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I drink anything that isn't mixed with soda - wine, Margaritas, vodka cran. I am restricted mostly by lowered tolerance. Tread carefully when you reintroduce alcohol. Where it may used to take you four drinks to get drunk, it might now be one. I had my first drink (few sips of wine) about 30 days out, but it was New Years Eve. I'd wait as long as you can, but a minimum of that. For instance, I did NOT drink on Christmas because it was an uncomfortably "too soon" risk I wouldn't take. I now regularly enjoy a drink when I want one, which is really only about once every week or two for me. Not much. I'm about 4.5 months out, but its been that way for me since right around the 3 mo post-op point.

I'm scheduled for the VGS on the 7th May. I'm really looking forward to my life changes ahead. I know it will be hard but one of my biggest concerns is not being able to drink the alcohol of my choice (Jim Beam with Coke Zero) anymore as ill feel full. I socialize every weekend and I will be impacted by this change and wanted your thoughts and views on this subject. What do people drink when socializing? Are you restricted? How long did you have to wait before having a drink?

Momto6ix, I just had my sleeve done on March 20th and believe me if there were any other way for me to successfully lose weight - I would have never put myself through this pain. (I am alergic to the majority of pain meds so pain management is not fun for me). There have been a few items pointed out to you in some other posts that I will repeat, that I hope may help you understand a bit better. This is a tool, and it is a tool only as good as it is used, and if used properly helps in these ways a conventional diet does not. 1.) The stomach size is reduced by aprox 85% depending on the surgeon and the size of stomach that is left. Leaving only 2 to 6 once of space for both food and drink. So overeating in the early stages in not an option - you can't choose to ignore this diet. 2.) The hormone ghrelin is what causes up to feel hunger - this surgery removes the part of the stomach that produces this hormone so hunger is elimanted. If you are not phyiscally hungry all the time - you don't feel like you need to eat all the time. Early on after this surgery there is still some actual hunger especially when you are still on the liquid phase of the diet, this is normal. Combining both 1 and 2 causes you not to be able to quit. Since you can only eat a few onces at a time, you are forced to make better food choices. If you make the wrong choices your body lets you know. Either you are sick to your stomach or worse, you can become protien deficiant and very ill. All of us who go through this surgery know we must eat a certain amount of Protein each day to avoid this, so we are forced to chose our foods more carefully. On a regular diet you can cheat, binge eat, or just stop if you like with no consequences other than not losing weigth. If you cheat on the surgery (and we will all be tempted or think ahhh just one bite of this won't hurt) you will pay for it in a real way. Because you are forced to comply you will lose weight, and will be more confident as you lose the weight that you will lose more. And as you lose weight you feel better, as you feel better you are more inclinded to exercise. It is that simple. Now as far as your husband being able to walk but not use an exercise bike - it is to soon for the bike, think of the motion your legs take as you bike how they press upon your stomach, this will cause pain for many this soon out. And my doctor personally told me not to use a bike for at least 6 weeks or until I was cleared for this type of exercise. To only walk as much as I can - not to overdoe, to much exercise to soon can cause injury to the insicions and the internal incisions and cause a tear or leak which will only send you packing back to the hospital. Slow but sure is best. As far as his "stall" this too is normal at this stage "A "stall" a few weeks out is inevitable, and here's why. Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs of Water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when you are not getting in enough food, your body turns first to stored glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of glycogen, you also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of a diet. As you stay in caloric deficit, however, your body starts to realize that this is not a short term problem. You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue and burning fat for energy. But your body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of energy -- like, to outrun a saber tooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. And as it puts back the 2 lbs of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, your weight will not go down or you might even GAIN for a while as you retain water to dissolve the glycogen that is being reformed and stored." from www.dcfacts.com. Also you may not get weight loss if you do not get enough protein (60g-80g) every day. If you do not eat at regular intervals every day or if you do not drink enough fluids (64oz) daily. And finally it takes time for your brain to catch up to your body. Those of us who have taken this extreem route of surgery know that it was our last choice and last chance, it is not taken lightly. Since eat is a very social event for many of us it will take each of us a different amount of time to adjust to being around large groups, resteraunts, or events. And Alcohol is not really reccomended for at least 6 months to a year after surgery and even then only in very small amounts and not on a regular basis. So there will be adjustment to make. Personally being very close to the same time out as your husband I can identify with his feelings. For me if you are not going to save positive things to me, then say nothing. This is an extreem strugle whether you believe it or understand it or not. And most of us here know 100% that without this tool we could never lose weight and keep it off. So it is not just one thing that makes this tool effective, it is many. And the choice to quit- has been taken away from us all, so this is why this is so much different from any diet you do by choice.

