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great question! I have had this conversation in my head a few times. For what its worth, what I came up with is the following: people get their cardiac anatomy rearranged all the time without the slightest hesitation or regret: cardiac bypass, stents. They are no more life saving than what we are doing. it may be more dramatic but both are arguably a result of genetic predisposition and lifestyle. I see no difference between the two, except that the cardiac rearangement is more socially accepted ( even if caused by decades of smoking and eating poorly and lack of exercise, excesive alcohol consumption etc.) and ours is judged much harsher. the question i asked myself, IF I had the evidence that I needed it, would I wait until i had a heart attack to get a bypass or would i act proactively? why not the same for weight induced issues ( of which heart disease is but one consequence)? alex

I have a different view on VSG. I believe that I am a food addict and my body and mind is predisposed to crave certain foods. And not only that, my body is very efficient at storing calories against future needs. Currently, food addiction is not a recognized condition, but who knows, in a few more years, it might be. And eventually it could be treated like alcohol or any other addiction. But there is one thing I do know, food producers are working hard to make foods that make us want more of them. That only makes sense, produce products that people want. Unfortunately, those same products work too well on people like me. I can't explain my preoccupation with food for so many years any other way. I could eat a filling meal and then, two hours later, I'd be thinking about eating again. I'd get cravings for certain flavors and could get them out of my head until I ate them. I believed all the hype that if only I could just cut back on calories and exercise more, I could be thin like the beautiful people. Not being normal was a failing on my part. Six months post-op, and I think all that crap about "just cut back" "push the plate away" is just that - crap. When your mind is telling you that you're hungry every two hours, it's like a little kid tugging on your arm saying, "I want a candy bar, I want a candy bar!" And I couldn't get rid of him. And eventually it just wore me down, till I gave in. Whether the surgery removed the part of my stomach that was producing the "hunger" hormone or if the surgery was just the psychological kick in the pants I needed, I now have a completely different attitude towards food. I no longer have that "little kid" tugging on my arm and the only cravings I experience now are for bananas\strawberries\watermelon - good for you foods. And most of the time, I only want them because I happened to walk past them at the store. Those days of suddenly wanting a cherry pie or a double cheese burger with fries - for no apparent reason - are gone. Now don't get me wrong, I still fight head hunger and sometimes try to keep eating even after I am full. So I've still got things to work on. But I'm on the downhill side and I don't feel like I am in an impossible to overcome situation. I know I was in imminent danger - mentally as well as physically, just undiagnosed.

I stayed an extra day in hospital because I could not get past liquids without nausea . When I got the wave they put an alcohol prep near my nose , kind of squashed the feeling imidiately and gave me zofran iv push and out it went. But in the hospital they told me if I needed I could take a script home with me for the zofran so I am sure its available in pill form, call your syrgeon you shouldnt have to suffer like this. And by some alcohol preps they work wonders. Good luck to you I hope your better soon.

I had mine Monday. We talked a bit about my family support system and history. Why I wanted the surgery and what the risks are. About my eating habits and then I had to take a personality quiz on the computer which was 340 questions and I swear about 200 of them stated about alcohol,suicide and drugs in sneaky ways...you would think after the first few times I said I do not drink,I do not do nor have i ever done drugs and I do not feel like committing suicide they would get it lol

