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OMG...that's it you nailed it. This problem we all have it NEVER goes away. Its like being an alcoholic. You have to be diligent at all times. You have to be aware of your tendencies and be willing to always be "working on it". I am facing this...the UGLY truth...You have to keep changing every day...Its a choice to be healthy! or you choose by default to back slide to where you started. So good luck everyone and thank you for the inspiration and support to Keep on! sas

I have lost 53 pounds since surgery 9/24/14, 71 pounds since last March, and 94 pounds from my heaviest two years ago. I lose about 2 pounds a week now, my NUT (1/6/15) says I am ahead of where I should be, I thought I should have lost more! But slow and steady is how to go. Had a friend who was sleeved, lost her weight really quickly. At 40 she looks mid 50s. She looks like those pictures of what drugs and alcohol does to your looks! I really do need to drink more Water.

What a wonderful story about courage, strength and the ability to never give up. I love how honest you were about everything. I know that's hard. I've been there and never wanted to admit I drank too much alcohol or had a love hate relationship with food and my body! I'm 53 and after preparing for the last 7 months my surgery is on the 18th. I also have very painful osteoarthritis in my knees in which I can't even walk across the parking lot! We can do this just like so many other people have!! Good luck!

I've just finished the third week of my pre op classes. The thing that led me this is of course the obvious... I'm obese!!! But, the health and social issues that follow have finally made it too much to bear. I am a 60 year old grandparent who has never gotten on the floor to play with his grandchildren. I suffer from osteoarthritis in both knees which hinder my ability to walk across the room. I have diabetes, COPD, hypertension, high cholesterol, and I'm sick of being sick!!! I don't think I've had lifelong history of weight problems but I can remember being teased for being "fat" as a young child. This changed as I entered high school and started to played sports and then joined the Army. After the military I became an avid backpacker and got into rock climbing. During this time I keep my weight in check without problems. It should be noted that I did suffer from other self esteem problems... I was an addict and I think I used the alcohol and risky activities to mask my low self esteem. If I was great athlete I couldn't be a drunk? Or if I was a drunk... whatever was needed to cover up the real me and what I was feeling. After I got sober I got married for the first time and as things didn't go well I took to eating to cover up what I was feeling. After the end of this marriage I once again took to activity to hide out. I biked up to 200 miles a week, or would go days without eating. People gave me praise for losing weight but didn't know that I was going through my first major depression and couldn't eat or sleep. The bottom line is that I got down to a respectable weight again in a totally inappropriate way. Soon I got married again and things were good. I exercised at a healthy (non manic) way. Life was good and my wife soon gave birth to my first child. It was during this time that the exercise stopped and quit working to be the stay at home parent. Within the next few years I started to exhibit emotion problems and was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder. As the psychiatrists piled on the medications I became less active. I developed breathing problems and was placed on oxygen. Talk about a cluster ****, my body totally shut down. Over the next 15 years my health got totally out of control. During that time period I was hospitalized no less than 7 times for emotional and health reasons and no one was willing to identify my psych meds as a major health concern. Finally, 2 years ago I decided to go off of my meds after I start to develop some rather nasty neurological side effects from one of the psych meds. During the ensuing months I started to breath again and was no longer physically depressed. Luckily I now have a psychiatrist who sees that I had been over medicated all these years. Instead of being on a cocktail of meds that promote weight gain I am on only one. (Unfortunately this med promotes weight gain but it's the one that seems to work) It's been like waking up from a dream, there are literally years that I can't remember. My wife and family are happy that I am awake. So this brings me to the next chapter. What am I going to do to prolong the rest of my life. This surgery is the first step! With it I can be not only see what is going on around me but I can participate in it. And with the help of my higher power I hope that all will go right.

