Search the Community

Ok, so my high school reunion is the last week of October and that will put me at 2 months post op. I have a large group of girlfriends from high school that I get together with annually for a girls trip and we always have lots of drinks and fun together. At our 10 and 15 year reunion, we partied until 3-4 am. They will all be attending our class reunion of course. With all that being said, my surgery is a secret. How should I handle this reunion? Is it ok for me to have a couple? (I drink either wine, margaritas or jack and Water with lemon.) has anyone drank so soon post op? What was your experience with it? My doctor didn't give me any direction on alcohol but I've seen posts that say you aren't really suppose to. I never know what to believe due to so many conflicting stories about post op habits, diets, etc. I really have no desire to drink anything at this point. (That may change when I see all my BFF's getting tipsy) So anyone have any good excuses they have used to keep from drinking and also keep the surgery hush hush? I've contemplated just staying home pretending to be sick but I have been looking forward to this since my 15 year reunion! Lol. I rarely rarely drink, in fact, our annual girls cruise is generally the only time I drink all year. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

At a starting weight of 216lb your weight loss is going to be lower and slower than someone whose starting weight was much higher. What is your height? Are you exercising? What exercise are you doing? How many calories are you consuming a day now? How much protein do you eat daily? Carbs? Do you drink alcohol? Do you do a lot of incidental activity? Getting plenty of fluids? All this (and others) factor into your weight loss patterns, we are all different and lose weight differently. If you are able answer these though, I am sure you will get some very helpful suggestions regarding weight loss. Has your dietician or surgeon made any suggestions for you?

Yes it is silly to even consider it. Do not drink any alcohol six weeks out.

I am sure it has to do with body mass. I was probably down 70 lbs from 300 when I took my first drink. I doubt the alcohol is metabolized any differently. Perhaps in RNY patients there is some kind of difference do to absorbtion but I doubt there is any difference in sleevers. I am sitting at 185 now, 40% less body mass than when I started. My triglycerides were 63 (normal is less than 150) when I had them taken 3 weeks ago. That is the biggest indicator of alcolol induced liver problems.

Remember, alcohol is empty calories. I have drinks a few times a month (serious karaoke junkie) and have since I was a few months out. You need to remember that you will get hit hard and fast now. I drink bourbon on the rocks, have no problems but know when enough is enough. I am usually good for 2 or 3 at best in a 4 hour span (my local dive pours very heavy).

Alcohol can irritate the sleeve scar and inhibit healing. Even long post-op, the alcohol can cause problems with the scar. It's best to keep it to a bare minimum. And yes, the metabolic differences of alcohol post-op are almost entirely due to a lower BMI (there are some concerns with increased pancreatic load during the active loss phase). I went from being able to have... too much alcohol without noticing it much, to being pretty much a lightweight. Since it's all just empty calories and is really bad for you, I don't see a great reason to drink (you can have just as much fun without it as with it, and if you don't make a big deal about it, nobody will even notice or care that you're drinking iced teas instead of Long Island iced teas). Obviously, to each their own, but PLEASE be aware of the "lightweight" effect; I've heard of sleevers getting DUI's or worse due to not realizing just how dramatically their tolerance had changed. All that being said: drinking alcohol at only six weeks out is very foolish; I'd wait at LEAST six months. Ultimately, however, it's your body and your risk to take.

