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My doctor told me alcohol would be absorbed into my system a lot faster after banded, so it might be best to start with careful moderation. I try to avoid the stuff, but there are social occasions when I do imbibe.

Hey Everyone! Questions here! I just turned 21 last August and I've been on a pretty strict plan on making better choices with what Alcohol I consume but I was wondering if there are any low calorie drink recipes you have? Or have you completely stopped intake of Alcohol all together? My sugery is in a few weeks and I'm willing to make any changes to be successful. I know nothing carbonated, of course but I know you could drink the calories away if I wasn't paying attention. What is everyones opinion? Thanks guys!

it will take some time to adjust but most people do. Journaling and support groups are definitely great ideas! You might want to also consider psychological therapy to figure out the reasons behind your self medication with food. Unfortunately many people get the surgery and don't deal with the underlining issue and end up abusing drugs or alcohol. Good luck and hang in there!

I had my sleeve done a week ago, 7/7/14. I have been sober for 3 years, I used alcohol as well as food to numb my feelings and emotions. I am hoping this surgery will help with my food addictions and that I can still stay sober as well.

Are there any sleevers in recovery from drug addiction/alcoholism? I ma set to be sleeved on July 24. I am a recovery and would like have somebody to discuss cross addictions and the additional problems posed w being sleeved for somebody in recovery, such as no longer having food to help me manage my emotions. Thanks!

I allow myself 2 alcohol beverages a week but it's usually only 1. Alcohol reduces your inhibitions and can lead to binging. Hershey's and Dove make these small dark chocolate bites that have about 40 calories each and I have one every night. tmf

I have absolutely zero regrets about having sleeve surgery. I don't miss food, I haven't developed any further addictions because of the weight loss. And believe me, I have an addictive personality, and struggled with addiction when I was younger. I'm about to turn 33 so I understand your concerns. I did not have the classic co-morbidities even at 5'2" weighing 270 pounds, but I did have joint pain. No high blood pressure, no cholesterol issues, nothing except being fat, and knowing that if I didn't do something, I would for sure die early or live on medications because of my weight issue. I can tell you from my experience as a band to sleeve revision that I am so happy, and live my life to the fullest that I don't have time for any other addictions. I used to be a big drinker, bar hopper (before I was married), and was concerned that I would turn to alcohol to fill the void since I couldn't eat large quantities. But, guess what, I have not had anything to drink since my revision in June. I have zero desire to drink. I always loved to shop so that wasn't an issue either, but I can tell you that shopping is a lot more fun now. If you are concerned about other (called transfer) addictions, ask your surgeon if their program includes a support group. If they do not have support group see if you can find one on meetup.com in your local area. And, you can always turn to us here for help, questions or concerns.

The doc required an egd(scope) before he would go in for my lapband removal. Soooo..I thought I would share with you guys my experience. Removed my top only left on my bra and put on a surgical gown. Left on my pants, etc. They put in an iv and little sticky things on your chest to monitor your heart, do a blood pressure and the finger thingey for oxygen levens and heart beat. They have a spray that spray in your mouth to numb your throat and your gag reflex. It tasted like a combination of bananas(banana flavored), but more like 100 proof alcohol and pop rocks. And VERY bitter. They tell you not to breathe while it is in your mouth so you dont inhale the numbing spray. Then they do the other side. Soon you feel like you cant swallow, and your cheeks, tongue, lips and throat are numb. Then the put the sedation thru your iv. I dont remember anything past that point. They call it a 'twilight sleep' but for me it was more like a 'midnight sleep' Woke up, no sore throat or anything it takes between 20 and 30 minutes. They tell you not to drive, so you need a driver, and even after the sedation wore off in an hour or so, you are a bit addled for the rest of the day. Still no sore throat, and no after effects of the sedation. Anxiously awaiting the call for my band removal! Lisa

As far as getting your fluids in if you are running around. Carry bottled Water, or whatever you are drinking. Just drink it as you are out. And if you have to mix your Protein drink (meaning you are using powder) then have it pre-measured in a snack size zip lock baggie and keep it in your purse. You can mix it up when needed. No biggie. While going out on the weekends . . . I am not sure what your doctors say but mine says DO NOT drink ANY alcohol on LRD. In the grand scheme of things it is a very short time, only a few weeks. You can still go out, just have a tonic, or selzer , plain water, or bring your own drink. Your life does not have to stop but things are going to have to change. And even after the pre-op and post-op diet things are going to have to change. That is why we are doing this. I suppose it comes down to how important is it to you?

