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yes they had me on heparin injections my right side looks like purple marble from the lovly bruises. In the hospital they gave me a shot to overcome my nausea but it was fast and as soon as they shoved alcohol prep near my nose it was ok. Yes it takes me all day but i can sip 65 ounces. do I have a sleeve?

I asked my surgeon this many times as I had pre-cancerous erosions in my esophagus from reflux prior to surgery. He told me that it was one of the rarest but most stubborn post-op complications. He said that some people still have significant acid production that can reflux up through the Y and cause an ulcer at the point of the anastamosis between the pouch and the small intestines. Risk factors that can increase this are alcohol, smoking, NSAIDS or eating inappropriate foods all of which I had none of. It seems as if it boiled down to bad luck for me. I am still pretty weak and seem to have a great deal of pain after eating but I am hoping for more strength each day. My physician told me that 90% of them disappear on their own and only about 10% need surgical intervention. I am praying that I am in the 90%. I will keep you all informed. Thank you so much for your kind thoughts and prayers.

We all know the BMI chart is not very accurate as a measurement of good weight (or perhaps even good health) if you are built any different then " average"; that is, you do not have big bones and have a fairly average muscle composition. I may be completely wrong in the statement I just made, but it is something I have learned over the years. Before surgery, the BMI chart told me I was morbidly obese at 360. I did not like the term, but came to accept it and could see I was in middle of dark red section of BMI chart. Clearly, this was not something I was proud of and knew it was time to do a 180 reverse direction on both my physical and mental qualities that define my daily existence. Purge the bad and embrace the good as well as develop solid new habits for living a life of personal strength in all things. Fast forward to today and I am 1 year post opinion a couple weeks. My weight is within healthy BMI for my height of 5' 11 " and has been for 4 months now. The question, after this long introduction, is what should I target my final weight as? I am at 180 lb today (leaned out 10 lb in last 6 weeks with good fiitness and nutrition) and have a muscular athletic build. I have been working on transforming my body into an athletic physique for the last 4 months with Paleo fitness and diet, staying roughly around the same weight of 180 (average of course, I have gone up to 195 and dropped again to 180). The difference now when compared to the first time I was at 180 a few months ago is that I have solid muscle definition and a low fat percentage of 15%. My goal is to hit 10 % body fat, have a nice six pack and have he strength to compete in cross fit regionals and make a name for myself. Working at it every week with my PT ( so much improvement in last 2 months) and I hope to be able to compete next year. It is not a terrible amount of work to lose weight and keep / build lean muscle, about 20-30 min a day of Paleo type fitness and consistent Paleo neutrino with supplementation. Should I try and keep my weight around 180 lb or should I lean out more and let it drop or build up bigger muscles and let it climb more? I do not feel I need bigger muscle just for appearances. I probable want to trade 5 lb of fat for 5lb of lean muscle. Looking for a lot of different opinions and perspectives to help me move towards a well informed decision on this. One thing is for certain is I will keep up the Paleo fitness and nutrition as I have a good thing going there. Another certainty is I like the way I look and feel. I like feeling strong and at the same time flexible with good mobility. One change I might make is to cut alcohol completely ( drink now about 2 x a month) because the cost / benefit analysis is tipping the scale towards a cost rather then a benefit. Please weigh in (ha!) with all your opinions and thoughts to my questions. Thank you!!

I'm only a couple of weeks post-op, so I know I won't be drinking for awhile - but, I've read that many people warn against alcohol on here post-op. Apparently, the smaller stomach allows the alcohol to be processed much more quickly making you a "lightweight" - so go slow with whatever you choose! Pre-op, back in my wilder 20's, Diet Coke & rum was a fave of mine - Diet Coke mixes well with many different alcohols. Alcohol, by nature, is relatively packed with sugar. You'll be hard pressed to find one that's "good" for you. If you want some extra Vitamins, go with a screwdriver - Orange juice & Vodka. Pre-op for my LapBand removal, I was on a very strict low carb diet (no more than 50g/day). Prior to going to a St. Patrick's Day party at a bar with friends, I researched the carb counts of various beers - ultimately, I decided that even the low carb beers weren't worth my time. I think the lowest I found (that was carried at the bar) was somewhere around 17g carbs per bottle. Sorry, I'd rather expend my carbs on something I can EAT!