My surgeon says ABSOLUTELY NO ALCOHOL for the first year and then only in small amounts after. I know when I drank alcohol before I was sleeved and "ate well" my weight wouldn't budge or it would increase. Alcohol really does a number on the body. I would recommend stopping alcohol altogether until you reach your goal. I love red wine, but I have no intention of having any until after I've hit my goal. I just don't want to fall into my old habits of just having one glass a night before bed. It stalled me preop and I have no doubt it would stall me now. Since surgery, I haven't even craved it. I guess we will see where I am in 6 months, but I personally am not opening that door! Good luck, I hope you can get yourself back on track. Just remember the sleeve is a tool, not a quick fix. We are all in the same boat. I wish you well.

I tried alcohol a couple times and it makes me feel terrible. It goes right to my head. Goes away and then I just feel yucky. I miss being able to drink. I've tried low sugar wine, vodka with crystal light and water, White Russians and vodka and low sugar cranberry juice.

8 months out. I like to order a drink when I go out, but I can only handle several sips. I wasn't a big drinker pre-surgery, but my alcohol tolerance has lessened post-surgery.

@@BLERDgirl what a blessing. I envy you. I think my age makes it a bit more difficult. Everyone around me in their twenties eat like a typical twenty something year old...food trucks, pizza, fried food, latenight whataburger, alcohol etc. Most of them do it without gaining any weight. Oh, how I hate that! I've had to distance myself from these people while I recover. I know this is what's best for me, but I'm human and I do feel like I'm missing out at times.

I've tried several different bars, including Atkins, but think of Protein bars as more of a treat than a meal or healthy source of protein. I'm dubious about the hidden carbs and sugar alcohols except in moderation. Of course, you should follow your surgeon's orders, but I'd opt for real protein sources and eat the bars in moderation. I also love making 'powder pudding' with Protein Powder, sugar free pudding, and greek yogurt. Pudding isn't the greatest food on earth, but it's a wonderful treat. I understand they can be frozen also, but it never lasts that long.

I'm not touching any alcohol for a few more months, but I figure once I finally do, Guinness (or any other stout) would probably be a good choice. It's not carbonated like most beers.

I have been listening to Dr. Duc Vuong's podcast about successful wls patients. He has one of the highest success rates with wls patients in the country. What he says about the one thing that a patient can do to insure success at weight loss and keeping the weight off is to let the overweight food addicted person you once were die. Just let her die. So tonight I lit the candles all over my house....I brought the last alcohol I will drink in a while. I toasted all the coping mechanisms that kept me safe from harm...the fat that kept me unattractive to the men who would abuse me.....the food that made me feel better on cold lonely nights. The thick layer of distance I put between me and the cruelty of the world. And I said goodbye. It is sad, it is hard, I'm not sure how I am going to cope without that protective false self to keep me safe. But she's dead and I am going to let her die. I hope you will all join me in saying "Thank you fat self for all the years of keeping me safe and invisible from the world. But now I'm old enough, strong enough and experienced enough to take care of myself without you." Ashes to ashes Dust to dust Goodbye.

I found it hard to stop my vices cold turkey, I'm kinda odd so made myself a plan for decreasing my quantity of caffeine, alcohol, processed sugary foods etc. I also gradually increased the decaf content in my coffee to the point that I drink a decaf coffee a week or so. I switched from pop and alcohol to carbonated Water with a dash of juice, to kombutcha tea, then to fun herbal teas cooled and over ice. I started changing my behaviours as soon as I went to the first information session but got serious about 10 months before surgery (my first intake appointment). I also struggled with the waiting for things to move on the hospital end, but hoped that if they saw the deliberate effort I was making maybe it would speed things up (it hasn't in my case). I think the awareness and effort on your part is the biggest factor, no matter how small the changes may seem.

Hello I was just looking for some drink ideas for when you go out? I don't really like wine and we aren't suppose to drink carbonation like beer/soda... what have you found that works for you? Thanks!

