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Day 5 Post Op - 224.4lbs Ok, so upfront let me just admit that the scale drives me bonkers and that it's a short trip. I know intellectually that I should not be weighing right now. I get it. LOL. But, as Hal said in 2001 Space Odyssey, "I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that." *snort* I also want to say that I fully recognize I am the scale's little bi*ch. I was so good yesterday. I did add in the Celebrate Vitamin Drink Stix and calcium chewy bites. But fu*k me! There's a ton of carbs in them! I'm not real good with sugar alcohols like sorbitol and maltitol (they spike my blood sugar) and they are choc-full of them. So I'm going to go in search of new vitamins this morning. And I'm clueless. In my mind, I should be down to pre-surgery weight at the very minimum at 5days post surgery. I'm walking, getting plenty of water in, and taking my vitamins. I'm also getting in around 72g of protein daily, and between 20-25g of carbs daily. So why am I up 0.2lbs this morning? Oh, and I had a poopy too...so I don't think it's that I'm full of poop any longer! I'm eating about 400cals per day! How can ANYONE not lose weight on that amount? Now, I know weight loss isn't linear. I know I have a lot of inflammation left from the surgery and that I'm still doing a lot of healing. Blah blah blah...but it still boils down to the irrational fear that I mutilated my digestive track for nada. No bueno por nada! LOL, please forgive this little rant. I feel like I had one due to me, because I feel like I've been a pretty model citizen through the pre-op liquid stage to the post op liquid stage. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Fu*k you scale!!!! In other news, the pain is level is very, very low. I didn't even take my pain pills this morning. Will go take my gabapentin now though cuz I committed to taking it for a month. So at least that's good. I ran a 100 degree fever last night, but it's back to being normal. As I understand it's pretty common post surgery to run low grade fevers for a while. Ok, feel free to jump in and talk me off the ledge and cheerlead!

Bahahahaha! He was a trooper, for sure! Texas wines are something of an oxymoron! LOL. I asked him if he thought they grew the grapes for photo ops only! LOL, cuz most get either grapes or concentrate from California. And you gotta think the vintners in CA aren't stupid. Just like in Italy, they keep the "good stuff" in country! LOL. I kid you not, at one place, I smelled each glass and they all made my nose burn!!! I'm like dayum...can you say not fully fermented alcohol and acetone?? *snort* But yes, the atmostphere is soooo lovely and relaxing! Glad to hear you have that too. Cuz you know, mizreh loves company! Hey, how's the charting going? Is that thing which won't be mentioned going down still? ((hugs))

My biggest issue that I am having, is my weight loss is kind of stalling because I have been eating crappy food like taquitos, enchiladas, pizza, etc. Granted only a slice or small portion, but I got a lot of mental hunger after being on a liquid diet for two weeks that I broke down and satiated. I also love to drink beer, and have been drinking some non-alcoholic beer which is about half the calories of light beer, but obviously still empty calories. Down 27 lbs 23 days from start of diet, 16 days from surgery. Right now I am shooting for being down 32 lbs 30 days post surgery as just an off the cuff number. If I assume I can lose 100 lbs in a year, that is less than 1/3 lb per day, and I am assuming the loss will be somewhat logarithmic, maybe a 1 lb/day up front, and 1/10th a lb/day towards the end of the year. I am guessing that I lost 20 lbs of muscle (another complete guess) since my peak fitness of 185 lbs 12 years ago, that hopefully I can put back on in the next year or two.

Hi Lynne, I understand what you mean. When I first attended a group for teenage children of alcoholics (organized by my HS counselor), I was sure I didn't belong since they had stories of physical and sexual abuse, being evicted, police being called, houses burning down, etc. But yes, that's part of the thinking. I never put my own feelings, thoughts and needs first anyway. I like individual therapy moreso too, I think, but it is nice on occasion to get other stories. Congratulations to your husband and to you for your support of him!

Hello from sunny St. Martin! DH and I have been here one week and have two more glorious weeks in paradise. I have been a good girl and have been watching food intake. There is a gym in our condo complex - haven't made it there yet, but it is in the plan for the next two weeks. I have been drinking alcohol and was wondering if anyone know what would be the least in calories. Wine? Vodka, etc. I am not a drunk; but I do enjoy a drink by the pool each day. I would hate to be passing up all these great desserts only to be gaining weight in alcohol. No scales here either. Advise please. Kathy- I wont hear about the job until I get home from vacation:(.

