Hi everyone, I'm having the sleeve surgery on Feb 23rd. I'm real excited about the new phase of my life and the weight loss journey. One thing that has me concerned is the NO CAFFIENE for 6 months. I don't drink coffee, but normally have a cup of tea and 1 diet soda in the morning, occasionally I'll have one in the afternoon. I've been slowly reducing the amount of caffeine so I don't go into withdrawals, although I've stopped drinking it before without problems. What are people doing without caffeine? Maybe after losing enough weight we will all have enough energy that caffeine won't be needed, but in the meantime, any suggestions? I do take tyrosine sometimes and it does help with energy, but not like a diet soda or a cuppa!

I would start weaning off it now so it won't be cold-turkey when you have the WLS. Caffeine doesn't affect me energy-wise so I didn't really have an issue with it.

I wasn't allowed to have it for the first six months after surgery, either. I started drinking it again (coffee) at that point (I couldn't drink diet soda at that point. It'd been so long since I'd been "off" it that it tasted like chemicals to me - I ended up never going back to it...)

I was never asked to stop caffeine and I would have had a major problem doing that! Caffeine withdrawal headache is the worst.

The caffeine thing i have noticed is different with every surgeon... Ive watched a ton on youtube and some say they dont care if their has caffine, others say to stay away. Main reason i have heard is because it can cause dehydration and obviously with WLS you want to be hydrated.

I stopped cold turkey during my pre-op diet, which was something because I drank a ton of caffeine: coffee, diet sodas, etc. I somehow did not get withdrawals when I stopped, and I can say now it was much easier than I thought! I'm now six months out, and haven't tried it again yet, and am not sure I will. I was tempted to try some caffeine a few weeks ago when I had to attend video meetings based on the South Africa time zone, so online from 2 AM - 10 AM, but I decided not to and was fine.

Honestly, I don't miss it. I do miss my coffee ritual in the morning and while I could use decaf coffee, I also realize I'll then be tempted to use creamers and such that will add unwanted calories. I've created a new decaf tea habit and it is quite nice. At some point I'll try caffeine again, but I'm not really driven to do it now.

My program allows caffeine. However, on my 5 week preop diet I wasn't allowed anything except the shakes. My first morning in the hospital, they gave me caffeinated lemon tea lol. I have a coffee about once a month now...but I switched to earl grey lattes in the mornings. I use decaffeinated early grey tea, sugar free vanilla syrup and steamed milk (protein!). I am coming up on my 1 year next month, and I haven't gone back to coffee 'full time' yet. Not sure if I will either! I still crave Diet Coke like crazy....but I haven't had it yet either. Just my tea and water (with flavouring) for now.

Hope that helps!

So I take it caffeine isn't the big bad nasty they make it out to be. I'll stay away from especially the first 3 months and see how it goes.

It’s best to stick to your surgeons plan but caffeine is very controversial. Some people are offered caffeine for breakfast in the hospital and others are not allowed for months or even a year post surgery. I used to drink a 12 pack of Coke Zero a day and thought I would die without my soda but I weaned myself off starting a few months before surgery and honestly it is nice to not be dependent on something to keep me going. I did go back to one caffeine (caffe latte) shake in the morning just because all the others tasted too sweet but I am able to wake up without it if I have to.

Edited February 13, 20224 yr by ShoppGirl

I am 2 months post-Op and we are allowed 2 cups max of caffeine intake. So it isn't completely off the table, though I don't bother much with coffee unless I really need it on one of those days.

Thanks, that helps!

Hi DonnaGS,

Just wanted to say hi. I also am having gastric sleeve on Feb 23. I’m a little anxious the closer I get but I’ve been doing pretty good on pre-op diet. I had to eliminate caffeine a while ago due to other health issues so can’t help with that, other than it does get easier with time. I wish you luck with your surgery and would love to hear from you post-op.

This is one of my pet peeves.

There's no scientific reason for you not to have caffeine and the normal bariatric patient can have caffeine in any reasonable quantity.

You know why they think it dehydrates you? Because yes, caffeine is a mild diuretic on its own ...

... however, unless you're snorting it, it comes with the fluid it takes away and plenty more.

SUMMARY:
1. Follow the science
2. Don't snort caffeine
3. Don't make this harder than it should be - if a cup of tea gets you to goal easier, have the tea.

https://time.com/5192272/coffee-tea-dehydrating/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3886980/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/caffeinated-drinks/faq-20057965

Oh, and: know there's a perfection spiral happening in many communities focused around a common goal. The perfect ones burn out fast, while the sensible ones make it in the end. Don't listen to people projecting their own need for max control - it's usually because they don't have it.

Edited February 20, 20224 yr by Guest

I have came to the same conclusion as you! Unless I'm drinking 10 cups of tea, I'm not going to get dehydrated. Its not like I can lose 5 pounds of water weight by having a cuppa. My bariatric Dr Even said a cup of tea here and there isn't going to hurt anything. I normally have one cup of tea in the morning and one can of diet soda. Because of the carbonation, I will have to quit the soda for awhile.

My dietician put me on a pre-surgery diet of 1,300 calories and no caffeine (no surgery date yet). I only drink ONE cup of coffee each day, so I figured no big deal. On day two of no coffee, I was nauseous, tired, had a massive headache and was miserable. I decided “screw this” and went back to one cup per day. I decided that I will give up coffee when I really need to, like during the two week liquid diet before surgery. I will be more motivated then.

I was curious about coffee/caffeine and found some answers. It’s not about the dehydration so much, but about the way caffeine effects blood sugar control https://www.iowadiabetes.com/2020/01/01/coffee-diabetes/. The recommendation against coffee in particular was based on a Duke University study in 2008 where diabetics had 8% higher blood sugar readings if they had caffeine equivalent to 2 cups of coffee or 200 milligrams of caffeine per day.

I LOVE coffee and my doctor is adamantly against it. I have started drinking it again (1cup) because I was not diabetic before surgery or now. I’m still investigating because I don’t know if the study was replicated.