I went to my nutritionist today for my 4 month visit. Down 135 lbs since I started my journey in April. (Surgery in June).... I asked the question as my birthday is this weekend and I thought maybe I could go out and have A drink... I am not a drink. I never have been.. But I was told by nutritionist that there's no way at all I should be having any alcohol... EVER... I was kind of shocked to be honest.. Again I dont drink but I didn't think one drink would be so off limits.... Not a big deal to me but shocked at the answer today...

Edited October 21, 20223 yr by Veritas34

From a medical standpoint I have to agree with your nutritionist. Alcohol is a poisonous liquid that has no real nutritional value on its own. Also, WLS patients are more likely to suffer from transfer addiction which includes alcohol.

From a WLS patient perspective, one drink isn’t the end of the world and if that’s how you choose to spend your birthday then that’s your business. Just choose a really good drink and just have the one as alcohol can affect people different after surgery.

2 hours ago, Veritas34 said:

I went to my nutritionist today for my 4 month visit. Down 135 lbs since I started my journey in April. (Surgery in June).... I asked the question as my birthday is this weekend and I thought maybe I could go out and have A drink... I am not a drink. I never have been.. But I was told by nutritionist that there's no way at all I should be having any alcohol... EVER... I was kind of shocked to be honest.. Again I dont drink but I didn't think one drink would be so off limits.... Not a big deal to me but shocked at the answer today...

I don't think I understand. If you've been a non-drinker all of these years and decided to get weight loss surgery and have had much success so far... why suddenly do you feel the need to drink? Even one drink? Drinking completely stops the process of burning stored fat for... (I believe... 48 hours???). The liver can't convert the stored fat to energy (fat burning) while it's busy trying to process the alcohol. So I agree with everything @Starwarsandcupcakes said. Obviously I'm not a drinker and don't advocate drinking. I see no purpose in it. It's a poison and hinders weight loss and has no benefits.

I think the bigger question here is if you have never been a drinker, why do you want to start now?

In Europe we have a more relaxed view of alcohol use. Red wine is seen as good for you if you have a glass a day etc. I don't drink much these days, but I was the same before surgery. I went on an All-inclusive holiday about 2 months after surgery and carefully tried a few drinks here and there. I kept the alcohol content small and the drink long and tall. Every time I felt slightly tipsy for 30 minutes or so and then nothing. I am the same now.

Its your birthday, have a drink if you want to

1 hour ago, I♡BypassedMyPhatAss♡ said:

I don't think I understand. If you've been a non-drinker all of these years and decided to get weight loss surgery and have had much success so far... why suddenly do you feel the need to drink? Even one drink? Drinking completely stops the process of burning stored fat for... (I believe... 48 hours???). The liver can't convert the stored fat to energy (fat burning) while it's busy trying to process the alcohol. So I agree with everything @Starwarsandcupcakes said. Obviously I'm not a drinker and don't advocate drinking. I see no purpose in it. It's a poison and hinders weight loss and has no benefits.

I think the bigger question here is if you have never been a drinker, why do you want to start now?

I would think his "non drinker "statement" is more of not being a REGULAR drinker but having occasional drinks. I say that because I am the same. Not really a drinker, maybe 3-4 times a year.

You have to make this decision for yourself. There are some obvious CONS with drinking alcohol anytime and I would say even more of them after surgery.

I will say, take it slow. One drink, drink it slow and wait to see how it effects you.

It hits me hard, like really hard. I have only drank 2 times and really just once because the first time was more of a sip to taste test. haha But I had 3 drinks over 5 hours the second time and I was destroyed and would NOT sober up or throw up no matter what i did so I was just miserable.

Yeah, I'm leaving this thread. I'm not going down this rabbit hole again. This whole American non-drinkers vs the European drinkers really blew up in another thread earlier this year and I'm not anxious to revisit it again.

Best wishes everyone.

2 minutes ago, I♡BypassedMyPhatAss♡ said:

Yeah, I'm leaving this thread. I'm not going down this rabbit hole again. This whole American non-drinkers vs the European drinkers really blew up in another thread earlier this year and I'm not anxious to revisit it again.

Best wishes everyone.

Its like politics.. just don't go there. haha

Doctors are all over the map with their opinions on drinking post WLS, probably similar to their views on drinking to begin with if I had to guess. My team said it was okay at three months for a special occasion. I have to say it’s not the same as it was pre WLS. I may be one of the few willing to admit but when I drink I do it to get a buzz, lol. Post WLS the buzz comes and goes in like ten minutes for me. I can’t drink fast enough to maintain it and probably would kill myself trying. It’s almost not worth it to me. Waste of calories. That being said my real advice is if you do decide you want to do it try it at home first. Your body may react welrd and the last thing you want is to feel sick or get sloppy drunk on your birthday off one drink. And make sure there is a designated driver around. I still worry about how long it stays in our system and all that being different than before.

It's not uncommon that bariatric programs warn people not to drink alcohol post-op. Some, like your team seem to take a "never again" approach, while some say avoid it for a specific length of time, such as the first year.

