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I had gastric bypass September 12, 2011...I have done great with it...I'm down 100 pounds! My doctor said no alcohol for the first year, but now that it is summer, I really want a glass of wine. Anyone out there have any suggestions? Did you really wait a year??? Thanks

I just read in one of my books that one drink can be the equivalent of 5!! Start with a teeny tiny bit!! I think the reason they say a year is because alcohol has lots of calories and no nutrients so it can thwart your weight loss efforts. So I think I little would be fine...just be careful!! Cheers!!

Breyers makes carb smart and no sugar added. 4 grams of sugar 4 grams sugar alcohol and 13 carbs.

The only thing I'd worry about is all the sugar alcohol in it... It'll give you diarrhea

Hello all...I guess I totally missed the schedule for the support group this week. I looked at my blackberry and I do have it on for the second MONDAY in August. Not sure why I thought Tuesday this week? Maybe because I was off on Monday and that messed up my mind...very possible! Did anyone go? Has anyone been to the lapband group only? or the other groups? there is one every Thursday for all weight loss surgery. I would like to get to one in the next weeks to come. Maybe we can meet there! I am off to Pennsylvaina today for the weekend. Another party. I will watch my food intake so I don't choke and watch my alcohol too. Little sips of wine, on a limited basis! Those are my goals this weekend. After my son's wedding, I learned my lesson!! Hope you all have a great weekend. Down one more lb!! It has been a snail process!

My dr said to avoid beer and wine if I had to have a Coctail a 1/2 shot of good vodka was best due to the way the sugar breaks down. Maybe it's slower in vodka so the stomach can process it better since it's so small. She recommended having it with A sugar free beverage-not straight shots and to nurse it. Again, they recommend waiting 3 months which won't be until Jan. 11th for me. To tell you the truth, I'm struggling with food at every meal -I don't need more worries or issues by experimenting with alcohol! My husband's 50th B'day is Jan. 25 so maybe I'll indulge that night!

