So its been almost 4 weeks. I'm feeling awesome. I have lost 20 pounds (some from the pre-op diet). I walk at least 3 miles everyday...even weekends. I'm eating exactly what i'm supposed to and I even got my first fill yesterday....

I'm going to one of my favorite bars tomorrow night and I just want a drink! Cape cod! Every time I ask my Dr or some other professional they always say "For successful weight loss alcohol is not recommended". Duh...I am fully aware of that! I just want to know that if I have a drink (or 2) will I be OK? How will drinking effect me now?

Any stories, suggestions, or comments would be awesome!

Thank you!

Lol!

You guys are pretty funny. You know, honestly, I really don’t care all that much if you drink or not, so knock yourself out. Have one for me, while you’re at it.

But I’ll just finish with this, and you can do what you want with the information (you’ll probably drink it…lol)

Sure, you can drink. Sure you can have that piece of pizza, that slice of cake.

But will that move you ANY closer to your goal? Nope. Will it keep you away from your goal? A little, tiny bit, yes. And it will continue to expose you to the foods that made you fat to begin with. Sure will.

A couple of you have said your Drs have said that it is OK to have a drink.. The OP said that her dr advised her not to. You will find Drs that say both.

But….I would challenge you to ask any Dr if it would be better that you did NOT have a drink/Pizza/whatever. I can guarantee you that probably %100 would say that it would be better if you didn’t.

But, that’s up to you. You really don’t seem to want to give your band the best chance it has to succeed. And, if you have been a good student prior to your band installation, you will have learned that the LAP-BAND® has a fairly low rate of complete success. And one of the reasons is because people want to continue living pretty much the same way they are now. They want the band to do all the work. And guess what: it won’t.

So, go on booze it up. And I’ll check back here with you in a year or so and see how you’re doing. I can pretty well predict how you’ll be doing. If you succeed, then you will be very lucky.

And me? I am at my perfect weight…happy, healthy, and enjoying my life a great deal. And I do wish that for you. I just don’t think you’re going to achieve it with that attitude. Good Luck!

Spartan, I have but one comment to your (Spartan) posts. I finally got banded On Jan 12, 2010. Was going to have the procedure 5 years earlier but with a BMI of barely 40 at the time, I felt that I could drop tthat extra 20-30 lbs by diet (again) like so many other previous times and try to keep it off. Fast forward 5 years and a additional 35 lbs and a BMI now reaching almost 44! Bingo, Nows the time! I`m 64, kinda old to do a complete life change but still, realize that I`m calorically out of control. Ever here of John Daly the PGA Golfer. This Bubba from Arkansas was almost 300lbs. A two pack a day smoker (still smokes) a 2 case a day beer guzzler (still sips a pint or two now and then) 4 time divorce, with multiple arrests for trashing Hotel rooms while drunk on his Golf Tours. Since his surgery in Feb 09` he has dropped 110 lbs with NO exercise except walking the Links on the golf course and drinks CARBONATED DIET COKE like crazy and still has been able to make the Lap Band work for him. NO PATIENT is going to be 100% compliant or perfect, we are Human. I hope this tool will help me shed a significant amount of excess weight for me (no pre-set goals) and hope it helps maintain me at a truly happy weight. Not what the Life Insurance Co`s weight tables have set for everyone. We will all do the best we can, but life is too short to deny oneself of all our favourite foods and beverages simply because we are obese, had surgery, and are looking to look and feel better! Lighten up....just nibble on (one) Girl Scout Cookie and not have a panic attack that all is now lost! Maybe a Zanex Tab might help!

Personally, I initially ignored my physician's advice, because, HEY I'm human, Right? No one is perfect, right? This is life, right? uh huh. I didn't get the band because my liver didn't shrink. I learned the hard way to do what my doc says, and if I do not trust him/her, I NEED A NEW DOC.

Ignoring your surgeon's advice is akin to playing Russian Roulette or having unprotected sex. You may get away with it, you may not. By all means, as grown ups, decide what you want. But don't expect those of us who know better to applaud or recommend acting recklessly.

If you are 4 weeks post op and know better than your surgeon, well good for you. I'm pretty bright, and I didn't.

