I am seven weeks out from my gastric band. I am going out with my two friends who don’t know I’ve had the surgery.
It has been booked a while in advance and it is a wine tasting evening, (which is my drink of choice).
I want to go and it will look very obvious if I don’t drink!! Any advice? I know it should be six months, but I had a sneaky glass last week and was very careful so I know that my body seems to be able to handle it but then again I don’t want to send a slippery slope!
Thanks in advance!!

1 hour ago, Claire D said:

I am seven weeks out from my gastric band. I am going out with my two friends who don’t know I’ve had the surgery.
It has been booked a while in advance and it is a wine tasting evening, (which is my drink of choice).
I want to go and it will look very obvious if I don’t drink!! Any advice? I know it should be six months, but I had a sneaky glass last week and was very careful so I know that my body seems to be able to handle it but then again I don’t want to send a slippery slope!
Thanks in advance!!

Just tell them you've made a life choice to be and eat healthier to lose weight and wine has empty calories for you, so as its a wine "tasting" you'll taste it but not drink it all down. Explain you want to enjoy the flavor and time spent with good friends but don't want to sabotage your health plan!

Isn’t there a carafe in the middle of the table to pour into? I didn’t have alcohol that early on, but I did go to a wine/food pairing event last month (3+years out) and it went ok as long as I only took one sip per kind of wine and ate the one bite of food paired with it. I would bring a shake in your bag in case you find out the hard way that you dump or have delayed blood sugar issues.

Or, I would be tempted to say that you have strep throat or the flu, and skip the whole thing. I bailed out on a lot of stuff early on because of foamies and fear of dumping in public. It took about 9 months for me to figure out my new body. I also knew that the surgery was my one shot. (I kept singing Lin Miranda’s Not Going to Mess Up My One Shot.) I still take my health very seriously and don’t care about loosing face with friends/family. You’ve got some choices.

Offer to be the designated driver. Nurse one glass for hours (did that a lot & still do it but for an hour or so now). Say you’re not really in the mood to drink. Or you have been fighting a headache all day & you don’t want it to come back. Or if you’ve realised you’ve been drinking a bit lately & decided to have a dry couple of weeks.

They will notice your weight loss soon if not now so you could be semi truthful and say you’re making a few changes and trying to lose some weight.

Whatever you decide to say add you’re glad to see them and to spend time with them & make sure they know you’re okay with them drinking or eating whatever they want.

In your circumstance I would say that I am on antibiotics and not allowed alcohol. Then you could say you would have a sneaky taste of all the wine but not a big glass.

I was allowed alcohol after surgery but stayed to low alcohol drinks for a while to test it on my body. Even now I would be smashed on a glass of wine. I keep my drinks long and slowly drink them. I have never dumped just gotten giddy mighty quick.

Why not just spit? True wine connoisseurs routinely do this as there's no way to get through multiple tastings without getting sloppy drunk. After all, you can't properly appreciate good wine if you're intoxicated.

This is expected and even encouraged at proper tasting rooms. If you prefer, you can even ask for an individual spittoon rather than use the communal one.

Most often when folks ask this question they already know their answer and it's usually "I will be drinking." In so many words, they are looking for someone to give them permission to drink.

Assuming your answer because you've already done your test in a safe environment. You will be with friends so you have a safety net that hopefully you will not need. It's easy to sit and drink and not realize you are over doing, so get up and walk around frequently to ensure you are OK.

A reason you are cautioned from drinking early is, in addition to avoiding empty calories, is transfer addiction. Early post-op food is not as available as comfort or a coping mechanism and other things can easily fill the gap. Be careful.

Enjoy your night out.

Tek

Thanks to you all for your replies (and lack of judgement which I’m especially grateful for ?) - I appreciate it!

I had a big old holiday dinner with my family at exactly your stage.

Checked with my dietician beforehand and she cleared me to have some wine even though it's not normally recommended at that point after a sleeve.

Did it and got through it. It's totally doable. I think from what you say that you're leaning towards going rather than looking for reasons not to. I hope you really enjoy your wine tasting. Think it'll be absolutely fine if you take it carefully x