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Have you considered attending some OA meetings and/or working the steps around food? When you read the Big Book and change the words alcohol and alcoholic to food and compulsive eater, does it still apply? I agree with others, the sleeve is not a magic cure buy it has been a miracle for me. That said, I think the reason I am seeing results is in part because of the mental work I have done around food up to now and in part because I have radically changed the way I eat. I too recommend you start tracking your food with MyFitnessPal or a similar app. Focus on getting enough Protein (at least 100 grams since you are a guy and an athlete). Avoid starches, added sugars, and fried foods. Completely cut out anything with high fructose corn syrup. Choose healthy, whole foods instead of pre-packaged processed foods. Eat good fats. Take Vitamins (at least a Multivitamin and possibly D3). Exercise (sounds like you are already doing so). Wean yourself off of caffeine and carbonation. I would suggest you check in with a good NUT to talk about your goals: losing weight, running, etc. so that he or she can help you determine the level of macros you need (protein, fat, and carbs) for your activity level and to lose weight. One of two things will happen. Either you will lose the weight and not need surgery, or you may decide to still have surgery but you will be better prepared. Keep in mind that whether you have surgery or not, when losing weight you WILL experience stalls. It's how you deal with those stalls that will determine your success. Keep us posted on how you are doing and what you decide.

It hasn’t been a topic with my dr because I know I can’t drink carbonated drinks and we have discussed alcohol because I told him I wasn’t worried about drinking .. I’m 3 weeks out it was just a question I had for people that drank earlier

I'll chime in in case someone cares. Research shows that bariatric patients' blood alcohol levels increase two to four times as high as typical folk after consuming the same amount of alcohol. 2-4 times! So 1 beer for us postop is equal to 2 to 4 beers preop.

My doctor said 6 months and I waited the 6 months. Alcohol is no issue for me so I don't drink it very often. A glass of wine at special events or dinners is usually it for me. I suggest waiting your surgeons allotted time and then proceed with caution. As mentioned above some people are effected highly by alcohol and some aren't. My tolerance was the same as prior to surgery but I really don't want to waste the calories so that's a decision maker for me.

Kate you are my hero. Congratulations!! Before committing to this surgery, I was a daily drinker. A relaxing cocktail after work was just part of my routine. I had to come to terms with letting go of that lifestyle. I am feeling much better for it, not to mention a little richer:) Also, my mother is a recovering alcoholic 29 years sober. Keep putting you first, one day at a time!

Alcohol or oily like baby oil

Alcohol wipes!

Sorry to sound harsh, but this is surgery, with small-medium but significant risks (including death - depending on how good your surgeon is). Have you considered getting a personal trainer? At a BMI of 37, its not that hard to lose weight, and a personal trainer can have you fit and looking good within a year or two. I found having someone/something to motivate me was all that i needed. Also, a personal trainer for a year is likely to be cheaper than surgery, and you will be healther in the long run. Also, as a side note, I know BMI is not that good an indication of how "fat" someone is, its really the skin fold test. Anyway, i think if you start by eliminating all alcohol and pre-packaged foods from your diet, you might be surprised how effective it is. I know its hard. I had a BMI of 30 about 4 years ago. I didn't have any co-morbidities. I set myself a diet plan. 2 weetbix and milk for brekky. 1 medium apple and small tub of plain/natural yogurt (in one of those snap packs - try to find the one with the lowest sat fat and free sugar) for a snack. 2 sandwiches with wholemeal bread, tomato, lettuce, beetroot, 2 hardboiled eggs, gherkins/pickles and 2 thin slices of honey roasted ham with no butter (the key is no butter). One more apple for a snack. and whatever roast or Pasta (no cheese/olive oil/pesto etc.) for dinner. The other key is 0.5 to 3/4 of an hour of solid exercise per day. This means sweating and pushing until you're breathless - this is where the personal trainer comes in. Do this, and you will lose a lot of weight within 6-8 months and be very fit. It will be easy to start, but a lot harder after the 1st week, and hard for at least 2 or 3 months to come, and during this time you will lose a lot of motivation. But push through and you will feel happy that you didn't do the surgery. I don't like to say how much weight I lost (it was a lot) but that shouldn't be the main goal. I always told myself that If i become fit, the weight will come off by itself. Before i started, running 300 metres was a struggle. After half a year, i was running 3 kilometers non stop, an improvement of 10 fold. Last year, I ran the melbourne half marathon, and this year, I am playing in the glen iris open championships in tennis. P.S. the food doesn't seem a lot, but eat it slowly, and you will realise that it is.

