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Hi Elise, You have asked some very good questions! I'll be honest, it will take time for you to figure this all out! I hope you get some good responses! As far as parties go, people don't really notice what you are eating. I actually find I enjoy my food more now. I'll just have a little taste of everything. The one on one restaurant thing can be a little tricky, but there is usually something on the menu I can have. If you are looking to eat "healthy" while out dining, which I know we all should, I look toward the Soups and anything crunchy. I have to admit the things I pick out usually are not healthy, but I don't go out to dinner very much. We are all different and toleratae foods differently. I find people are very understanding and have not had any issues. I do find my friends actually feed "bad" for me having to leave so much food. I often do not take a doggy bag, as the food is just NOT the same warmed over, but that is a personal thing. As far as alcohol, I have had the occasional drink, but not to excess. I will have an occasional glass of wine mixed with club soda, fruit juice, etc. I know this is shunned on, but a few times a year has not hurt me. Good luck! I cant' wait to see the responses to this great question!

Al-Anon was a huge help for me. They said, "come to 6 meetings, then decide if this is for you" so I went to 6 meetings, and the last one I walked out and said "I'll never go back" I was cured. Alcoholism was not a part of my life in any area except a boyfriend. He was optional. I wasn't married to him, no kids, no ties, just the choice to continue dating. We broke up, we moved on. I never could have done that without the knowledge I gained at those meetings. I learned ALOT more about ME than him, too. I can't recommend AL-Anon more. Put that pretty high up on your list.

I've been through a divorce with an alcoholic and it is so tough. My ex was great at paying support, but that was it. Please consider a few things: - going to Alanon meetings - this is support for people that have relationships with alcoholics. You'll get support and tools that will help you in all aspects of your life. - keep a written record of your interactions, especially if alcohol is involved. You mentioned that he is going through recovery - I hope for all of you that he's able to stick with it. - I never forced my daughter to see her dad, and there was only one time that I told him couldn't have her because he showed up drunk (she was a teenager at that point). I realize that your son has special needs, but he does need to spend time with his dad, supervised or not, good, bad or ugly. A third party would be good to get involved so that he does interact with dad. I wish nothing but the best for you and your son during this time. I lived with my mom when I split with my ex, so can relate to what you are going through.