Not sure if your post Monkey was for me, but I`m in agreement with you! I have proceeded with my surgeons regiment 100% with one week liquid only pre-op and 2 weeks liquid only post op! Its been a miserable 3 weeks....but I did it! I have 2 more weeks of eating pureeded and mush foods before I can advance to solid real food. I plan on keeping to that regime without deviation. But I assure you, once I`m 5 weeks down the road from where this journey started, I will slowly but surely experiment and test my abilities to tolerate at least small tiny portions of the foods I once so loved. Its a learning curve for all Banders and we will have our PB,Drool, and Stuck foods episodes from time to time by failing to take very small bites and chewing till food almost become liquified! I choose not to follow Spartan and share my dogs diet of 3 measured packets of gibble as my daily meals.

of course eventually you have to "finesse" the band. Four weeks, though, is a little early. If I may pull an example from my personal experience; carbonation is one of the few items that most surgeons agree should be forbidden (and they do seem to disagree about a LOT, I know). Once I'd had my band a year and was doing well, my surgeon told me to go for it if it didn't cause me discomfort (in my case I missed beer, not diet cokes or such LOL) So I do very occasionally indulge. I still have a lot to lose, though, and have to "weigh" (oh ha ha!) my desire for a beer against my desire to lose weight.

So we DO have to use judgment; however to start off disregarding your surgeon is imprudent, at least in my experience. We need to learn the ropes before we start to modify our approach.

Well, I still drink. Mostly martinis (Cosmopolitans, blueberry martini, pomegranite martini, you name it). So far it is working for me. If things start to not work, then I will reexamine what I am doing.

One of the things no one has touched on yet is swapping vices. Being forced to give up food, you can easily swap for alcohol or other behaviors. Just be cautious.

Oh and Spartan, how completely petty and small of you. The whole idea that you are going to follow someones posts in order to gloat at their failure should be enough to let you know you got some more work to do on yourself. You might be at goal, but you got some issues.

Apparently the advice "do what your doctor says" is hard for some people to accept. That's cool; the band IS reversible.

OH wait. I forgot to mention Mojitos. And Gin Rickeys. Highly recommended.

Minime I can not believe that you truly think that if something works for you, that it should work for everyone. For some reason, something Spartan said apparently got your dander up, but bottom line, we're individuals and following our doc's advice, at least initially, is the smartest thing to do.

And sounds like AA might be in your future....

Minime I can not believe that you truly think that if something works for you, that it should work for everyone. For some reason, something Spartan said apparently got your dander up, but bottom line, we're individuals and following our doc's advice, at least initially, is the smartest thing to do.

And sounds like AA might be in your future....

Show me where I said what works me will work for someone else and then we can discuss it. Other than that, I wont play your control games.

So sorry, find someone else.

AH! I thought, like the rest of us, you were here to give advice, not just brag on your alcohol consumption! Apologies! As long as you are just "sharing" and not implying that it's ok for the OP, at 4 weeks, to drink what s/he wants, then forgive me for misunderstanding!

AH! I thought, like the rest of us, you were here to give advice, not just brag on your alcohol consumption! Apologies! As long as you are just "sharing" and not implying that it's ok for the OP, at 4 weeks, to drink what s/he wants, then forgive me for misunderstanding!

Your forgiven, even for suggesting I might need help with alcoholism. Even though you kinda forgot about that one. But thats ok. I am an easy going type person. Not just a braggart about alcohol. LOL:wink:

I think you should listen to your doctor, especially since it has only been 4 weeks. I didn't have a drink for 6 months and I am not saying you should wait that long, but your body is still healing from the surgery and adjusting to your new way of eating. Spartan obviously has a strong opinion about not drinking or eating anything unhealthy and that is her right. Most of us know that we will not be able to go all our lives without having some things that we love occasionally. You are going to do what you think you should do, but I would caution you not to drink at such an early point in your journey. That's just my opinion. When I did have my first glass of wine, I found like many others have said. I needed only one and I was tipsy. I rarely have a Cosmopolitan or Margarita which are my 2 favorite drinks.

I`d love to join you`all in having a pint or two of a fine quality micro-brew IPA or Red Amber at the Brew Pub of your choice. Cheers! I promise to sip slowly....lol

I haven't been on a in a few days and I didn't realize that there were so many responses! this is why i love this site!

On Friday I went out and I had an awesome time! I danced the night away and I had my Cape cod (just one) and got a nice little buzz...comparable to one that i would normally get after 3!

I want to thank everyone one for their advice and input. Except for spartan. I would have thought that knowing we are all going through the same you would have a little more respect for personal decisions and that the judgments would be to a minimum. I don't know you or anything about your life but you don't seem like a very positive person and that makes me sad for you. I can guarantee that I will reach my goal weight in less than a year....in fact...I'm on track to reach 125 lbs in less than 8 months. I go to the gym and/or walk at least 4 miles EVERY DAY. So the only advice I have for YOU is to ask your Doctor to remove the stick out of your ass :confused:

Thanks again guys!

And if anyone in the LA area wants to have a Lapband "night out" and have a cape cod with me...Let me know!

So the only advice I have for YOU is to ask your Doctor to remove the stick out of your ass :scared2:

:thumbup::thumbup: