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anyone having the surgery later this month and worried about the food and alcoholic beverages all around you?

Carol - wow! Talk about success stories! You are like the poster person for gastric bypass! It is unfortunate that so many of the vets drop off the forum after reaching their goals. I don't post replies as often as I once did (you can only answer the same question so many times and then it's time for others to take over) but I still monitor the forum on a regular basis and try to help out where I can. I firmly believe that, like a person that has the disease of alcoholism, I will always have the disease of obesity. Whether you're one year post-op or ten years post-op, managing your weight is a life long endeavor. Reading the victories, challenges, and lessons learned by others is an invaluable tool for maintaining my commitment. You never stop learning. Have a great day!!

cheese sticks/string cheese are a great quick snack. Be careful of adding a lot of sodium to your diet - it's not great for you. Make sure you're doing it under a doctor's supervision. Other things to consider are maintaining your volume intake, avoiding alcohol, and pumping your feet/ankles before getting up suddenly.

From the UK. I had my op 6/2/13 and was doing ok but last week I gained 2lb!! And this week I am at the same weight as my 2lb gain. I was doing ok till then having lost 26lbs in 6 weeks. Has anyone had experience/advice on this. I want to be honest with you all and say that I have been drinking alcohol as I was away for the Easter break with my family and managed that well but I did not over indulge by any means and also this does not account for the 2lb weight gain incurred prior to my weekend away. I'm a bit scared by it. Will I never lose any more. My start weight was 182lbs (13 stone) and I am now at 159lbs (11stone 4). Hope my calculations are correct I do everything in stones and lbs. I'm grateful for some support, advice or a serious talking to......x

I doubt very much that the alcohol has had any effect on your band. But drinking with a highly reduced food intake does cause the alcohol to effect you sooner than it would have done previously. Alcohol does irritate the stomach anyway so you may just be suffering the normal effects of over indulgence(have no idea how much you drank). I would just treat yourself gently for the next day or 2 and I am sure that you will be fine.

well sugar alcohols, i.e. malitol, xylitol, sorbitol, all have a natural laxative effect and as such i have found it does not take much to, umm get things flowing, if ya get my meaning. some of the funniest reading you can ever do is to look up the forums online for sugar-free gummy bears. i guarantee you cannot help but laugh out loud at the stories. And by the way do not eat the sugar-free gummy bears...you have been warned.

i can't tolerate ANY sugar alcohols or alternatives. only regular sugar. i am not sure what the reasonings are, but after having horrid reactions to every artificial sweetner and gum with sugar alcohols in it...i RUN whenever they're around LOLOL.

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it either. Severe alcoholism causes liver problems, but a normal to slightly heavy alcohol consumption shouldn't cause any problems - and you say that you already know that your liver function tests came out fine - so you're good! At this point reducing the size of your liver is just about reducing calories - especially carbs - so you can use up the storage of glucose in your liver. Relax - as long as you follow your pre-op diet you'll be fine.

My surgeon says no alcohol for 1 year. Also, there is the fact that one of the long term side effects of RNY is alcohol addiction.

Sad to hear that you are having a rough time. Definitely consider two things (if you can): get a personal counselor (I had one a little before my surgery) and find a support group (ask NUT team or surgeon's office--people go before and after the surgery). I went through a mild downer about the 3rd week. I think it was withdrawal from alcohol, caffeine, food, everything!). I also work from home, so I am sitting looking at walls ALL day or food commercials! I am 6 weeks post-op and can go to fit classes and it is helping me to be around people. Keep your head up! I love also watching Dr. Voung's videos on YouTube and he keeps me going.

Drinking with meals, avoiding alcohol and fast foods.

Well it wasn't exactly warm for the first few days I was there. Nights about 45° and days 58-60°. After that it got into the high sixties and you still needed a jacket at night. Then suddenly, on Tuesday the temp shot up to 97° and Yesterday it was 90°. A lot of good that did me - Tuesday I had to take my son's girl to San Diego Airport, and Wednesday morning I was back at the airport for my flight home. But the strong Santa Anna winds damaged the radar that services our airport and the flights were grounded for hours. When we finally took off at 5pm the winds forced us to use a runway that took us over the city skyline and the mountains behind it so we couldn't carry a full load of fuel if we wanted to clear it. That meant an unscheduled stop in Indiana for fuel to make it to our next stop in Maryland. Maryland was having bad weather and grounding flights but our late takeoff meant the storms were over by our arrival there. I landed in Providence at 3:30am and had to wake my husband to come and get me. I got home at 5am this morning and slept till noon! Longest day ever! Hats off to the flight crew for trying to make the best of a bad situation. The Captain invited us into the cockpit one by one to take pictures, answer questions, and explain how everything works. When we finally took off all the alcohol was free - a glass of wine helped me sleep through the longest leg of our long flight. The attendants did the best they could to ease tensions, and meet everyone's needs. So glad to be home but it's not exactly warm here! Lol And I got a tattoo Monday night. My first one! My son paid for it for Mother's Day. It hurt but my Marine son was watching so I took it like a Marine mom should! :-)

