I'm 9 days post-op and have been having a really tough time of it. Hard to get fluids down, hard to drink those stupid Protein shakes. I so miss my Diet Coke - some people smoke, some people do drugs, drink alcohol - I do none of that, I just like my Diet Coke.

So today, I took one of my caffeine free Diet Cokes (when home, I always drank caffeine free), opened the bottle to let out some fizz, poured it over ice in a glass, and took small sips. It was like drinking a little glass of heaven. No stomach upset and I feel almost like a normal person again. No caffeine, lost a lot of the carbonation, and when the ice melts down, I'm even getting some extra water!

It's amazing how this diet can make a person so miserable at times, but the little things we took for granted before can make a world of difference now with just a little modification (I would chug all fizzy from the bottle ).

Ohh gee aren't we all adults. Lt has a right to get defensive, everyone else has a right to feel how they want to. But everyone can argue back and forth and try to claim they have the most sensible answer but no one is going to change anyone elses mind or make them feel less defensive. It would make more sense for everyone to stop argueing over such a silly thing. Were all humans, we all take things that people say in the wrong way someone's, but were all supposed to be here to help each other out. If you found normality in a sip of coke, good, we all know how miserable the beginning of the journey is && a anything that helps is nice. Just make sure you don't push yourself, and learn good limits. Come on guys, lets all relax... we will live longer.

Sassy pants, there is a difference between making a choice to eat or drink something we know to be other than the best for us, and owning that as being a step out of the ordinary, owning a poor choice as a poor choice we made in an informed way and those who make a poor choice, than try to seek validation for it as being okay, or not a poor choice.

We all make mistakes. And I would say we will all have times where we eat or drink something that is not the best for our health and wellbeing. But where we differ is those who are prepared to own such decisions for what they are compared to those who will seek validation and attempt to deny that they may have done something less than ideal.

Drinking diet coke is a poor nutrition choice. That statement is without judgement. I would go so far as to assert that statement as fact. Someone who chooses to drink diet coke can either say "I know it is a poor choice but I am making it because it makes me feel good regardless" or they can try and argue that drinking diet coke is a good nutrition choice and then attack those who do not agree with claims of them being unsupportive, or unentitled to comment because of having a history of making similar poor choices.

The latter usually results in a bit of train wreck of a thread.

I had two glasses of wine last night with my sister. It was great, felt normal, and was enjoyable. But it was dumb. I awake this morning dehydrated and with heartburn. And I consumed 210 empty calories. Will i do it again? Highly likely. Will I come in here and try and convince people that it is a sensible choice then get angry when you all don't blindly support me? No. Never.

I am accountable for my own decisions. Even the dumb ones.

Sent from my iPad using VST

I get what you’re saying but as I said for some of us it IS on the approved list of allowed stuff.

Honestly I was told in my group meeting diet soda is ok right away but you must stay away from fruit juices for 4 weeks and when you do drink fruit juices to mix them with at least half water.

I don’t think LT was coming here to be validated for his choice of drinking coke honestly as someone else pointed out I think he was just posting his “I drank it and felt normal and it reminded me of before and I feel a little better in this crazy time who else?!”

No one needs to validate him at all.

At the first stage what real nutrition are any of us getting?

Broth and water? Really?

Because I don’t know about anyone else but I wasn’t even allowed protein shakes till 2 weeks out because they are not on the clear liquid stage of my diet sheet.

And speaking of broth how many people bought store bought broth?

The kind loaded with salt and other additives?

I am willing to bet a lot of people because I have also seen a bunch of posts saying what kind of store bought soup people got.

I made my own so I know for the little amount of nutrition I was getting in my just out barely drink a thing stage I was at least doing a better liquid choice than store bought.

Water is empty calories and nutrition its good for hydration I can argue the same fact for flat soda.

Infact coke zero has 0.75 calories per liter so its hardy a factor for calories (yes I just googled it I didn’t have that fact in my head lol)

The flavours people add to water they have no nutritional value either infact they have artificial sweeteners I would say are a bad choice but hey people drink it still.

