I don't drink coffee but I had to cut caffeine for surgery. It wasn't easy but I eased off by getting decaf iced tea so I could still get fluids. I have found that now that I am over a month out from surgery that I have been able to introduce regular iced tea with very little problems.

Saddest day I had was when they told me I not only had to give up Diet Mtn Dew for life, but I had to give up caffinated coffee as well.

Happiest day was months later when I was told that I could have regular coffee again. Back to multiple cups a day, although I have tried to stay with half - caf at least some of the time.

Good luck and I hope for no headaches for you as you cut back.

Love my coffee!!!

As for pre-op; I went cold turkey one week prior along with my liquid diet. Figured I was going to be miserable anyway. After surgery I did not have any urges for coffee so it was easy. Started to enjoy some after 3 months and now I have one or two on most days.

Everyone is different - do not do anything without consulting your Dr but also do not be afraid. Your path after surgery will be different than mine.

I am doing good, but I am only a month out but green tea has very minor amount of caffeine. I am more sad that I may never be able to have anything carbonated ever again which is the one thing that did make me sad. That loss of weight is from my starting weight in October when I started this process even though I am only a month out from my surgery.

Do you not like decaff? I drink a cup to two cups a day with milk and I have had no issues.

Unfortunately for me, my surgeon said absolutely NO CAFFEINE EVER. I never drink pop so that wasn't a problem, but I did drink black coffee4. I have started drinking decaf when I really want a cup of coffee and I take decaf with me when visiting. Surgeon did warn me that if I had caffeine it would show up in my blood work, that continues on a schedule for one year post-op and then 6 months and so on.

I slowly went decaf when they told me I had to give up caffine at least temporarily. I used a mixture of regular and decaf, upping the decaf until I wasn't using the regular at all. I successfully avoided the caffine withdrawls doing it that way. When I was able, I went back to drinking the real stuff, but found after surgery I couldn't drink it plain anymore. There are very few things my tummy just no longer tolerates, and plain coffee is one of them, so now I drink it with a little cream. I still can drink it all day, but it doesn't count as water, so we really can't drink as much as we did pre-surgery. Just saying.

I was a 4-espresso-a-day person. I really, really loved my coffee. I did not plan well for surgery, and my surgeon did not tell me to give it up at all. However on Day 2 in hospital I realized my error! I should have given it up before surgery. What happened? I got an enormous throbbing all-consuming headache from caffeine withdrawal - it was the worst part of the recovery from surgery. The sweet hospital staff brought me a black coffee, and I tried 1 teaspoonful and threw it up.

Now, 7+ weeks later, I still cannot drink coffee and frankly don't even like the smell of it, which is a huge surprise to me. I now get a little caffeine one of two ways: either I bring a cup of Chai with milk in a thermos cup, so I can sip it on my 1-hour commute, or I blend ½ teaspoonful of instant coffee powder into my morning vanilla protein shake. If I have any more than ½ teaspoon, my heart starts to race. I am able to go 2 days with no caffeine now, without getting a headache.

If I had a do-over, I would completely quit the caffeine before the surgery (when I could take Ibuprofen for the headaches!!). Good luck!

Thanks for that tip! I REALLY need to cut out the coffee. I'm a starbucks girl. I don't drink regular coffee (Yuck, not a fan) but I do drink lattes etc. SO not good for me!
Once I cut out the caffiene, i'm sure I can give them up.

My nut said I can keep drinking them, she just wants me to cut back to a short, or tall, from a venti.
I know that post op, I physically won't be able to drink a venti, so i'm kinda not too concerned. I just want to cut out the caffiene, and save some $$$$!

I'm sure once I get my surgery date, it will become real for me, and i'll buckle down and do what needs to be done.
I was on a wait list for 19 months,and i've been doing the program for the past 2. So it doesn't seem real to me yet, because i've just been plugging along trying to make the changes.

I am REALLY hoping to get the call from my surgeon after my next appt with the nutritionist. My appt is Mar 27.

Today is day 5 of no coffee. Oh it's horrible, I'm getting terrible headaches and I'm not usually a headache sufferer. I decided to quit during my pre-op diet and it's been rough. I gave up soda cold turkey in December with no problems. I was hoping coffee would be the same.

I am a coffee connoisseur/addict and I, too, cut coffee out pre-op. Starting out slow like you are doing is the best way to do it. I would drink multiple cups per day, and could even drink it right before hitting the hay at night.

I started with only allowing one cup in the morning and another cup later when and if I wanted it. Then after a week I allowed only one cup in the morning and if I wanted more coffee later I had herbal tea instead. Then after another week I was only having a cup in the morning maybe 3-4 times a week, and over the next week weened myself off and drank lots of herbal tea.

For almost two months pre-op I was off coffee and only on herbal tea. Speaking of herbal tea. It 'saved my life' during the first month post-op. It was practically the only thing I could drink right away, and without it I would have never made my fluid intake requirements. I still drink it, but now that I'm almost five months out I am drinking coffee again.

There are some days that I go a little overboard, but I try to stick to 2-3 cups a day at the most. Sometime I only have one.

If you're not much of a tea drinker there is likely something you'd like considering the variety. I personally could only drink the red teas (like hibiscus, red zinger, raspberry zinger) plain. They were good and sometime I put a tad bit of Truvia in them. With others I drank (chamomile, berry teas, and so on) I needed 1/4 tsp of Truvia and 1/4 cup of light original soy milk (cream tastes funky in tea, IMO). Once I was okay'd for caffeine I started drinking Spiced Chai with the Truvia & soy milk and it is awesome!

Good luck. Coffee is so darn good.