I am also preop since Nov and I have quit all caffeine, all carbonation, no sugar, no alcohol. No drinking 15min before eating and 30 min after eating. Small bites, chew so many times to make pureed in mouth before swallowing. doing every single thing my NUT tells me to do. Then came physical therapist. Well she put me on hold last month to get cardio condition and blood pressure in acceptable range and NUT wants me back again too. So back I go for Feb 11 date to see if they will pass me to surgery date yet!! starting to get really disheartened and frustrated with the wait, I have done everything they tell me so just waiting and waiting at this point. Do everything they tell you and everything you can before, or you wont move forward

Hope this helps, as for me I am 3 months post op, and only take NSAIDS for my back when i have flare ups, because i have degenerative arthritis in my spine and it helps bring down inflammation . So i don't take them often , so i think the trade off is worth it. But Here is something i found online that ex-planes everything....Bajagal NSAIDs and Bariatric Surgery – What’s the Deal? BY ROB – AUGUST 31, 2014POSTED IN: ASK THE PROS, FEATURED As a bariatric patient, you’ve probably heard the “NO NSAIDS” mantra. When you ask “why not?”, the general response is “they can cause ulcers” or something along those lines. Which is true… but do you know why that is? It’s not that I didn’t believe it, but I never understood why that would be. We just sort of take our doctor’s word for it in these things without giving it a second thought. And I never really did either until I was sitting in on one of the intro to WLS sessions at Unity Hospital (where I had my surgery) and heard Dr. Jeff Baker give a pretty good explanation to someone that asked about the medications they were on. After hearing what he said, I later asked him to give me a few more details so I could write about it here… cause I think it’s something that needs to be shared. I also want to thank Dr. Andrew Litchy, ND. He is one of my co-hosts from The Wake Up Call radio show, and he double-checked my facts for me here and gave me a few other points to make sure I shared. Ok, first of.. What’s an NSAID? It stands for Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. NSAIDs cover a fairly broad group of such drugs, but the most well known would be ibuprofen, but aspirin also falls in to this category. Their two main uses are for fever reduction and inflammation/pain control. Taken safely, in the right dosage, they can be very effective for managing pain caused by inflammation. But as with most drugs, there are a number of possible side-effects associated with them – even when taken safely. The focus for this discussion is on the irritation they cause to the GI tract, including the stomach. First I need to give a brief intro to prostaglandin, and to do that l borrow a clip from Wikipedia; The prostaglandins are a group of lipid compounds that are derived enzymatically from fatty acids and have important functions in the animal body. Every prostaglandin contains 20 carbon atoms, including a 5-carbon ring. They are mediators and have a variety of strong physiological effects, such as regulating the contraction and relaxation of smooth muscle tissue.[1] Prostaglandins are not endocrine hormones, but autocrine or paracrine, which are locally acting messenger molecules. They differ from hormones in that they are not produced at a discrete site but in many places throughout the human body. Also, their target cells are present in the immediate vicinity of the site of their secretion (of which there are many). Protaglandin’s play a variety of roles in the body, but the role we’re looking at here today is in the stomach. I found a pretty good summary of the situation on becomehealthynow.com - Prostaglandins are natural chemicals which are involved in body inflammation. By inhibiting the body’s production of certain chemical messengers (prostaglandins), NSAIDs decrease inflammation. However, certain prostaglandins are also important in protecting the stomach lining from the corrosive effects of stomach acid as well as playing a role in maintaining the natural healthy condition of the stomach lining. Like I said, most of you are probably already aware that taking NSAIDs can lead to ulcers, but aren’t aware of the “why” behind it. It all comes down to these Prostaglandins (PGs). Taking an oral NSAID leaves one open to problems in a few ways. The NSAID blocks production of PGs (PE2 in particular when talking about the stomach)… leaving your stomach lining more vulnerable to it’s own acid, but then the medications themselves are already acidic in nature themselves, causing even more irritation to the stomach lining. There are some folks that feel this only applies to