Interesting article in the Toronto Star today. BATTLING OBESITY TheStar.com - Health - `Only way' to freedom `Only way' to freedom After desperate bids to lose weight, at nearly 400 pounds Barrie mom took life-saving step Feb 02, 2007 04:30 AM Karen Bridson-Boyczuk Special to The Star Rating her pain level at an eight out of 10 between morphine shots, Barrie resident Rachel Buttery sits in her Michigan hospital bed and says she doesn't miss food yet. A day after undergoing gastric bypass surgery, the 33-year-old, 393-pound mother of two says she's just thrilled that she will, no doubt, finally be able to keep her New Year's weight-loss resolution this year. Ontario's provincial health insurance paid the $24,000 (U.S.) cost of her surgery because of long waiting lists here and the deteriorating state of her health. Buttery's surgery, on Jan. 3, involved creating a tiny pouch out of the top of her stomach and attaching it to her large intestine, completely bypassing the rest of her stomach and her small intestine. "They keep bringing me different kinds of broth and Jell-O, but I'm partial to the ice chips," says Buttery, who admits it was her addiction to food that led her down the road to morbid obesity. "I'm sure I will miss food eventually. But there's nothing I can eat that would be better than doing what I'll be able to do when I lose weight." At five-feet nine-inches tall, Buttery's Body Mass Index is off the charts at 61. A normal body mass index is between 18.5 and 24.9. A person who has a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese. Buttery has a degenerating left hip and must undertake more than an hour of walking in the morning to become fully mobile. Her blood sugar levels are at the high normal range – not diabetic, yet, her doctors say, but getting toward Type II diabetes. She has an enlarged spleen and an enlarged and fatty liver and she suffers from sleep apnea, a condition where her airway becomes obstructed when she sleeps, cutting off air flow and periodically choking her. Surprisingly, her blood pressure and cholesterol levels remain fine. But as her husband Paul Buttery says, that's for now. "She's fairly healthy, but how long will that last?" he says. Her surgeon, Dr. Tallal Zeni, says Buttery's excessive weight is life-threatening. "If she doesn't lose weight, there's a high risk of other medical problems all coming together to shorten her lifespan." A person with a BMI of 40, where morbid obesity starts, is more than two and a half times more likely to die than someone with a healthy BMI. Obesity has been linked to various cancers, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and depression. Buttery's fight with weight began in childhood and, after the birth of her first daughter 11 years ago, it slowly climbed, hitting its peak of 399 pounds this September. Since then, her life has increasingly been affected by her weight. "If you go to a friend's house, you think, `Okay, what can I sit on that won't break?' You worry about fitting through the turnstiles in stores. At restaurants, you can't sit in a booth. When you get into somebody's car, you pray to God the seatbelt is going to fit." No longer able to fit into airline seatbelts, even with the belt extension, Buttery turned to bus travel with her family a few years ago. But even that proved uncomfortable. Buttery spent hours unable to urinate on a 13-hour trip to Cincinnati in 2003 because she couldn't fit into the bathroom at the back of the bus. One option was surgery to reduce her stomach to a pouch that holds just under an ounce of food. But the decision wasn't made easily. First, she says, she worked very hard to lose the weight on her own. In the past five years alone, Buttery has joined the Weight Watchers program on four occasions and lost varying amounts each time. With the help of a personal trainer, with whom she worked for a year, Buttery managed to lose 32 pounds. Lifting weights, walking on the treadmill, counting her points, Buttery was moving in the right direction, says GoodLife Fitness trainer Shelly McNamee. "But her emotional attachment to food and the extreme stress that she was under in her life kept sending things out of whack," McNamee says. She was upset to hear Buttery had gained back the weight she'd lost, plus another 30-odd pounds since they stopped working together a year ago. Gaining back the lost weight, and then some, is typical for most dieters and often a key factor in how people manage to sink further into obesity, says Zeni, who performed Buttery's three-hour surgery at St. Mary Mercy Hospital. "With traditional medical weight loss, we see successful, long-term weight loss in just 1 to 2 per cent of patients," he says. "But with this surgery, we have an 80 per cent success rate five to 10 years out." But there are risks. The laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass – the kind of stomach-reducing surgery recommended for Buttery – has a fatality rate of one in 200, the risk of bowel leakage and potentially fatal blood clots, and a six-week recovery time. "It's not a surgery one should go into lightly," Zeni says. "But for people who are trying to lose weight and have other medical problems, it's the only way to get the weight off and keep it off." Zeni stresses it is not a magic bullet. "You've got to be committed to it for the long-term," he says. "Everybody is going to lose weight for the first year and a half (on average, 70 per cent of the excess weight is lost by this point), but you want it to be successful over a lifetime." For many, Zeni says, dieting and exercise alone just can't get people to where they want to be. "Once you get to a level of morbid obesity, for whatever reasons – genetics, metabolic rate, appetite – maintaining the weight loss is just unsustainable." That was Buttery's story. Now recovering at home from her operation, she says she saw surgery as her only way out. After having no trouble sticking to her diet and exercise plans for weeks and sometimes months on end, Buttery would find something in her life would go wrong and her fitness regimen would begin to unwind. "Any time I get stressed, that's what I do. I eat," she says. "And nine times out of 10, I don't even realize I'm doing it. I'd just go to the fridge and I'd just start grazing." It also hasn't helped having a husband who is a professional chef and loved to "love her with food," and thinks she looks no different than the day he met her when she was 17, Buttery says. Food produces a euphoric haze for her, like a drug, she says. "But food is the one thing you can't take away. You don't need alcohol to live, or drugs or cigarettes. But you can't not eat." Meanwhile, some people in Buttery's life feel she's taking the "easy way out." They point to such high-profile gastric bypass patients, like singer Carnie Wilson, who have gained back a surprising amount of weight given the medically reduced size of their stomachs. Zeni says this can be a result of the stomach being stretched out again by food, by the connection between the stomach pouch and intestines stretching out to accommodate more food or because of other unknown factors. "Some people are eating 1,000 calories a day after the surgery and they are still not losing, even when the pouch has not stretched," he says. "So there's more to it than we know at this time." Ten per cent of patients will gain back about one-third of the weight they initially lost, while another 10 per cent will gain back more than that, Zeni says. "It's not 100 per cent. But compared to traditional medical weight loss, it's really excellent. Ultimately, those who are successful still maintain less than 1,400 calories a day and (continue to) exercise." According to a 2004 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, gastric bypass surgery cures diabetes in 77 per cent of cases, cures or improves high blood pressure in 78 per cent of patients and ends sleep apnea for 86 per cent of patients, Zeni says. Buttery approached the Ontario health ministry last fall to get it to pay for her to have the surgery in the United States. Waiting lists to have the surgery in Canada are, for certain surgeries, several years long. Ultimately, Buttery's stomach will be able to hold about two to three ounces of food at time. But she says she's not worried about how she will cope when life gets difficult and she simply can't eat a whole box of chocolates, as she had in the past. "I've been reading a book on food addiction and I've got a support group I can go to in Barrie," she says. Between that, the four hours of nutritional counselling she received through Zeni's office and the help of her husband, who has vowed to cook up healthy foods from now on, Buttery says she's got the support she needs. She removed some serious stressors in her life, she says. Worry that she's set a bad example for her daughters has also fuelled her drive to make this work, Buttery says. "I've got to stop the cycle." For now, she's focused on how much fun she'll have with her family. "I'll be able to go horseback riding and swimming," she says. "I've got pages of stuff I've not been able to do in years. I haven't been able to go on a roller-coaster ride in years. I used to be a real roller-coaster junkie."

