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My suggestions are in two separate areas - 1) work on finding out why you are sabatoging yourself, and 2) external controls you can use until you get your "internal" controls back in order. On finding out why you are sabatoging yourself - have you considered talking to a counselor experienced with weight loss patients? If you can't find one with that experience, one who is used to working with other addictions (other than food)? If you are against talking to a counselor - You are going to have to be a dective and find out what are your triggers that are causing you to go out of control. Keep a food diary that talks about what you were feeling each time you ate something - what at that time was motivating you to put food in your mouth. Also, note the times. If you do this diligently for two weeks, you will have enough data to discern the patterns. Once you know what the triggers are, then you can figure out ways to address them. For the external controls - where are you getting all of these foods you shouldn't be eating? Beer, ice cream, chips, etc? In your house? If so - get rid of them. Don't buy them. If you don't have the strength to get rid of them-have a friend come over and get rid of them for you. Newly "dry" alcoholics do not live in a house with alcohol. And you should have a plan each day of what you are going to eat and when that you try to stick to. If you want to PM me, feel free to. I wish you the best of luck getting in control.

Carbs can cause excess gas, sugar alcohols etc Tummy noises are pretty normal.

I started drinking Mio water flavor enhancers...sugarfree though. .so not sure if it contains sugar alcohol

My NUT just told me that she doesn't want me having any alcohol until 6 months out, so I don't have a good answer to your question yet

It's so weird how our docs have such different timeliness on when to consume alcohol...there's just huge differences. keepin it real

I am post op bypass 13 months ( surgery was 10/07/2020) ) and am I now drinking alcohol every night . I have gained back a few pounds Like 8 and am scared to death. I feel like I am heading back toward terrible habits and need to regain back control now. I am working with a Psychologist that's not very good for PTSD issues and major depressive disorder. I have got control of that but I have now a new problem= alcohol! A year ago, I would never think of drinking on a week night or much at all but now it's become my new addiction and it leads to me over eating and then the dreaded weight gain. I have now drank every night for the past two months and I can't seem too let it go. This had never been me before as my family is filled with alcoholics and I could never understand it and now I do? It kills pain and drowns out so much. It definitely affects me differently after surgery and takes very little to have any affect at all. I am drunk or affected at sip 3. It is such a great escapism and good lord with Covid and the way of the world all I want to do is escape in a legal way and alcohol is legal. I am on disability and have a lot of pain issues and the doctors and psych's try to say its a lot mental / PTSD/ Stress related but they haven't lived in my body. I have had over 15 surgeries and have had many scars and all kinds of mesh - They don't live this body and don't feel my pain. They tell me I need to learn to live with it. Well hell , I am doing the best I can and alcohol does a great job of dimming that. But I know I need to find a better answer and am looking to my community as I know I can't be alone in my pain or journey. My New Year's resolution is to get back to that person that doesn't drink in response to pain. That learns to deal with it. That get's her weight under control in the meantime. Sending out an SOS to my community and asking for good advice or just shared empathy to know I am not the only one and that we do not travel on this journey alone.

Well it finally happened to me. I had my first fill Aug.2nd. I think about 3cc in a 14cc band. Anyway have been doing well and losing 2-3 lbs weekly since I started. Last week went to spend a week with my oldest daughter and her family. I wasn't really adhering to the low carb part of my diet but still watching caloric intake and charting it daily. But decided to partake of a few cocktails. I was drinking bloody Marys and trying to keep the calories down. Friday evening I had a few and felt it coming on. Hadn't eaten so was really surprised when I ended up in the bathroom sliming away and gagging. It passed relatively quickly. So now I know too much alcohol can bring it on too! And I lost another 3.4 lbs last week! But like I said I gave up the food calories for the alcohol calories and I don't believe this would be healthy for too long!