Dear BariatricPal Members, Happy New Year! May 2015 be filled with health, happiness, and weight loss surgery success for you and your family! There’s no doubt that weight loss surgery is on your mind as you Celebrate the end of 2014 and get ready to welcome 2015. So, here’s what you’ll find in this newsletter to close out the Old Year and start the New Year strong. Last Party of the Year: A Chance for WLS Success A New Year: Which Small Changes Will You Make? Your New Year’s Day Game Plan BariatricPal looks forward to our own growth and lots of new projects in 2015. We also can’t wait to see how your year goes. Thanks for making us a part of your weight loss journey, and thanks for helping each other become healthier. Happy New Year! Sincerely, Alex Last Party of the Year: A Chance for WLS Success The holiday season is long. By the time New Year’s hits, you might have had a Thanksgiving celebration, a few holiday parties at work and with friends, and a Hanukah, Christmas, or Kwanzaa party. Needless to say, the events make weight loss almost impossible. The good news for weight loss is that the season’s almost over! Whether you’ve been remarkably self-restrained since Thanksgiving, or you’ve given in to the temptations, life’s about to get back to normal. That can’t be a bad thing. For most people, there’s one more big party: New Year’s Eve. It may seem like just another barrier to losing weight, but it doesn’t have to be. It can actually be a neat opportunity! How’s that? Gather Some Momentum You may not have much momentum going if you feel like you’ve knocked over one hurdle after another this season. Turn it around this New Year’s Eve. When you eat right on December 31, you’ll prove to yourself that you can do it, no matter how hard it is. Carry that confidence with you right into the New Year, and there’s no telling how far your confidence can take you. Your Party Plan Maybe you’ve been using the tried-and-true tips, or maybe you haven’t had a chance yet this year. These tips can get you through the party feeling nourished but not stuffed or sick. Give them a try. Eat Right Is that even possible? Yes, it is. The only thing you need to eat right is the right food, and you can easily take charge of that. Serve some healthy dishes if you are hosting the party, or bring a few to share if you are a guest. Here are a few nutritious finger foods to consider. Cut bell peppers, cauliflower or broccoli florets, baby carrots, or celery sticks with hummus. Deviled eggs made with low-fat Greek yogurt instead of mayo. Teriyaki skewers with cubed tofu, grilled red peppers, and mushrooms with teriyaki sauce. Mini pizzas on hollowed baby portabellos. Stick to your safe foods, or you can also allow yourself a bite or two of certain favorite treats. Keep track of every bite you eat in your head or on your smartphone to keep yourself from accidentally overdoing it. Stay Away from Alcohol Say no to alcohol. Liquor and mixed drinks are high in calories. A 4-ounce (half-cup) glass of champagne has 78 calories, and an apple martini has 235 calories. Plus, alcohol lowers your inhibition – so you’re less likely to be able to pass up high-calorie foods. And finally, everyone knows you shouldn’t drink on an empty stomach, but every weight loss surgery patient knows you shouldn’t drink while you’re eating. Alcohol and weight loss surgery just don’t mix! Grab a glass of Water, and enjoy it. It’s calorie-free, and it’ll keep you sober. It’ll also keep you busy so you don’t go for the food. If you’re tired of water, try some hot coffee or tea. Enjoy the Party What does this have to do with weight loss and weight loss surgery? You may be surprised… What do you love about parties? The food? Not anymore. The real reason for parties is to celebrate people. Once you embrace that idea, you may just find that parties are a whole lot more fun than when you’re focused only on piling your plate. This year, enjoy the people and the decorations. Soak in the party atmosphere, and see how much more you love the party. Carry that lesson with you the rest of the year, too – life is about people and events, not about food. A New Year: Which Small Changes Will You Make? What Can 2015 Mean to You? Maybe it’ll be the year you get weight loss surgery to finally take control of your life. Maybe it’ll be a year of colossal weight loss following weight loss surgery. Maybe it’ll be a year of gaining confidence that you can maintain your weight loss for life. Whichever you choose, 2015 can be the best year yet. What you make of 2015 is up to you. What a Difference a Year Can Make Take a second to think back over 2014. Did you really try your best every day? What would be different now if you had made a few changes consistently? If you’d… Gone to the gym an extra two times each week and burned 500 calories each time, you could be down another 15 pounds by now. Phoned local surgeons to schedule consultations for weight loss surgery, maybe your surgery would be scheduled – or over – by now. Brought a 400-calorie lunch instead of ordered at the restaurant when the gang went out for lunch on Fridays, you could be down another 10 or 15 pounds by now. Skipped the pre-dinner tastes while cooking dinner, you could be down 30 pounds. Tiny changes like these can really add up. Thinking about what a difference a year can make can get you motivated to start off right. Which changes can you make in 2015 to get the results you want by 2016? Your New Year’s Day Game Plan You’re gung-ho and ready to go. You just know 2015 is going to be your year. So what are you planning to do when New Year’s Day finally gets here? Here are a few ideas to start the year off right. Clean the house. Okay, it may not be the most glamorous-sounded idea, but it is a nice symbolic gesture. Plus, it burns calories. Get rid of the junk food. If you can’t face cleaning the entire house, at least you can get rid of the extra calories so you don’t end up eating them. Say goodbye to the Christmas Cookies, candy canes, and everything else that you know shouldn’t be there. Don’t forget to restock your kitchen with lean Proteins and other essentials next time you go grocery shopping. Get active with or without the family. If you can recruit the kids, your spouse, or a neighbor, great. If not, enjoy a peaceful walk to clear your head and get your mindset back where it needs to be – on your health. Plan a few meals. Things get busy as soon as New Year’s is over. Plan a few high-Protein meals and, if you’re inclined, look for some new weight loss surgery-friendly menus. Choose a fitness challenge. Find a 5k or another challenge that takes place in a month or two. That’ll motivate you to get moving. Long onto BariatricPal. See what other members are doing to start the year off right, and share your own goals. You’ll be amazed at how a bit of momentum can build into serious results. A few good actions on New Year’s Day can give you the start you need to have the 2015 you want. Thanks for being part of BariatricPal in 2014, and we can’t wait to see what 2015 has in store for the community and for you. Stop by as often as you can to read and post in the forums, and don’t be shy about contacting us. Happy New Year!

I had a few sips of champagne at dinner 3 weeks post-op to be polite. I'm not really a big drinker, so this wasn't something I was overly concerned about. Once your stomach is mostly healed after six weeks without complications, there's no reason you can't have alcohol, you'll just need to understand that you're drinking your calories and your stomach is smaller, so there is a greater chance that you are now a lightweight since you don't have 80% of the stomach that used to be able to hold more alcohol. Sip...slowly, lol.

