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I dont have to lose but losing is a plus my only requirements for the 6 month diet is to not go below 1200 calories and not go above 1600, no soda/caffiene no carbination period, no alcohol lots of protein and EXERCISE

I am almost 60 days post op. I am having a so so time. this is a lot harder than I thought it would be. The biggest problem I'm having is the lack of support for my family and friends. my sister who I thought was my biggest supporter turns out to be trying to sabotage me. every time I'm with her she always is offering me food for offering to go out to eat or trying to give me alcohol. I heard her talking to another family member about how upset she is that I'm losing so much weight and she's trying to lose weight The right way. she said she would be damn if she will have me become skinnier than her so she's trying to make me fail. this is very hurtful why would somebody do this? I have a long road to go and I'm just afraid that I'm not gonna be able to go through it alone. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

it's very common. more common than people think. I haven't had surgery yet, but I have a history of addiction with over 3 years clean and in recovery. no reason to be ashamed, and it's awesome that you're recognizing that you might be having an issue. flush the pain meds and no drinking. talk to someone you trust. attend some 12 step meetings (narcotics anonymous, alcoholics anonymous, overeaters anonymous etc) and find some support. you are welcome to message me anytime. there are quite a few ppl on this site that have had issues with addiction/ coping. I wish you luck.

NO new profound, genius statement just worth repeating the obvious smoking, caffeine, alcohol, eating any one or combination, are our worst enemies i continually work with/against my demon of poor eating habits/over eating in my case help/answer to addiction...... "one day at a time" works for me kathy

I've been getting tiny fills now and then over the last year. Four fills of 0.10, with my last one in August. I debated getting one in September but my NP and I decided together to try modifying my food plan and waiting to see those results. Well, I'm a stubborn old broad, and I resisted making serious changes right away. But here's what I did change over the last four months: I gave up alcohol completely in September. I gave up fried food in November. I gave up my weekly carby Thai overindulgence in December. Do I miss it? Hell yes. I gave up movie crapcorn completely in December. (Not movies though. I actually smuggled two pears into the movies a few days ago and got a little thrill out of that.) I began planning, committing, and tracking my food to my OA sponsor and using MyFitnessPal again two weeks ago. What happened? My band is talking to me again. I feel the stop signals very clearly now. I get the "enough" sensation on much smaller quantities. My dog is loving it because he gets the p rotein I can't finish. Bottom line is, I had to clean up my food for my band to be able to do its job right. I'm filled enough. I know that now. The band surgery alone enabled me to drop 2/3 of my excess weight without much behavior modification. Sure, I was eating less, and not eating between meals. But I was emotionally hanging on to my greasy, fried favorites and drinking with friends every weekend, not to mention socking away tubs of buttered crapcorn on a twice-weekly basis. And scratching my head as to why I stopped losing weight. Making the changes I made above was an incremental process. I wasn't ready to do it until I was ready to do it. I'm really glad that my band stayed consistent while I floundered around figuring this out. For whatever reason, I'm now motivated to get the rest of this weight off, and to follow the disciplined plan I have worked out with my OA sponsor. This may or may not help somebody else. But if you're chasing the elusive green zone, and wonder if you really need more fills or not, see if cleaning up your food for a few weeks first makes a difference. It did for me.