Rhonda Where you are is very frustrating! You have received great advise; eat more, exercise and drink your WATER!! It might not shed 4lbs a week, but you will start shedding! bkat I was fortunate to have a weekend end and 4 days off from work before I returned from my surgery last Thursday. I did great at work yesteday, I was not tired, actually I had to be there at 7 am for a Board meeting and did not leave until 5:30! I felt fine. You will be ready to go to events that you want!! Toni I agree on the drinking change. I wish I had this info prior to my doctor appointment on Wednesday. But I only sipped the one time with a dry mouth. But I will follow my doctor's directions now. I am also on food sooner than some, so I really don't want to pop my band or anything! How is your new gismo!! I love the bullet! My son said, IS THERE ALCOHOL IN THIS!! IT WAS A PINACOLADA PROTEIN SHAKE WITH STRAWBERRIES, YUMMIE ( no rum this time! ). I will get the name from a coworker. I only brought home a scoop to try it. She ordered it on line. I just wish it did not come in those huge containers!! Laughingbird and Kland GOOD LUCK TODAY!!!!!!!

First, I second what others have said: Everyone's post-op sleeve experiences / capabilities are NOT identical. My own experiences include these: * I had a perfect surgery with no complications and recovered easily. * I've never thrown up post-op. Not once. * I did have gall bladder surgery a month post-WLS, but recovered fast and well from that, too. * I've lost 100 pounds and been maintaining well for nearly a year on 1700 - 1800 calories/day (and 90-100 grams of Protein a day). * I do NOT drink carbonated drinks -- I did so during one long road trip, and the resulting stomach acidity (not the soda's bubbles) made me sick as a dog for a week thereafter. So I don't do that anymore. * Sugar makes me crave more sugar -- so although I do indulge sometimes, I ration it carefully. * Yes, I do eat pizza -- about once a month. But only 1-2 small slices. * I now drink a 5-ounce glass of wine OR 1.5 ounces of scotch most nights (didn't have anything alcoholic for 6 months post-op). * I have tracked my food using My Fitness Pal since 2.5 months prior to WLS. I think it's the best tool you could use in addition to WLS to understand your relationship with food and to help you plan the most nutritious menus you could possibly eat. You should consider these things as well: * I wouldn't be where I am if I hadn't changed not only how much I eat, but WHAT I eat. I do not eat "normally." I eat healthy foods 90% of the time. I thought I knew a lot about nutrition pre-op, but I know so much more two years later! And I use that information daily to make much better food choices than I used to make. * I am not a binge eater -- but it sure sounds like you are. I recommend that you seek therapy with someone who deals with bariatric patients to help you overcome that eating disorder, because BED will put the weight back on you even with a sleeve. Want evidence of that? Keep reading here. The sleeve will NOT fix a binge-eating disorder. * If you and your wife in the past were BED codependency food addicts together, the strong potential to reignite that relationship is still there. I would suggest you both address these issues with a therapist as well. * The sleeve is only one of many tools (behaviors) you will probably need to be successful long-term. The speed with which you eat will have to be addressed. Your daily activity level and exercise are critical to long-term success. For many people drinking their calories is a huge barrier to success. * Two of the biggest negative behaviors of those for whom WLS doesn't result in weight loss / long-term maintenance are (1) grazing (nibbling on food all day long) and (2) eating "slider foods" (highly processed, high-carb foods) that don't stay in the stomach long and slide quickly down into the intestine. I could give you a long list of slider foods (cookies, chips, ice cream, crackers), but many slider foods can be purchased in fast-food restaurants. Good luck to you. You're doing the right thing -- learning more about the sleeve and your personal challenges. If you go the WLS route, don't expect the surgery to fix all your issues. It will not.