NSAIDs taken orally, and that using topical creams or receiving them via IV is ok – but that really only makes things slightly less of a problem because you’re only taking the direct contact to the stomach lining out of the picture. You’re still reducing the production of PGs, leaving your stomach open to attack from it’s own acid. Here’s from PubMed.gov Except in rare cases, the stomach can withstand exposure to highly concentrated hydrochloric acid, refluxed bile salts, alcohol, and foodstuffs with a wide range of temperatures and osmolarity. This is attributed to a number of physiological responses by the mucosal lining to potentially harmful luminal agents, and to an ability to rapidly repair damage when it does occur. Since the discovery in 1971 that prostaglandin synthesis could be blocked by aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), there has been great interest in the contribution of prostaglandins to gastric mucosal defense. Prostaglandins modulate virtually every aspect of mucosal defense, and the importance of this contribution is evident by the increased susceptibility of the stomach to injury following ingestion of an NSAID. With chronic ingestion of these drugs, the development of ulcers in the stomach is a significant clinical concern. Now if all this is going on with someone that has a normal stomach, what about those of us with surgically altered ones? The possible problems is only increased. Please keep in mind here… I am not a doctor. At best, I played one for Halloween once. And while I did get input from some doctors in writing this, that was only to verify the jist of this content is medically correct. I’m not trying to give you any sort of medical advice, I’m just taking what I’ve learned in my limited research and trying to explain it in some simpler terms. Always check with your own doctor/surgeon before making any sort of decisions about any medications you take. Ok? Ok. That said, I’ll take a quick look at the different surgeries to try to break this down a bit. RNY: This one is sort of obvious when you think about it. These medications never hit your actual stomach, and while PGs are made all over the place, any NSAID you swallow is traveling through areas that typically wouldn’t be creating much in the way of PGs anyways, and then they block the production of them on top of it. Gastric Band: The NSAIDs hits your pouch first, then makes it’s way into the stomach. Even if it didn’t block production of PGs, gravity is working against you. Any of that protective layer being produced in the upper part of your stomach is constantly working it’s way down as well. But productions is blocked, so again, little to no protection. Vertical Sleeve: I couldn’t find much info on how much PGs are produced where, but given the greatly reduced size of the stomach with a sleeve (and I’ll include DS in here as well), even functioning normally, the protection has got to be fairly reduced. And once again, those NSAIDs are blocking that protection… still not a very good combination. Think of it this way… if you spend time in the kitchen, you’ve likely used a oven mitt or towel to pull a pan out of the oven at some point. Think of your hand as your stomach and the oven mitt as the PGs that are protecting you from the strong acids, or in this case the heat of that hot pan. Have you ever grabbed that hot pan with a towel or oven mitt that was wet? You feel the heat a LOT more than if that oven mitt was dry, right? That’s not the right way to protect yourself, not the way you’re supposed to use an oven mitt, right? You can do this a few times and you may be fine… but if you keep grabbing hot pans with a wet oven mitt, you’re just increasing your risk of eventually getting burnt. Does this mean if you take a single dose of an NSAID you will get an ulcer? Probably not. Under normal conditions it can take prolonged use before someone would develop an issue. But why risk it? When it comes to fever reduction and anti-inflammatory medications, there are alternatives. However, there may cases where the alternatives aren’t going to work for you. Maybe it’s allergies or other adverse reactions to the alternatives. Maybe your doctor has decided an NSAID is just plain going to be your best course of action. Does that mean you have to risk getting ulcers? No, there may be alternatives. There are NSAIDs out there that combine the active compound in the NSAID (usually diclofenac) with a synthetic prostaglandin called misoprasal. There are medications that combine the two into one prescription medication. Misoprasal can also be prescribed on it’s own, so there are options that may be worth asking your doctor about. There you have it… not sure if you were wondering about it or not, but now you know. And as they say… the more you know…

