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AMEN! I know people who have had the surgery and then went right back to smoking, eating crap, drinking alcohol, hell...even smoking pot and just treating their body like garbage. What is the point? Then they complain about STALLS!

I am 3 months post op and drink socially. Orange juice with pineapple juice and vodka gave me cramps but my Dr said it was probably the sugar. Also he said its okay after 3 months to have alcohol.

No one told me not to drink - I just decided on my own. Never even discussed it with my doctor. Liver shrinkage was the main reason since alcohol is bad for the liver. But I take back my advice - everyone must make their own decisions.

so i have read posts about when it is ok to drink alcohol post surgery but when do you need to stop pre surgery? with the holidays coming up and parties to go to, i don't want to mess anything up before surgery.

I had a glass of wine about 2 1/2 months out, the alcohol had no more effect on me post op than pre op. You just have to be very careful... alcohol is empty calories. If I have a glass of wine.. I exercise about 1/2 longer to burn it off the next day.

Probably gonna make some enemies here but why would you go through a surgery like gastric bypass and eat carbs and drink alcohol and try to go back to the way things used to be. It is driving me crazy. I'm successful because I follow the plan. You will not hear me whine about stalls in weight loss... It's part of the plan. But really ladies and gents the surgery is a tool to be used and not abused. We have all been overweight for awhile and know what makes us fat. Why do we insist on trying to go back to old ways!

There is a high rate of developing substance abuse after rny if you partake in alcohol. Plus high in calories and in my opinion just not worth it.

I know this has been a thread before, but I can't find it now!! How long after post-op did y'all wait til you started drinking alcohol again? I'm a month and a half out, I just would like to gauge how much longer I should wait!

i just tried to use common sense, as too many rules was too confusing. i was told to eat protein 1st fruits and veggies 2nd, and if i had any room left over , carbs. i eat nuts or PB everyday, and include a little lo fat cheese 2-3 times a week. i have a cup of milk daily, and a little treat everyday. (skinny cow ice cream, or a cookie or 2).i dont like soda, alcohol, or fried foods, and eat fast food once a month, maybe. i think you're doing fine, and write in your logs what they want to see, but use good common sense in you daily eating habits. like they said, if it aint broke , dont fix it !!!

I can just remember how fragile I felt my like my new tummy was. It had been mutilated. Dramatic way to word it, but just think about all of that freshly traumatized and raw tissue, swollen..inflamed. How the first few weeks were so critical to healing and my surgeon terrified me by saying that serious complications and death were possible results of me making really bad choices. Now think about what it would feel like to pour alcohol on a raw, fragile wound that had only just begun to go down in swelling and attempt to heal itself. A little alcohol may help to clean and disinfect a small scratch or minor cut, but for a deep intestinal...well, wound, what might happen? Irregular healing? Additional, unforeseen complications? Additional irritation? I'm not a doctor and I really don't know, but I wouldn't ever risk it so early out. I did have some wine at 5 weeks. I didn't even finish the glass and it took me about 2 hours to drink what I did. It gave me really bad indigestion.

Is it really that important to you? There will be other Christmas's and birthdays, and thanksgivings, and and and. . . alcohol is like pizza, it's always around. Is it really going to kill you not have a drink 1 week after your most important life changing surgery? However, the choice is still yours to make. Good luck

It really sounds as if you are having trouble making the lifestyle changes that have to be made for the surgery to work. We all know how hard it is so don't fear our judgment! Just work on your head. Then work some more. Sugar has always and will always be my demon. I didn't eat fast food, chips, dips, alcohol and so many other fattening things. Just sugar. And here it is in my first post-op holiday season, and candy and Cookies and such are lying around everywhere at work. My eyes are drawn to it every time I pass. My arm actually moves to reach toward it. I will NOT let that damn sugar undo me! I will allow myself ONE piece of candy per day from now through Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day I will drink nog with my man. Then NO MORE. I have been successful, in my eyes, because I do not deny myself everything, but I absolutely CONTROL the exceptions to my normal dietary plan.