@@ilikecake2much - Welcome!! Your doctor must have had a reason to recommend you for bariatric surgery.......besides just being overweight. My PCP made the same suggestion because I was diagnosed in 2013 with non-alcoholic FATTY LIVER, which a lot, if not most, obese people probably have. I also had diabetes, albeit controlled with food, exercise, and Metformin, and high BP which had been diagnose a couple years before the liver issue. He felt WLS was the best opportunity for me to lose the 100 lbs. he said it would take in order to halt the progression of the fatty liver disease and all the bad stuff that can come with that, i.e. cirrhosis. I took about a year to read, research, and talk to everyone I'd known who had been through WLS. I, too, felt like it was such a drastic route to take to lose weight, but as my PCP said, "I know what you're already doing, and what you've already done, to try and lose weight and it's not been working well for you." Once I started thinking of WLS as a tool to lose the weight for MY HEALTH, and not as a shortcut to lose weight just for the sake of losing weight and looking better, then I was ready to make the commitment to scheduling the surgery. I wish you well on YOUR journey! Know that the new lifestyle you create for yourself by having WLS is for LIFE! Literally and figuratively. For every pound we lose, we're that much healthier!! March 31, 2015 - Tuesday Reality Check It's important to not undermine your commitment to weight loss by telling yourself, “Maybe I don’t really need/want to lose weight,” or “Maybe I don’t actually have to do these things.” If you do, you will have a much, much harder time getting yourself to just do what you need to do. From Beck Daily Diet Solutions - http://www.beckdietsolution.com/daily-diet-solutions/

That is something that my psych warned me to be mindful of especially in the first 12 months. And I have to admit it became a bit of a struggle moths 4-6 post-op, not with sex but with alcohol. I had given up overeating/poor eating, cigarettes and Diet Pepsi/caffeine all at once and I went through a two month period where I was pretty much unbearable. I have to admit that the idea of drinking alcohol to calm myself entered my mind a time or two, not just the idea but a strong desire. There was a bottle of Vodka in my house that seemed to call out to me. I am happy to say that bottle still sits undisturbed and I made it through 8 of the 12 months. The desire to replace my lost vices with alcohol has almost gone away.

What's the earliest after surgery anyone has touched alcohol? I have a party next week, that'll be 10 days post op. I'm guessing its a no brainer and a NO GO!!

Sympathies to all my fellow arthritis sufferers out there -- youch. My own surgeon has no problems with his patients taking anti-inflammatories (!) but I know it's not a good idea and so I stay away from either over-the-counter versions or the ones prescribed by rheumatologists who seem to have nothing else to offer. I recently started using an anti-inflammatory gel called Voltaren and I think I'm getting some relief from that. My arthritis is better with exercise and that keeps me moving -- an hour in the car and I have to get out and walk, walk, walk. I have a drink that works well for me as an anti-inflammatory -- I fill up glass bottles nearly to the top with Water then add a splash of unsweetened cranberry and a half a cup of aloe vera. Seems to help a lot, as does ginger tea. I've tried to identify particular food triggers but not much luck with that -- was off of Nightshades for almost a year (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes) but did not seem to notice a difference there. I do know other people who found eliminating those really helps them. Last year I started taking collagen -- we get Great Lakes brand. I mix a tablespoon into my Greek yogurt along with a few nuts, a little GF Cereal, etc. (so it's not a slider for me) -- the collagen is tasteless and jacks up the Protein (six grams on top of the twelve for the yogurt). I love cooking with homemade stock! We roast or grill an organic chicken weekly and all the bones, etc. go into the freezer bag along with veggie ends, etc. then we boil them all up from time to time to make chicken stock for soups, sauces, etc. For dark stock (beef, lamb, etc.) the oven needs to be at 500 then put the bones in for 20 minutes to release, then into the stock pot with the veggies, herbs, etc. I always add a bottle of wine (alcohol cooks off). Freezes very well. The addition of stock into dishes made with ground meat makes it soft and yummy -- easy to swallow, etc. And so flavorful. Thanks for a great thread! It's raining here today and maybe a good day for boiling up some chicken stock -- freezer is getting full and there are a zillion leeks out in the garden that need harvesting. Stock here we come!

I was just thinking about this. I am celebrating a birthday and super bowl this weekend. No alcohol and no pigging out. I am getting through it by going to one of my safe resturants for my Birthday and cooking a healthy meal for tonight. For a cake I got the smallest carvel cake for my family to split.

Yet wondering...if I am consuming some alcohol but staying within my calorie requirements and exercising...will that slow my weight loss? I love spinning and core exercises, tabata, etcetera but I also like a couple glasses of wine a couple times a week. I'm keeping my food carbs low, too. Just wondering about others experiences. FYI--I am almost 5 months out. Down 63 lbs--275 to 212. Eating about 1000/ day and exercising 4-5 times week with good workouts IMO.