I tolerate up to 2 drinks in a social setting, but I don't drink on a regular basis. Due to the empty calories, I have alcohol only on special occasions, like the company holiday party. It's nice once in awhile as a treat, but I don't want alcohol to become a crutch for me.

My nutritionist scolded me when I told her I was eating them. Most are sweetened with sugar alcohol, which is good for diabetics as it doesn't affect glucose levels but still has a high caloric value. Most manufacturers don't include them in the carb count but she says they should. She suggested string cheese or veggies instead.

@@dsdesigna I'm sure no one meant any harm to the OP...it's just sometimes difficult to tell which forum you are posting in sometimes. I do have a question out of curiosity regarding the post op/lifestyle differences between DS and GB/VSG. How are the post op/lifestyle requirements different for the DS...besides the fact it is a malabsorbtive procedure which is in common with the GB? I've read just a little bit, but from what I've read Ive seen alcohol as something that can create a serious problem for those who have had DS. But coffee, which someone suggested, seems to create a risk for ulcers just like in other WLS...which is why I choose not to drink it anymore....

Same procedure of MGB, different doctor's rules. I am not to touch alcohol, coffee or tea again. Lucky for me I dont have a problem with that.

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

This is a good thread with a lot of good advice. I hit 4 months recently and felt the tick-tock of that honeymoon clock. @@CowgirlJane is right, I have to stay focused on this first year. Great advice. But I clearly did not get surgery on my brain because my brain is still very messed up. It still wants carbs and junk. @@VSGAnn2014 said something about consistency and I'm hoping with time and consistency that my brain will start to change. But I do stumble (sometimes into a piece of chocolate) and I get up, brush myself off and keep at it. I am stumbling a little less than before so that's positive. To the OP, you came back from vacation and posted on here for advice. That clearly shows you are ready to get back on track so good for you for brushing yourself off and getting back at it. I have a vacation planned in September (right around my 1 year mark) and am going to an all-inclusive resort (unlimited food and alcohol) so the advice provided in this post is very helpful for me. I don't love alcohol unless it's sugary so I need to plan on not drinking. I need to stick with my meals and not graze.

Years down the road and in small portions. Just remember food addiction is a real very hard thing to overcome, but with the tool you are about to receive you can do it!!! Several months after my surgery I couldn't figure out why I still wanted food when I wasn't hungry and if I ate it I got so sick. So I was looking up YouTube videos of other WLS perps and I watched one that put it all into perspective. She said a food addiction is the worst of all addictions if you think about it. A drug addict simply avoids the people and places their drug of choice is. Same for an alcoholic. A food addict has to eat to live. It was an ahh haa moment as well as a duh moment for me. Once I had the mindset I was eating 3 tiny meals a day my Protein and Water just to live and for no other reason I was the most successful. When you start thinking about food find a good distraction like walking for 5 minutes and drinking a bottle of water.

I usually intake a lot of Protein in my daily food journals. I realize this becomes more difficult after your portion sides decrease. I also do not smoke, drink soda, or drink alcohol. For the past month I have been trying to lower my carbs and making my protein choices more of the lean variety. I also switched from lactose milk to almond milk. I am very busy and my schedule is chaotic so the biggest challenge is trying to change my eating slower, chewing better, and actually sitting for a meal. I have noticed I have a tendency to stand and eat when I have a busy day! Like I said...I haven't met with my nut yet and that appointment isn't until next month but I have managed to loose 10lbs worth the changes I have made so I guess that's something.

I started eating in maintenance mode when I hit my surgeon's goal (BMI 26). I dropped another 22 pounds ((BMI 23) before my body finally stopped losing. I can gain 4-5 pounds by eating a lot of carbs and drinking alcohol (ie. holidays and vacation) but can lose it again just as quick going back to protein and veggies. I don't go to the gym or exercise, but I have a very active, physical job and lifestyle, so I didn't lose muscle mass. You can control what and how much you eat and how active you are, but in the end Your body is just going to find its new normal.

I don't understand the name calling. What is wrong with someone posting about responsibility...that's how I understood @tauruslady post. How easy is it to say, "Oh well, live a little!" This type of rationalization is what got most of us in trouble in the first place. Does "Living" have to equal food & alcohol? I Respect everyone's opinions but highly appreciate people who hold one another accountable for their actions. This is a public board...you cannot filter which responses you'd rather have and censure the rest.