So, you're going to have weight loss surgery. If you've never had surgery, the experience might be a bit more traumatic than it was for those of us who've had multiple surgeries of varying types. Here's what to expect:Usually, the first thing is the IV. The IV tech will start a line with saline, to insure you're hydrated and there's a vehicle, so to speak to carry the drugs you'll be given before, during and after your surgery. It doesn't really hurt...I've had them in the back of the hand and inside the elbow. Each bag of saline is about a liter (over two pounds) and this weight will show on your scale for some time. Don't freak out about this... Usually the anesthesiologist will come in and introduce themselves, ask some questions and tell you what they're going to do in the OR. This person is fully responsible for keeping you alive during surgery. They ventilate you, regulate your BP; this is the most important person to you in the OR.The surgeon usually comes by too, to reassure you, ask a few questions, before going into the OR. Once you go to OR, they'll usually have you scoot onto the table off the gurney, make sure your comfortable and then proceed with anesthesia. First, you'll be given 100% oxygen and told to take some deep breaths. Take as deep of breaths as you can, since this O2 is what sustains you while being intubated. Once you've taken the breaths, you get another drug to make you "sleep" followed by a drug that basically paralyzes your abdominal and breathing muscles (pretty much all muscles, but the heart). You'll quickly be intubated and put on a ventilator for life support. The entire process is completed in less than a minute. When you wake up, you'll be very groggy, want to go back to sleep and you may be uncomfortable. Tell the recovery nurse if you're hurting. You might be nauseous from anesthesia. Tell the nurse. Anti nausea drugs can be given thru the IV. After your vitals are stable and you're alert, you'll go to another room to recover. Sometimes, if you're doing great or if your hospital has this protocol, you'll be discharged straight from the day surgery recovery without being moved to a room. For the trip home, you should have loose fitting pajama bottoms, a warm top, robe or sweatshirt, socks and slippers. You'll also want a pillow to put under the seatbelt in the car. You'll want a barf bag too, just in case for a day or two. Once home, you'll be most comfortable in a recliner, though I slept in my bed the first night, on my side facing the edge of the bed. Practice getting in and out of bed without using your abs before surgery. It will hurt, it won't kill you. I've had open abdominal surgery and lap surgery, while still painful, cannot hold a candle to open abdominal surgery. You will live. To get up do the following: Roll onto your side Use your elbow to push upHave someone rotate your legs and feet to floor Push off with your hand to get fully upright...wait a minute to make sure you're not dizzy Stand with assistance. Wait a minute to ensure you're not going to faint. Reverse to get into bed. Always, for the first couple of days, have someone with you whenever you get up or down and while walking. I cannot emphasize enough that your discharge orders and doctor's diet, hydration and exercise orders should be followed EXACTLY. If you have a question, call your doctor. Don't post here. If you get a fever or can't drink water at all, call your doctor immediately. Nausea should subside within 8-24 hours. If it doesn't and you need a medication for it, call your doctor. Do not post here until after you've called the doctor and please state that you have called so we don't all tell you to call your doctor. Another thing...definitions: Clear liquid means you can see through it Full liquid is things like runny cream of wheat, puréed cream soups, protein shakes. NO LUMPS. Mushies or Purees is the consistency of baby food. No chunks., no lumps. Smooth is your friend. As you progress to solids, remember that babies don't go from puréed baby food to a NY steak in one day. Hopefully you practiced your new eating habits for a couple of months pre op to establish them as your new lifestyle. Transitioning from purees to solids is a gradual thing. Add a little finely ground turkey to a puréed food at first. Add ONE new food per day. After you tolerate ground meat, poached eggs, tuna salad, egg salad, etc, you can try cutting your food into 1/4" pieces and chewing 15-25 times per bite. Initially you won't get many calories in...500-700 calories, focusing on protein. You'll gradually get up to 900-1000 or more depending on your needs, per your nutritionist or doctor. Drink your water as directed too.The first weeks post op aren't for losing weight. You might not lose anything, but most people will lose the IV weight and a pound or two a week. Once you're on solids, your weight will go up a pound or two...filling the intestinal pipeline . This is normal. Fills are not the goal with the band...they are another tool to use when your weight loss levels out and/or you're hungry less than 4 hours after eating a meal of 1/2 cup to 1 cup of dense protein and low glycemic veggies/fruits. Go easy on the fills. Being over tight is the #1 identifiable cause of band erosion and slips.Many with the band are so focused on getting fills, they don't realize until they have a little unfill, that their band can work better with less fill. You can go out to eat with your band. Sharing works great. I ask for a small plate and put my food onto it immediately. I cut up everything before taking a bite. I eat very slowly and if my companion is having a glass of wine, I'll have one too, to sip as I eat. I don't do this at home, most of the time. Alcohol was not permitted for 3 months post op by my doctor. You'll get a little more tipsy on less due to abstaining for months. Your band has no affect on alcohol absorption. You probably shouldn't drink on an empty stomach, ever, band or not. I hope this is informative and helpful!