I first met Western Bariatrics in Reno, NV in April 2012; Dr. Watson and his staff were fantastic! I havew been rollercoaster dieting for years, trying all sorts of things but needed to move forward. I wanted to make a decision lap band vs. bypass; I chose lap band. So all the prep, insurance approval, etc. finally came. In July, I started swimming laps for two months, then took lessons and learned the right way to swim laps to benefit your cardio and physical body! So, I wanted to start a habit before surgery. After I returned from vacation in mid August, I started my four week pre op. I quit drinking alcohol cold turkey, which was very difficult as I was a social drinker, but heavy at times. I also started protein drinks, mostly Muscle Milk Light, chicken broth, string cheese, hard boiled egg, pudding and jello for four weeks; With that and swimming, when I weighed in the day of surgery, I was 36 pounds down. Dr. Watson was very pleased! My surgery was September 12th and as I write this, I am on day 10 post op. I have lost an additional 6 pounds. I have stuck to the post op diet rigid. My follow up is in a week or two as I live 4.5 hours away from my doc. I will plan on getting a fill, looking forward to solid foods soon :-) SO that is my story. I want to get healthy, stay healthy and be happy. :-)

I have absolutely no problem adjusting to any social situation. If it's in a restaurant I portion. Out what I can eat and ask for a take out container right away. If I go to a partyI'll take a taste of this or that and incorporate it into my calorie count. If I get samples from Sam's I always ask to see the nutritional label so I can add those calories in my count. I use an app called my fitness pal and I log the calories right then and there. There are a lot of good apps that keep you accountable and you'll be able to adjust to any situation involving eating. Let's face it, you can stop drinking alcohol but you can't totally stop eating. We need nourishment to survive. Before you know it your new eating habits will become second nature to you. Good luck!

Alcohol sugars are very very bad for me. Send my bloodsugar plummeting. Good luck finding those bars and let us know.

Smoke of any kind is going to be bad for your lungs and increase your chances of getting pneumonia post-surgery. That's a big risk. There aren't a lot of studies showing how many of the other tobacco-related risks apply to marijuana, so I'm not sure we can tell you how or whether it'll affect how fast you heal, whether blood clots are more likely, etc. But it seems risky? It's also likely to make it harder to modulate your appetite. And there are documented risks of people performing other addictive behaviors more obsessively, to compensate for their inability to eat to excess, which is part of why we're told to avoid alcohol for the first year. That reasoning applies to marijuana, too, even though it's not physically addictive in the same way alcohol is; you don't want your fun little habit to get totally out of control. My advice is to hold off for at least a while. Maybe a year is too much to ask, though that would be the wisest course. Maybe see how you feel after three months? Six, if you can handle it?

My mom had Roux-en-y and 15 years later she is still laid out for 30-60 minutes from "sugar overdose". it can happen by eating at a BBQ and they don't tell her what's in the sauces. I seen it happen from alcohol sugars, sauces, drinks, food everything has to be tested with a tiny bite or asks about ingredients. I though that was because of the intestine rerouting. But I see here sleevers have the same issues? Is that true?? Not that I plan to run out to a chocolate fountain, but I have seen a piece of candy make her "spin" for like 30 min. Is it extreme? Why does it happen?

I am on a small device, so I need to write my post as a reply. Please wait 5 minutes.