It will be great. Today is 2-weeks post-op for me. Other than serious nausea when I eat one bite too many, everything has been great! I went back to work at 8 days, and I am a pretty active teacher. I took it easy last week and this week is LEAP testing, so I don't know how I would have done if I had to be super active, but I feel perfectly normal and have since about day 5. My incisions are healed perfectly, no drain (thank God), and I am down 20 pounds in 2 weeks. I did not do so well with Easter chocolates around, or I probably would have lost more. I live and learn and work on doing better and making positive choices each day. My emotions have been all over the place, and I just started my first period in about 2 years (I have an IUD, which I will check religiously to make sure it is in place...no babies for this girl!). That, honestly, has been the hardest thing--the emotional roller coaster. I read about people with food addictions and think that's not me, but I think it really is/was. I'm working on that, though. My relationship is not as good as it was, and I don't know if I am being a picky b***h or if he really is driving me crazy and that maybe I was settling. I'll wait til after the period to see how that works out, but I'll have to be honest with myself (easiest person to lie to is self) and be prayerful about it. Today I threw up twice. That's not normal, but it's not so bad. I guess because I don't have mass quantities of food (or alcohol) to get out. Still feel funky from the last time, so took a phenergan and will pass out soon. I have a post-op nutritionist meeting tomorrow, but was moved to puréed foods Saturday. I tolerate it well, but I see how little I can actually eat right now. Hopefully in a week I can have normal food (I did once and just chewed the hell out of it because I really had no other options, which was stupid of me to not think and plan ahead. Like I said, live and learn.) I will pray for you guys. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I'm not on as much since going back to work, so you might have to remind me to respond, even though I read daily. Geaux Tigers and have a ball, y'all! ~Jolie

After reading her story, how can society not consider food an addiction? All you have to do is substitute drugs or alcohol for her issues with eating and you have an addict same as an alcoholic or drug addict.

Per-sleeve here, but very aware of what these ingredients do to me. Check for sugar alcohols, sucrolose, and aspartame....will cause diarrhea... I will have to be very careful choosing my protein shakes

Momto6ix, why don't you leave it up to your husband about the bday party, including the menu and alcohol that he wants to serve? That's what I would want in his place. If I were him, I would definitely want to still have the party and I would enjoy my time with family and friends and I would make sure there were a couple of sleeve-friendly things that I could eat. You really have an enriched experience focusing very little on the food at these gatherings when you are post-VSG. It sounds like you might miss the routine with your husband of having a buddy who likes to go out to eat with you or doing food-centric things with family. I wondered about this with my husband bc we have only gone out to eat twice since I had surgery 8 weeks ago. But he has not complained at all and we have actually saved some money, too.

Oh, and more then a year out I do enjoy the occasional cocktail -especially "skinny" ones. I don't drink beer because it is heavy and carby and carbonated, but i am guessing that every once in awhile it will be just fine. IT would be better if you all waited till you get to goal though because those kind of "treats" add empty calories. Do watch alcohol in the early months though. I had a few sips of wine about 4 months out at a big celebration and that sucker burned. I can have a little red now with no problem... but it was not pleasant early on and i don't recommend it. The big risk with alcohol, even once you are at maintenance is that your body handles it differently. Be very very careful with it. I made a mistake of having a drink on an empty stomach (big mistake - I hadn't eaten in like 7 hours). I had to go to bed and sleep it off - luckily i was home - and i learned my lesson. I was shocked - I have never had that kind of thing happen to me before.

