cheese and yogurt and meatballs. Way fewer processed foods. Bye bye bread. Just because I drop it in the salad bowl doesn't make it salad. Log it. (See nuts, measured, above.) Journaling. Listening to weight loss and addiction recovery podcasts. Obeying my band. It says "enough"? I stop. I have found that this same fill level that I have been at since August suddenly is just right. Before these changes, I was contemplating another fill because I was able to eat too much. But even then I would get stuck on certain foods if not chewed thoroughly. I wisely took my NP's advice and cleaned up the food and drink before getting a ninth fill. I don't need it now. I'm at the sweet spot, the green zone, the holy grail of band land. It took about four weeks for me to stop daydreaming about the perfect meal and missing my fried foods. Today I crave veggies and simple meals. It's a miracle. But I can't stress enough how important the "head and heart" work is. I am working very, very hard on the emotional and spiritual recovery from my food addiction. Like every day. No kidding. So anyway, just wanted to share this joyful stuff and ask others to pile on. What's going right for you?

I am almost eight months post-op and I just had my first adult beverage last weekend. I was scared to death that I would be "that person" who passed out after having one drink. Happy to report that I was not "that person", as a matter of fact, it really had no effect on me at all. As everyone has already said, each person is different and each surgeon is different. I was advised not to drink alcohol for six months, but did not have to sign a contract or anything. Best of luck to you.

Having been a nurse for 23 yrs, I totally get Dr. Now. He tells it like it is...because these people need to hear it! They will lie to you to your face, just like Dottie did last night. "I don't know how I didn't lose. I haven't cheated...I didn't over eat, I ate everything I was supposed to!" ... as we watched her eat those chips with supper and wash it down with a coke. He's not a dummy. He hasn't done this many surgeries to listen to lies. He knows what a person's body goes through during these procedures and it's his way of making or breaking them. You either man up and do what you were told to do for the program or get out. Yes, it's blunt, but trust me....you see through the BS and after awhile, tell it like it is. So...folks lie to the people who are there to help them and to themselves. Explain to me again, why food is not considered an addiction the way alcohol and drugs are. (she says, dripping sarcasm)

@@JamieLogical - Ooh perfect!! You have already been there and been through it so you could be our guide! @@Elode is a nurse, so we would have that going for us. I have no special skills I am afraid. As many times as I have been to Mexico AND live in Texas AND took 4 years of Spanish in high school, I still can't speak Spanish. Well, I can understand some and can speak some words (I find that am much more fluent with alcohol. Wonder what pain meds would do for my Spanish? )

First of all, congratulations on the pregnancy. Second of all, you are not a failure. You are struggling, and you're looking for help. Please, please give yourself a break. I don't think I have very much to offer except to tell you my experience with my band. I lost a lot of weight quickly in the first 7 months, and then I stopped losing. I know full well that it was because of the food choices I was making. I was not binging anymore, but I was refusing to give up certain foods, like fried foods and other delectables. I was very discouraged and afraid that I would not lose the final 50 that I needed to lose. Like you, I felt like I could eat more than I should be able to eat. I went to see my NP. Instead of yet another fill, we discussed me trying to clean up my food first, and see if that helped my restriction.I did just that. Little by little, I gave up the items that were causing me trouble. First to go was alcohol. Second to go was fried food and a carby Thai dish that I loved to eat once or twice a week. Finally, I gave up the movie crap corn. I went back to tracking my food in MyFitnessPal. It took a good four weeks before these changes became comfortable. But once that time had passed, I no longer craved the crappy food. It was easier to stay within my measured portions. It was easier to track and stay committed to what I planned. I began to get hungry only at meal times again. I began to crave vegetables instead of greasy fried food. And slowly, slowly, slowly, the weight is coming off again. I don't know if any of this helps you. I know that if I were pregnant, it would be an additional challenge. But please give yourself a break. None of us entered WLS as a short-term solution. We have made this decision for life. But the good part about that is, the solution will be with us for life. We can work with our doctors and our bands to help us get back or stay on track. Again, blessings to you on your pregnancy. And good luck to you with your band!

Hi everyone, I just had my first consultation with my surgeon after completing the pre-op requirements for my insurance. During our consultation, he decided to require that I have three months of therapy to work through a possibility of alcohol addiction after the surgery. I'm an occasional social drinker who hasn't drank socially in over four months and I don't have any alcoholism in my family. Is this kind of decision normal for a surgeon to make? Because of this extension, I may not be able to have the surgery because my insurance plan expires within the timeline that the surgeon gave me. Now I am totally lost at what to do next. Help!