Oh, we are so much alike. I was thinking also about trying one last time. I know I would have to really starve, and deep inside I know it's not goint to be sufficient no matter what I do. Also, how much time am I going to spend in this mode, struggling with no real results. It's not magically going to change after turning 35, that's for sure. I feel you on the snowballing. Knowing how much harder dieting gets for each time you have gained weight, it's so not motivating. What about alcohol? Tried any of that yet? Hope you'll have a great trip to Vegas, and that you get some time off to do fun stuff there too

Brilliant! No jackwagon psychs allowed! Seriously, do the cruze. Have a plan though before boarding. Find out about the restaurants and dining experiences especially the buffets. And choose your day!!! You can do this and make it more than about food and alcohol. Or is that the definition of a cruise? I've never been on one!

Hi all. Wow. What a thread. I'm 34 y/o and my dad has 22 years sobriety. His older brother went into treatment shortly after him and has been sober ever since. Their dad, my Pop, has kidney issues due to alcohol, and his father died due to alcohol. So it definitely is in my family. I was 12 and turned 13 while he was in treatment. Happy birthday Cori! As mentioned by Green, my house was full of parties and fighting. My mom was 14 and my dad was 22 when they got married. They were 5 months pregnant with lil ole me. So the odds were stacked against them from the get go. My lil bro and I both knew what beer was, pot and it's accessories, heck we even knew that the white stuff was used in one of the rooms and to stay out when it was. There was lots of fighting. Lots of verbal and emotional abuse. I don't think there was physical, but Mom has admitted in the past that it probably bordered on physical abuse. If my bro and I were woken up during a fight, we'd get up and get dressed and go get each other and be packed and ready to go if Mom walked out. As far as Dad's alcoholism, we never knew what kind of mood he'd be in when he came home from work. Starting at least half an hour before he'd get home, we'd all change our mood and just sit waiting to see how he was going to be. Whether we could have fun or not. I've never been a Daddy's girl. I was always jealous of the girls who had that special relationship with their Dad. I've always loved my dad but I hated him for a very long time. 2 weeks before he went into treatment, he left us. I saw him a couple times and it was very hard. Then his work said either he got treatment or he was going to lose his job. While my dad was in treatment, in order to see him, we had to attend a program of our own. At the time, they only had Al-Anon and Growing Tree (for kids 11 and under). I went to Al-Anon one week with my mom, but I was 12 years old. Everyone there was in their upper teens or adults. They couldn't relate with me. So after that I went to the Growing Tree with my lil bro. But yet again, I was too old for that. So I mostly was like a helper with their activities. I didn't have any counseling of my own. After Dad got out of treatment, we stopped doing anything. So I never really dealt with my feelings about his alcoholism. He still scared me for many years. At times, I still have that feeling. Even though I know he'd do anything in the world for me. While he was in treatment, was the first time he told me he loved me. I still have the letter. Mom and Dad's relationship improved over time. Their 35th anniversary is in June. They're happy. And the fact that he was in treatment seems to be a thing of the past. I will say that because I never dealt with my issues about my dad's alcoholism back when I was a kid, it had definitely affected me later in life. I have Cerebral Palsy. I just basically walk funny. I use crutches now and then if I need some added support. No big deal. I've always had a weight problem. I've always had a problem with depression. But because of the kind of house I grew up in, everything was kept to just the family. So a bright, happy smile was always on my face, no matter how horrible I felt. When I was 22, I had moved into my best friend's apartment, a couple hours away. One extremely depressing, lonely night, I considered suicide. I didnt do it, obviously. But it was my lowest of lows. After a few days of not being able to put a smile on at all, and my best friend being worried, I finally called Mom and Dad to tell them. Mom answered and got mad and tossed the phone to Dad. He and I have never really been able to talk. We've had maybe a 3 heart to hearts ever. We talked for over an hour, and I told him how I blamed myself all these years for his alcoholism. "If he hadn't met my mom when she was so young, and if she hadn't gotten pregnant with me. If I hadn't been born with a handicap." I felt his alcoholism stemmed from all that. Even though I knew our family history. He said it was by no means my fault. I believed him, but to this day, part of me feels like it is. When I got a little older I did start dating someone for about 10 months who had been sober a while and still attended AA meetings, so I started going to Al-Anon while he was in another room with AA. I'll admit, it helped me then. I stopped going to meetings when I broke up with my ex. I know my depression and weight gain is due to lots and lots of issues but I think a core part of it was my dad's alcoholism. Even though he's made amends in his own ways, the feelings are still there. The main thing I got from it was that I didn't have my first drink until I was 21. And even though my brother and I know how to party and can get pretty drunk (definitely a thing of the past for me now!). Neither of us made a habit of it. I maybe have drank 6 times a year, 1 big blowout. Wow, what a ramble. I hope you don't mind me going all over the place.