I'm right in your boat Patriotsfan. I had been doing really well but really messed up this wknd. Went to a birthday party and another get together and ate everything I shouldn't. The only thing I stayed away from was alcohol. I'm back to my French vanilla protein shake this morning.

Your stomach is just another muscle that is susceptible to swelling just like the rest of your body. Think about the lapband as if it were a ring around your finger? If your body(finger) swells due to TOM, sodium, alcohol, carbs(complex and simple), stress and anxiety, so can the gastric lining of your stomach. This can be the perfect time of year for most all of the swelling reasons previously mentioned. The lining of your stomach can swell making the stoma a very small opening for solids to pass through.

The first week in April is always cause for celebration as I celebrate my birthday! This year, I celebrate a little lighter than last year. Last year, 300 lbs was the number that I stepped on the scale to find along with turning 40. Wasn't real happy with that but figured, I could lose the weight if I wanted to. As the months went by, I wasn't gaining or losing....at least not pounds. I was losing though. I was losing my sense of self. Last August, while attending a funeral service, I sat down on a folding chair during a very quiet and sober moment, and BLAM!!! The chair collapsed right under me. It scared the whole room who thought there were spirits in the room! No. Just an obese lady who was so embarrassed and crying inside. This all happened in front of my 9 year old son too. To reward my embarrassment, I went to Friendly's after that ceremony and drowned my sorrows in a Reese's Pieces 5 scoop sundae which by the way is over 1,000 calories. I promised myself with the last lick of the spoon that "tomorrow, I will begin to lose weight so this never happens again." I actually went to my doctor to get a Lap band Surgeon’s name in August so I could get some control of my world. With the referral in my hand, I was ready. Now here comes October. How much weight have I lost since that embarrassing day in August you may ask? Zero. Did I go to the doctor with the referral? No. Life is busy. I didn’t have time as the school year began and time went by quickly. While attending a Halloween gathering, I sit down on chair that has arm rests. It is a squeeze but I can do it and I certainly don’t want to sit on the white folding chairs! As I sit there, laughing along to conversations and getting ready to grab a plate to eat, CRACK!!! BANG!!! The right armrest on chair I am sitting in is now on the floor. I am MORTIFIED!!! My son, being 9, states in a matter of fact tone, “Again!? That’s the 2nd chair you broke!” I felt like the world stopped, the pumpkins turned, and the ghosts and goblins turned red with embarrassment for me. I didn’t know what to say, where to go, or how to feel. I left the house as quickly as I could. I walked up the street, out of sight from anyone who could see, and cried so hard and with such heartache in my soul wishing I could just be like a ghost and disappear. My husband found me. Didn’t say a word for a while and tried to coax me back into the house as dinner was being served. Dinner? Really? Food? Never again, I thought! I am not touching it! And I didn’t for the rest of the evening. Despite my stomach growling like crazy, I didn’t touch a thing. I just wanted to go home, but I knew I couldn’t as the Halloween activities were just getting underway. Where was that Ghost costume for me to put on so I could vanish was all I kept thinking. As I returned to the dreadful sight of the broken chair, I was comforted with comments like “they are old chairs” and “that has happened before.” Perhaps, but it happened to me. The 300 lb mom. Not the 140 lb mom over there. Or the toddler who is jumping off of it. Come Christmas time 2012 and now it’s time for the family photos to be sent out to family and friends. Needless to say, I hated all of the pictures I took as my face looked like the Kool-Aid man! BIG! I can only crop a photo so much before I have literally cropped my face in ½! I ended up using a photo that wasn’t flattering at all and just thought, deal with it and mailed out the holiday cards. January 1, 2013, my insurance changes and along with that is coverage for Lap Band surgery. New year! New Opportunities! I got an updated referral, went to the doctor on January 11, and decided this was it! Just get it done and make changes! I did what I had to do with lab work and pre-surgery evaluations. I received a surgery date of March 4, 2013. In February about 2 weeks before surgery, my family and I went on our Family trip to Florida and naturally went to DisneyWorld. As I stood in line for Space Mountain, I had that horrible pit feeling in my stomach as I watched people get into the seats, pull their lap bar towards them, and smile with delight for the ride. Those were the “thin” people. What about me? Am I going to fit? When I sit down, will the lap bar pull towards me? Will the ride controls say to me in front of others, “I am sorry, ma’am, but you can’t ride this attraction.” Will I be able to get out of the seat? Will I get stuck and someone will have to pull me out? Such horrible things think about as you go back and forth through the line waiting your turn. I had one little thought in my head that gave me hope: This will be the LAST time you will ever have to worry about this again as you have surgery in 2 weeks! Still, I was worried about the here and now. I couldn’t imagine embarrassing my son for a 3rd time, nor could I imagine what he would say although he apologized a thousand times over the October candidness. I did fit in the ride at Space Mountain (Thank you Walt Disney!) and went 5 times after that which made me feel “normal.” So March 4, 2013 arrives, surgery is successful, and a month later, I am down 23 pounds. This birthday, there was no chocolate cake or mom’s homemade lasagna or alcoholic drinks to raise my glass to another year. Instead, it was a Tilapia fish dinner and one Milano chocolate cookie. Mom gave me a gift card to buy new clothes as my pants look quite “dumpy” right now. No one except my immediate family knew I had surgery so the three comments this past week from co-workers such as “Are you losing weight?”, “You are looking good”, and “Keep up the good work” couldn’t have been wrapped up into a better birthday box. I have a long way to go. 130 lbs still to be exact but it will happen as this past year was turning point for me. I read recently “Do something your future self with thank you for.” I just know that when my next birthday rolls around in 2014, I will reread this blog and smile knowing that I took care of my future me. No more broken chairs, no more worries of fitting in rides, and no more “I will diet tomorrow.” Today is the day. Every day I am dieting and eating healthier. There are no breaks with a Lap Band. It is a commitment to a better me and I have to make it happen………To Future self: We got this girl! :wub:

