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I get that low carb is very polarized right now- I will say my 4 month pre-op diet was low carb, and it worked to get weight off prior to surgery. It was never intended to be long term, but I recognized I had a serious problem with limiting intake of carbs and particularly sugar. I also needed to drop weight so I could be healthier for surgery, since I was close to a 50 BMI. Low carb diets can be effective. I’m sure some people can maintain them long term because that’s how they like to eat. Me, I’m enjoying using portion control now and having fruit and vegetables again. Doing a short term “unsustainable” diet did not ruin my life, I’m not wildly binging out of control now or starving myself. Some short, older, sedentary people will have very low calorie needs. I don’t think any of us are in a place to judge someone. I have to remind myself sometimes that I am almost a foot taller than some women on these forums, so of course my food intake doesn’t look like theirs. There are also 20 something very tall men here who exercise every day. I wish I could compare myself to them, but no dice! Everyone here is on their own journey and we are all going to need to find what works for us. Let’s leave the person alone who wants to eat carbs and enjoy them, but similarly if someone wants to go low carb, that’s their own business.

First off, let me say that you should always listen to your doctor and nutritionist...rather than crazy people on the internet, myself included. But here's my rant today. And for what it's worth....this is just MY feelings on this nonsense. I'm no expert. Ya'll need to eat. Not overeat. But also NOT UNDER-EAT. Eat healthy food you enjoy. I know how it happens. Your weight loss gets sluggish and stuck and you think OMG, this isn't working, I'm Failing at this! You start to panic. And what does a lifelong self-destructive dieter DO when they start to panic? They go exteme. They go...ok, my doctor said it was ok to eat this much.....so I'm gonna try to eat HALF of that to speed up my weight loss! I'm going to work harder than anyone! I'm going to eat less! I'm going to force this weight off of my body...because this is my last chance and I'm freaking out and I can't fail at this, so I NEED to do better and cut back! Only, here's the thing. You don't need to cut back. You need to stay the course, nourish your healing body, have good energy to boost your metabolism and lose weight sensibly. Why do people do VLCDs? (very low calorie diets....1000 or less calories a day)....they do them because they show results in a hurry. And there is nothing people like better than a lower number on the scale...regardless of how they're achieving it. Or how harmfully they are achieving it. When you eat less than 1000 calories a day, did you know you lose more muscle than fat...even if you are eating tons of protien grams? When you lose muscle, you slow your metabolism, endanger your organs that have muscle (heart anyone?), and decrease your bone density. None of this is a good idea. And when you're eating starvation level calories, your body tries like hell to keep you from dying....by, you guessed it, slowing your metabolism even further. And the carb thing...can we talk about that a minute? You DO want to avoid carbs that are metabolized to sugar really fast, like sugary foods and refined white flour items because they can cause your pancrease to over-react and send too much insulin and you'll end up with rebound hunger....but other carbs, particularly ones that have good fiber content to slow the sugar can also have good protien content...and they don't do the rebound hunger thing. They give you great available energy. Why do we lose so much weight so rapidly when we do keto? We don't really....but the first five pounds is so quick and shocking that it MUST work! (except you're not losing fat, you're losing the water that your liver stores extra glucose in.....and you've stripped your liver of its emergency reserve of energy. And yeah...you can make the sugar you need from other things through gluconeogenesis....but it takes amino acids that your body is typically harvesting from your muscles.) Don't do that thing where you lose the five pounds eating keto....then eat a few carbs and go OMG, look at the weight I've gained!....and go keto again and lose the same five pounds of water. It's an illusion. (Not saying keto people can't lose weight...they do lose weight fast...but they also have about five pounds in lost water from glucose storage, no emergency stores, and their bodies may be consuming their muscles) Food for thought (literally!) Guess what organ runs exclusively on sugar? Pure glucose. Your brain. Your brain burns over 300 calories of glucose every day. At just 2% of our body weight....our brains burn about 20% of the calories we use each day! The CPU needs fuel. Lots of people lose weight rapidly with Very Low Calorie Diets after bariatric surgery. They have these amazing results that other people notice and are in awe of. They lose to goal eating very little and feel very accomplished about their self discipline and their amazing fast results. And then guess what happens? At goal...they are still people who have never learned how to eat sustainably for life. All they know is starvation and self deprivation. And starvation doesn't work long term. Please learn to eat sustainable amounts of calories. Do it early so you don't fudge your metabolism into starvation level calorie requirements. One of the best ways to have a robust metabolism...is to do exercise every day. It doesn't have to be the gym or something you find tedious. Do things you enjoy....but keep moving. It's hard to build your robust metabolism.....when you're too tired to do anything but go to work and go to bed...because you're starving yourself. Please eat. Don't overeat. But eat. Learn to eat right, not starve. Starving is not the cure and in many cases sets the stage for significant regain. Do it right, even it it's slower than other people. Do it sustainably. Learn to coexist with food, not avoid it. (easier said than done) Don't get discouraged by small losses. Just keep losing to goal with small sensible tweeks. You don't have to suffer extremes to have success. Learning to control your diet moderately...is the best skill to have when facing a lifetime of sustaining a significant weight loss. This end my rant. Totally ok if you think I'm nuts/wrong/whatever. Take what you like and leave the rest. Peace and best wishes to everyone on this crazy road.