I have just read the above two posts and found them to be very interesting. I don't much about you, Fluffy, but it seems to me that the life that you, your husband and your kids lead is a healthy, interesting, peaceful and responsible one. I know that when I was a young kid I used to dream of living in the country with lots of animals around me. You and your family are evidently very happy and very successful and this is how life should be for all of us. And lizrbit, it appears that your stand on individual reproductive rights approximates my own: it is up to the owner of the uterus to decide how she chooses to use it. It really is no one else's business. And now the modern demographics on reproduction in the affluent west further indicate that environmental footprint left by those couples choosing to have large families is more than cancelled out by the couples who are choosing to only have one child or are opting out of having kids altogether. It strikes me that there are two major groups of individuals who concern themselves in this business of other folks' reproductive activities. One of these groups is the right-to-lifers, a right-wing group whose membership is largely drawn from various Christian factions, and this gang would like to see women robbed of choice and thus over the control of their rights over their own bodies. The second group of individuals, unlike the first, may be said to come from across the political spectrum; these are those individuals who are distressed by the numbers of women who are unable to care for their children by reason of drug addiction, alcoholism, poverty, poor physical or mental health, violent/unstable family relationships but persist in having them irregardless. The right-to-life gang are anxious to see abortion made illegal. Many, but not all, of those individuals concerned with the issue of what they view as irresponsible fertility would like to see more of those women take advantage of abortion as an option.

Sometimes it's not a lot different from any other addiction. Drugs, alcohol, any of them. Very sad. I'm glad that you are ready for a change. Sadly, we can't change the whole world. I think food addiction is a bit easier than other addictions in the sense that we don't typically fight treatment as much as others. We don't usually want to be fat, we don't want unhealthy. We seem to be more ready to deal with food issues vs. the alcohol/drug issues of others. I don't know, maybe my thinking is wrong but that's just the way it seems.

No, it's NOT a goofy concept. It's the way things SHOULD be, but aren't (unfortunately). My mother was a single mom who worked two jobs most of my life. My dad was an alcoholic who would show up every once in a while with some grand gesture - bicycles or a TV or something - but did not make regular child support payments. It was a tough life - for her and for us. But it wasn't my fault (or my brother's) that our dad didn't do the right thing. Fast forward to today. There are lots of deadbeat parents, no argument about that. But should we, as a society, punish their kids for that? If we don't provide for those children, who will? Whatsoever you do for the least of mine, you do for me.