I'm still pre op but I'm turning 21 in August...not really a problem since my surgery will be the end of this year but I was wondering are there better types of alcohol? I'm not really a drinker or a party girl but I do plan on having a few drinks on the coast in a casino with my family..I'm talking about alcohol post op as well..(not really a fan of whine or tequila) but what are some good low cal but good tasting drinks that I can also drink post op and won't kill me lol.

If you are a coffee drinker, instant coffee mixes well with vanilla or Choc protein powders hot or cold! I was sleeved in winter and found unjury chicken soup flavored protein a nice change also unflavored protein mixes well into miso soup. Yeah some things just don't belong being sugar free, kinda like non-alcoholic beer I just can't wrap my mind around that !

No. I can't have it for one year. My doctor says there is a significant risk of liver failure if we drink alcohol in the first year following rny.

Thanks for sharing. I can only hope that I am able to post so clearing and despite your "bumps in the road" you are still positive. I am awaiting a date, in he mean time I am doing what NUT tells me to do, exercise started with PT and Psych has totally cleared me til post op. Next visit July 11th....Looking forward to learning more, from my "team" and each of you. Reading a lot too. Any recommendations will be great. Already De-caffeinaed, de-carbonated and de=alcoholed....Not missing any too/

Is anyone drinking alcohol??

Around Around 22-24 carbs... but 18 of them are Fiber.. typically only one or two sugar and 0-4 sugar alcohols. And you really don't believe in net carbs? I'm skeptical of subtracting sugar alcohols, but I definitely subtract fiber. I eat TONS of fiber which put my carbs up over 60 sometimes, but I stay in ketosis because most of the carbs are from fiber.. if I ate 60 carbs in a day from sugar it would definitely kick me out of ketosis so there's definitely a difference at least in my body.

I like that you started this post! I want to be real with this surgery. Not an alcoholic, but I still want to enjoy life occasionally. 'Cause, heck, otherwise, why live it? Thank you for the question!

Tomorrow I will have had George D. Band for one year. Luckily, I haven't had any problems. I have gotten about 6 fills and feel like I am in a good place. George is a little tempermental, tightening up whenever he wants to. I have lost 57 lbs and counting. The first 6 months the weight came off with what seem of ease. Then the last 6 months it's slowed to almost nothing. I know, however, the slow down is my own fault. When I began this journey in April 2012, I was excited and determined. I was banded June 22, 2012 and did everything that I was told. As time went by and the weight came off I started to become a little lax on following the rules- like a couple of extra bites here and there and eating more calories than I should. For a while I was getting on the elliptical daily or at the least every other day and getting 30 -45 min. Now my workout routine has become sporatic at best. Partly, the lack of exercise is because work has become very busy and life consuming since we are switching computer systems. Partly, I let the work outs slip because I just didn't want to do it, even though I knew I should. The last month my weight has bounced between 187-190, basically the first 50 lbs fell off the last 7 have come about a pound a month. I do follow the water thing religiously and I do not drink any type of carbonation. I have only had a couple of alcohol drink and they were mixed drinks, which is my preference anyway. I have really started these last couple of weeks trying to get back on track and not allow myself a cheat. This isn't always easy, but it is something I must do. This time of year ice cream and iced coffee from McDonalds are deamons. I love these things during the summer months, so I am trying to avoid them. I hope that I can rededicated my life to dear George and get him working like a champ again. I admit that I have not lived up to my end of the bargin, but George has agree to forgive me. However, George must be a little upset at me because for the last two days he has decided to tighten up to the point yogurt is my food of choice and it keeps me going for 4 hours. I wish he'd loosen up just a touch. So to sum it up after a year of happy marriage to dear George D. Band we are still stitched together, just needing a little couple's therapy.

My surgeon allows alcohol 3 months post-surgery. I have had cocktails about 3 times since surgery (all on vacation) but always limited to one, due to calories etc. The alcohol affected me the same as it did pre-surgery. I would go with your surgeon's recommendations.

This also applies to alcoholic beverages...