My brother is a highly intelligent man. This was proven decades ago, when IQ tests (performed while his teachers and parents tried to figure out why he was a miserable little bugger) showed a genius level IQ. I know that sentence sounds unsympathetic to my brother, but we were all miserable - our parents, his teachers, me, and my brother. The decades that have passed since then haven't given him any more common sense or made him any less miserable. A good example of that is his reaction when I first talked with him about my weight loss surgery. This highly intelligent and (by then) well-read man said, "Wow! So, you have the surgery, and then you eat anything you want and you still lose weight!" Well, no, I told him. Not really. In fact, nothing like that. During the 6 years of my weight loss surgery journey, I have (over and over and over again) witnessed bariatric patients who came out of the operating room after surgically successful procedures still wondering why they couldn't eat anything want and still lose weight. Their disappointing weight loss was and is a perpetual puzzle to them because somehow they had not grasped that behavioral change is required for weight loss success. It's easy to label those patients as stupid or ignorant or deluded, or to blame their bariatric team for failure to properly educate those patients about what would be required of them both pre- and post-op. All of those things could be a factor. In March 2012 I attended 2 sessions of a required pre-op nutrition and education class. My BMI then made me obese, but not morbidly so. I had gained weight after a complete unfill and was preparing to say goodbye to my beloved band due to medical problems aggravated by my band, planning to revise to vertical sleeve gastrectomy in the same procedure. The dietitian leading the class was a perky, pretty 20-something girl, adorably pregnant, who had clearly never struggled with her weight before. Her slightly condescending attitude was hard to take, but about halfway through the class I thought I could understand her attitude. She had just named a long list of foods we should not eat after surgery (including fried foods, candy, baked goodies, soda, alcohol, salty snacks, etc.) when I heard a woman nearby say bitterly, "I don't know. That seems like an awful lot to give up." Since I had known the before and after of WLS, I was strongly tempted to respond to her, but I held my tongue (wisely, for once). I don't know just why so many people think that WLS is magic, that you can eat anything you want and still lose weight; that you don't have to give up a single food or behavior or attitude in order to succeed. Maybe we can blame that kind of thinking on the media, or maybe we can blame it on the deeply-entrenched denial that tends to go along with obesity. But the fact is, you can't eat anything and still lose weight unless you're dying of cancer or AIDs or some other fatal disease, and probably don't want to eat a single bite of anything anyway. And I'd trade dying of cancer for WLS sacrifices and success any old day, wouldn't you?

What if you could eat anything you want and still lose weight? That sounds wonderful, doesn't it, but is it even possible? My brother is a highly intelligent man. This was proven decades ago, when IQ tests (performed while his teachers and parents tried to figure out why he was a miserable little bugger) showed a genius level IQ. I know that sentence sounds unsympathetic to my brother, but we were all miserable - our parents, his teachers, me, and my brother. The decades that have passed since then haven't given him any more common sense or made him any less miserable. A good example of that is his reaction when I first talked with him about my weight loss surgery. This highly intelligent and (by then) well-read man said, "Wow! So, you have the surgery, and then you eat anything you want and you still lose weight!" Well, no, I told him. Not really. In fact, nothing like that. During the 6 years of my weight loss surgery journey, I have (over and over and over again) witnessed bariatric patients who came out of the operating room after surgically successful procedures still wondering why they couldn't eat anything want and still lose weight. Their disappointing weight loss was and is a perpetual puzzle to them because somehow they had not grasped that behavioral change is required for weight loss success. It's easy to label those patients as stupid or ignorant or deluded, or to blame their bariatric team for failure to properly educate those patients about what would be required of them both pre- and post-op. All of those things could be a factor. In March 2012 I attended 2 sessions of a required pre-op nutrition and education class. My BMI then made me obese, but not morbidly so. I had gained weight after a complete unfill and was preparing to say goodbye to my beloved band due to medical problems aggravated by my band, planning to revise to vertical sleeve gastrectomy in the same procedure. The dietitian leading the class was a perky, pretty 20-something girl, adorably pregnant, who had clearly never struggled with her weight before. Her slightly condescending attitude was hard to take, but about halfway through the class I thought I could understand her attitude. She had just named a long list of foods we should not eat after surgery (including fried foods, candy, baked goodies, soda, alcohol, salty snacks, etc.) when I heard a woman nearby say bitterly, "I don't know. That seems like an awful lot to give up." Since I had known the before and after of WLS, I was strongly tempted to respond to her, but I held my tongue (wisely, for once). I don't know just why so many people think that WLS is magic, that you can eat anything you want and still lose weight; that you don't have to give up a single food or behavior or attitude in order to succeed. Maybe we can blame that kind of thinking on the media, or maybe we can blame it on the deeply-entrenched denial that tends to go along with obesity. But the fact is, you can't eat anything and still lose weight unless you're dying of cancer or AIDs or some other fatal disease, and probably don't want to eat a single bite of anything anyway. And I'd trade dying of cancer for WLS sacrifices and success any old day, wouldn't you?