These are general supplements, most commonly given to alcoholics in the ER. When bariatric patients need supplementation, they need custom nutrients based on their individual levels. A general one really won't suffice.

Your body goes immediately to burning the alcohol and not fat. So the whole time you have it in your system your body is thinking of nothing else.

I agree with everything @AshAsh1 said, especially "it doesn't sound like you are in the right mind frame to have this surgery. These are questions I wouldn't be concerned with if I was ready to change my life. ......You are concerned about not having to change your lifestyle. These questions don't sound like they are from someone who has hit their rock bottom and wants to have life changing surgery to lose weight. Just saying...." I agree that WLS surgery is a lifestyle change. Your sleeve isn't going to change anything in your mind. You can totally defeat this surgery by eating the wrong foods, eating too much and eating too frequently. Here are my experiences/opinions, 5 months post op 1. Will I be able to eat a cheeseburger and small fry with like a milkshake? Clearly I won't be opting for this on the daily but we all still need to indulge in our favorites once in a while and I'm not sure how much of it I'll be able to eat I'm assuming maybe like 1/3 or maybe 1/2 of the entire meal. But does anyone have experience with eating cheeseburgers, fries and a milkshake on like a vacation or for just a little "cheat meal"? I live in LA, so I have had In-n-Out post surgery. I can eat about 1/3 of a hamburger, protein style, no room for anything else. I actually prefer In-n-Out burgers protein style, since the buns are nothing special. I get it protein & animal style, hold the Thousand Island (mustard grilled patty & grilled onions, wrapped in lettuce). Their fries seriously suck, don't waste any stomach room on them. Have a sip or two of a milkshake if you must. But milkshakes are pure sabotage, so be careful. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong about eating local specialties on vacation, and being flexible for a week. But you have to be absolutely certain you can get back on plan once you get home. 2. I absolutely LOVE sparkling Water like La Croix and San Pellegrino, does anyone drink sparkling water on occasion? I have no issues w carbonation, as long as I don't drink out of a can. Over ice takes away some of the fizz, and doesn't bother me. 3. Cocktails and Wine, I'm not sure about you but being 24 I like to have myself an occasional couple of social beverages, how was your experience with alcohol both mixed drinks (hard liquor) and wine? (Don't worry about beer I don't like it). I have no issues with how alcohol effects me. But I have almost completely given up alcohol, because they are liquid calories with no nutritional value. I have worked way too hard and had too much success to undue it with a few drinks. A mixed cocktail has as many or more calories than I consume in a day. If you are serious about WLS you will come to the same conclusion that drinks, except on rare occasion aren't worth it. I may not be 24, but this was a BIG adjustment for me, as my job centers around entertaining and wining and dining. 4. Not to generalize but I think a lot of people have a sweet tooth, I love the occasional scone, croissant, cookie, French macaron, etc. how has your experience with these types of baked pastries been? This is the biggest worry about your post. Can you occasionally have these, yes, of course. But the fact you are worried about this pre op makes me think you are too attached, and occasional will be far too often. 5. coffee. I'm ADDICTED to coffee and espresso beverages; lattes, macchiatos, cappuccinos, matcha lattes. How have these affected you and do you sweeten them at all or keep it plain? Can you sweeten them with like flavored syrups like a pump of lavender simple Syrup or matcha powder? Ugh, lavender simple syrup, pure liquid calories again, as are most coffee drinks. Try out coffee at home with Premier Protein Caramel or Fairlifemilk and sf syrup. 7. Also will there be a time when eventually I can have a beverage while eating a snack or meal? Or will I forever not be able to consume liquids and solids at the same time? Nope, at 5 months I usually have to wait more than 1/2 hr to drink after a meal. I feel full, I feel my restriction working. I don't want to defeat it, push the food out of my stomach, and make myself hungry again. It's not a big deal for me at all. I do wish you luck, but think hard if you are ready for the lifestyle changes that successful WLS requires

I had two glasses of wine 5 days post-op (hey, it's a liquid, right?). One of the big concerns with alcohol is transference...if you have a food addiction, it might be easy to transition into an alcohol addiction (my drinking was social...splitting a bottle of wine with my boss on a business trip, like we have always done). So honestly take a look at how likely that is to happen for you. Also, be aware that soon after surgery, you'll still be at a very low caloric intake and your tolerance is not likely to be what it used to be. I had no ill effects, but if in doubt, it's always best to consult your medical team....