I finally had to take the steri strips off. They were blistering my skin. My incisions look good. Just swipe them with alcohol on cotton ball couple times a day.

Someone put rubbing alcohol in your Water bottle? You called the police, right? You filed a complaint with your employer, right? Same question about the collision. That is just awful. You have had an awful time. One thing that has motivated me to go to the Y in the past has been the hot tub. After my water aerobics class we would soak in the hot tub. It felt great. Plus exercise and hot tubs are great stress relievers.

Someone put rubbing alcohol in your water bottle??!!?? That's insane! Don't let it out of your sight for this to happen again. Those people are evil. What kind of place do you work at? I can't even imagine that sort of thing happening but it must. Wow. I'm speechless.

Any type of Alcohol are empty calories. And beer is carbonated which is a huge no-no as mentioned above. Being banded is life changing.

My packet from my surgeon says to be careful with alcohol not only because it's a slider but also because you may get intoxicated quicker than you're used to. I still say go and have fun! (Just be mindful :-) )

I think odds are you will be able to live a normal, if more moderate, lifestyle after the surgery. You're right that your 12 pack days are over though - my husband, though never a big drinker, will nurse a beer for about 2 hours now, it takes him that long as its filling becuase of the bubbles. The other thing with alcohol is that you have to be careful after you've had a few, you're attention to the way you eat lapses and its prime time for a huge vomiting episode if you shove something down your throat without chewing. Even though you've got a band, after four or five drinks a hot dog or kebab at 2 am still sounds mighty good. But you just cant do it. But I think at your age, you'll be able to fit in still wihilst being mature enough to know your limits.

It is not even close to being Friday, but I wanted to join in. I drink alcohol, and I don't log it into my daily tracking. I don't drink alcohol daily, but I do have some every week. Tonight, for instance, I am having a glass of wine. My usual choice is Budweiser 55, which is 55 calories. If I'm out with friends, I tend to have one total (two bottles though). I can't drink it fast enough to have it stay cold, so I usually drink a half a bottle and then get another bottle and drink half of that. I tried Mike's Hard Lemonade. That I can drink faster. Don't try it. One bottle gave me a headache the next day, and I never had hangovers before.

Yes. The nausea is ****. I've experienced it a few times since surgery. I was told that the alcohol that gets rid of the germs can help. But I haven't sourced this yet. Sent from my SM-G955F using BariatricPal mobile app

I am not a beer drinker, but I drink soda. The carbonation is not going to stretch out your sleeve. There is zero scientific evidence to show that soda stretches anything. I drink mixed drinks mostly (not in pregnancy), but when I go out it's either wine or rum/cokes. I waited until I was at goal to indulge in alcohol mainly for 2 reasons; 1) Empty Calories that weren't worth drinking 2) In the rapid weight loss phase, our livers are working overtime, I didn't think it was worth it to throw alcohol in my body for my liver to process on top of everything else.

I know my surgeon's rules were "no drinking for one year post-op" but he also acknowledged that was the number one most commonly broken rule. And not to be holier-than-thou but I did it. I did NOT drink alcohol for one year post-op and my husband is sleeved and he also made the one year mark. Obviously it wasn't incredibly hard for me to give it up, and even one year post-op the glass of wine that I had hit me pretty hard (now I'm a lightweight.) I'm not saying you have to do what I did, but I'm just saying that it can be done. I still rarely drink, maybe a couple of times a year at parties, weddings, dinner groups, etc. but just be careful because alcohol does have a harder effect on the post-sleeve body.