Alcoholic beverages, sugar laden soft drinks, etc. are also ways to cheat around the band... flow right through, and are loaded with useless carbs with no other beneficial nutritional values. Add ice cream to the that list, too.

http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/6-of-the-healthiest-alcoholic-mixed-drinks.html Here are some options.

And the skinny girl margaritas are ok just doesn't contain much alcohol.

I know we shouldn't drink, but what is the best thing to drink should the occasion arise? I've had Skinny Girl Margarita & Wine....both still have alot of calories.

How has everyone been? I've been so busy and lazy I forgot to check in. So what is new? I feel like I am getting back on track and things are back to normal. I don't feel like I have to be censored and everything seems to be natural now. So far I am keeping my food down and I am slowly added different fruit and veggies to my diet. I am just afraid to eat pasta, rice and bread. The other day I wanted some Raman noodles but I got scared and bake me some fries instead. Also I've been on a carb kick lately but at least I am choosing smart carbs. Wait smart carbs? Is that even possible? One thing I noticed about being back on track is my triggers days made an appearance and this past Sunday was it. AKA Sunday Funday. Why Sunday? Just in case you guys haven't noticed but I love sports and Sundays consist of sports. Also I love True Blood and Dexter. So did I handle my trigger day? Easy... I planned it. I know I will be drinking and there may be a possibility that I go off my healthy lifestyle because I will tell myself this is my "cheat day". So, I double my workouts on Sunday and preplan my dinner. Well I should say me and my friends plan the dinner. I love my friends by the way for two reason One the are on the mission to find lap band friendly recipes and two they found low calories drinks to make. How cool is that but I have a confession to make. Sunday I finished a whole bottle of Moscato at first my friends were like that wasn't too bad until one of them look up how many calories are in bottle. I am ashamed to say it but I will tell you this I see why alcohol is empty calories so I will need to be careful. Trust and believe I worked out another 30 mins when they left. I am still learning but I feel like everything is back to normal. Thanks for reading .

mine smells too. i noticed that as i lose weight my tummy is looking frumped over. like the top is now falling down and it covers up my belly button. what i typically do is after a bath/shower i wipe it dry with a towel and sometime a little bit of rubbing alcohol on a q-tip. or if i am going to be home i sometimes just stick a cotton ball in there (i have a deep button). it soaks up the moisture. i just leave it in for alittle bit. usually helps. while it was healing i would put a cotton ball in there for a while. just made it feel better. that's where my only incision is. not sure if these will help but good luck!

I am very heavy & after I wash my belly button...I dry it & put constarch baby powder in it. Tha keeps it dry & it smells good. Clean it out with alcohol & then put in the powder. I do it after EVERY shower & mine never smells. I use 2 have that problem bcuz Im so heavy & it is so deep.

I was diagnosed with an ulcer at the anastomosis at six months post-op. I was fortunate to not have any symptoms other than mild anemia. They did a stool test and picked up some blood which was followed by an endoscopy that confirmed the ulcer. My surgeon doubled my Prevacid along with some restrictions in diet and a second endoscopy five months later showed the ulcer completely healed. Ulcers at the anastomosis are relatively rare, affecting 7% to 15% of patients and can be caused by any number of things including alcohol, spicy food, caffeine, smoking, the use of NSAIDs and increased retention of stomach acids in the pouch just to name a few. Treatment options vary widely from oral medication to additional surgery in serious (but rare) cases. Ulcers are one more very good reason to do everything you possibly can to follow your surgeon's post-op protocol as closely to the letter as you can. But even patients who follow the protocol can develop ulcers from causes beyond our control. Regardless of the cause, ulcers are almost always treatable and can often be completely resolved.

GrassMom- It is sort of like AA. Recovering Alcoholics get comfort in meeting together and telling their stories. I guess we are mostly all food addicts in recovery.