One of the outcomes of RNY surgery is that some patients experience hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) after surgery. This even affects individual who are not diabetic prior to the operation. I was diabetic prior to the operation and it went into remission by the time I left the hospital. I avoid sugar and several other sweeteners. But I have a sweet tooth and use a variety of other sweeteners. The sugar in milk and fruits are natural sugars that do not affect my blood sugar levels. There are many different types of sugars. Some are bad and some are O.K. Because I underwent training in preparation for my Weight Loss Surgery, I have a better understanding of the difference. So if you are diabetic, it is important to know the difference. The sugars to avoid are: sucrose (table sugar), fructose (honey), Dextrose (glucose), Maltose (malt sugar), Xylose, Corn Syrup, Corn Solids, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), Cane juice, Molasses, Caramel, Corn Sweeteners, Evaporated Cane, Brown Sugar, Barley Malt, and Beet Sugar. I think a few more types of sugar also fall in this category but I don't know for sure. These are Agave, Pure Maple Sugar and Date Sugar. Sugar is integrated into so much of our food today, its hard to know what is an acceptable level. Generally if one of these sugars are listed in the first five ingredients on the food label of a product it should be avoided. Take for example Campbell's Tomato Soup - It contains 12 grams of sugar and the second ingredient on the food label is High Fructose Corn Syrup. So even innocent items can become a problem. I try to limit my intake to no more than 2 grams sugar for a product. So generally I don't eat Campbell's tomato soup anymore but I do use it when I make chili because it is cut to a minor portion. On the other side is sweeteners that a diabetic can probably consume safely. They include artificial sweeteners and some natural sweeteners. Generally the artificial sweeteners have zero calories, so they are easy to spot. These sweeteners include Acesulfame Potassium (Sunett and Sweet One), Aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet), Neotame, Rebiana (Truvia, Pure Via), Saccharin (Sweet N' Low), Sucralose (Splenda) and then natural sweeteners such as Stevia, Monk Fruit, whey Low, Coconut Sugar and Sugar Alcohol (Sorbitol, Xylitol, Mannitol, Erythritol). Many of these acceptable sweeteners are beginning to show up in more and more products in the grocery counter. In many cases if the product is listed as No Sugar Added it might be acceptable. But you need to analyze the food labeling. For example Nesquick makes a No Sugar Added Cocoa. It uses Sucralose (Splenda) as a sweetener. No sugar added ice creams are starting to show up in the store. Some brands of ice cream are using Aspartame (Nutrasweet) and Glycerine (sugar alcohol) as sweeteners. Another product it candy. Adkins makes a variety of candies that use sugar alcohol as their sweeteners. There are two other types of natural sugars that are O.K. These are the natural sugars found in fruits and milks. But some products are deceptive. You may have to read the food ingredient label because for example some fruit juice adds sugar to the juice and the product is primarily sugar.

I had my surgery in dec and my outlet is a snickers bar. I never did drugs or alcohol so no that's not an issue with me. The therapist that we had before surgery said that some turn to alcohol and I may since I can't overheat in food. I laughed in her face. A coworker that had the sleeve all she talk about is drinking. She did four wks out and was bragging that she didn't get sick. I pray she don't get addicted. Are you honestly having issues with addiction to something? If so, we are here to talk if you need to.

It's such a trigger for me, I used to eat Pasta daily and have exacty 2 oz daily for years. Then when I stopped, it's like an alcoholic. I have 2 oz, I want 10! Sleeved on 1/10 so can't have for a while. Looking forward to my Tolerant Lentil Pasta though. Sent from my SM-G930V using the BariatricPal App

I'm 5 weeks out. I decided to try some liquor. I wanted to see if it really is 5x more potent etc as I was told. It's not! Honestly nothing. If nothing else I have a higher resistance. . I've had 2 oz of gin, tequila, and bourbon at different times, nothing. Anyone else experience this? And I'm not mixing it with a lot of liquid. I even sipped the bourbon straight over the course of about 30 mins - nada. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think it's not so much the drinking in it's self but the fact that you didn't realize it until you had three glasses down which is the scary part. It happened. You can't do anything about it now but stay away from alcohol if you can't get a grip on your willpower in its presence. I am three months out and I had a white sangaria the other day that ended up being too strong for me. Prior to the surgery, I would drink a little once in a blue moon so I don't have the tolerance for it in the first place. Did you drink it all in a short period of time or through out the night?? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