food addiction is a sickness no different then alcoholism or drug addiction or being bulimic or anorexic! And I'm sure there are people who have the band that are suffering with food addictions. I was one of those with a food addiction but the lapband helped me be satisfied with good foods and small portions for a long time and I lost a lot of weight. Well I am up to 8cc of fill and I can say I cannot lose anymore weight and I have exercised and ate only Protein and veggies for months and months and everyday I fight because I am never full or satisfied. I wake up hungry and go to bed hungry so what do you say to someone who follows all the rules and struggles because the lapband has not helped to keep them full or satisfied. My doctor states I should be able to go 4 hours and not be hungry because the food goes in your stomach and stays in the area where the hormones tell the brain I'm full now I don't need anymore. Well those hormones are not working in me. I struggle everyday since I've had my band. Watching the clock for my next protein and veggie meal. Any thoughts on whether the band is not working, My doctor says I should not need a fill with 8cc's in there.

I could only drink sips of red wine at first. Im 10 months post op now and I can rarely finish a full 5oz glass...unless I nurse it over a few hours. I have red wine maybe 1-2 times a week. Normally, I can also drink 1oz servings of straight gin occasionally (like once a week maybe, if that). Now, when on vacation or during holidays, different rules apply, lol I usually stick to the same red wine and gin, but will add skinny mojitos and tequila shots to the mix. I generally stay away from mixed drinks (too much sugar). And beer (I don’t like it). I do get affected by the alcohol relatively quickly, but said effects wear off quickly as well (compared to pre-op). And I definitely drink much, much less than I did before.

Ok, quilty, so quilty. Popcorn is my one vice. I gave up everything else, soda, alcohol, sweets, potato chips, bread......... I have been able to eat popcorn the entire time. I can eat about 1-2 cups depending on how my band is responding. I buy the small bags, 100 calorie ones, pop them, spray, I can't believe it's butter on it and some fresh ground pepper. I do chew the heck out of it but it is the one thing I really enjoy as a snack, it satisfys my urge for salty snacks.

Hi Maggie, I just read your stats, you're at 117 lbs and your goal is to get to 140, is 117 the lowest you've been or was it lower? How do you look and feel? My cousin Deb lives in Western Mass, Becket I believe and she had the surgery Oct 1st, so far, last I heard she lost 50lbs. That was a lot and so fast. Maybe you know her? Do you feel that your life orbits around what you can and cannot eat now? Can you drink alcohol at all? What is the feedback from people you know....do they say you lost too much weight? Are you experiencing any problems? What size did you start with and drop to? That's a lot of weight loss...amazing. Robin

i still have it, i use sugar free breath drops, and trader joes has some great sugar free mint that are strong and i like em. i also keep mouthwash in my office as well as toothbrush etc. but mints and the sugar free drops help a lot. i use the mouthwash without alcohol, i dont need to burn my mouth out lol. good luck.

Honestly, the only advise I have to give is to seek counseling. You both need counseling, together and separately. You need it for your marriage to become stronger. He needs it to figure out what is driving him to drink and overeat. You may need it for other reasons, but I don't know you so I won't pretend that I do. But counseling will help both of you work through your issues and perhaps help him overcome some of what is driving him to drink and overeat. And with that... he may CHOSE to lose weight. He may CHOSE to have surgery to help him. But it has to be HIS choice. And you have to figure out whether you can love him the way he is. Can you love him despite alcoholism? Can you love him despite the fact that he makes unhealthy choices? Can you love him despite the fact that he is fat? If the answer to any of these is "NO", then you need to consider whether or not you should be married in the first place. Or if you decide you want to be married, you need to figure out how to live with him if he doesn't change. Only you know what is in your heart and what you can live with and who you can love through anything. But deal with both of your issues so that if he has surgery (or not), you can support him in a way that will actually help him. And if he wants surgery, go to the appointments with him. Talk to the surgeon and nutritionist WITH him. Surgery is a wonderful tool for weight loss. I hope he takes advantage of it, but he has to be ready for this change.