When did people first have a drink and what was it? I'm 6 weeks and dying to go for a night on the town and try a drink ... Thanks

I like quest too! Be careful with the Atkins. I ate one last night had 11 grams of sugar alcohol and it made me nausea!! Didn't dump thank gawd!

Idk if this helps or not but before surgery awhile back I had crazy pain in about the same area my gallbladder had been. I was kinda worried about that. Ended up so much discomfort I ended up crying in the ER. Ultrasound revealed I had a huge mass of gas. I ended up taking gas meds and walking. Didn't totally relieve it so at the end I had to do basically a bowel prep. Gas gone relief felt. Have followed up with gastro and this happens time to time. Do u use a lot of the sugar alcohol stuff? I do and the gas from it can get bad. Feel better soon!

so first let me begin by explaining that I do not drink now that Im supposed to be dieting and stuff . I do believe though, that every once in a while a small low cal drink is not bad to treat yourself to. I had my first drink at a family get together where someone brought twisted tea coolers. one was offered to me and I decided 'what the heck? why not?' so I had sipped it slowly and it was when I was half done It hit. dizzy, loopy, lol, a rush ran through me. I laugh now, but then I felt like a complete idiot. I was buzzing off half a 5% alcohol cooler! I stopped right there and ate something to help me sober up and never have tried it since lolol. just wondering if any one else has had the same experience? This is funny to me, and I hope you can find some humour in it too

My stomach was all sorts of messed up the first couple of weeks! Everything went through me. I can eat anything now no problems. Oh and watch the sugar alcohols in the pudding and such.

Gowalking. Your apology has actually made me feel that it's ok to post concerns again. I understand your point of view but I also understand that we live in a society that promotes sabotage and literally try to push u under the bus. I have counted upto six offerings of foods people trying to feed me @ work. They say things like "oh but just one slice of cake won't hurt." I've come home and told my husband about it. AA tells their members to avoid alcoholics, parolees are prohibited from associating with other parolees. But a food addict has no escaping food environments. It's a hard situation. My coworkers will come and offer me all this poison and then say after I refuse it "oh that's right you can't eat this. " I have said a dozen times In the past month. "I can eat whatever I want, however I didn't go under a knife to eat your cake." We have to be compassionate so sometimes. Good luck to all of us.

Have to agree with Lipstick Lady. BTW, I went through Kaiser and we got a very firm full liquids for two weeks, no alcohol for at least 6 months. Lynda

So update.. After finishing my first fast day yesterday of my second week I'm holding steady at 168 (no loss today) last week I started at 171 I had been stuck at the number for months. After first week of the fast I went down to 169 which was very exciting! After a major party and much alcohol I went down to 166!! (dehydration I know) Evened out at 168. I'm good with it and I know my body well enough to know it will probably stay there this week. Oh and the first two fast days I was grumpy and off yesterday being my third, I felt a lot better

So update.. After finishing my first fast day yesterday of my second week I'm holding steady at 168 (no loss today) last week I started at 171 I had been stuck at the number for months. After the first week of fast I went down to 169 which was very exciting! After a major party and much alcohol I went down to 166!! (dehydration I know) Evened out at 168. I'm good with it and I know my body well enough to know it will probably stay there this week. Oh and the first two fast days I was grumpy and off yesterday being my third. I felt a lot better I will throw this post over to the 5:2 thread.. Not sure if we are trying to move it all there or what?

I was told no carbonated beverages. I am very lucky to be a person who doesn't like soda at all. Even before surgery the only non- alcoholic beverages I drank were water, unsweet tea and skim milk. That is a true blessing because those are all things I can still have. Even no alcohol for the first year will be fine. My vices are sweets so I plan to not try any refined sugar and am telling myself I will dump. Better to keep that sugar monster at bay!

I don't feel I have a disease, but rather a disorder. Much like how I feel about alcoholism, if a person knows obesity runs in their family, the stakes are high to not start, than try to stop later. Don't drink, don't over eat, don't take that first puff, etc etc I have always thought diseases are out of one's control, but a disorder can be prevented or at least there are steps to try to prevent. I know that isn't what the ama says, but like I said in the beginning, it's how I feel.