Ok I'm clearly having a rough night and just need to vent. I feel like I have been jipped (sp?) out of this surgery so many times. My mom worked at ADP for 6 years with UHC and they covered it...but only if I was 18...then when I was 17 and 7 months she changed jobs to Key Payroll online and still has UHC but they dont cover it!!! Gah just my luck. Then 6 months ago she got a credit card for 20,000 but it is maxed out now cause she took alovely trip to Arizona....Then she refinanced the house and spent 20,000 on our kitchen alone (more than the cost of surgery) and normally she has great credit and could get financed for a surgery here in the USA but now her debt to income ratio is too high because of her new stupid southwest airlines credit cards. So basically I have been told oh yeah this will work...Siiikk! too many times. I feel like I am so close yet so far. I have been researching this for 5 years now ever since They had that girl from wilson phillips on TV for the NWWLS commercial (if u live in WA im sure you know what I'm talking about). I just feel like my time is never going to come. And I have applied at ADP (the place my mom use to work, which I know for sure covers the surgery) for receptionist and admin jobs for over a year now and they just won't hire me.<br>I just wonder when my time to shine is going to come<br>Sorry to vent I just feel hopeles....and today I was crying and my mom told me "It's not my responsibility to pay for your stupid weight loss surgery...I didn't make you fat." All I could think was uhm...maybe if I had some emotional stability when I was a child and didn't have an alcoholic father I'd have felt more loved and not needed food to comfort me. I know most of you bandsters on here are older than me and maybe are parents too....but it's very difficult when both of your parents were bombshells and popular in high school and never been overweight...I mean my mom simplifies it to "Why should I finance a surgery when you can't even pay your cell phone bill." I duno I just think she needs to take a step back and realize that spending $20,000 on new kitchen isn't as important as your daughters lifelong happiness, health and success. Maybe I feel like it is owed to me because I truley feel like she should have provided more stability in my life. I rememebr beign in 3rd grade and beign called fat for the first time...and I didn't realize that I was different until then...I just know that if I saw my kids gettign chubby I'd enroll them in basketball or some form of fun exercise and have activites for them to make healthy Snacks....like celery and Peanut Butter with little raisens on them. I wouldn't wish beign 275 on my worst enemy....and just can't figure out why my mom didn't fight harder for my health when I was so little.

well, let's see..My dad was an alcoholic so my mom would give me anything to keep me quiet, so she could deal with him...I was an only child, I guessshe figured taking care of a drunk and a colicy child plus working full time was reason enough not to have anymore kids...Anywho, I see pictures of me as a child and I look healthy but then I go to school and get teased as being fatty..Although I still may have been bigger than your average child, the pictures tell a different story.I remember gaining weight at about 11. Like I said my mom rewarded me with foods to make up for something she thought I might be missing, I dunno really..My parents never called me fat.I did loose it around the age of 15, but married very early in life and started a family just as soon too..Gained 60 pounds during first pregnancy..Hubby never calls me fat..Thank GOD! I suffer depression, my son has a disability and I care for him, he is 21..So I don't work outside the home.And I bore easily too..I eat for all the wrong reasons and I know how to eat right, I just don't..I did south beach diet and had great success..But gained it back..So here I am , no major health problems but problems related to gaining,loosing,gaining you get the idea..Surgery is dec 19th..Can't wait..

He was very much like a psychologist. We went over many, many things, including possible stressors in my life, what I think my eating issues are, whether I had any trauma in my past, who will serve as my support system, and how to handle telling certain people and not others about the surgery. He talked about handling social situations with the band, and issues that come up in families. He talked about "addiction transfer," where someone who no longer overeats turns to alcohol, shopping, gambling, etc. addictions, and how to watch out for that behavior. He gave me a list of recommended reading, including books on general well being. And he was just a really good listener and gave me great ideas and feedback. I can see how meeting with him in the future would be really helpful. Okay, I just read what I wrote and I am going to edit this to say he was better than the one psychologist I had way back when. (Many psychologists don't talk, they just sit there and let you talk). This guy at Dr. Brown's had a real kindness, compassion, and obvious desire to help. It was not just about assessing whether I was psychologically suited to the surgery (that was part of it), but also an effort to help, and let me know that he would be there to help in the future as I progress with the band. I really, really appreciated that meeting.

Personally, I don't even bother with the empty calories of alcohol... I'll have an unsweet tea...if they don't have that, an iced coffee... I keep sugar free flavoring in my purse, so I'm ready... don't need the alcohol to have a good time... but that's me... never was much of a drinker anyway...

Yes I understand that and some people do just mess it up in less then a month because their mind set does not change but there are people who deal with a lot and more that can't control their life and what happens to them. Because there have been many days this year I could have just as well sucked down a mountain of Hershey bars but I didn't but I can see how people can get in that desperation. Everyone is not as strong as someone else. Yes there are jack asses that will never follow the rules for that I say well then you need your ass kicked but there are others that did all that and then something tragic happens. You don't know unless you are there. It's like being an alcoholic or a drug addict it only takes that one fall to get you right back where you started.

Pearlygirl I do not believe that Alcoholism is a weakness of character. I thought that would be clear by the tone of my post that I believe alcoholism is a disease. I apologize if it was not clear. I would have preferred if you would have asked me to clarify my position before calling me ignorant.