Happy new year people! So I was totally going to see if anyone wanted to do coffee (think that was mentioned a couple of months ago by someone, heh) when I was back in NZ but it was super busy for the three weeks I was back, so... yeah. Hi Pockets! I've had my band for 7 years as of last December (I'm 26, I got the band when I was 20), and it's worked really well for me. One thing that I thought was rather major that they DIDN'T tell me about when I got it was the potential for indigestion/heartburn when you get to your goal weight (or rather, just past the sweet spot on the band). I don't know about anyone else here, but I had never had indigestion before I got to my goal weight a few years ago, and every time I've had it since it has hurt a hell of a lot - not sure if this is because it gets aggravated by the band or not, but either way. Heather (at Dr Fris' office on the North Shore) just sort of shrugged it off and we agreed that having the band tight enough to help me stay at around 56-57 kg (just above my 'ideal' weight, think my 'ideal' is 55kg...) was too much, so now I just aim to stay around 58. I've also noticed that it tends to be triggered by stress half the time - I moved to Europe, no one here knew, I got indigestion several times; I told a friend at work, no indigestion since. Go figure. There are, of course, other complications like slippage, etc, but like Laura said, I found the benefits have far outweight the risks. Actually, Dr Fris told me that a patient of his had moved to London, the band slipped, and he flew all the way back to NZ to go to Dr Fris rather than get it fixed in Europe. That suggests to me that any problems caused by that are manageable on the short term at least! Oh, like Laura and AJ said about the band not working/changing habits, I remember discussing the band with a neighbour who told me a friend of hers got the band, then while still on the liquid diet was melting chocolate so she could drink it... Needless to say she never lost any weight... People who don't know much about it (or don't want to know...) tend to think it's the easy way out, but it is just a tool you can use, like listing everything in the weight watchers book or calorie counting or some such. Like AJ said, you can sabotage it (like with the chocolate drink mentioned above)... On the flip side though, it is a rather strict tool as if you forget about it and take a big bite of a sandwich or eat too much too quickly you will definitely know about it (more so the further along you get). Changing your eating habits takes a bit of getting used to - I still find that I have to pay attention when I visit my family as I wasn't living at home when I got it so they never slowed down their eating along with me (my ex-bf did, really appreciated that! Funny thing is he still eats slower now - when he has time to, anyway, heh) - old habits die hard I suppose. Other little things I've noticed are that I've turned into a bit of a light weight on the alcohol front (I used to be able to handle it really well, my tolerance has halved I think - I don't drink very often, but when I do, anyway. Mind you, the nutritionist at Dr Fris' office also told me to drink a glass of wine a day...)... I've also noticed that flying long haul can really mess up my eating patterns now - flying from NZ to Europe or vice versa generally has me surviving on one or two meals a day for a few days, compared to three plus Snacks... Just little things, but it's interesting when you start noticing the non-weight related changes. I really like that if anything happens the band can be adjusted or, if needed, removed. I like that there is the option if needed, though considering how much my abs/stomach hurt after the surgery to get the band in there I think it'd have to be something pretty serious for me to get it removed, heh. Ok, I've rambled on for ages... Ahem. On the other front, I went to Dr Fris' office when I was back in NZ (the same day I flew in, no less!) and got a top up - I hadn't gained as much weight as I thought, thank goodness (scales at a specialists office here said I was 65...! Dr Fris' scales said 60... Argh.). Had half a mill of solution added - tiny tiny amount, but talk about feeling it... Fortunately I could use the long haul travel excuse when visiting friends... This is the first time I've had to totally rely on Heather for advice as usually my intuition regarding the band is really good, but I just haven't been feeling it lately. It felt loose and I was hungry a lot of the time, but then I went to Bremerhaven on a work trip two weeks before coming home and I was barely able to eat for the entire weekend (epic stress = no food apparently!). It took a little while to settle as well, as usually I'm back to normal within a couple of days (I've never had to do the liquids after inflation thing), but I was feeling a bit restricted all the way up till Christmas... Guess this was a fine line inflation, really, but it's feeling pretty good right now. My grandparents did a full roast meal for my family the night I left NZ and I managed my usual serving of that fine, so that was good. Now I just need to get the running sorted out again and try and get my knees to stop screwing up and I'll be good to go (or rather, stay at the same weight, or perhaps fit into my favourite pair of jeans again - I fit them at 58kg or less, lol) again. Heh. Actually, on a more light-hearted note - I'm familiar with the problem of not being able to fit some clothes because they weren't a large enough size (some - I was size 18 at my heaviest, 96kg - this was mostly preventative surgery because the pattern was 'gain weight no matter what I do' and the only way appeared to be 'up'... But I did have a couple of instances of not being able to buy stuff I liked cos it didn't go to size 18...)... Now I've discovered that if I'm not careful and, say, get to my goal weight (which I'm not planning on, I decided a couple of years ago that 58 is where I'd rather be), I will be too small to fit clothes from Kathmandu and Bivouac, which is where most of my clothes are from... Oops. Aldesa - I'm with Laura on this one, that sucks! Are they able to do anything about it? Laura - go you! You can do it! What's your goal weight again? And how far away is your 21st? Hmm. I'm making a nice big pot of Soup and I can't remember how long it's been boiling for. Oops again. Forcing myself to eat something before I pass out again. Yay jet lag!