First, I want to say that I am happy with my weight loss so far (23 pounds in 7 weeks), although it is slowing significantly to less than 1 kg (2 lb) per week the last three weeks. Next, I want to say that I understand that there seem to be as many diet plans after the sleeve as there are dietitians. I actually have an appointment with a different dietitian who was recommended to me by a friend who has also had VSG, as a "second opinion" on what my primary dietitian (who works with my surgeon) has told me. When I spoke with this other dietitian on the phone she agreed with me that the diet my current dietitian has me on might not be the best choice for me. My current dietitian also uses basically the same diet for people with the band and sleeve, just reducing the calories a bit for the sleeve versus the band. The liquid stage was fairly standard. In the puree stage I was told that half of every puree should be lean Protein, a quarter should be non-starchy veg, and a quarter should be grain-based starch (rather than potato or other starchy veg), because the grain-based starches give us B1 and other important Vitamins. OK. This worked fine, even though it seemed a lot more specific than most people have for the puree phase. Then, he didn't really have a soft food stage, but just moved me straight to full foods, giving me some advice about things that I may have trouble tolerating at first. It turns out I haven't had trouble tolerating anything. The thing I am having trouble with is the composition of the full food diet. His advice is a lot different from almost everything I see here. Here is the guideline he told me: 1. I am to have a balanced meal, not particularly high in protein or particularly low in carb or fat. This is to make sure that I'm getting all the nutrients I need. 2. I should be eating around 1000 calories a day. He reckons I am burning around 1800 calories a day and this will promote a 2-4 kg (4-8 lb) loss per month. 3. I should not count calories. Instead I should be using an exchange diet as follows: a. 3-4 servings a day of grain-based carbs. A serve is one slice of bread, 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup Pasta (1/2 cup if it's dense or small), or 2-4 whole grain crackers depending the size. b. Max 1 serving starchy vegetables a day. A serving is 1 medium potato or 1/2 cup mashed potato c. 4 servings other vegetables a day. A serving is 1/2 cup cooked veggies or 1 cup of salad d. 1-3 servings fruit a day. A serving is 5-6 strawberries, 1 medium apple, 1 medium orange, 2 small mandarines, 2 plums, etc. e. 4 servings dairy a day. A serving is 1/2 cup milk or yogurt, or 1 slice of cheese (like the Kraft slices) f. A palm-sized 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick amount of protein, spread over 2-3 meals, per day. g. One teaspoon of fat or oil per day, or 1/8 avocado h. A max of 2 alcoholic drinks per week, and a max of 2 Desserts or other "treats" per week I am nervous that this diet has too many calories and too little protein. I am also nervous about the idea of not logging my food (he is strongly against logging and counting calories, because he doesn't think it is a natural behavior for live). I am also nervous that it is so different from what most people seem to be doing. Is anyone else here on a similar "exchange" type diet, instead of having a set number of calories or protein per day? Is anyone else on a diet that is radically different from the high-protein low-carb low-fat diet that most people seem to use?

i too was irritated that i saw the pa's postop. however you can request to see the dr too and not the pa's. but i have learned if you go to the hoffman estates office and they are running behind even though you are scheduled to see the dr they will send in the pa to keep things "moving"...i saw the asian pa twice (i forget her name) and then another one with curly brown hair once when i was supposed to see rantis. but rantis did make an appearance at the end of the appointment to see me. as far as your incision, did you have single site in the belly button? i didn't have problems during the healing phase but now that my stomach is frumping over from weight loss it gets infected quite frequently. and maybe irritated is a better word than infected. i have learned its from the moisture and the inside of my button not drying out. i stick a cotton ball in there for about an hour after a bath/shower to dry out the Water that may be left behind. it helps. i have also used a q-tip with a little alcohol on it to help dry out the water. but again this was after mine was healed. i have a very deep innie . hope it clears up for you!!! and its completely normal to hit a stall around 3/4 weeks. if you do a search on the dreaded 3 week stall a lot of posts will come up about it. just follow the plan and i promise you it will start again. make sure you are getting your water in. i learned water is truly the secret to flushing out your system. i think between the rapid loss with the 2 week liquid and the rapid loss those first couple weeks, your loss definitely trails off for a week or 2 around 3 or 4 weeks. i think our bodies are like "what is happening". and they take a couple week hiatus to figure it out and catch up. that is my crazy thought anyways. feel free to pm me if you have any questions!!!!