I am not here to slam anyone for not wanting to drink coke (any other soda they wish) or for them wanting to drink water or whatever they want to drink, I am not here to tell anyone to do what i do, I am learning what works for me and what my body tolerates and if asked and I have my own example or suggest on what worked for me I will add to the topic.

I got annoyed at how people are treating each other that includes LT and I said so in my first post.

When you feel attacked you attack back and it keeps going on.

I generally try to keep out of such things because I am highly opinionated and don’t want to fight with anyone but he didn’t do anything wrong by drinking flat diet caffeine free coke 9 days out and he is being told that he did, that his doctors are wrong and he should listen to those people posting telling him he is wrong.

Well I was told similar things so our professionally trained medical teams are talking crap but theirs isn’t?

Who says?

Its your doctors personal opinion on what they want and allow ours allowed it in moderation as long as its flat and your getting fluid its really that simple.

I didn’t like how awfully shocked and up in arms some people were like they would never ever eat drink whatever anything not on the approved list again!

Give me a break people are human they do things and as far as I am concerned this didn’t warrant the free for all mess it become!

TBH, I really don't see where anybody called her "stupid" or even suggested it. IMO most of the responses in this thread were due to her defensiveness that quickly turned into offensiveness. Either way, that was yesterday, this is a new one.

This forum is kinda like a family, we have each others best interest at heart. If we feel that you are doing something detrimental the one of us is very likely gonna say something. It would be negligent of us not to.

I mean really, if your sister were making bad choices wouldn't you say something?

The good news is, you have the power to heed advice or disregard it.

I can tell you I've bent & broken many rules, but if I'm giving advice, it will be the advice I feel is best for you.

If you say "I drank a Coke" and it appears that it was in weakness or that you regret it, we are gonna love on you & help you get back on track

If you say the same thing & appear to be proud of it, we are gonna give you 30 lashings with a wet noodle then we will love on you & help you get back on track

If you say "I'm 5 days out of surgery & I just ate a hamburger" I am gonna tell you "that was a really stupid decision" advise you to get therapy, have your staple line checked, then we will love on you & help you get back on track.

The end result is always the same, if you allow it to be

BTW, if you say "I have an occasional decarbonated Diet Coke to make this a bit easier" chances are all you'll hear is that their not really good for you, and the you as a big boy/girl can make your decision to continue or not.

i didn’t say anyone said LT was stupid I posted how I felt on guard to post because maybe I will be called stupid tutted at and called a bad girl- that’s not saying anyone called anyone stupid.

I am from a big family 9 of us and no I don’t come down hard on them if they do anything wrong that makes people shut off and ignore you.

And again for some of us its on the approved list like it or not its there can scan my diet plans and show you, so if I decided to drink it (yes I had a couple of sips but that was it for me) I am not doing anything wrong in doing so.

There is a big difference between chowing down on burgers 9 days out and sipping a flat drink.

sorry i said he your no av is a guys cut out to me so i assume male with no pic sorry!

Picture = done

I hate having my pic taken and I've only been using my iPhone to post, which has about 1000 pictures of my cat and dog.

I'm 9 days post-op and have been having a really tough time of it. Hard to get fluids down, hard to drink those stupid protein shakes. I so miss my Diet Coke - some people smoke, some people do drugs, drink alcohol - I do none of that, I just like my Diet Coke.

So today, I took one of my caffeine free Diet Cokes (when home, I always drank caffeine free), opened the bottle to let out some fizz, poured it over ice in a glass, and took small sips. It was like drinking a little glass of heaven. No stomach upset and I feel almost like a normal person again. No caffeine, lost a lot of the carbonation, and when the ice melts down, I'm even getting some extra water!

It's amazing how this diet can make a person so miserable at times, but the little things we took for granted before can make a world of difference now with just a little modification (I would chug all fizzy from the bottle ).

You can do what you want to do, but to promote it, is irresponsible. Everyone here is here because of various demons, and the best chance we have at success is cleaning up our acts and starting our lives exactly the way our doctors told us to. This kind of post is like going to AA and talking about having just "one little small drink". I'm judging you for encouraging something we know is detremental. I hope most readers ignore this and listen to their surgeons.