When are we given the clear for alcoholic drinks? I'm 6 months out and I have never thought to even ask my doctor this question LOL

I gotta second Quest Protein bars They have 20 grams of protein 170-200 calories 17-19 grams of Fiber and around 4-6 non-fiber, non-sugar alcohol carbs. Some flavors have a few sugar alcohols and some don't.. I am VERY sensitive to sugar alcohols in sugar free candy (like a few werther's originals send me to the bathroom for an hour) but the sugar alcohols in the quest bars don't affect me.. I think they're from a different source. And they're wheat/gluten free. The power Crunch bars look GOOD and are fairly low in sugar but I stick with Quest because I can't have wheat

This article didn't have Sleevers in mind but we can use some of the info here to get more Testosterone flowing through us. The third one surprised me and I was thinking that it was like a way of life for us. Well sort of.... 13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels By Ron Geraci, Men's Health, December 25, 2000 The normal level of testosterone in your bloodstream is between 350 and 1,000 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dl). Like combable hair, those quantities silently start to wane around age 40. You lose about 1 percent a year -- a harmless decline in the short term, but a cause of obesity, brittle bones, muscle loss and impotence by the time you reach your 60s -- if you live that long. Testosterone levels in the low range (a blood serum score below 350 ng/dl) may increase your chances of dying of a heart attack. It's not just an old man's problem, either. Men in their 30s and 40s also fall prey to low testosterone counts. It's a disorder called hypogonadism, and it can be caused by an undescended ********, a testicular injury, a pituitary gland disorder or even prescription drugs. It usually goes undiagnosed until a man hits his doctor with a telltale complaint: "I can't get an erection." "If you have reduced levels of sexual desire, have your testosterone level checked immediately," says Dr. Allen Seftel, a urologist at Case Western Reserve University Hospitals of Cleveland. You can replenish your testosterone stores with injections, gels, pills or Patches, but these medical treatments are no panacea: Side effects include acne, high cholesterol, shrunken testicles and liver damage. Further, don't take supplements like DHEA or androstenedione to boost testosterone; they might increase your risks of prostate cancer and heart disease. "For men with borderline testosterone scores, I advise them to try to raise their levels through exercise and weight loss before going on testosterone therapy," says Dr. Goldberg. And it might pay to start young. "Since your testosterone declines at a steady rate, it's conceivable that raising your hormone levels naturally in your 20s and 30s could help you maintain higher levels later on," he says. Either way, the reward can be a stronger physique and better bedroom sessions than you'd otherwise deserve. Below are 13 tips designed to get your juice up -- safely. Get Rid of the Flopping Belly Or you'll grow a pair of fetching breasts to complement it. Carrying excess body fat elevates your estrogen levels, and that may cause your testosterone levels to sink, says Joseph Zmuda, an epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh. Louie Anderson is proof enough of this. Two or three extra pounds won't cause this hormonal shift; it really occurs once you're 30 percent over your ideal body weight. "Unfortunately, that's pretty common now," says Dr. Dobs. But Lose Only One Pound a Week When you want to trim down quickly, you probably starve yourself while exercising like a madman. One of the many reasons this stops working in your 30s, when your natural testosterone levels start dropping, is pretty simple: Cutting your calorie intake by more than 15 percent makes your brain think you're starving, so it shuts down testosterone production to wait out the famine. "There's no need to reproduce if you're starving," explains Thomas Incledon of Human Performance Specialists in Plantation, Fla. Ironically, this dive in circulating testosterone stops you from burning body fat efficiently, so you're actually thwarting your hard efforts to melt that tire off your gut. Skip the Atkins Fad Research suggests that eating a high-Protein, low-carbohydrate diet can cramp your testosterone levels. High amounts of dietary protein in your blood can eventually lower the amount of testosterone produced in your testes, says Incledon, who observed this relationship in a Penn State study of 12 healthy, athletic men. Your protein intake should be about 16 percent of your daily calories, Incledon says. So, if you're the average 170-pound man who eats 2,900 calories a day, you should eat about 140 grams of protein daily, which is about the amount in two chicken breasts and a 6-ounce can of tuna. Have Morning Sex German scientists found that simply having an erection causes your circulating testosterone to rise significantly -- and having one in the morning can goose your natural post-dawn testosterone surge. It's a sure bet you'll burn a little fat, too. Stick With Tough Exercises To beef up your testosterone levels, the bulk of your workout should involve "compound" weight-lifting exercises that train several large muscle groups, and not just one or two smaller muscles. For example, studies have shown that doing squats, bench presses or back rows increases testosterone more than doing biceps curls or triceps pushdowns, even though the effort may seem the same. This is why doing squats could help you build bigger biceps. Make Nuts Your Midnight Snack Nuts are good for your nuts. Research has found that men who ate diets rich in monounsaturated fat -- the kind found in peanuts -- had the highest testosterone levels. "It's not known why this occurs, but some scientists believe that monounsaturated fats have a direct effect on the testes," says Incledon. Nuts, olive oil, canola oil and Peanut Butter are good sources of monounsaturated fat. Squeeze Out Five Repetitions per Set Throwing around 5-pound dumbbells won't help you effect a rise in testosterone. Start off by using a heavy weight that you can lift only five times. That weight is about 85 percent of your one-repetition maximum. A Finnish study found that this workload produced the greatest boosts in testosterone. Do Three Sets of Each Weight-Lifting Movement Researchers at Penn State determined that this fosters greater increases in testosterone than just one or two sets. Rest a full minute between sets, so you can regain enough strength to continue lifting at least 70 percent of your one-rep maximum during the second and third sets. Rest Harder Than You Work Out If you overtrain -- meaning you don't allow your body to recuperate adequately between training sessions -- your circulating testosterone levels can plunge by as much as 40 percent, according to a study at the University of North Carolina. The symptoms of overtraining are hard to miss: irritability, insomnia, muscle shrinkage, joining the Reform Party. To avoid overtraining, make sure you sleep a full eight hours at night, and never stress the same muscles with weight-lifting movements two days in a row. Drive Home Sober To maintain a healthy testosterone count -- and titanium erections -- cut yourself off after three drinks. "Binge drinking will kill your testosterone levels," warns Incledon. Alcohol affects the endocrine system, causing your testes to stop producing the male hormone. That's one reason drinking often causes you to go limp at the moment of truth. Have a Sandwich at 3 p.m. As any sensible woman knows, the way to put hair on a man's chest is to fill his stomach. Your body needs a ready supply of calories to make testosterone, so regularly skipping meals or going for long stretches without eating can cause your levels of the hormone to plummet. Then again, that's probably the warden's plan. Buy the Fried Tortilla chips If you want to raise your testosterone score, eat a diet that includes about 30 percent fat, and not much less. Your body needs dietary fat to produce testosterone, so eating like a vegetarian aerobics instructor will cause your testosterone levels to sink drastically. This is bad, unless you actually are a vegetarian aerobics instructor. Stop Surfing for Porn at 2 a.m. sleeping less than seven to eight hours a night can screw up your circadian rhythm. That's why it's no wonder your testosterone levels are higher in the morning after a good night's sleep. So if your work or social schedule keeps you stooped in perpetual jet lag, don't be surprised if you stop craving sex. At least that'll make it easier to stay out of bed.