She's not kidding about surgery being canceled if "caught" smoking. My thought is, if you're not an Alchie and alcohol is not a big deal, then it shouldn't be a big deal not drinking again. Hell, what's the difference? We're supposed to adopt a new lifestyle where "useless" calories have no place; you know, like sugar, too much fat, booze, etc. I've heard people on here basically saying: ok, I get it, I'll make massive lifestyle changes in terms of eating and exercise but don't you DARE mess with my booze.... Sorry, but that doesn't sound very committed. Jes sane

i know it's tiring to hear "talk to your doctor", but if something should happen you want your doctor to have your true and complete history. I know with my doctor who I also signed a contract for a year no alcohol surprised me when I told him about my annual Christmas drink. He let me have it! So ask him/her.

... I've looked the list up and down several times and this is as close to accurate as I could get. I'm not ranting and/or raving... It's not a 'men only' thing... It's not a boy/girl thing... I'm not 100% certain that it's a 'success story' thing either because the story isn't over yet.. It's just a thing.. Anyway, here's the s**t.. My story is similar to many others here. Got fat... Got sleeved... Lost weight... Hit a "stall"... (I use the " around stall because technically, it wasn't all a stall. In the beginning it was. After that it was Christmas, New Years, holiday, drinking, not watching intake...) I've posted about my "stall" before... Unfortunately, the "stall" happened when I was floating around the 100kg (220.462 pounds) lost mark. I went from 98.5 kg lost to 96 then back to 98.7... This went on for four weeks or so leading up to Christmas... Once Christmas came, I knew it wasn't gonna break in the near future so I stopped weighing. So for a month, I stopped worrying about calories and carbs and all that stuff. Yes, I made sure to keep up the Protein and Water, but that was all. Then, once I was back at work and into my routine, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and weigh in. I was scared that I'd gained... Scared that I'd undone some of the good that I'd done... So with great trepidation, I stepped on the scales (first thing in the morning, straight after a pee, naked apart from my reading glasses). I could not believe what I saw... The scale hadn't moved... I was still within a couple of kg of my 100kg lost. Well, that got me going... It was head down and arse up for the next two weeks, making sure I watched EVERYTHING that went in, got right back into training and all that... No cake at work morning tea. No waffle fries at the baseball. No alcohol at the races... (I know, right??!??!) Protein, water, protein, water, good fat and carbs, repeat... Tonight, as I walked in the door, something told me to check my weight... I dunno what it was... The universe maybe... (Please don't make this a God thing... That's a whoooole other story...) Whatever it was, I listened... I weighed myself.. No fear... No trepidation.. And I'm pleased to say that, as things currently stand, I have officially lost EXACTLY 100.3kg (221.124 pounds) since Feb 25 last year. I still have approx 50 kg (110 pounds) to go and hope to have that gone by year's end.. But I'll think about that tomorrow... Tonight is for enjoying the moment... Please... If there's anyone reading this who is struggling or needs support - PM me. I'm more than happy to answer questions or give opinions/anecdotal advice. Thanx for reading... Kinda...

@@almond_jay yes I did have my psych evaluation.. The psychiatrist told me I had daddy issues. My dad is an alcoholic and she thinks I over eat because he wasn't in my life. *shrugs* I disagree but she was trying to find a reason why i eat so much. I said because food is yummy. She said no that's not it. Lol. I just agreed to do what she asked. I'm buying a book for ACOA.. and I'll go to a couple of meetings to see what I can learn. I'm open about it, I just don't think that is why I eat. I'm supposed to email her about what I'm doing to change it. So I'll do that in a couple of weeks

It definitely depends on the individual but do research about the affects of alcohol after RNY. I am biased because I had a close friend die because she turned into an alcoholic after gastric bypass surgery. All she did was drink and barely ate.She didn't drink prior to the surgery. I read that some ppl crave alcohol more after surgery and I know several ppl that have had RNY and drink a lot. I didn't have issues but prefer not to drink. My suggestion is to wait and then may have a drink and see how it feels.

Everyone's different and you need to figure out what works for you. Quest bars only have about 5g of net carbs if you use that measure (subtract Fiber and sugar alcohols). If you don't they are about 25g. I use them all the time in maintenance didn't use as much during loss