I agree with you, I think the comment about ending 12 years due to frustrations due to eating was a bit knee jerk. I think the point of the person (and they are free to correct me if I am wrong) is that we got this surgery to be healthy, many to save their lives. If someone is going to try to ruin it, the OP needs to take her health first. Kinda like two alcoholics that are married. One stops drinking and the other wants them to start drinking again so they don't lose their drinking partner. I don't think that is what is going on. I think the OPs hubby just wants their kids raised without eating disorders. My biggest thought is to keep the bickering away from the kids. That just isn't going to help instill healthy eating habits.

Diane, I totally understand that "great big hole that needs to be filled." It's exactly why I eat, drink, spend, gamble, take pain pills, eat some more, then drink. It's why I have a credit card to my favorite Jeweler (hubby doesn't even know about my Jewelry Express card!) And it's up to me to find out what that "something" is but I've been searching for 30 years. I don't have babies, which sucks. I don't have parents, which sucks. I don't have a best-friend-sister, which sucks. I'm very lonely, but it's not the kind of lonely that can be cured - it's just who I am. I have a beautiful, wonderful husband (that pokes me and drives me nuts, but I'm still madly in love with him.) But his favorite hobby is sleeping. Every night I watch him sleep, and then I eat myself into oblivion. I've got tons of friends & companions, but what I need is a damn Siamese twin. I know they can surgically be separated these days, but I'd like one attached. I know that being lonely is probably my #1 problem. And lightening just struck me like a wild force because I remember my alcoholic father saying, "The reason I drink is because I'm lonely." Even though he vanished and I didn't meet him till I was an adult, I still got the "lonely" gene. Daddy never sent me a birthday card, but he gave me his F-d up genes. Thanks, Dad.

So yummy. So easy. 1/2 Spanish Onion, chopped or diced 4 pieces of garlic, chopped or diced 2 tbls olive oil or unsalted butter (your preference) Saute onion and garlic in large deep pan w/ olive oil or butter until golden brown Add 1 green and 1 red bell pepper, sliced into thumb sized chunks Stir continually Add approx 1 lb of Brussels Sprouts, stem removed and halved. Add any leaves that fall off too Add 1 package skinless tukey smoked sausage, sliced... Cont to stir until veggies and sausage are browned. Set aside 3 boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed, and tossed in 4 TBLS of flour, a teaspoon of salt and teaspoon of pepper 2 tbls of olive oil or unsalted butter (your preference) in a separate pan Added breaded chicked and cooked until golden brown Add chicken to veggie/sausage pan scraping along any breading that stuck to the pan Put collective mixture back on the heat Add 1 can of reduced sodium chicken broth Add 1.5 - 2 cups of dry white wine Stir. Cover. Simmer on low-med heat until wine reduces, and cooks out the alcohol, the veggies are tender, and the chicken in cooked through Serve over low carb angel hair Pasta

Liver failure was the number one reason for abstaining from alcohol when I was doing the Optifast diet at Miriam Hospital five years ago, too. They said the same thing about rapid weight loss releasing toxins that overwork your liver and alcohol being very dangerous during that time. It seems to be a medically accepted belief. It's best to follow your own doctor's instructions as closely as possible for the best possible outcome...

I was cleared for alcohol 6 weeks after surgery. I only have had a couple glasses of skinny vine moscato (very low sugar and low carb and low calorie). I don't like how it makes my hot flashes from meno worse but do enjoy being able to sip some every now and then.

Great Post, thank you. The following changes I have had/made in the past 3.2 months. I have lost 60 lbs and very very pleased. No fills here yet. 282-222...... My goal is 206 by May 29th, which is my birthday. I WILL DO IT! One week after surgery I sleep through the night. Which is so amazing for me. I used to get up every 90 minutes!! When I go to a restaurant I don't have to ask for a table anymore, I can now sit in any booth, without adjusting it or having my friends switch sides with me to accomadate my fatness. I've have gone from size 28 to a size 18, and they are getting baggy!! I am working out regularly again without back pain and without being sore for days. I don't have any acid reflux anymore I am saving $300.00 a WEEK on food. I used to go out lunch and dinner and have HUGE meals with alcohol. 14 meals out a week, 7,000 calories plus a day, now I consume between 700-1200 calories a day and I now I cook at home I am constantly on the GO GO GO!!! I am a happier person overall now and look forward to my future. I can wear my necklaces again. I can Tie my sneakers without getting winded from bending down. I actually now have a wardrobe to pick from now and not just wearing my live-ins all the time. I DO NOT DRINK ANY ALCOHOL ANYMORE, nor do I even have the desire 2! I have been drinking for 20 years!! This is only after 3.2 months.....I can't even WAIT in 9 months how many more accomplishments I have made. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!! REEN

Definitely watch the alcohol. When you're out, think of yourself as the designated driver. A DD doesn't drink plus there's always water.