ROFLMAO! hahahahahahhaa! You're such a nut! and don't think it escaped me that you're also wanting someone to ply her with alcohol for you as well. I hope that's a chocolate martini! ohman...I giggle-snorted just as I was taking a sip of Gatorade. If I have red boogies later I'm calling your wife and telling her the dr said NONE for you this week! LOL Renee`

You're right... actually i was hoping i could get him to do something too, he's overweight as well. His dad had a quadruple bypass in his 30s i believe, my mothers 1st heart attack was at 34, both my maternal and paternal grandmothers died at 57 due to heart conditions, diabetes and prescription drug abuse, and one of them was an alcoholic as well. Sent from my LG-E980 using the BariatricPal App

I am only 3 weeks post op, and my motivation factors will probably change. But, for now "fear of failure" is what keeps me motivated. I used to work out in a personal training group that also required everyone to read their food journal in front of the group daily. I wasnt honest about what I ate.....or atleast how much alcohol I was consuming. This time I dont have to lie to anyone, but myself. And I refuse to have a need to lie to myself anymore. I bought a gym membership 6 months ago and actually went today. I swam for about 20 minutes and plan to go daily until I return to work in a week.

Diet ginger ale has no sugar or caffeine... so I am going to give it a shot. It has nothing to do with hydration, as I have always been a water drinker. I don't drink alcohol, so sometimes to be sociable with my friends that drink, I like a ginger ale. Are there any other reasons not to try one?

Good luck. Just relax. You'll go in the o.r looking around next min you'll b waking up in recovery room. I was sleeved last wed and so happy. The next day was rough for me with nausea but they gave me zofran thru my iv and it helped instantly. Hardly any pain. If u get nauseous after ask for some alcohol wipes. They had me sniff it and it helps with the nausea. Good luck .post when your able