What if you could eat anything you want and still lose weight? That sounds wonderful, doesn't it, but is it even possible? My brother is a highly intelligent man. This was proven decades ago, when IQ tests (performed while his teachers and parents tried to figure out why he was a miserable little bugger) showed a genius level IQ. I know that sentence sounds unsympathetic to my brother, but we were all miserable - our parents, his teachers, me, and my brother. The decades that have passed since then haven't given him any more common sense or made him any less miserable. A good example of that is his reaction when I first talked with him about my weight loss surgery. This highly intelligent and (by then) well-read man said, "Wow! So, you have the surgery, and then you eat anything you want and you still lose weight!" Well, no, I told him. Not really. In fact, nothing like that. During the 6 years of my weight loss surgery journey, I have (over and over and over again) witnessed bariatric patients who came out of the operating room after surgically successful procedures still wondering why they couldn't eat anything want and still lose weight. Their disappointing weight loss was and is a perpetual puzzle to them because somehow they had not grasped that behavioral change is required for weight loss success. It's easy to label those patients as stupid or ignorant or deluded, or to blame their bariatric team for failure to properly educate those patients about what would be required of them both pre- and post-op. All of those things could be a factor. In March 2012 I attended 2 sessions of a required pre-op nutrition and education class. My BMI then made me obese, but not morbidly so. I had gained weight after a complete unfill and was preparing to say goodbye to my beloved band due to medical problems aggravated by my band, planning to revise to vertical sleeve gastrectomy in the same procedure. The dietitian leading the class was a perky, pretty 20-something girl, adorably pregnant, who had clearly never struggled with her weight before. Her slightly condescending attitude was hard to take, but about halfway through the class I thought I could understand her attitude. She had just named a long list of foods we should not eat after surgery (including fried foods, candy, baked goodies, soda, alcohol, salty snacks, etc.) when I heard a woman nearby say bitterly, "I don't know. That seems like an awful lot to give up." Since I had known the before and after of WLS, I was strongly tempted to respond to her, but I held my tongue (wisely, for once). I don't know just why so many people think that WLS is magic, that you can eat anything you want and still lose weight; that you don't have to give up a single food or behavior or attitude in order to succeed. Maybe we can blame that kind of thinking on the media, or maybe we can blame it on the deeply-entrenched denial that tends to go along with obesity. But the fact is, you can't eat anything and still lose weight unless you're dying of cancer or AIDs or some other fatal disease, and probably don't want to eat a single bite of anything anyway. And I'd trade dying of cancer for WLS sacrifices and success any old day, wouldn't 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.

so much of this entire Journey is interdependent on many aspects of our lives..... The very co-morbidities that made a complex and fragile daily life have served to motivate me. One of the inescapable issues many of We of the Tribe of the Morbidly Obese face, are such as diabetes and the very cascade of related such as high blood pressure, eye disease and kidney function, amoung others. Without boring anyone, the factors that make sweets and the close relative of alcohol, so devestating to various body systems, require understanding and control every day. My own "6-pack and a loaf of bread" snack routine symbolized the direction my rational mind didn't want to go, yet the Bad Habits and Belly Beasts were effectively taking over my entire life style. I was given the choice between kidney function and eyesight, vs a 400# lifestyle and a beer. Lap Band saved my Life nearly 10 years ago. The bit of daily discipline it takes to remain on the Path to Life is a joy.

Just wanted to update this post 5 months later. I still don't drink anywhere near as much as I use to prior to the surgery. But when I do go out and have a drink or two I have noticed that my tolerance has gotten a bit better. I still haven't gone back to my straight bourbon, whiskey, tequila shots. But mixed drinks, & wine coolers no longer get me immediately buzzed like they use to. I can take in about two to four drinks of those sort of alcoholic beverages before I feel anything now. Now keep in mind I sip on these things very slowly so one drink my last me 10 to 15 minutes. So if I'm out for two hours I may only have consumed up to 2 to 3 drinks max during that time frame. I'm not slamming them down like I'm in the dessert and dying of thirst. I'm also sure if I were to do the more harder stuff (whiskey, bourbon, tequila) I would feel it right away as if I was fresh off of surgery. I guess it just takes time for you to heal up and get somewhat of a tolerance back for it I guess. But I can totally see how it can become habit forming if your are getting buzzed drunk that quickly. You feel good, have not inhibitions to stop your good judgment, etc, etc. I still would totally advise on not doing it at least a good 8 - 12 months post surgery. And if you do go back to drinking, understand that what you could tolerate before and maybe even enjoyed, will indeed change. Be open up to trying new things a very very slow pace. And if at all possible have someone around you that can keep an eye on you to make sure you don't over do it. If you get buzzed drunk super quickly, you'll want someone around you that you can trust to stop you from continuing. Just my thoughts though.

