I had the gastric sleeve surgery on May 7th. Before surgery I liked to drink wine several times a week. Usually white, sometimes red. After surgery, didn't touch alcohol for 8 weeks. But tonight I've had 3 glasses of white wine. It's only 3 carbs per 5 oz. and around 100 calories. I ate protein for every meal and didn't snack at all. My total calories for the day including the wine are 700. Can someone explain to me why this would be considered "bad"? I'm not looking for judgement on the wine, just truly curious as to why alcohol is considered a bad thing.

There is a carb-sugar craving that probably comes from the bacteria in our guts. We (speaking for myself for sure, but maybe a lot of you) are not strong enough to resist that craving. That’s why I used the sleeve surgery restart of eating as my point to stop eating all processed carbs or sugars and only a bite a day of fruit, or eating any fake sugars, because the sweet tastes keep those bacteria forcing us to crave.

I don’t want to gain all the weight back. I’m about 16 months out. So yeah, for me, not eating those carbs has made me not want them at all for real - not lying. If I eat something like a tortilla chip I immediately feel sick-ish. AND I LOVE THAT. I am sure I could force myself to eat cake and pasta and chips and candy again and build up a population of gut bugs who want that stuff. But why??? I’m not fat any more, omg, I like this. I want to live a long time!

But with alcohol, I would like to have SOMETHING to drink on special occasions. But I can’t tolerate anything sweet at all. And I don’t want shots or really hard stuff because I am not a big drinker. So I’ve decided to try a Gibson as my first mixed drink. I want something salty not sweet. I bought all the ingredients. Maybe thanksgiving will be my first time to try alcohol. Wish me luck. (Just one drink - hoping I don’t feel yucky or sick but if I do, I guess it’s cannabis only for me now, lol.)

27 minutes ago, jultrim18 said:

I find that the people on this site want you to be perfectly healthy

I see what your saying and am more than guilty of preaching what has been taught to me. I don't think anyone here wants anyone else to "be perfect" exactly. I think what is going on is sometimes we need to have it repeated to us so we can break our old habits. By reading it so many times over and over and over again by so many different people, some new to surgery and those far along the journey, it can sometimes come across the wrong way. Especially being something we read with no human emotion expressed behind it. For me introducing some of the things that are a "no-no" has not worked out so well. I tell myself I can have this because it will be in moderation and it will help me control it. Next thing you know I had a whole slice of pizza that's way over in calories. Or drank that pint of vodka that was an empty 400+ calories.

I'm learning this new way of life as it comes at me. It may not be the same for others but for me I have to appreciate all the posts from those wanting us to "be perfect". Regardless of how those posts are meant, what matters is how I perceive it. I don't know how long it will take for me to completely break the habits or get to the point where I can control what I consume AT ALL TIMES but I now know the path I have to stick to, to try and get there. I will do my best to perfectly stick to the plan that was put in front of me to follow and hopefully one day I'll have good habits that are unbreakable like the $hitty ones I've been following to this point.

My surgeon is very strict about this. No alcohol for a minimum of 6 months and no carbonated beverages PERIOD. While I don't think a glass of champagne once a year will derail me, I'm in no hurry to break the rules. I tried things my way and obviously that didn't work out so well since I needed gastric sleeve surgery. I realize it's still early in the game for me, I'm just now almost 2 weeks post-op. But I'm not putting myself through all of this to not give it everything. I love wine and enjoying cocktails with my friends. But if I don't get to do that for a while, it's not going to kill me. If I don't succeed in my weight-loss, THAT will kill me. I think there's a fine line. I realize I still have to live my life but I acknowledge that I'll be living it differently than before. I have to.

I only drink when I'm out and in company now - I used to drink wine every night at home. I'm amazed I don't really miss it, actually!

I recently went on a girls' weekend and drank probably 5 glasses of Prosecco each night. I still managed to lose 2 lbs that week. The same is true of when I go on holiday. I don't break the food rules - I eat small plates of good food and drink alcohol at night - and I still lose weight.

The most important difference for me is that I'm not hankering after alcohol any more. The surgery stopped the habitual behaviour.