I was sleeved Monday, so today is day 3 healing. Trust me, the pain and nausea you go through, you will not even begin to kick around the idea of alcohol. I say take you pain meds and carry a champagne glass of water around. You'll be giddy from not feeling pain and can sip the water and no one will be the wiser

Catlady what a great birthday present. I do have to do an all liquid clear diet. I am dreading that. But I was talking to my surgeon and he said they recommend no alcohol for 3 months however wine is like Water he said. It goes down easy. So I was thankful for that. However, I am nervous I have my pre-op on monday I have gained 30 pounds since my six months even though I am still on a 1300 carlorie diet. I had to go off my meds so we will see yikes. One of my biggest concerns is how to answer all the questions about my weight loss.

Really? I love to drink but I said once I get sleeved, I don't care what's happing I will not drink ANY alcohol. Why ? Because it slows weight loss, Xmas is to early to party. But good luck with your choices...

Nope. At one week post op alcohol was the last thing on my mind.

definitely don't do it! I would think it would burn so bad, especially if your stomach is being held together by staples or sutures! my surgeon said no alcohol for at least 6 months. I've heard others say 1 year.

Not a smart idea. You'll have many Xmas' in the future to enjoy with alcohol. Skipping the drink this year won't hurt you.

January 17 is my date! I have to get an EKG and some blood work done prior to my date, but that's it. My surgeon doesn't require a pre-op liquid diet either. On one hand I'm glad because my birthday is a few days before surgery (who doesn't love a good meal and some cake on their birthday?!) but I worry that I will gain during a celebratory final goodbye to gluttony and alcohol, thereby making my liver a big hot mess for surgery :-/ Best of luck to all of us in "Band-uary 2013"!!!

Do you think it will be possible to have a little alcohol over the holiday period. I have my op on the 19 Dec.

Thanks its a work in process for sure, being 56 and just wanting to live healthier, as I read so many of the post in this forum from the women who are way younger then me, I see they just either want to look sexier, have babies, or just fit into the society that the rag mags have created what women should look like. but when I read they had a baked potatoe or cookies, and want to know when they can drink alcohol its makes me sad that they just dont get it. this surgery is a lifetime commitment. Look at carnie wilson. she had lap band surgery about 10 yrs ago just so she can have a baby, she had the baby and gain almost all her weight back, for one she loves to smoke weed and has spoke about it, Even I know weed makes you have the munchies lol. and she likes to drink wine, proof she wasnt ready to change. She had the revision from lapband to gastric RNY, and she has only lost 20 lbs in a year. She just doesnt want to give up her life style and its very sad. She is not a spokesperson for gastric bypass, if she was it would be "this is what not to do" ok off the pedestal, sorry,

you can drink alcohol with the band once you are healed... all Drs have a different rule of thumb as to when but usually its not before 3-6 months. I have been known to have an adult beverage during my losing stage but not without tracking it and counting the calories as part of my daily 1000 so it didnt effect my loss. Also for every drink have 2 extra glasses of water on top of your normal 8 to off set the retention....