I have to reply to this because I am this situation right now. I am a 28 month "veteran" of the band and have never been really tight until now. Dr Kuri always did my fills, but the last two(one was just 16 days ago) were with Dr Billy who does only blind fills(no flouro) I must start off by saying that I was(and still am) in the camp that I would rather be looser and just work out more than suffer with a tight fill...so here I am stuck with a tight fill. Why do I not get an unfill yet? Well..first off..besides my two doctors not being in the area (one would be a 4 hr car drive away and the other a 9 hr with border crossing), this fill has thrown me for a loop and I cannot really say if it really is too tight or if I am just fighting the restriction. This fill started out snug..it was not tight, but noticably different. I was able to drink liquids, eat liquids and small amount of solids.. After a few days I clamped tighter and could barely keep down liquids..but I did. The next day, my DH and I go to Culinary Institue for a cooking demo and fabulous 4 course meal. I was able to eat the small beef wellington from the demo, 30 minutes later..go to dinner..have a nice cocktail, a cheese course(with its own wine), some salad, two braised beef short ribs(meat MELTED in your mouth) with mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts AND some of my dessert. Whew..yeah..a band buster for sure..but I ate it all and felt fine. The alcohol usually opens me up so that may have made it easier for food to go down! Next day..my band clamps up again..back on liquids only..what the heck? I contributed that to mid cycle. I bloat during mid cycle AND PMS. It relaxed a bit after that. I am back to nibbling tiny amounts of food..just had 1/2 a chicken enchilada with a few bites of rice and Beans. But then later..I am feeling liquids back up on me! The restriction has loosened up in the morning and gotten tighter as the day progressed..wierd..usually happens the opposite for most of us! So..with all that..you struggle with the decision..do I get an unfill? Do I wait it out? Will it loosen as I lose weight? I have dropped 8-9lbs this last 16 days! Most ever! Has it been worth it? well..almost not really. I have known bandsters who have been so tight they cannot keep their own saliva down..they immediately go for an unfill. I have been on what I consider a pretty loose fill last year and from January to July..I stretched my esophagus out..so I don't think ONLY a tight fill will cause problems..I can pouch pack alot easier on a looser fill! So..since my tight fill has been so irregular..I am still not convinced of an unfill yet. As long as I am getting in solids and fluids, I will tough this one out. I do think I am just fighting it more because I like to eat alot..now I can't.. So until you are really in this situation..it is hard to see how you REALLY would react to it. Patty 8/13/02 Dr Kuri

Waiting 6 months is good in order to be at a point where you have lost a lot of weight and have a fitness program. You do not want the calories from alcohol (specifically, mixed drinks) to interfere with your weight loss goals. There is also some truth behind the damage alcohol may cause your stomach if you drink it too early as a post op,

I have lost 10 pounds on one week of pre-op - Medifast Supplements. I was so hungry and had so many headaches the first few days...I didn't think I could make it. Now it is much better. Yesterday, however, I was playing in a golf outing. Told my girlfriends upfront that I could not stay for the dinner portion (they do not know about my surgery). Long story short - I ended up staying for the dinner portion. I ate lean ham and 1/4 cup of cole-slaw. I couldn't get out of it and I didn't want to draw attention to myself by not eating. I am sure I stayed within the calorie and carb counts for the day. I did not eat the potatos, baked beans, chips and brownies that they offered :thumbup:. I did not drink any alcohol all day either (my first time doing that during 18 holes of golf!). I'm just not going to beat myself up over it. I did not use this slip as an excuse to raid the fridge (the old me would have). I am back on track today and doing great! There have been so many times when I could justify eating a little protein, or a veggie, as so many don't even have pre-op diets...but I stuck to the plan. Funny that I ended up being in a situation where I ended up doing it anyway. I really didn't even enjoy it. It certainly didn't feel like cheating! I'm sure it will be fine - the protein bars that are part of my diet plan have 15 carbs in them. I don't think the coleslaw had more than that...and I didn't eat the protein bar that day. My surgery is one week from today . I'm already not sleeping very well. I can't wait to get this behind me!!!!:thumbup:

OK, I keep trying to post this and I have issues! The computer freezes, someone calls....lol, here I go again. mrodr41 Congrats on your date! I know how exciting it is to get your date. I have tried chocolate unjury and chocolate Body Fortress Whey protein. They both taste the same to me. I bought Body Fortress at Walmart and it was way cheaper. The Body Fortress came in Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla and Fruit Punch. I have also tried the unflavored unjury. It was Ok, but it made my crystal light thick. The chicken soup unjury was ok as was the tomato soup unjury. So far I haven't come across one that I absolutely hated. I have tried some various recipes. The "chocolate monkey" with banana, chocolate (body fortress), milk and peanut butter tasted awesome! vompton: Congrats on kicking two bad habits at once! YEAH! mmh498: no problem. I love to help if I can. You have a cool ruler! Midwest Carol: Congrats on the date! Come see the rest of us March bandsters in the March, 2008 threads. Michelle88: Congrats on your date as well. Good luck with the 1000 calorie diet! I know you can do it! Lori NC: Congrats and welcome! I gave up all the caffeine. I have mostly given up sodas. I am going to drink some diet clear ones the 2 days before surgery. It is my treat to myself. I am kind of worried about those two days of pretty much only liquid! Busywoman: Good for you! I am happy for you that your insurance is going to pay. I wish mine would. It is great that you had that opportunity! Just think, next year when you downgrade, you can use your savings to buy new clothes! (Since all your current ones won't fit!) Chubbychecker: I have to do the clear liquids for 2 days prior to surgery. Now I am on 1600 calorie diet, which isn't too bad. I have also given up caffeine. My doc says no alcohol a month prior, no aspirin for 2 weeks prior. Neither is really a problem. When do you start your fast?