I share some of the same challenges in terms of being single and feeling like being a hypocrite. I also have another perspective I wanted to share that I think you might want to think about. I had a different WLS 15 years ago, the gastric banded gastroplasty. I actually did pretty well, and about the 160# mark I met someone. I was in my late 20's and although I had dated some prior to that, it had been many years at that point since I had been in a serious relationship. I got immediately sucked in by all the feelings a person experiences when they have the attention of another person paying attention to you. I was feeling great with my transformation and all the attention I was getting. Here is the problem. He wasn't really all that overweight, a potbelly, but he had horrible eating habits. A few months into the relationship I did tell him I had had WLS, and expressed that I really needed to start eating better. I was constantly tempted around foods that were not going to help me stay on track. It wasn't that he wasn't supportive of ME doing it, but he had no intentions of changing his ways which in a way I guess isn't totally out of line. It would have been nice if he would have taken some steps to improve his eating habits while we were together, but he didn't seem all that affected by his poor lifestyle choices. Moral of the story, I ended up regaining about 30# in that relationship that lasted about 2 years. I'm not blaming him, but I'm just going to say that being around someone who doesn't share your same healthy lifestyle habits is like drinking in front of an alcoholic everyday. That's pretty tough, ESPECIALLY when someone is still trying to get to goal or even at maintenance. I have tried some online dating at this point, and although I'm not now due to my busy schedule- because of that experience I just mentioned, one of my criterias when dating is that it isn't about what they look like as much as their lifestyle habits. Ok, so logic says if they aren't at a healthy weight then their eating/ exercise habits may not be great which is quite possible but not always. I will not get in another relationship where the other person does not already practice healthy lifestyle choices. That doesn't mean I expect or even want someone who is a gym rat- that doesn't appeal to me either. Think about what you need to support you in your life goals and this should include your desire to reach or maintain your goal weight. It's not hypocritical in my opinion to turn down being in a relationship with someone who is overweight because I'm not turning them down because of their weight but because I don't think they are healthy for me. I hear periodically of situations where people start dating and they become motivated by that other person to become healthier as well. They have to want to do it for themselves or it won't last, but I guess I'm just saying don't be afraid to set your own standards and stick to them. I also concur with the others about just dating to have fun. You can find a way to slide into the conversation that you haven't been dating in awhile and just want to meet a bunch of people right now so that he knows up front that you aren't interested in getting serious. This way if he asks you out again, he won't automatically assume it has as much to do with his looks as it might be that you are out "shopping" around. Have fun with it!! I wanted to add one last thing here. I ended up regaining a bunch more later on, but because I had already regained approximately 30#, I got into a really bad pattern that I wasn't able to stop. Don't let this happen to you!

I very very rarely put alcohol or toners on my face, I have just broken out so much that I was trying to get rid of all the oil. My face seems a but better today. But thank you for the aupport. I wish I could be like my fiancé who doesn't even wash his face, just uses hit water and his face is always clear! Men....

That sounded so wonderful to do something nice for yourself. I don't want to be a spoiler but I was at the dermatologist a few weeks ago and he said never use alcohol, witch hazel or any toners on the face. I have used toner, Lancome, for about 30-40 years on mine and now have stopped all. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and new week.

I quit Testosterone Replacement Therapy, after 2 years on it. I was not on steroids !!!! Its testosterone replacement therapy, it makes a man at 40 years old, feel great, high sex drive, etc.. It is not pills and 5 different steroids going to you stomach. Its one low dosage intermuscular injection per week. I do not drink alcohol, or smoke nicotine. I quit cold turkey, ["weaned off, TRT with very low dosage weekly shot"], 5 weeks before my successfully , gastric bypass surgery , I am still currently off TRT probably forever. I am 40 years old, ex powerlifter. I am currently 6'3" 299 lbs , i lost 48 lbs as of today in 3 weeks. I only choose gastric bypass surgery because my insurance covered it 100%, i knew it was not reversible, going in. I was told I could continue TRT for life 4 weeks after post op. but now I read No NSAIDS and no Steroids , and they are to opposite things ???? because they can? cause ulcers in the new smaller stomach, and around the staple line. That being, said I am prepared to quit TRT forever !!! But I don't understand why ? It makes no sense. I know for a fact my natural testosterone will come back in a few months, being off TRT, I am not worried about that. *****These are some things that I cant understand and it makes no sense to me , during 4 week post operation. ******* NSAIDS is an appreciation for "NONSTEROIDAL anti-inflammatory drugs" but then it says you CANNOT take Steroids' either ????? Can someone please explain to me how that makes sense ? One is NON STEROIDAL and one is STEROIDALl ?????? Now on to the Clomid brand name drug name is clomiphene , it can be taken by men or women, i have read many posts about women using Clomid post operation to get pregnant !!! there doctors said it was fine but , as I did further research Clomid is a NSAID !!!!????? how does that make sense ??? Clomid taken by men post cycle therapy off TRT will help a man boost testosterone 200% i have done it before in the past it works bringing back natural testosterone levels. The Clomid comes in crushable form pills and liquid too, obviously because , after gastric bypass surgery, your body does not absorb medication like it did before. This is a serious post for people who know what they are talking about please respond with personal stories or any knowledge or insight that you have would be appreciated thank you.