It really cracks me up that this started as a fairly innocent thread I started some 4+ hours ago about how simply modifying my soda by flattening it out and pouring it over ice could make me feel so much better after feeling like I've been suffering for a week.

Kind of ridiculous that it's turned into this.

Each of us has our strengths and weaknesses, and none of us are in any position to criticize or judge anyone else here. We've ALL lived unhealthy and eaten to a point that landed us on an OR table to get part of our stomachs removed. Pretty drastic, don't you think? Yet here we are, bickering, judging, insulting - it's ridiculous! My god, the whole damn world picks on fat people, must we do that to each other too?

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take another little sip of that same poisonous 12 oz Diet Coke that I poured over ice some 5 hours ago.

We are here to celebrate success, not embrace bad choices.

You can do what you want to do' date=' but to promote it, is irresponsible.[/quote']

I'm sorry, too busy handing crack lollipops out to babies to reply in earnest.

We have to each do what works best for us! I have been drinking regular coffee since day after surgery-can't function without it! I have cut down from 4 cups to 1-2, but given other things we could eat, coffee and diet coke don't seem that bad. There are a lot of changes going on, and we can't just go from our old eating habits to raw vegan, organic, etc over night! If someone wants a diet coke and she's ok with it, I say go for it!

Ok give it up already agree to disagree. I would hate to think someone did not post something because they did not want to feel beat up. If taking a sip of dc helps make it through the day then enjoy and just move forward. these kind of threads make me think twice about posting something. it is becoming like the rolling eyes thread where some people actually belittle posts people make and laugh about it. People who live in glass houses should not throw rocks

Sent from my SPH-D700 using VST

We have to each do what works best for us! I have been drinking regular coffee since day after surgery-can't function without it! I have cut down from 4 cups to 1-2' date=' but given other things we could eat, coffee and diet coke don't seem that bad. There are a lot of changes going on, and we can't just go from our old eating habits to raw vegan, organic, etc over night! If someone wants a diet coke and she's ok with it, I say go for it![/quote']

Don't get me started on coffee! Severe addiction here. Can't and won't give it up!

I am still pre op....but I have a confession to make I am drinking a Vodka/coke zero right now. I spent all week fighting with ASKHOLES and I needed a couple coctails.

*Sigh* This thread seems to me a lot about strict sleevers vs. moderate sleevers. Flat diet coke in moderation is on most surgeon's post op sheets. It is a personal philosophy and choice on food and drink more than it is on anything else. Some people choose to go all-natural or organic or vegan or vegetarian after the sleeve--and some do not. Some choose to cut out processed foods and drinks with chemicals and sweeteners. Some do not. It's so individual. I fault no one whether they choose one way or another. It comes off a bit arrogant and as though one is throwing around a superior air to tout that they won't touch those "chemicals".

Alas, opinions are like boobs everyone has them. Including men :-) Ya I said it.

To LT: I just want to say congratulations on your wife's pregnancy! I think thats an amazing thing and don't worry--soon enough you will feel better and will be able to help your sweety out. Just a tip: You can massage her feet while sitting on the couch or bed :-) I know what it's like to be pregnant and a foot massage was so nice :-). Its going to get better soon and life will carry on. Big hugs going your way!

It was mentioned that we all got here by making bad choices to the point we need major surgery to regain control.... So we all have this in common ... The odd part is that we all seem to have something else in common.... we all had at one point or another an addiction to carbonated beverages... It might be worth noting.....connection??? My surgeon said the quickest way to reverse your surgery is carbonation and he recommends never having it again.... personally im not going to risk it. It is the only thing he says you should never have again. I just mentally picture a skull and crossbones on it and it keeps me from wanting it

Don't get me started on coffee! Severe addiction here. Can't and won't give it up!

@CraftyV, I won't either! I did modify my Starbucks so I get. Light latte with skim milk and sugar free syrup! At least I'm getting in 10 grams if protein! Let's go have a coffee sometime:)