If you are filled as much as you can, I have noticed that i I have a sweet craving I go for fruit as much as I hate fruit it does fill me up super fast and make me too full for sweets. That is the beauty of the LB it works if it is full enough and the foods I don't like do fill me up. It's almost like a diet pill to eat fiber foods. Have you checked to see if you might need a mini fill? Before the band when I started eating anything my insulin would spike (in my opinion) and it would be like an alcoholic with alcohol and I would get hungry and couldn't stop. This halloween was a horror ....I ate my daughters candy and couldn't stop like years before ...

Hello fellow bariatric patients, I'm in Canada, my surgeon wanted a 12 week liquid diet pre-op. Before I get into the details here's my story in highlights: - 34 Male, 5ft11in (180cm) - Severe weight gain over a few years (from 180 to 360 peak in 5 yrs) - Caused a number of sudden issues (stage 3 liver fibrosis, pre-diabetes/diabetes, increased GERD, L5/S1 compression fracture, high bp/pulse, depression, etc.) - S3 Liver fibrosis: initially diagnosed cirrhosis w/fibrotic scan but after biopsy (which they did after I told them I'm not an alcoholic) revealed stage 3 fibrosis&no cirrhosis - prior ultrasound suggested 19cm or larger, not sure - Diabetes (5.4 1 year ago to peak 7.9, down to 6.1-6.4 now and likely will drop again w/March 1st A1C workup) - Everything is currently contained w/meds (10mg forxiga, 2x metformin tabs 2 times a day, hydrochlorathiazide (1 small tablet a day), cipralex (1x tablet a day), metoprolol 75mg 2x day, 1 capsule of prevacid generic, 2 Vitamin D tablets because Canada) - resting hr 50-80 (previously 80-110), bp 110-130/60-80 (previously 150-175/100-115) - Initially suggested bypass but because of age (34) had my surgeon and two second opinions all suggest sleeve so I wasn't gonna argue, they said if I didn't like results of sleeve could get bypass after 1 yr - 12 week Liquid pre-op diet started Feb 1, OR date April 20 - Dietitian was pissed off at 12 week diet saying she will talk to surgeon, obviously didn't convince him - Weight changes: (ignore the column to the left, I haven't figured out how to change it) ∙ Feb 1: 350 ∙ Feb 4: 336 ∙ Feb 15: 322 ∙ Feb 17: 319 ∙ Feb 22: 314 Daily Pre-op diet plan (1400 cals): - 6 bottles of Glucerna (<- yech) - 1 serving of sugar free Jello (4x per container) - 4-9 cups clear fluids (i.e. broth) w/extremely low cal/carb - 2 scoops Beneprotein - 3.7L water I have to say, this has been the hardest thing in my life. Not so much the sticking to diet part, but keeping down this Glucerna stuff. It's so disgusting! I couldn't help but regurgitating the stuff in the first few days. I had 1-2 Glucerna for the first few days, resulting in being extremely calorie deficient. Even with my wife helping trying to flavor w/spices (i.e. cinnamon) for berry/vanilla I just couldn't take a few flavors, wound up settling on chocolate, making sure the stuff never touches the front of my tongue, otherwise I'll upchuck. Stomach was going nuts w/hunger the first few days, since then haven't been able to stomach more than 1-3 Glucerna a day, eventually it stopped bothering me so much - but has resulted in first couple occurrences of "lows" (low blood sugar). Have been eating more broth though closer to the 9 cups, and taking multivitamins, and having daily amt of Jello. Body seems to do fine. Haven't had a normal stool the entire time, all liquid.. (I assume thats normal?) The concern of mine is my paranoid dietitian freaking out and nearly wanting to call off the surgery because I wasn't having the amount of Glucerna she wanted. To the point where I had to lie to her about how much I was having a day, as I've waited 1.5 years to get to this point. Can't see how going nuts on me is productive. Already have my wife nagging at me. Has anyone had an issue w/not having sufficient calories not causing liver to shrink going into surgery? Or light malnutrition affecting whether or not surgery was done? Pretty much everyone I read has like 2-6 weeks and I'm stuck with 12. This is absolute misery, but I'm perfectly ok doing what I'm doing as long as the end goal is met and nothing causes my surgery to be cancelled (i.e. liver not shrunk enough). Steven