All addicts do it for the pleasure it gives them. Gambling, smoking, eating, drugs alcohol etc.

I really need advice, I'm being sleeved on May 21st and I'm a singer in a hard working rock covers band. When we gig I'm normally on stage for around 2.5 hours belting out pretty heavy rock and punk covers. I need to know when I can safely resume this job after surgery? My surgeon told me to take 4 weeks off afterwards but someone from another forum implied that would not be long enough. I realise that unless you sing, this will be hard to quantify but to help, it's a bit like going to the gym for a medium workout (cross trainer / bike / rower) for about 2 hours (but with alcohol ) So realistically for those who've been sleeved, when do you think I will safely be able to resume my gigging schedule as I was only going to cancel 4 weeks worth of gigs? I have a band that rely on me to get paid so there is quite a bit of pressure on me to resume my normal life pretty quick but I don't know if I'll have the energy from what I've been reading? Thanks if you can help me out?

Wow....I'm so sorry to hear about your brother Laura. This scares me because I have a brother who is an alcoholic. Actually his drug of choice is robitussin. He's been on that and alcohol for years. Since high school I believe. He's had numerous DUIs and accidents. He's been in rehab many times. I can totally relate when you say how critical your brother was while in recovery as mine becomes the same way. He starts something and becomes obsessed, things like smoking or chewing tobacco etc. I worry for him all the time, were pretty close and he is my only sibling. I'm like you in that this surgery is my last resort and I have to make it work. I let myself get to 427lbs and I never want to be there again! I try to stay positive and realistic also. I don't want to throw in another thing in place of food to be addicted to. I just want to be normal! I don't know what else to say except that what you shared touched me. Addiction scares me because I can see what it does to loved ones. I only hope and pray that this works for me and I can finally find peace within myself.

