Well, I am now a little over 6 weeks out from surgery and doing... alright. I have lost some weight but not a tremendous amount. I have had one fill and am going back on Wednesday for my second. The main problem I am having is not drinking after meals. I do follow my meal with one very small sip of water. I am looking for advice or anything that might help me overcome this battle. I set a timer for 1 hour from when I am finished eating so that I can have a drink. I am not having any real trouble with anything else except for the drinking after meals.... help please!

I had that problem....what I did was suck on an flavoured ice cube.....you are to drink 15 minutes prior to eating so you feel fuller when you eat and drink 45 minutes after eating....I forget sometimes and drink and then vomit....so sucking a flavoured ice cube

I set the timer then try to stay busy while I wait. I wash the dishes and counters, clean up tge house a bit, run quick errands, read a book, surf the Internet, pay bills, make phone calls, knit, draw, make chain-mail etc. usually the time goes by more quickly and you can be accomplishing things also. The stuff with your hands is the best to keep your mind off of thirst.

There is recent evidence to suggest that with small sips u can drink during and after meals , the article is in the magazine section on here, i will often drink tea or coffee 30 mins after my dinner and have no problems at all, just reduce the time by 5 mins each day and see what your optimum time is after a meal to drink, everyone is different so there arent any rules that are set in stone .. in general yes but just try it slowly reducing the time and see u may find 30 mins is fine for you too i always have soup before my evening meal followed immediately by dinner and i never have problems with that either.

So you should drink 15min before meal and then nothing during and then how long after,meal and how much exactly???

ZGB<br /><br />www.fabtofit.Blogspot.com

My nutritionist said to stop drinking 5 minutes before the meal to make sure all the liquid has gone down, and then not to drink within 30 minutes after the meal.

I know we've all been told the same thing about liquids during meals, and I'm five weeks post op so I'm not claiming to be as knowledgable as most of you... But I drink during my meals and have since surgery. I only drink water, but drinking water with my meal actually makes me fuller, faster. My doctor is also of the mind set that you can chew too much. He advises 15 chews a bite, because too much can result in slider foods which goes straight though the pouch. It's very hard for me to swallow some foods 15 chews in, so the water helps.

My surgeon said its fine to drink with meals. He is a leading pioneer of the lapband here in Australia. He said that before I sit to have a meal to have a sip of water, if that goes down well then you're fine to eat and you can take sips between bites. It will do no harm.

I find the healthier/low salt foods I eat the less I want to drink. The only time I reallyyyy would like a drink is at a party where the foods are those I normally would not eat. There are always high in salt.

I think its so funny how ever doctor has different guidlines--haha

I agree the drinking thing ha been the hardest thing to adjust to. Prior to the band I dank most of my daily intake of Water with my meals. So now I actually forget to drink other times and have become dehydrated several times.

It sounds as if a few of you have issues if you drink and eat at the same time...is that correct? I'have never exprienced that....I was told that dinking disolves the food quicker and allows it to pass through the band too quickly...which leaves you hungry quicker.

I was told no liquids 30 mins before or 30 mins after a meal.....I never understood the 30 mins before....especially since I have not met restriction yet.....I tend to drink up untill about 10 mins before the meal and limit myself to about 2 oz after the meal ---thats the best I can do.....I have to have something or I actually end up in a coughing spell.

You've gotten some good suggestions from other members. I don't think that one small sip of water is going to hurt. Although surgeons' instructions on this issue vary quite a bit, I have to assume that your surgeon told you not to drink after eating for a good reason - that she feels it's important to her patients' success based on her experience with her own patient population.

Also, you are likely to find at some point in the future that drinking while or after you eat is an invitation to power puking. My own experience was that after several fills, my band would protest loudly if I added any liquid to the food that was already in my stomach. Since the food and liquid couldn't move downwards fast enough, it would all come back up. Not a pretty picture.

Is this the main reason why they suggest not drinking after meals? Vomiting? :-)

Is this the main reason why they suggest not drinking after meals? Vomiting? :-)

The main reason for not drinking during or within 30-60 minutes after a meal is that (in theory), the liquid will wash the food through your upper stomach pouch too quickly, thereby reducing or preventing the early and prolonged satiety that the band is supposed to give you.

I'm not sure how true that is. There's some debate about it in the bariatric community. In Australia, where they've been doing band surgery much longer than in the USA, they're saying that taking small sips while eating is OK. But at a bariatric conference I attended last summer, several surgeons said that one of the most common reasons for disappointing weight loss is drinking with or after meals.

For me, it only took one episode of regurgitating the beverage I'd just had and the food I'd just eaten to persuade me that I'm better off following the rules.

I'm with Jean. After my 3rd fill, I could'nt physically drink for sometimes an hour after meals - otherwise I vomit. I read in a lapband book that it's called the "cork effect". I do drink right up to the time I eat (8I figure since the fluid goes right thru my band, theres no food and fluid in there together). I can take a sip or two on hot liquids while I"m eating tho. No clue why.

It sucks when you eat spicy foods. I would sometimes give my right arm for a glass of water! I can tell when I'm ready to drink. Its usually about an hour after . I canwas feel whenbad the foodtime has madeto it tobeen my stomach. Last month when I was unfilled from a slip, I enjoyed drinking with my meals. It felt like a treat. I gained 5 lbs. Not from drinking with my meals, but from overeating.

Good luck to u

Marci