Opinions on alcohol

I enjoy wine - too much, if I don'****ch it. I am not an alcoholic, I just genuinely enjoy the taste! Since I just rebooted my weight-loss effort, I am allowing myself 4 ounces mixed with 4 ounces of sparkling water so I can sip it while reading before bed. It's my nighttime ritual and I am a slave of routine :)

A very simply : stay far far far far away from drinking. I am 9 years post op and I can get hammered with just one drink.

I never had drinking problem before RNY. Post op - because alcohol affects me in a different way - not only I can get hammered with just one drink - but I rather quickly can feel sobering up and wasn't another one... I never thought alcohol would be a problem to me. But...I was wrong. Now I just avoid it, except in cooking. I use alcohol in my cooking.

Fyi - my weigh to gain and alcohol usage went hand in hand. One I stopped drinking I lost my last 10 lbs regain, without changing my diet.

I've been here over 13 years and have seen several WLSers die from alcoholism. We are a very vulnerable group.

Having said that I do drink, red wine only, on occasions.

Yes they die from alcoholism and not the WLS. That is one thing I do know I was a drunk before surgery.

So glad I never picked up the habit! When people ask about me not drinking, I usually say I don't not drink. It was never a conscious choice, I just have always preferred non-alcoholic beverages, keeping my wits about me, and I think there are more interesting things to do with my calories.

Three years ago I was sleeved. Pre-op I was a social drinker. And I still am.

But let me define "social drinker," a term that is greatly misunderstood: For women, "social drinker" means someone who drinks no more than 1 drink per day and no more than 7 drinks per week. And "one drink" is defined as 5 ounces of wine. Not 8 ounces. Not 10 ounces. Not half a bottle. Not a full bottle.

In the wintertime, instead of wine I often have a single pour of 1.5 ounces of single malt scotch.

If I don't have a glass of wine on Tuesday night, I don't have 2 glasses on Wednesday night -- just one glass.

I'm not a beer drinker at all, but a 12-ounce bottle of beer is considered 1 drink.

FTR, "social drinker" men are allocated no more than 2 drinks/day and no more than 14 drinks/week. These limits are adjudged to be "low risk" drinking behavior, which is not the same as "no risk" behavior -- which would be zero drinks.

So how do I know I'm drinking only 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of scotch? I measure it. Yup. I'm one of those -- a My Fitness Pal gal.

I'm also one of those who would NEVER dilute my wine with water, toni**** cubes, or spritzer. I really enjoy the taste of good wine and good scotch, so if I'm going to go the "low risk" route I'm going to enjoy the good stuff.

BTW, I feel the same way about ice cream. Give me half a cup of the good stuff, not a pint of Halo Top. Gag!

I'll add only that this approach with alcohol was designed by me and works for me. If it doesn't work for me in future, I'll change what I do. What will work for you is what you deem is workable and have tested and honestly affirmed that it works best for you.

Very best to everyone on this front -- alcohol can indeed be a slippery slope for many. Happily, so far, it has not turned out to be a problem for me.

14 drinks in a week is a social drinker? I don't think so. That's someone with a problem, on their way to a much bigger problem.

Happily, we can agree or disagree with anything posted here at OH. It's a free country, and OH is definitely an opinion-welcoming site. :)

FYI, those definitions are taken from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism website:

https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-co nsumption/moderate-binge-drinking

Actually, it's not how the NIAAA defines "social drinking" at all.

They do define moderate drinking as 1 drink per day for women, and 2 for men. But they go on to say that:

The existence of separate guidelines for men and women reflects research findings that women become more intoxicated than men at an equivalent dose of alcohol. This results, in part, from the significant difference in activity of an enzyme in stomach tissue of males and females that breaks down alcohol before it reaches the bloodstream. The enzyme is four times more active in males than in females.

That would certainly rule out anyone who had WLS.

They also assert that any woman having 8 or more drinks in a week, or 15 for men, to be at risk for Alcohol Use Disorder. That one drink difference would appear to be a tipping point.

But I'll stand by my statement above. If you have 15 drinks per week, you have a serious problem. If you have that many drinks in a week after WLS, you are a train wreck waiting to happen.

I've had a couple drinks after WLS. After lapband I'd get "happy" a little faster than I normally would. I did have a drink at 8months after VSG and it made my tummy sad so I only had part of one and left it alone. I had a 1/2 of a twisted tea the other night after VSG last year and I will say that went from zero to happy well faster than I expected so I also ditched that drink too.

IMO drinks are just not worth it anyway. I've had family and friends who were and are alcoholics and so I'm already biased that drinking is stupid. But further it's a lot of calories and I don't see a point.