Going on vacation next week any suggestions?

Enjoyyyy woohoo, be careful of the alcohol, I drank Saturday & was up 2 pounds on Monday :--( What is grazing? I had surgery 3/27 & going to Jamaica 6/12. Woohoo

Got sleeved about a month ago.. never been a smoker..but smoked hookah1 occasionally. Going out with some friends soon and want to know..how long do I have to wait to smoke hookah1 again and have a drink?

I also have issues with my liver enzymes. Interestingly they have always been high in all the blood tests for the past 15 or so years. I think most doctors just thought that I was either an alcoholic or drug addict in denial. Since my rny my physician is now monitoring them carefully and has done heaps of extra tests. I have managed to put him off doing a biopsy at this stage. Your BMI is normal , you don’t need to gain weight. It may happen at some stage in the future but you don’t want to do it deliberately at this point. I requested a DEXA scan . It showed that the levels in my hip and spine are at osteopenia levels.I don’t know if this is because of the surgery or if it is just normal for age. Most people in Aus don’t get scanned unless they have had a break by which stage it is a bit late. Pretty ironic considering the TV ad campaign they had recently about looking after your bones. My Dr prescribed a prolix injection twice per year. I had to get it done as a private script as I do not qualify to be covered on the PBS but I figured it was worth it. There was a weekly meds option which would have been cheaper but it sounds as though it’s hard to take and it was doubtful that it would be absorbed correctly, there is also an annual infusion option.

It was disgusting. But the reason it was disgusting was because it was a competition with winners and losers. Our children need that exercise. Today's children will be so fat that they might have to start installing Lap-Bands at birth. The P/E teachers very often are just teachers with no background in P/E. Many schools save money by using the math teacher or English teacher. We need people who are trained in P/E and who have compassion, not because they were jocks at one time. We need to teach our kids good eating habits. I saw a study recently that showed brain-waves of children similar to the brain-waves of addicts when they see drugs or alcohol. What triggered these brain-waves? SUGAR!!

I have Dr. Im stats: Age: 35 Height: 5'4.5" orientation weight: 401.5 pre surgery goal: 370 current weight: 364.5 weight lost: 37 lbs Once you go to the wls class/nutrition class combo, everything starts happening really quickly. Some of the changes they ask you to make are super hard, like not eating for 10 minutes after drinking or not drinking for an hour after eating, eat Protein first, no straws, gum, caffeine, carbonated beverages, or alcohol; but they seem to know what they're doing:) I am on FB, feel free to add me:)

My son receives an injection of long acting naltrexone every month. It has worked wonders for him . . . decreases the desire to drink and prevents the alcohol from having an effect when he does drink. I think the brand name is "vivitrol". It also comes in tablet form that you have to take daily. Good luck to you.

Hi, I'm a Registered Psychiatric Nurse from Canada. I didn't think that they used Antabuse anymore. My experience with it professionally was that it was not really that effective in the long term. I've seen patients get it then go out on pass, only to return and be violently ill,(vomitting and wretching severely, not so good for anyone, but so much worse for someone who is banded), and often repeat that scenario over and over. The person I'm thinking about has long since died of liver disease. Alcoholism is such a brutal disease/condition! As a child of alcoholic parents, I would urge anyone to do what they can to stop! The damage done overall, to the alcoholic and the family and friends is so severe , widespread and long-lived that it is imperative that the alcoholic get the treatment they need........NOW! (but I'm certain that you already know that.) All the best to you!

Carbonation is off limits for me, but I did try non-alcoholic sparkling wine and I was able to tolerate it very very slowly. My sister had the sleeve earlier last year and 3 months out she was having beer, nursing it for a few hours but now she can do 2 small ones comfortably.

