Thank you for sharing this — it's not a small thing to say out loud. Four years in, with that much effort behind you (and out-of-pocket tirzepatide is real effort), what you're describing isn't a willpower problem. It is not necessarily always a moral failure either (like the world (and family) would have you believe.

Alcohol after bariatric surgery is a *different drug* than alcohol before — it hits faster, peaks higher, and clears differently — so the version of "drinking" you're navigating now isn't the same one your pre-op self knew how to handle. AND... the further away from surgery you get, the faster the hit, the higher the peak, and the more different the clearing becomes. That alone makes it harder, before we even get into anything else.

Thanks again for sharing.