Hi,

I was banded in November and tightened just before Christmas. I still dont have a lot of restriction but one problem I do find is that I can't drink while Im eating otherwise the food will have to come back up. At the moment I will have water before I eat but some foods make me thirsty and I have to wait up to 20 minutes after eating before I can drink comfortably again.

Is this weird??

Thanks,

Simone

With a Lap-band you are not supposed to drink with your meals at all. That is a big no-no! U are to stop drinking 30 minutes before a meal and not again until 30-60 minutes after.

With a Lap-band you are not supposed to drink with your meals at all. That is a big no-no! U are to stop drinking 30 minutes before a meal and not again until 30-60 minutes after.

Absolutely! and I know that will be my biggest hurdle. I started practicing prior to the pre-op diet and have my entire family reminding me "don't drink, your about to eat" I'm still on liquids (9 days post op) so I haven't been able to put my practice to real band-life use yet. food makes me very thirsty too and I know it will take some getting use to..

Good luck!

With a Lap-band you are not supposed to drink with your meals at all. That is a big no-no! U are to stop drinking 30 minutes before a meal and not again until 30-60 minutes after.

Thats exactly what I was told in the seminar prior to being Banded 30/30 rule is what they said.

there is a YouTube video by someone called former fat dude that shows a demonstration of drinking with your meals. You should look it up and watch it to remind yourself why not to drink. It is definitely a good visual.

Stephyanders thanks for the video. That is something all doctors should demonstrate at their seminars.

You can normally drink almost right up till you eat as the things like water pass straight through the band, but during eating and 30 mins after is a real no no. If you are getting thristy during a meal are u having a lot of salty food or adding it ?, its not good for weight loss tbh, i was a salt lover till i was banded and have gradually cut right down . Use black pepper or chilli flakes instead

I agree with the comments everyone else has made. You should not drink while you eat for many reasons, the ugliest of which is that when your stoma and stomach pouch are busy with solid food, the beverage has nowhere to go but back up out your mouth - put on your raincoat and duck!

Also, I want to mention that at a bariatric conference last year, at least 3 bariatric professionals stated in their talks/workshops that one of the #1 causes of disappointing weight loss after any kind of bariatric surgery procedure is drinking while eating. Doing that flushes the food through your digestive system too quickly and prevents the food from triggering your satiety signals.

This was a rule that I started using before I had surgery so I could get used to it. I lost weight just by changing that alone. I think it is a great thing for EVERYONE to follow. I hate that I was always told on weight watchers and other diets to drink a bunch of Water with your meals to help with hunger. It NEVER helped with hunger because it flushed everything out of my stomach.

I have been below my original goal weight for almost a year now and this is the first time I have been able to maintain more than a month after losing weight.

Good luck.

Before I was banded my biggest fear was not drinking with a meal, now I'm so used to it it's not even funny. I usually don't drink one hour before and one hour after, but once and a while I will drink right up to a meal (for example, after the gym yesterday I ate, and was chugging Water all the time). I also notice now that the more I drink between meals the less I want to drink during meals, I guess because I'm not dehydrated.

Just my two cents

Just have to pee all night!

Didn't your doctor warn you about that before your surgery? It's like the biggest NO NO of all the NO No's.

I also was told that drinking during a meal was a big no no and told not to drink 30 minutes before and 60 minutes after. I have found in my short time of being banded that if I drink before 90 minutes after a meal I get hungry faster. I read somewhere that if you are getting real thirsty during your meal that you are probably a bit dehydrated and you should try to drink more Water during the acceptable time frames. I have started "chugging" water (to the best of my abilities, lol) during acceptable times and it has really helped me out!

Good luck.

Absolutely! and I know that will be my biggest hurdle. I started practicing prior to the pre-op diet and have my entire family reminding me "don't drink, your about to eat" I'm still on liquids (9 days post op) so I haven't been able to put my practice to real band-life use yet. food makes me very thirsty too and I know it will take some getting use to..

Good luck!

I thought it would be a big hurdle for me, too, but it hasn't bothered me. I drink (usually cold water) generously up until about 5 minutes before I eat, and that way I'm not as thirsty while I eat unless I'm eating something salty (which I shouldn't eat anyway because the sodium pushes my blood pressure up). And if I eat something too spicy, drinking doesn't help it anyway, whereas eating something bland does help to neutralize the spice.

Didn't your doctor warn you about that before your surgery? It's like the biggest NO NO of all the NO No's.

No he didn't, this is just one more thing that I now realise my surgeon neglected to tell me. I am so unhappy. My surgeon has not given me any information and I feel as though this is all going down the drain!! He has never referred me to a nuutritionist or even told me to find one myself, he didn't tell me about post-op care or warn me about any problems that can occur, which caused a very big scare a few days after surgery, he has always been rude and not supportive or helpful.

Thank you all so much for replying. You really have helped me.

I will be changing surgeons as soon as I get a referrel from my GP.

You can normally drink almost right up till you eat as the things like water pass straight through the band, but during eating and 30 mins after is a real no no. If you are getting thristy during a meal are u having a lot of salty food or adding it ?, its not good for weight loss tbh, i was a salt lover till i was banded and have gradually cut right down . Use black pepper or chilli flakes instead

I honestly don't have a lot of salty food. I have never put salt and pepper on my food. I don't know why I get thirsty. It might be the mindset that I have also had a drink with food so my body still feels that it needs it. I'll just have to change my habits big time.

Thank you for your advice.

Simone