I just want to say upon reading the new posts this morning. That i really appreciate everyone's thoughtful responses... I'm finding this thread to be very eye opening in many ways, Not just because we have different views on why we personally over eat. but because it has really made me think more deeply this week about my own battle.. Today at this moment I feel a bit stronger than I have all week. I had now idea when I started this thread that it would impact me in this way... It was made out of curiosity about differences! So addiction... It is a scary thing and for me it is an addiction. This passage from the post I made above, is me; Their obsession is demonstrated in that they spend excessive amounts of time and thought devoted to food, and secretly plan or fantasize about eating alone. Addiction runs in my family.. My mother has been an alcoholic my entire life, she was a single mom. She was all we had. My brother was an alcoholic and a functioning drug addict he held a high powered job and was a much respected person in his industry. But he was a drug addict... He was just as addicted to his AA program and exercise when he quit.. and that is what scared me it was the same all consuming obsession but put into something healthy. But I found it fanatical. When he fell of the wagon it was gradual with "well when I entertain clients I'm ok to have a social drink" "I can handle a little now" Then he would fall... The last time he went back to AA it was with a vengeance and it worked for him. Side note he was always very judgmental of me and others when he was working his program, I think it was because he was desperately holding on to his recovery (program) for dear life. He fell of the wagon one last time five years ago, And killed himself with an overdose, the day after spending the day with his best friend (sponsor) training for a road biking event. I will never know if it was suicide or accidental. But it impacts me on a daily basis, in to many ways to explain here. He was my only sibling and I was his. we knew each others demons intimately... My mother quit drinking 4 years ago, she called last week and she fell of the wagon for the first time two weeks ago. She's back in her program now though.... When I write on this forum that this surgery is my last hope, it is! I operate daily coming from a place of thankfulness (for this surgery, my husband and children) but I also operate from a place of fear.. My name is Laura. I am a flawed human being.

I'm 5yrs out and I am brutally honest about this surgery. I am the type I'd rather you tell me like it is instead of sugar coating it. I've lied to myself almost my whole life with the "I don't eat that much.." excuse. I am where I am today because I did it to myself. The obesity I did myself and the surgery I did to myself. I accept my actions and trust me its a dark life when ur in a hospital and all u have is urself and ur thoughts. I do not intend to terrify ppl to have the surgery but I can say this I care enough for my fellow bari patients to tell yall the truth and what can happen. Bariatric surgery has became so mainstream now I fear a lot don't take this seriously hence why suicide, sex addictio. Or alcoholism rates are so high for us. The reason you will probably hear about my story in every post is bc I would have truly appreciated someone in my pre-op post-op days coming to me with the truth. Instead I felt dooped. Out of all the reading on forums etc not once were there a person openly honest about how it truly affected them. Do you know how hard it is to be deathly sick and you hear rude comments from nurses such as "bet ya wished u had just got a gym membership huh?!" Or to have your family just get tired of listening or you lose relationships bc of your condition? It really hurts to come to a site and literally pour your heart out only to be berated by somebody you look to for support. We may weave our story in all the time but we do so bc we know or HOPE fellow bari pt will listen and not mind to do so bc unlike everyone else we r all supposed to be on the same road. Accept us all no matter what bc haven't we lived a life of hell prior to surgery due to the constant degeading conments and stares...let this be the one place u can trust to come to and know ur not going to be hurt..we r all entitled to that. =)

I'm not sure how much this would help, commit to one glass of wine, then finishing one glass of Water before anymore alcohol. If you can't go out without drinking, I'd see a therapist NOW... Before it gets worse. I went through a heavy drinking period, when I talked to my doctor about it she gave me Xanax and Prozac which brought down my drinking by a lot. I have major aniexty and depression- Xanax really helped me.