The beef broth and protein shakes are for the pre-op diet and the 1st week post op. Some people continue to drink the protein shakes to get in the recommended daily protein. I rarely drink the shakes after the 2nd week post-op. I moved onto creamy soups and and a lot of chicken run through my food processor until very very finely chopped. I believe anyone that has 85% of their stomach removed will lose weight. You can't help but lose, if you are limited to 4oz of food every few hours. Now the big question is, where is your hunger coming from? Only you can figure that part out. Is it from emotional eating, boredome, stress, or is it because you have hunger pangs caused by the hormone ghrelin? From my own experience, I knew that my hunger was real (even though I had eaten 2 hours earlier, I'd be hungry again). It wasn't until I talked to my surgeon that he told me that I had an excess of the hormone ghrelin (produced by the stomach). The bigger the stomach, the more of the hormone produced. The surgery stopped my hunger pangs. I have not had that nagging sense of hunger (other than my stomach growling) since surgery 7 weeks ago. And 4 or 5 oz of food keeps me satisfied, whereas before, I could eat 1 lb of steak and know I'd be raiding the fridge in 2 hours. And I don't have any cravings anymore for certain flavors. Whereas before, I'd think about something that would taste good and I couldn't get the thought out of my head until I ate it. Don't get me wrong, you can sabotage yourself after surgery. There are foods, called slider foods, that are calorie dense (ice cream, peanut butter) that pass through the stomach quickly, so it's possible to eat more. And it is possible to just graze all day on snacks that are high in calories. The sleeve gave me the control over my eating that I needed. I really think of it as an addiction that you can't quit and never touch again. Other addictions can be quit and never touched again. But what if a heroine addict, smoker or alcoholic knew they had to take some every day or their body would die? What if they had 75 TV channels that ran commericals for cigarrets every 10 minutes during their favorite programs? Or had reality programs (like the best places to pig out or the food challenges) devoted to the best places to get their fix and showed people taking drugs and loving it? Could they just reduce the amount they took? Ok, rant over. :-)

Hi MandyKay! Bubbles - nope. Probaly not. Alcohol? In moderation. I could have sat at my desk job on day 4. By day 7, I was almost perky. You ought to be just fine after a month. A full month would be best - because by then most docs will have you back to real food - but if it's only 3 weeks, you will still be ok. Aside from the lounge, there are several other forums in LapBandTalk.com where you might get useful information. You can either go to the "Forum Jump" bar at the bottom of this page - or you can go to the top and hit "new posts". That will bring up everything new since the last time you were on LBT. Welcome and good luck.

my girlfriend drinks wine quite often and she is 6 months out. Just be aware that you will get loopy faster she said. I know someone who is 11 weeks out and she will not risk it for a few more months since alcohol is an irritant

Hi guys! I was sleeved on 12/22. I planned on getting a flu vax at my pre-op appt, but my doc's office was out of vaccines and I didn't bother checking anywhere else b/c I was busy trying to make Christmas as seamless as possible for my 2 littles. Well, my husband and 2 kids got their flu vax the minute they were available in Sept, however, my 2yo and husband were diagnosed on Wed with Flu A. It's been so rough for them. On Wed, I contacted my PCP who put me on Tamiflu in hopes that I wouldn't catch it. Well it didn't work. I have a temp of 102, nausea is semi supresssed with Zofran but still having periodical heaving. I sweat one min then chills the next. My surgeon emailed me Thurs and said stay hydrated with Clear liquids and forget about the Protein shakes if I wasn't up to drinking them. The problem I'm having is that I have a horrible sensitivity to sugar alcohols. In fact, my NUT has me drinking Carnation breakfasts with unflavored protein instead of typical Protein Shakes. I've been only drinking Water and broth for my clear liquid option, but it's making nausea worse. If I have even 1 sugar-free popsicle or Jello, within minutes, I have diarrhea. I'm not craving anything and feel like I could go days without drinking anything, but I know I need to stay hydrated. How awful would it be to try regular Gatorade? I don't want to undo any weight loss progress and my NUT won't answer my emails until Monday. I have her cell # but she gave it to me to use over Christmas while she was out of town and I don't want to abuse it. Is there something I could try to soothe my throat, keep me hydrated and not fill me with sugar? Sent from my SM-G900P using the BariatricPal App

For the most part I don't usually comment on these "alcohol" post, because quite frankly I just don't get it. I've never been a drinker but maybe once in a great while.....and I really mean a "great while".....I haven't had a drink in well over 2 years....haha I'm not against drinking it just doesn't take drinking in order for me to enjoy myself.....I have no problem turning down alcohol when I'm out with friends or at a party....once I get to my goal weight I'll go back to the way I used to be....once in a "great while" I may have a mixed drink....but while I'm in the weight loss phase it is not even a consideration! I have a hard time understanding people who have gone to the extreme of having most of their stomach surgically removed in order to lose weight and within a very short period of time begin drinking completely empty calories....I just can't wrap my head around that. I'm sure folks think "of course she doesn't understand. She's not a drinker.".....But I relate this to me like this; prior to surgery I loved loved Cookies and ice cream! But after letting the surgeon remove most of my stomach because I was so desperate to lose weight I would not even take a small bite of a cookie or ice cream while I'm in the weight loss phase!...but I guess that's just me. I'm also a believer in do whatever you feel is best for you....so if that includes drinking alcohol, more power to you. Good luck I wish you all the best.