Hey, whats up, i am a student at university of ottawa in canada. I'm 3 weeks out of surgery. Going into 3rd year next year, I know how you feel, about the eating in public thing....i think that as fat people, we think that people are watching everything we eat. I know that i always look at what others eat and i judge people, (i feel like an asshole) Anyways, yeah, i always thought if i would eat well, but then if somebody would see me eat some junk food they would snark and be like, no wonder he's fat...whatever, i think it might be true to some degree, but on my 10 day pre-op diet i thought for sure i'll have to become a lie master (not sure about telling my friends yet). But guess what...not 1 time did anyone ask about my eating changes. I guess people don't really put it high on their list of important things to know, lol its silly now that i think of it, but it's not because i REALLY thought it would be a big issue. I am having mixed feelings about the alcohol, i am for sure not drinking beer anymore, 1. It has a LOT of extra crap, carbs calories....2. Carbonation, not good for the band. I might be tempted to have a low carbonation beer in the summer one day, something like a corona or something, but it will be in a long time. 3. Hard liquor is probably the best bet for drinking, although alcohol still has calories, the more alcohol dense, the better. 4. there is the issue of casual drinking and getting shitfaced...if thats the plan, might not be too good, throwing up is bad for the band, slippage is not fun. I think it's going to be weird not drinking, but my health is more important, plus alcohol is not that great for you in big quantities. (low doses have proven beneficial health effects) But drinking too much...no. So yeah, Hope it helps you somewhat. if you have a questions send me a private message or post on this thread or something. Good luck

My surgery instructions are over three years. I'm sure things have changed. no straws drink 30 mins before and after you eat. 60 to 100 grams protein no alcohol until 6 months no sugar low fat No bread pasta rice until I lost 75% of my weight. Healthy carbs were added to slow/stop my weight for maintaining. I'm glad to see instructions change and evolve with time.

These are my surgeons directions exactly, with the exception of the alcohol. 1 year no alcohol for me. Sent from my LG-LS997 using BariatricPal mobile app

Hi! I'm brand new to the forum. I was sleeved on aug. 7th, and overall I've been doing well. I'm down almost 30lbs. Here's my question: I know I'm not supposed to have any alcohol. But I'm going on a bachelorette tomorrow. How much would one drink hurt? I'm not driving anywhere, and will be having dinner first. I'm sure I'm better off not risking it, but it's going to be hard to be on a party bus full of free liquor!