Fatty Liver is a big issue for overweight patients- mainly because there is no good treatment other than weight loss- NASH ( non alcoholic steatohepatitis ) , a subgroup of fatty liver that may lead to cirrhosis, so if you have this the surgery is a good thing to do...My liver function studies are elevated and hopefully they will return to normal with weight loss---.I will keep you posted-

I'm not dieting in the sense of counting calories, fat grams, etc. But I am trying to follow the bandster guidelines I was given: each meal should be 2-3 oz of lean Protein and some veggies. That's doing the trick for me now that I have fill in the band. I do get in at least one piece of fruit per day as a snack, too. No beverages with calories (except occasional milk), a multi Vitamin every day. At this point it does still feel a bit like a "diet" - I have to still make the choice not to indulge in junk food, no alcohol, staying away from Pasta, potatoes and bread. And it's not always easy, particularly at special occasions or when goodies are offered at work. I just try to follow "most of the guidelines most of the time".

Alcohol is really dehydrating. Make it difficult on the band because the body retains fluids.

Hi, I was banded last Thursday and my surgeon has said it's ok to have coffee, I have been having one each day as I too can't survive without my caffeine fix. The only things he has told me to stay clear of are fizzy drinks, alcohol, bread and pastry. Hope this helps

Gosh, I wrote this long email this morning and for some reason it didnt post. I believe I have the craziest parents! LOL Lisa's mother and my father would make a good team. My mother was anorexic and Obsessive compulsive and my father was an alcoholic who was a sorry person indeed. Some examples of household events: My father once through a frozen turkey at my mother and it flew through the ground floor kitchen window apartment and almost killed a neighbors dog that was being walked by his owner outside the window. My father made us put socks in our mouths and taped them shut while he watched TV. Said we talked too much during his shows. Good ole dad went on a drinking spree, came home in the middle of the night and insisted that some other man had shaved in the bathroom and left hair on the sink. Forgot it was him and terrorized us for hours. He then went on to shave my brothers hair off. Stuck my face in dog poo cause it was my fault that the dog pooped in the house after walking him. Kept a rifle under the sofa in the living room and claimed he understood why fathers exterminated their families suggesting that we were all brats and did not deserve to live We were coerced into switching price tags in the store by my father to get things for a cheaper price We returned items for full price! We owned a recycled car every month. My father would fix and then sell them. He sold our pet chihuahuas Peppy and Lulu cause they wouldnt breed. Actually he traded them for a tv. We cried for weeks. My mother smoked 3 packs a day and weighed 82 pounds. You could bounce quarters off our beds and eat off our floors. All she did was clean and cook. She was not permitted to leave the house at all without my father. This went on for 15 years. I was around for 13 of those. I cant remember one good moment. Some of it is funny in retrospect. Babs in TX

I'd like to add my 2 cents worth here. I don't think it's a good idea to go overboard with the alcohol consumption all in one sitting (for obvious reasons) and also because you don't want to be dry heaving or vomiting profusely with the band. You could damage yourself or your band. That being said, I like most alcohol with the exception of gin (allergy to juniper berries) and moonshine! As I age, I find that the sulfites in wine really give me a horrible headache. I've had no problems with organic wines though but have a hard time finding them. Vodka is by far my favorite hard drink and I like the Crystal Light idea. I'll have to try that one.

I am getting banded in 26 days and people keep asking me about alcohol. I am not a big drinker. I dislike most drinks. I can have a beer or two sometimes, or maybe a Margarita (which I know is never going to happen again). I was wondering if anyone had tried a drink with the band and what the results were. My Mom is thinking of getting banded, but is a wine collector and does not want to give that up. Thanks