I went out with my husband last night with the mindset of not drinking . Then before I know it I realized I had 4 glasses of wine . I'm almost 3 months post op .. I'm so mad at myself! I feel like I didn't care enough about my surgery and let the crowd get to me . It was almost like I left my brand new life style behind and started falling into my old habits. I feel ok besides the hangover but I'm scared I have jeopardized my weight loss. What is everyone's experience with alcohol after surgery ? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Gareth J. Hollands from the University of Cambridge, U.K., and colleagues, examined data from 72 studies (meta-analysis) that compared at least two groups with respect to their choices of food, alcohol, or tobacco packaging, portion size and tableware (dishes and glasses) size on food consumption. They concluded "successfully reduce the size, availability and appeal of larger-sized portions, packages, individual units and tableware can contribute to meaningful reductions in the quantities of food (including non-alcoholic beverages) people select and consume in the immediate and short term.” http://acsh.org/2015/09/change-your-setting-to-help-you-eat-less/ In other words, one might conclude that in part obesity in the U.S. is related to the large overly generous portion size of meals served in many of our restaurants. Many undergoing WLS change their tableware (the size of their plates, bowls, glasses and spoons) after surgery. This change reduces portion size or the temptation to overeat. Even after 28 months post-op I use a miniature metal spoon to eat which slows the rate that I eat (I tend to gobble food down).

There is a family history for drug abuse and alcoholism. I live with a partner who is an alcoholic. Food was such a part of who I was prior to surgery. I have the sleeve done May 2016. The confidence it has built for me has been incredible. But now I am binge drinking and like the original poster - the alcohol absorbs so quickly and I lose track of it plus I black out (I have a history of black outs but not consistently like I do now). Last night I fell and cracked my head open and have zero memory of it. My partner is at wits-end with my crazy drinking and I agree. There is not enough information handed out about WLS and alcoholism. Right now I am on the plan to quit entirely but like any good addict - don't want to and thinking of ways I can get away with it (I just got a new job, I had a rough day, its a holiday, etc). No one is making me quit. I just feel like maybe there is no other way for this to happen. I am thankful my partner has stood by me over the past 6-9 rocky months but we can't last this way and I don't want to be without her. The change is for me, her and us. I can't afford therapy but does anyone have any thoughts or ideas to help me along with this sobriety?

I crave very little of my old diet, but man, do I miss having a Guiness from time to time. I was actually wondering about how it might be compared to regular beer. I had a half glass of wine last week, my first alcohol in five months (my postoperative period), and only the second drink in eight months, and hoooolyyyy god, did I feel it.

I'm Dec. 19. I can sleep on my right side but not the left side where the port is. I still think my tummy is slightly bloated. No more pain though. It was hard not to eat/drink alcohol at a New Year's Eve party last night. But I survived. Surgery day I was 171. The pounds were coming off so fast and now for a few days the scale hasn't moved. I like it better when it was falling off:) I'd love to hear how the earlier December people are doing.

Well, I still have cravings. My stomach was operated on, not my brain. I agree with Cathy, the band is not meant to be a permanent punishment. Portion control is the key. If you enjoy spaghetti, you can continue to enjoy it, eaten slowly and in moderation. A small hamburger? If it is not a problem getting through your band, is something that you could have occasionally. However, if you are like an alcoholic with food, like "one is not enough" then probably staying away from the "one" is best. For me, I don't have a problem with eating one of my daughter's french fries and being satisfied.

My Dr made me promise that I would not drink any alcohol for a minimum of a year. My understanding is that with your new metabolism alcohol hits you different than it did in the past. i am always amazed though at how different Drs have different requirements.

yeah...that rule itself has been broken many times when Lisa and some friends decided to run around the board calling her an alcoholic and drug abuser. that is rather harsh...an one of the reasons she has tried so hard to respond to every threat that came at her on the board. an not just in seperate threads...but threas where she was posting and minding her own business. Its hard having a stalker.

The show is about general addiction. They have a history of focusing on drug/alcohol addiction, but have been branching out lately. They had a gambling addict, a rage addict (also a drug user), etc.

How long post sleeve did u have a little wine?