Since you already received the requisite comments about drinking above, I will just answer your specific question. I was sleeved, and was told no alcohol for the first month. Beyond that, was told to determine on my own what I can handle, but the general recommendation was to try to abstain. With that said, here is MY timeline: 3 weeks post op: 2-3 sips of red wine (felt weird, thought I could feel the warmth going down my intestines). Also I remember being affected by it. Not drunk or even tipsy...but something. 2-ish months post op: ~1 fl oz of soju-sake (got terribly sick within 15 or so minutes, spent the next few hours suffering : rapid heart rate/barf/diarrhea/lethargy/passed out...it was the sugar, dammit). 3-7 months post op: probably had 4-5 (partial) drinks of either red wine or vodka soda the entire time (got tipsy really fast, got sober equally fast). 8 months to present : drank more (mostly due to the fact that I was done with weight loss phase). Maybe 1-2 times a week at first (and sometimes none at all), then Covid came around, and since about may-june last year, I drink almost every day. I still get tipsy and sober pretty quickly....not as drastic as in the early months, but still. Generally, I can feel the effects by 1/2 the glass, and if I finish the whole thing, I will be completely normal again within 1-1.5 hours. So take this as validation, justification, or as a cautionary tale. You decide. P.S. note that the effects will be different for everyone...I am pretty small (5'2", 110 lbs), so this definitely influences how I am affected. @The Greater Fool's suggestion to try it out in a safe place first is a good one.

I only sized down one time, but with working from home I was able to do that by wearing my clothes until they were excessively large. I bought most of my clothes second hand and donated my entire wardrobe. I also shopped at Ross/TJ Maxx for some extra new clothes. My wife is still losing weight and I found a couple of work pants for her at Kohls for only $10 each. She is just at a size 16 down from a 26 and is losing almost daily still. Since they were only $10 I also went down a few more sizes and bought a size 12 for her for when she is at that point. These should hold up during this phase and then we will donate what doesn't fit.

Yes, you need to take vitamins after surgery. Taking vitamins isn’t a bad idea for most people. I use the PatchMD ones. I take enough pills as it is & I don’t want to take anymore orally. My daughter takes the BariatricPal ones. Others take chewable children’s vitamins (I couldn’t stand those & a kid). I had a RNY because I had previous surgery to fix a hiatal hernia that had failed & it was causing me a great deal of acid reflux again. Talk with your doctor to pick the best surgery for you!

I always forget about consignment stores. Great idea! That's a great place to get good quality and condition clothes cheaply.

Try Poshmark... they gave great deals

Marketplace on Facebook. I found someone giving away a bagful of clothes in the size I was looking for. I was pretty lucky.

Haven't had surgery yet but how about those sites that send you clothes? Not sure if they are worth it, or if it works like I'm thinking but, maybe that would be a good way to try new clothes as you lose? Here is a site that has some tips: https://www.bariatricbody.co/post/12-step-guide-for-shopping-buying-and-making-your-clothing-wardrobe-work-after-bariatric-surgery

You are averaging 3.6 lbs a week. That is pretty dadgum good. Stay the course and use your tool and you will get there!