HIya good luck with the Optifast, this was the hardest part of the whole journey for me, especially no alcohol as I love a chardonnay I stuck firmly to it as I was too scared not too, but I am sure if you had a little fruit it would be ok, how about 1/2 banana with the shake blended together.............out of interest, I lost 6 kgs in 2 weeks on this, but it was damn hard, hehehe, call in here for support if u need it........where again are you having your op? XX Amourette

I'm fasting today. Head is not in the game. I just have too much going on. I don't do well with uncertainty and we won't know about when my husband will go for another week. It could be anywhere from three weeks to six months from now, and until that's settled I will stress. We also have a never-ending stream of guests, because everyone is thrilled we're in the states again. It's nice but also stressful. My stepson's girlfriend came in to meet us and all they've done is bicker since she's been here. Needless to say, I'm hoping that she doesn't join the family permanently. My father-in-law and hubby's stepmother will be here tomorrow night...and then I have more guests at the end of next week. I was up three damned pounds on the scale for no really good reason this morning. Not so thrilled. This puts me up over my where I ended the last week. I hope it falls off quickly. My non-fast days are full of imperfect foods but I'm hanging in my calorie range pretty easily. So long as I stay away from the alcohol, that is! Glad to hear everyone had a pretty decent day yesterday. It's good to see you around, coops! Daisy, I can think of so many wonderful things to make with all those cherries! In Bishkek we had cherry trees in our yard and it was wonderful. FYE, I've had some days like that. In fact, I had leftover tiramisu for Breakfast yesterday, with a huge latte. Massive calories first thing in the morning. Oh, in case anyone was wondering, tiramisu IS a slider and YES the dairy will bother a person with lactose intolerance. Hope everyone has a great day. I'm doing a fast but admit I broke it early today. I normally don't do my Protein Shake until at least after ten but I woke up and just needed to jam food in my face. So I compromised with myself - no, I won't eat that last square of tiramisu but I will have my Protein coffee at 8:30 today. It could be worse. ~Cheri

I've had alcohol. I talked to my surgeon and he suggested rum and diet coke. I'm following a low-carb plan, so he recommended it over a glass of wine for me. I felt the effects of it quicker than before surgery. And I felt really dehydrated and crappy the day after. But I probably overdid it that night too.

Mel3620, You should be proud its a tough thing that you did. As a good friend of mine pointed out on the subject of addictions, and i paraphrase " you DON'T need Alcohol, tabacco,or illegal drugs to sustain your body, but food is the toughest addiction to break since you MUST eat" Im proud of your victory since i LOVE pizza but alas it is something i can no longer have. its one of my trigger foods. i would rather fit into the next size down the have a slice. Thanks gor the post...YOUR A SUPERSTAR!!! have a great weekend RJ

Wow. All I hear is excuse after excuse from you. There have been so many really greasy suggestions for you and you shoot down every single one of them. Going to a support group meeting designed for bariatric patients is not putting a label on anyone. It is what it is. Believe it or not, most of us do have a disease if we've gotten to the point of needing bariatric surgery. It's called loving food too much. It's called co-dependency. It's called having a problem with food. Besides being "normal" is highly overrated. I, personally, don't want to date anyone "normal". For me, "normal" is boring and dull. If you don't want to take the advice of anyone, why bother asking for advice? Like someone else said, if you don't want to change your way of thinking about things, then you're not going to get very far. I'd be happy to date another bariatric patient. I know they want to better themselves and actually like themselves enough to help themselves. You may not like the label, but for whatever the reason, you ARE a bariatric patient and whatever problem you had with food to get to this point IS a disease, just like alcoholism. Deal with that fact first. Then try finding someone to be with. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using BariatricPal mobile app

hahaahahaha! I think her advice is the standard BS claptrap spouted by most RDs whose job it is to toe the party line with old bs information. "Eat within 30-1hour of waking." Add extra meals to your rotation... Remind me again, aren't you doing pretty well maintaining your present weight? Do you ACTIVELY WANT to gain? If so, then yah. The party line advice is the quickest way to accomplish that. LOL. I would just chalk it up to opinions and asshats...we all have 'em. Right? Nod, say yes mam. Then do your own thing. Do YOU think you have an exercise, food, or alcohol issue? **** I "rawlk" or walk 1 hour a day and try for 7days a week. I don't always hit 7 days. I also try to do 20 minutes of core strengthening and balance work 2 x per week. I'm not as focused on getting this done as I am my walking. ***** And lastly, I'm crazy busy right now. And realized I hadn't logged my food since Saturday--until today. I probably won't go back and log in past days cuz no time. But I'm still sitting at 131.6lbs today. (I have been eating mostly the same foods each day so...basically my same top of the week routine. But I'm a logger through and through! Love it. It's mah jam!