3 months, no, no, no. I still choose not to eat and drink at the same time just because I don't want to risk getting sick from being full and taking in liquids too soon after that. I don't feel like I'm affected any more now by alcohol than I was before surgery. I've tried wine, mimosas, amaretto sours, but will usually stick to cape cods (vodka and light cranberry juice). Can't drink fast and carbonation of champagne has to go even slower. Still kind of nervous to try my luck with shots, but if someone else who answers has any advice, I'd love to hear that too.

3 months No No No I used to put away half a bottle of rum every weekend, pre-surgery. I drank dessert wine all the time, and fruity, sugary cocktails. These days, if I really want a liquor drink I'll have cranberry and vodka, but it only takes one. The only alcohol I drink regularly (2 glasses per week) is wine. Usually Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Grigio. Sugar content is almost non existent, pretty low cal, and I don't overdo it. I also only drink Water, G2 (on long run days), or coffee with SF creamer otherwise. No soda or sweet tea or any of that crap.

QUESTIONS: 1. How long did you go before having your first drink? I had my first drink about 15 days post surgery (had like 3 sips of some cheap champagne for New Years) 2. Have you had any MEDICAL complications with your surgery that were attributed to drinking alcohol? None that I can think of. 3. Have you gained back significant weight from drinking alcohol? No I haven't gained any weight back from drinking alcohol. However I don't drink often either. 4. Have you developed an alcohol addiction post VSG after having been able to control your drinking before? No. Before the surgery I was very much a social drinking. Going out for drinks at least twice to three times a month. Now I may have a drink once every few months (and by a drink I mean I am a one and done guy now). It hasn't been a year yet out of surgery for me, and I have had a drink of alcohol probably 4 times since the surgery. And the affects are the same every time. I get buzzed/high very quickly off of one drink. It last maybe 10 -15 minutes after I have stopped drinking said drink. I usually wait 20 to 30 minutes after the buzzing affects before I drive home, if I am out with friends just to make sure all the affects have past. Because I don't like that it gets me buzzed/high so freaking quickly and I prefer to have my wits about me when I am out in public I tend to limit or don't drink alcohol while out in public. If I am at home or a friends I may drink more than a drink, but honestly I haven't done that yet. With a giant bottle of Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey in my fridge that I brought a few months before I even agreed to have the surgery I can still say is still in my fridge. full as can be.

1. How long did you go before having your first drink? - 6 mths 2. Have you had any MEDICAL complications with your surgery that were attributed to drinking alcohol? NO 3. Have you gained back significant weight from drinking alcohol? NO 4. Have you developed an alcohol addiction post VSG after having been able to control your drinking before? NO I am a social drinker, but it really depends on when the mood hits. My first drink post-op was at a wine tasting. I had a drink over the summer at a get away weekend with friends. Since the new tv season has started I have a glass of wine on Thursday nights. I mostly drink wine, but occasionally also have beer or vodka.

Darn hit enter too soon and cannot edit on mobile. I was also going to add that for myself personally I am trying to hold off on drinking as long as possible. Right now at 4 weeks post op I am still dealing with head hunger and feeling like I still want to emotional eat. I am an ex smoker and now working on becomming an ex food addict. I do not want to fill the voids with alcohol, so for myself, I am choosing to hold off on alcohol until I can get my mental game to a much better place.

Good questions! How long did I wait? About 3-4 weeks. Wanted to make sure I was getting my full 64 oz of liquids first before any alcohol. For fear of dehydration! Any complications? I'm a big wine drinker and most of the time the acidity gives me major reflux or heart burn. Liquor I haven't noticed a problem. Don't mix with sugary stuff, high sugar can cause some "dumping" effects. Still can't handle carbonation, champagne, or beer, one sip can be painful. Weight gain? None, still loosing and I'm 6 months out. Drink much less than prior to surgery. Sip much slower. Addiction? I can stop whenever. It doesn't go down as fast and easy as it use too.