I went to school for and hold a degree in addiction counseling. You would think someone who has taken these classes, learned ways to help clients cope and recover from addiction could herself fight her own addiction. Just like the difficulty people have admitting they are addicted to drugs and alcohol I had difficulty admitting I was addicted to food. Just like people who abuse drugs and alcohol try to validate their addiction I have tried to validate mine. But, the truth is an addiction is an addiction and there is validation for it, it is a problem that must be overcome in order for us to become a better more effective person. I have been over weight since I was 5 years old. Before that I was very thin and tiny- everyone always talked about how cute I was. Then the month before I started school the pounds started packing on. Apparently this was the start of my emotional eating and it never went away. As each year progressed my waist line expanded. By high school I was wearing size 22 jeans and was picked on all the time. My self esteem was low and I spent a lot of time alone- the only lead to more eating. I would frequently eat behind my families back so they wouldn't know how much I consumed and then tried to block it from my mind. As a senior in high school I had an accident that required surgery and then months of physical therapy. During that time I lost weight- down to 201 and a size 18. I remained at that size until the last 2 years when my weight balloned up to 247 and I knew something had to change. 5 high school friends have had some type of weight loss surgery with varying degrees of success, but all have managed to loose weight and keep it off. I decided that maybe this is what I needed to get control of my addiction. Likely if I could have controlled my addiction I could have lost weight without the surgery, but I couldn't. I was a slave to food. June 22, 2012 I had my lapband put in. The first week was hell - I felt like crap the entire time. Once I was back on mushy food I started to feel better and gain energy back. I began working out and counting calories and did great. I really felt like I had things under control. In October my Grandmother passed away after a long illness. She was one of my best friends and always someone I could count on. During that time I stopped counting calories due to being away from home, eating things I didn't prepare, and not being where I could get on the internet (my family lives deep in the country of Virgina) and I also stopped working out. When I got back home I though surely I had gained - well low and behold I had lost 3 lbs- WOW. In my screwed up mind this gave me permission to stop working out and counting calories. I know- WRONG thing to do. However, I have continue to lose steadily, but I know this is not a good way to do things. I do move more to burn more calories since getting my fitbit, but I know that can't take the place of the workouts I was doing. This passed weekend I had my first of serveral Christmas parties. I did pretty well, I help my portions down and ate only two cookies (my mom's homemade Christmas cookies - they are small tea cakes). My BFF's mom brought her homemade party mix and gave me a bag to go home. Here is the problem, this party mix for me is like putting a bottle of beer in front of an alcoholic. I love it- so yummy. She gave me a gallon zip lock bag of it. I brought it home and told myself I would only eat one handful a day. Well, it's been 3 days and half the bag is gone. I screwed up!!!!! The salt content alone in this stuff had increase my water retention- I have gained 3 lbs since Sunday- which isn't possible since I am not eating much. (the party mix has been my breakfast and my snacks) I feel like my face is puffy- I know I am retaining. I feel like crap, I can't believe I allowed myself to fall back in to a pattern that is negative. There are so many awesome people on this site who have been so strong and wonderful since surgery and are kicking butt. Why the hell did I think I could allow myself to do this and not have a negitive consequence- insanity. So, today, I am back on the game. I am going to be accountable to myself. Back to counting calories, back to the workouts, back to eating only what I need to live. The party mix as much as it pains me, but go to the garbage. This morning, I have had a Slim fast protein shake (not bad 180 calories and 20 grams of protein and taste like a yohoo). To my suprise I drink it two hours ago and I am not hungry. Now that I have retriction maybe I can do the shakes for breakfast. This afternoon I will get on my elliptical for 30 min. I WILL get back on track. I will not allow insanity to set in. To those of you who have been my support and encouraged me thank you and I am sorry for allowing my old ways to creep in. Thankfully, I didn't allow them to hang around long enough to do any major damage. Today I admit that I am an addict and I can not do this alone. I must be accountable to myself and others.

1. I confess that 1.5 month post op I tired a bunch of different foods to see if my new stomache can tolerate them (rice, bread, chocolate, soda, alcohol, burger, fries etc...I was able to eat everything in small portions and was sooo freakin happy..I now only cheat once a month 2. I confess I loveee going to the gym! 3. I confess I am on a 6 day liquid diet trying to boost my weight loss as I am 6 pounds away from 199! I am very impatient I dont know why 4. I confess I cant wait to get rid of my big clothes...Matter of fact, I started a while ago, I still have a few left! 5. I confess I always thought I was sexy, but damnnnn, Im sexy as hell now! lol

I am a 12/3 girl. I enjoyed my cream of mushroom soup for supper. No more clear liquids for this girl. Felt full of energy yesterday..not so much today..taking my anti depressant and anti anxiety meds is no fun..its like doing a shot of the worst alcohol but having to sip it..yuck