I'd have to echo what pppgobbi said here. My anesthesiologist stressed with me that she didn't want me to have any alcohol in the three weeks following my pre-op consult with her.

Drinking even moderate amounts prior to surgery could slow down recovery and weaken the immune system. Abstinence starting 3–4 weeks before surgery will significantly reduce the incidence of several serious postoperative complication. 3 - 4 weeks may seem extreme, but I would personally stop at least 2 weeks before and I have a glass of wine or two at least three days a week. While you doctor doesn't recommend a pre-op diet, which I really question, I would do it anyway. You are on this forum, you know what the norm is. You must have to know by now that you should shrink your liver . Ask yourself, do you want an easier operation/recovery or do you want to risk it? Forty eight hours just isn't enough time and you know when you drink alcohol, you tend to overeat. Most of us are on clear liquids one week pre op.

I was ultra-low carb during weigh loss phase: less than 25g NET carbs a day (i don’t count fibre nor sugar alcohols in the totals). In maintenance, I eat more carbs for sure (and u can see the difference it makes: my face is not so Skeletor-ish anymore, even though I’m actually 12 lbs less than the time I decided to stop losing weight). Its sorta known that it you cut carbs from your diet, weight loss is generally faster than NOT cutting it out (all other things being equal, of course). BUT, this is not for everybody. For some, cutting out a whole food group may just lead to feelings of deprivation and may set oneself up for failure, among other things. For others, refraining from carbs is a little easier. I guess you know yourself best and will be able to figure out what type of eating plan works for you. In regards to your original question on pita: I have yet to eat any soft pita since surgery, BUT I have had homemade pita chips (pita seasoned with olive oil & spices then air fried), and had no issue....though I probably only had the equivalent of 1/4 an actual pita, so not sure if that really counts...?

When I received my ABO card in Louisiana they made it very clear to me that you shouldn't serve someone who was obviously drunk. I was more speaking of people who serve or purchase alcohol for someone under 21. But now that you bring it up, bars should do more to encourage designated drivers. Like free cokes, Water, juice whatever. Being the DD sucks so bars that don't should really consider at least doing that for them.

As a compulsive over eater I can't eat like a normal person. Just as an alcoholic can't drink like a normal person. I don't drink because my drug of choice is food. It has and will always be. That's why every day is a struggle for me. Keep vigilant and try to get support from where ever you can find it.

I have been using food to alleviate stress- even though I know it doesn't really work, I will feel bad (physically and emotionally), should try other things. Bottom line is, this is a tool and you have to still make choices- and the band isn't around our head or emotions. So, I backslide, and then I pick myself up, dust myself off and start over- but still from a MUCH better place than where I would have been pre-band. So, please don't judge. No one is perfect, if I were I wouldn't have needed a band. I still will eat slider foods, I still will go through good times and not good times- but my band will be there to help when I choose to use it (which I do choose more often than not). And I have found that I don't go as "crazy" as I did pre-band- I can't! The band won't let me. It's a learning process, a mental process, and a marathon, not a sprint. I am NOT trying to justify eating poorly, etc- I know it's MY choice, no one is making me eat badly. I know B-52 says he CAN'T eat badly, but I still can- ice cream is my nemisis, and it's a total slider food, though I can't eat nearly what I used to. Perhaps my band isn't tight enough (though I think it is, it's the slider foods that I should be avoiding anyways that will go down even with a tight band). Each time I backslide, I learn something- one of my favorite LOL movies is "what about Bob" with Bill Murray. I'm baby stepping it SO I agree in theory with you, but you liken it to being an alcoholic- which I agree with- but unlike alcohol, you can't live with out food, so it's harder to just avoid. I hope I'm expressing myself here- I guess the point to this post is I'm not perfect, but my band helps me even when I'm not perfect, and as I go on this journey I learn new things all the time and I just- to quote my favorite Disney movie- Keep moving forward. Nicki

