Coffee Lover

I waited about 6 months. I use 1/2 & 1/2 and splenda. I'm 15 years post-op and drink a fair amount of coffee, but I don't drink Starbucks except plain drip or expresso/latte. I'm also incredibly mindful about the caffeine so I don't consider coffee toward my water intake (unless it's decaf). I realize this is probably a mind game, but it works for me and I drink plenty of water in addition to my coffee.

I think you have all the great advice you need here, but I wanted to add one more quick personal story.

Pre-op, I was one of those people who drank several full pots of caffeinated coffee a day. I could drink it up until bedtime with no consequence.

My practice suggested switching to decaf 6 months pre-op, only because they said that post-op I would be focused on other liquids, and they thought that I'd be miserable enough from surgery--I didn't need to add caffeine withdrawals to my misery, too.

I hated it, but I did it. And weirdly, even when I got the green light to go back on caffeine, I decided to wait. Once I was off of it, I didn't need it anymore. Now a cup of caffeinated coffee really affects me again. It was like I needed to detox off of it completely for it to matter again.

I am over 2 years post op, now, and I do drink 1 or 2 cups a day of caffeinated coffee a day now... but not the gallons drank before! I also used to load it up with Splenda and milk, but now I prefer it black.

I add a double shot of decaf espresso to my chocolate premier protein to make a mocha. I like it cold. Start my day, every day with one.

My Surgeon never restricted coffee. I had caffeinated coffee day One in the Hospital on my tray. The only limit they put on it was they didn't want you counting more than 16oz towards your daily fluid total. You could drink more, but you needed to drink other stuff as well.

I make a latte every morning with one cup Fairlife Milk (lower carb, higher protein) sugar free syrup- usually Jordan's skinny Syrup Irish cream and my dose of Miralax. In maintenance I also emulsify in a tablespoon of MCT Oil.