Not for the squeamish! Today one of my scabs came off. I've lost others over the last week and they looked fine. This one looked... eh. NOTE: This wound is NOT hot. The skin around it is not redder than the skin around the pink healing ones. It does not smell bad. It does not look like this issue is deep. It is not painful. However... it looked whitish and seeping instead of like pink clean healing skin. I'm at work, so I went to the first aid cabinet. Grabbed hand sanitizer, alcohol pads, antibacterial pads, antibiotic ointment, and a big sterile bandaid. Sanitized the heck out of my hands, used alcohol pads on it, used the antibacterial pads on it, put the antibacterial ointment on it, and covered it with a bandaid. We have liquid skin in the cabinet as well, but I did NOT use that because if it is infected, I don't want to seal the bacteria in. Anything else I should be doing before I call the doc tomorrow?

One of my co-workers that got sleeved was having the same problem and she wasn't losing any weight. She decided to start over with her doctors post-op instructions. She is losing again and has cut out alcohol. She looks great! Good luck to you!!!!!

Sorry to hear this. Have you always had trouble with alcohol or just since you got sleeved? I know someone who hated drinking but after she had gastric bypass she is now raging alcoholic.

The alcohol/wine won't hurt your sleeve but it will sabotage your weight loss. I have the same issue...I love my wine and could easily drink a bottle myself. The past few weeks I've been drinking every wkend between graduations and parties and I either stay the same or put on a pound or two. It really will screw up the loss...it has for me. I now have to really think about where and when I will indulge in my wine it can't be a every wkend kind of thing. BTW, prior to surgery I'd have to drink a few glasses to get a buzz NOW I'm buzzing while drinking my first glass. Good luck to you...and I hope I can't control myself too. I didn't have this surgery for nothing.

You're not destroying your sleeve. liquids flow right thru it. You are destroying your sleeve's ability to be effective. A bottle of wine is at least 600 calories. No one should be drinking a whole bottle of wine - WLS or not. You may be developing a transfer addiction. Give yourself this test. No alcohol for a week. If you can't do it, you need to seek professional help. If you are still trying to lose weight, you should not be consuming alcohol, period. Consumption of high calorie liquids defeats all known weight loss surgery methodologies. Stop this before it's too late.

I can appreciate it being hard in social situations to follow a nutrition plan. There are a few issues here that I would think you might require some serious thinking. I see you had surgery in March, so you're not that far out. You have to remember you are not fully healed. Even though you may not be doing physical damage to your sleeve itself (simply I mean I haven't seen any data that shows that alcohol will deteriorate your sleeve), alcohol should never be a substitute for nutrition. Lack of proper nutrition can have serious overall health repercussions. You will always be able to ingest more liquid than solid food, you need to get your Protein in. You have to make good decisions for your well being. You made the decision to have surgery, I can only assume you did not make it lightly and you had serious reasons for doing so, one of which I would hope is your health. You didn't ask "if" you were doing damage, so I suspect you know that this isn't a good pattern to get into. You won't burn fat while there is alcohol in your system, your body will burn that first... Did you drink the same way before surgery as after? Not making a judgement, back in the day I was known to hold my liquor with the best of them, but my priorities are very different now. I don't want to ingest anything that isn't providing me with nutrition. I have a window of opportunity to lose as much as I can, I want to exploit that. It will slow and my restriction won't be as much. I am taking every bit of that time and using it to my advantage. If you find yourself drinking more now, you did the right thing by posting. On my psych eval the doctor made a very strong point of making sure I understood that many people have cross over addictions after surgery. Trading food for alcohol. I am not assuming this to be the case, I just wanted to mention it. You are an adult and can make your own decisions. I hope you take some time and evaluate what's going on with you. You are not alone in the weight loss struggle, we all have our demons. Stay committed to the nutritional plan your doctor laid out for you. Be well and good luck going forward.

I am not a expert so I do not know how bad you are destroying your sleeve but alcohol has a lot of calories in it especially beer. Your already lacking and missing certain nutrients and substituting a meal for alcohol will not help you at all. I am sure we all have had a glass of wine or here and there but an entire bottle it a bit much. How long has it been since you were sleeved? Not sure if you feel you have to drink but if you do feel that way you may want to consider talking to a counselor about it because you could be jeopardizing your health.

You may want to talk to a therapist or psychologist. You might be moving into alcohol abuse territory. I would also worry about all those empty calories.