As I understand it, here are the biggest concerns those programs have:

1. The biggest concern by far is that there is an increased risk of developing Alcohol Use Disorder. As @Starwarsandcupcakes mentioned, some research suggest that susceptible patients transfer disordered eating onto alcohol. Some studies have even found that the incidence is as high as 20% of bariatric surgery patients.
2. The second concern is that alcohol affects our altered biology differently. Honestly this is worse for gastric bypass patients, but sleeve patients still have have issues with getting drunk much faster, on much less alcohol. Further, it can take a lot longer to metabolize the alcohol you do consume, meaning you'll stay drunk longer. Bottom line, it's really easy to overdo things and end up completely drunk on a lot less booze than before.
3. There is also the concern that this is wasted calories that provide no nutritional benefit and can slow your weight loss. Obviously for those in maintenance, this doesn't really matter, but for those still losing, it might be a concern for some.

17 minutes ago, SpartanMaker said:

There is also the concern that this is wasted calories that provide no nutritional benefit and can slow your weight loss. Obviously for those in maintenance, this doesn't really matter, but for those still losing, it might be a concern for some.

+1

i had like 4-5 partial drinks during entire weight loss phase. Now, i am what one would call a regular drinker (some may even, dare i say, call me an alcoholic). I was a drinker before surgery as well. (Though before surgery I would drink lots in a short amount of time, every few weeks, now i drink less at a time, but more often). My increased drinking frequency had a lot to do with Covid lockdowns starting in 2020 though.

From a weight-loss perspective, what little i did drink during weight loss phase did not seem to affect ME in getting to goal. Nor does the amounts i drink now seem to affect my ability to maintain my current weight (note though that i simultaneously keep an eye on my total calories - alcohol or otherwise- , so there’s also that)

I get tipsy quite fast post-wls (and on small amounts), but I also sober up in record speed.

As others said above, if you really want to, try it out and observe how you react, and then decide if want to again. Or, don’t. Up to you…you know yourself best.

Sincerely,

An alcohol-drinking-DRINKER (from Canada).

(i also smoke, drive above the speed limit, and am late paying my taxes this year…)

Adding to what SpartanMaker mentioned above, the other major concern with alcohol use post op is that it is a liver toxin (physiology here, no moral judgement) and that our livers already tend to be in poor shape owing to our obesity (hence the "liver shrinking" pre op diets that some programs put their patients through) and then the liver is further taxed by its role in metabolizing all of that fat that we are rapidly losing. The last thing that it needs is the added stress of metabolizing alcohol.

Surgeons vary on how much this point bothers them, largely depending upon their experience with such things (and maybe their own alcohol tolerance?) Our surgeon also moonlights as a biliopancreatic (liver, pancreas) transplant surgeon, and the last thing he will tolerate is one of his bariatric patients coming back onto his transplant table.

28 minutes ago, RickM said:

Adding to what SpartanMaker mentioned above, the other major concern with alcohol use post op is that it is a liver toxin (physiology here, no moral judgement) and that our livers already tend to be in poor shape owing to our obesity (hence the "liver shrinking" pre op diets that some programs put their patients through) and then the liver is further taxed by its role in metabolizing all of that fat that we are rapidly losing. The last thing that it needs is the added stress of metabolizing alcohol.

Surgeons vary on how much this point bothers them, largely depending upon their experience with such things (and maybe their own alcohol tolerance?) Our surgeon also moonlights as a biliopancreatic (liver, pancreas) transplant surgeon, and the last thing he will tolerate is one of his bariatric patients coming back onto his transplant table.

This is a good point.

Especially if you are someone that has non-alcohol related fatty liver disease (NAFLD), or especially the more severe form non-alcohol related steatohepatitis (NASH), regular drinking probably isn't in your best interest. A lot of obese people end up with NAFLD/NASH since obesity is the leading cause. Depending on the severity of your disease progression, you may have caused sufficient damage to your liver that frequent drinking on top of that could put you on a one way path to cirrosis, liver cancer, and/or liver failure.

Now that said, one drink or even a few now and again isn't going to cause severe disease. Also, weight loss often can completely reverse NAFLD, so if you didn't actually damage your liver permanently, this may not be a factor.

I totally get those that say alcohol is a poison and don't understand why anyone would purposely poison themselves. Objectively though, ALL of us are here because we purposely poisoned ourselves with food. I'm in no position to judge anyone that chooses to drink. (By the way, my main hobby pre-surgery was winemaking, so stopping drinking was an even bigger challenge for me. I had to give up not only nightly glass of wine, but my main hobby.)

In the end, I think we're all grown-ups and everyone needs to decide for themselves what's right. Just know the risks and decide for yourself if the risks are worth it to you.

Thanks for the responses… to some of you… I don’t drink. It was a question just to hear the answer to when I asked it and was shocked that the answer was NEVER and I was just trying to figure out the true why…..

Thanks for the supportive and factual answers to my concern. I will loose zero sleep not being able to have a drink…..