I get it hehehe 3000 calories does seem forever ago, I know I could probably get near there nowadays but it would incredibly hard and include alot of alcohol...but i would sick as a dog for the next few days...errr no thanks.

I guess it depends on the surgeon but my surgeon said there are no "nevers" as in "you can never have X again". My understanding is if you want a drink (even a beer) a year out, you can in moderation. Some people will not be able to tolerate the carbonation and you need to be very aware of the liquid calories, but it can be done. Just plan on a designated driver because the alcohol will affect you much differently than before. Clearly, if your friends are going to ditch you because you can't drink with them, it's less about figuring out how to drink and more about finding new friends... I suspect though that your friends are just as scared as you are. They love you just the way you are and are afraid your physical change will change who you are on the inside as well. I think they'll be pleasantly surprised when you're still the same guy except you don't need alcohol to get a buzz because you'll be high on life! Congrats fellow "Octo-sleever"!

I honestly have not strayed from my surgeon and NUT's instructions regarding food and drink, I've not consumed any carbs other than some green veggies and some fruit (mostly bananas and apples), no sugar, no alcohol, no bread, etc., I take vitamins, omega 6 and calcium chews daily, I Jazzercise 5-6 times per week (including 2 strength training Jazzercise classes) and walk 5 miles 1-2 days per week. I snack mostly on turkey jerky and WW string cheese.

Hello my peeps! I had a great weekend filled with lots of people. I went to my CODA meeting today and talked about giving up alcohol. My head is in a very good place today. I've been more mindful about slowing down my chewing. This has resulted in better satiety and an easier time stopping when satisfied, instead of when the plate's clean. I won't get a lunch break tomorrow at all. So I'll bring chicken salad to work. My body feels better today. Lighter and cleaner.

@bacon thank you for the thoughtful responses. Being scared of going back is real. Trying to decide whether or not to have the band removed would scare the stew out of me. Like you, I need the tool. Have you consulted with a new bariatric doc? Sounds like you're back to basics...watching what you eat and how you eat, plenty of fluids, and exercise. That's super!! Are you still on the road? @2babutterfly I am so thankful to hear from you and so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I have had surgery with my band. I did not have to have any fluid out, but stayed on liquids for a few days after surgery until I felt like my guts had settled back down. Anesthesia and pain meds mess with my stomach feeling yucky, so I let that pass before I threw food into the mix. I really didn't have any issues. Go with your gut (ha ha, literally) and do what's right for you. I will keep you in my prayers, both for calm during the storm and for healing. After a few months of total binge, I came clean and got back to basics. I put it all out there - to myself, to God, and to my husband. It wasn't a nice process, but I had to admit and say out loud that I am a binge eater. Eating, for me, has to be a lot like alcohol to the alcoholic. I have opened it up to my dietician coach as well. (I think I shared this with you guys a while back.) With the support of my husband and coach, we continue to focus on one positive healthy choice I make each day, take one day at a time as far as eating, and do what I can to stay motivated and busy. I've increased our coaching calls to monthly rather than every six weeks and the frequency is helping. I am proposing kayaking, walking, and hiking with friends and family rather than sitting at a local restaurant or coffee shop. I've recently joined a weight loss challenge and stand to win $1000 if I have the highest percentage of weight loss. So far, I'm hanging in the top 10 out of 45 women. Even if I don't win the pot, I figure it is good motivation to keep me on track for the 20 weeks. We are only a month in and I'm down 10, so I am feeling successful. The biggest step I'm taking is finding a new lap band doc. The current one offers no support group, no weigh-ins, and has done nothing to promote weight loss. I think it's especially true for me since he didn't place my band. As a result, I have found a bariatric center about 30 minutes from me and have begun the process of establishing as a patient. I will attend my first support group meeting next week and am really looking forward to interacting with other banders. Since moving to Tennessee three years ago, I've felt so alone in this band journey and hope that's soon coming to an end. So, there you go....that's where I am. Sorry for the length of my post, guess I needed to put it all out there. You guys are the only ones that truly get it. I'm so thankful to hear from each of you.