Nicolanz beat me to it...but I was going to bring up caffiene and tobacco. Many people are addicted to one or both of those substances, but I doubt all of those addicts steal, cheat and lie to get their fix. Some may lie to their spouses about not smoking, but who lies about coffee? If you do, you've got bigger problems than just being addicted. But the point is, addiction can certainly exist without these behaviors. I know more than one functioning alcoholic. They don't think they have a problem because they've never missed a day of work, or had a DWI, or wrecked their car. But they can't leave the house without a beer or 2. Where ever they go, they are drinking. They may never admit to "needing" it, but you won't catch them without it. Is that an addiction? I think it is but I'm no doctor. As for eating, here's what my life looked like for over 20 years. First of all, I never hid food or sneaked around eating food behind anyone's back. I never lied or cheated. But I ate all the wrong stuff. Basically, I ate fast food for every meal. I never cooked. If I bought groceries, it was cereal, cookies, chips, peanut butter and bread...not much else. The oven was for pizza box storage, not for cooking. I nearly set my apartment on fire once because I attempted to preheat the oven too cook a frozen dinner, but I forgot it was full of old pizza boxes. When I bought my meals at whatever drive thru I went to, I bought way too much. It was extremely carb heavy. My blood sugar must have been through the roof, and after a few years, I was on my way to being insulin resistant. If I tried to restrict my calories, I had massive blood sugar drops every 3 hours like clockwork. Anyone who has ever bonked knows exactly how that feels. That negative reinforcement trained me to eat before that happened...and specifically to eat carbs (sugar) because that was the surest way to avoid that awful feeling. I know now that eating those carbs caused the rise and fall of blood sugar, which caused my feelings of temporary satisfaction, followed by increased insulin production which lead to the inevitable crash...unless I ate again before it happened (which I trained myself to do). It was a self inforcing pattern that lead to massive weight gain and overall poor health. I made some poor decisions, in part because I didn't know any better...which is my fault, nobody else's. As the weight piled on, it became ever more difficult to give a crap about my health. After a while, you get to the point that you feel you're too far gone so why try? Again...I don't know if this was an addiction. It certainly fits the description of damaging behavior that I couldn't stop. Even when I made up my mind to have VSG I was still in the dark about this stuff. I thought I could have surgery and it would only allow me to eat half a whataburger per day. That 6 months with the nutritionist really paid off for me, she opened my eyes and lit a fire in me to educate myself on food and the damage certain foods caused. Now....if I could only have one....the knowledge or the sleeve, I'd take the knowledge. But there is no denying that the sleeve gave me a push over that insurmountable hump that I couldn't see around before surgery...a push that I continue to ride into a better way of living.

Yes true sugar alcohols and certain sweeteners they use in sugar free foods cause GI distress in some people. Gas' date=' bloating, diarrhea and pain.

Mr. Doctor warned me that the effects of drinking alcohol would be much more pronounced after the lap band surgery... apparently the alcohol gets into the system faster for some reason? He also said empty calories, avoid it... but we are all human and I think everyone cheats on occasion.

I would stay away from the alcohol if I were you - I was told no alcohol for the first year post-op. not only that - it will dehydrate you...

I drank alcohol just over a week ago. I would not risk it this close to sx.

Pre-surgery I usually had a couple glasses of wine after work. I've had a few post-op, but my main reason I don't is because of the weight gain or no loss it gets me into. When I get to my goal I'm going to (try to) continue focusing on my weight and go light on alcohol. Maybe if you focus on your goal it will help. I love my wine and miss it a lot. My friends and I belong to the "wine of the month" club.. Ugh!

Yes, Dylan Disney was great, SeaWorld was AWESOME!! We walked ALOT, but it was good. Today I went for a nice long walk because my body was craving the movement, I was itchy to walk- how odd It was my first time there, the hubs went when he was a kid. I didn't always eat the right stuff, but at times I was just looking for something I could get down. However, I did not over indulge in at anything. I did have two alcoholic drinks (pinacolave), but that was it. I have tried to drink a lot today to flush my system and I haven't been able to eat much. I went to one restaurant and the waiter said what I order would be fine it I wasn't to hungry when it came I promptly told him he lied. The hubs and I ended up sharing it. I guess he thought since I am still chunky I could eat a lot.

I do not drink at home after a stressful day when I am alone (that's when I ate too) It stared for me with my pain meds (refilled twice after surgery) I found I was taking them at night to relax. So I stopped quickly! I've never had a drug or alcohol problem so it surprised me at bit. I will have 1 glass of wine or cocktail if I go out to a social function only, and that's not very often. It's a good thing that you are noticing it now and are looking for a way to deal with it.