I read a comment somewhere (not on this forum, but related to this issue about obesity being a disease) from a person who said that food cannot be an addiction because there is no chemical dependency like there is with drugs and/or alcohol. If that's true than what about the gambler? Gambling is an addiction but there's no chemical dependency. So...that theory goes belly up. Besides..when you hear about people who are addicted to booze and drugs talk about their addiction, it's very easy to substitute food for drugs/alcohol and have the feelings be the same. I have a good friend who is a recovering alcoholic and she explained to me that there's no way an alcoholic can walk away from a half finished drink. The alcoholic drinks to excess and cannot stop with one or two drinks. Is that not a familiar experience for us food addicts? Leave food over?? No way. Eat till you are sick....sure...been there, done that. It's all about excess...be it food, drugs, alcohol, gambling, whatever. For those who will never understand, we cannot pick and choose when it comes to addiction. Some can't be diseases and others be behaviors. For the addict, it's all the same regardless of the addiction.

Also, you can drink lots of calories in ways other than alcohol (certain coffee drinks, for example).

Do you really need 3 glasses. How about having one glass and nursing it all night. That way you will have a drink in front of you and you wont be tipsy enough to eat too much. I find 1 glass of wine is way too much for me now that I have my band. Since I am not eating as much as I used to the alcohol affects me faster.

There is a robitussin that is for diabetics, no sugar or alcohol. Not had surgery yet but am a bad diabetic and that's what I take.

Actually, I'd like to validate your WTF?! feelings. Some people really do blurt out the most hideous crap at the worst times. 35 years ago when I called my parents to let them know I was getting divorced (my soon-to-be ex husband had fallen in love with another woman and had left me) -- my mother, upon hearing my extremely brief and highly sanitized version of why we were getting divorced, said, "Oh, no! You're not going to become one of THOSE DIVORCEES!" I just gulped and said ... I honestly forget what I said. Bottom line, people are always interpreting your adventures through the lens of their own experiences, as little as their experiences line up with ours. Frankly, I think it's a miracle we EVER make intimate contact with another human being. Frankly, I think your friend's an idiot. But that doesn't mean she might not still be a worthwhile friend down the line. Still ... this is going to be a big, big deal for you -- the WLS, the weight loss, the new lifestyle you need to build to become successful long-term. And it's very possible all the changes you go through (including some you instigate about what you will and won't put up with and how you let others control or influence you) are going to be hard of her version of your old relationship. Finally, I knew very early on pre-op that my best friends (yes, really, my best friends) who are all brilliant, charming, attractive and SKINNY were completely unequipped to understand my WLS journey at all. So I've not told a single one of them about having had WLS. And now they just think I've finally figured out how to "eat healthy." Actually, they're right, but the sleeve is the tool that has made it possible to eat healthy long-term. It's so hard to understand how people who are otherwise bright folks can be absolutely stupid about something that obsesses us so much and that is destroying our own lives. I suppose it's like the non-alcoholic dingbat friend who says to an alcoholic, "Oh, come on -- it's just one glass of champagne." That's not a very good analogy, but it's pretty stupid. As the second rule of life says: "I promise you: Nobody is thinking about you. They are thinking about themselves--just like you."

It's all cracking until one starts crying and the other one starts spewing Sleeve or no sleeve laura-ven can hold her tequila Ok imma going to have to imagine your pretty eyes to go with the rest of the fabulousness I'm seeing... : Don't kill me I can't draw! LOL Brilliant! The sad thing about that? You're actually not far wrong from reality.. Could have just done with a few fine red veins where the alcohol had started getting into my system!

I quit 2 1/2 years ago after 20 years of smoking. Basically cold turkey. I did use a zero nicotine electronic cig for about 1 month. The 1st 2-3 days were a little rough, but manageable. Just a tip...caffeine and alcohol will trigger cig cravings, so avoid both for a couple of months if possible.

I know everyone has different instructions for sugar/carbs/sugar alcohols etc. I'm wondering what you ate that made you dump? I don't mean that you are too much...but something specific you ate that caused textbook dumping: Nausea, quesiness, cramping, diarrhea, weakness, sweating, vomiting, heart palpitations.