Hi All, I wanted to share some of what I am going through and see if anyone else has had a similar experience. I am over 7 months out from surgery and my weight loss has ben fantastic. Let me start by saying my sleeve REALLY WORKS for me. I don't watch my carbs or cals or fat. I can eat about 5 bites of anything and then that's it. I always eat Protein first because I am afraid I will have bad nutritional repercussions if I don't. The following foods upset my stomach, so I don't eat them: bread, ice cream, alcohol. I rarely have room for any type of vegetable or fruit, but I do eat granola with my yogurt in the morning. I still eat 5 or 6 times a day. I have to or else I don't get enough calories in and I feel weird. I have never been on a workout regimen. Major problem because now I feel quite weak. I can walk at a normal pace for hours (much more than before). But, if I increase my heart rate, I can't do it for more than a couple of minutes. I know I need to work on it and I am slowly getting better. Feel like I am starting from zero... Here's my problem: I don't feel normal at all. If I exert myself, I get shaky. I have a lot of emotional weirdness about food - especially if I am out and about on my own and need to eat something. I can quickly stress out because nothing sounds good or I don't want to spend the money on something I will eat 1/4 of and then throw away. My hormone swings have been crazy too - last 2 months my libido disappeared AND my period changed again. Seems like every 2 months has a hormonal surprise in the form of sex drive or period or hair loss or bad temper. The overall affect is getting me down. Of course, life doesn't stop just because I am going through this. Work is laying people off next month, I am getting married in 3 weeks, the in-laws are already starting drama over Thanksgiving - you know, regular life stuff. I started lifting weights around the house. I figured I will work on one body part at a time and right now it is my arms. Easy to do in the living room. Anyone else feel a little "off"?

My doc said 6 weeks and was most concerned with calories and carbs than the alcohol itself. One of my fav pasttimes was being "overserved" margaritas on Girls Night Out. I went out with my friends recently and drank a margarita - nursed for over an hour (because I wasnt sure how it would affect me) and all it did was give me a headache.

A little backstory: I had a sleeve back in 2015. I went from 450 to 190. I kept it off for 5 years. Enter pandemic, job loss, and alcohol abuse. I gained 130 of the 240 back. My little sleeved stomach also grew and I was eating full size meals again and I developed severe GERD and a hiatal hernia. My esophagus was constantly sitting in acid and was scarring and narrowing and the hernia was so bad, food and pills were constantly getting stuck. Fast forward to the present, I had a revision to a gastric bypass to fix the GERD and hernia. Those things have been 100% resolved (thank goodness), but the weight hasn’t been flying off like it did with my sleeve. I lost 40 pounds my first month with the sleeve. An average of 1-2 pounds per day. Right now, with the bypass I’ve slowed down after exiting the liquid diet stage to where I’m losing .3-.5 pounds per day and loosing about 3-4 per week. I know I should be happy that I’m losing, but I’m disappointed that it’s not flying off like before. Especially because my activity level and calories burned is much higher than it was with my sleeve at this stage. I’ve gone in circles trying to wrap my head around it. I know I’m 8 years older (36 now) and I have developed chronic insomnia over the last year, so I only get 3-5 hours per night. I’m absorbing less, so maybe I’m in starvation mode? I’m at a loss Anyone have any encouragement or experience with this?

I am so sorry you're having diarrhea. Have you used artificial sweeteners in the past? If not, you really have to watch out for sorbitol and the sugar alcohols in sugar free products. They will give you both gas and diarrhea. I hope you feel better soon.

I have heard from many people that there is a high rate of alcoholism post surgery. Is it easier to become addicted to alcohol after surgery? Would it have to do with the way it is metabolizes? It's kind of scary.

Search this site for alcohol. You'll find more opinions than you can possibly believe!

Pasta, rice and fried stuff would be tossed in the trash were that my plate a month out. Maybe a few shrimp. Be careful with the alcohol this close out. Let your new stomach heal. There will be plenty of time for fun stuff like that in a while after you've completely healed.

I tolerate up to 2 drinks in a social setting, but I don't drink on a regular basis. Due to the empty calories, I have alcohol only on special occasions, like the company holiday party. It's nice once in awhile as a treat, but I don't want alcohol to become a crutch for me.

I'm 5 years in and it has done everything I expected, and then some.... Best decision I ever made....easiest thing I could ever do to loose ALL my excess weight and body fat.... Now living the new life I thought would never be possible.... I only say this, because after years on this forum it is obvious everyone is welcome to share their experiences, good and bad....and for every statement made, positive or negative, there is always someone with a different experience... The same goes with things such as caffeine, alcohol, # of fills, interpretation of the Green Zone...there is no wrong or right, there is no Black and white... When one person or persons say one thing and feel it is the absolute fact, there will be another one with a totally different experience. And readers, especially newbies, should not get caught up into that trap...just because someone on the internet says so... I read success stories, as well as failures all the time....and the underlying issues to both the reader will never know...one can only assume.

I totally hear ya and relate to this post. I "indulged" a little for the holidays and my birthday last week and gained 2 lbs and I know I have a real addiction to cookies, just like an alcoholic has an addiction to alcohol and I must fight it every day to keep it at bay.