I got gas x tablets strips did not work well for me, wylers bouillon cubes chicken or beef, crystal light, alcohol wipes to sterilize area where u give yourself shots, get all prescriptions filled, get acid reducers, comfy gowns, follow doc insructions, take plenty naps allow yourself to heal. I bought cream for my incisions. Get a smallnote pad write your water intake stuff like that. I also checked my blood pressure daily. I also went and got my favorite smelling hand lotion it comforted me. Other than that sit back and enjoy the ride oh I forgot sf popcycles. Good luck

Read this on another WLS forum.... Slider Foods Spell Weight Regain For Weight Loss Surgery Patients By Kaye Bailey For most people eating sliders is a good thing. Popularized by the American food chain, White Castle, a slider (originally slyder) is a miniature grilled hamburger or cheeseburger on a steamed bun often served with onions and dill pickle and other condiments. They originally sold for a nickel a piece in the 1940s making it affordable to add a side of fries for just pennies. By all accounts this is a good kind of "slider" food. To the weight loss surgery patient slider foods are the bane of good intentions and ignorance often causing dumping syndrome, weight loss plateaus, and eventually weight gain. Slider foods, to weight loss surgery patients, are soft simple processed carbohydrates of little or no nutritional value that slide right through the surgical stomach pouch without providing nutrition or satiation. The most innocent of slider foods are saltine crackers, often eaten with warm tea or other beverages, to soothe the stomach in illness or while recovering from surgery. The most commonly consumed slider foods include pretzels, crackers (saltines, graham, Ritz, etc.) filled cracker Snacks such as Ritz Bits, popcorn, cheese snacks (Cheetos) or cheese crackers, tortilla chips with salsa, potato chips, sugar-free Cookies, cakes, and candy. You will notice these slider foods are often salty and cause dry mouth so they must be ingested with liquid to be palatable. This is how they become slider foods. They are also, most often, void of nutritional value. For weight loss surgery patients the process of digestion is different than those who have not undergone gastric surgery. When slider foods are consumed they go into the stomach pouch and exit directly into the jejunum where the simple carbohydrate slurry is quickly absorbed and stored by the body. There is little thermic effect in the digestion of simple carbohydrates like there is in the digestion of Protein so little metabolic energy is expended. In most cases patients in the phase of weight loss who eat slider foods will experience a weight loss plateau and possibly the setback of weight gain. And sadly, they will begin to believe their surgical stomach pouch is not functioning properly because they never feel fullness or restriction like they experience when eating protein. The very nature of the surgical gastric pouch is to cause feelings of tightness or restriction when one has eaten enough food. However, when soft simple carbohydrates are eaten this tightness or restriction does not result and one can continue to eat, unmeasured, copious amounts of non-nutritional food without ever feeling uncomfortable. Many patients turn to slider foods for this very reason. They do not like the discomfort that results when the pouch is full from eating a measured portion of lean animal or dairy protein without liquids. Yet it is this very restriction that is the desired result of the surgery. The discomfort is intended to signal the cessation of eating. Remembering the "Protein First" rule is crucial to weight management with bariatric surgery. Gastric bypass, gastric banding (lap-band) and gastric sleeve patients are instructed to follow a high protein diet to facilitate healing and promote weight loss. Bariatric centers advise what is commonly known among weight loss surgery patients as the "Four Rules" the most important of which is "Protein First." That means of all nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fat and alcohol) the patient is required to eat protein first. Protein is not always the most comfortable food choice for weight loss surgery patients who feel restriction after eating a very small amount of food. However, for the surgical tool to work correctly a diet rich in protein and low in simple carbohydrate slider foods must be observed. The high protein diet must be followed even after healthy body weight has been achieved in order to maintain a healthy weight and avoid weight regain. Kaye Bailey 2010 - All Rights Reserved

LOL, so darn true At 5 months out I have developed more of a trusting relationship with farts, but every time I touch sugar alcohols the trust issues come back XD