Hi everyone. I'm doing the 6 mo. Diet monitoring. It's BS but tomorrow I finish w my 6th mo. My concerns are my job. I work as a heating and air tech and tend to sweat a lot and chug a bunch of water. How will this affect my job? Will I have to carry water on me and take sips through out the day?

I am almost a yr post op and I always carry a 16 oz bottle of water with me I work customer and retail service but I have to constantly drink my water and you can add crystal light if u want to but Ijust add lemon most of the time or I have it plain as it keeps us hydrated so we don"t get dehdrated and have to have fluid put in us with à i v so I would .

Hey JT,

Congrats on the 6 mo (useless) monitoring portion of the preop reqs.

To answer your question, it is essential to stay hydrated with the band. When you are dehydrated the cells in your body shrink. The lining of your esophagus and stomach are no different and when this happens you will feel further restricted. This in turns makes it harder to eat and that's a huge obstacle when you are at work and have limited lunch periods, or when you are super hungry and cant be bothered with a tight band etc. So the goal will be to drink as much as possible.

Im not sure how long you are working on a project between rest periods, but if it's more than an hour I would bring a Water bottle along. Initially it'll be hard to drink large volumes at once so frequent sips is encouraged. But eventually you'll be able to drink like normal and can go longer periods without drinking nonstop. Just prepare for that initial transition.

As Hazel mentioned, after the initial "healing" time has passed and you get in a good spot with your band, you probably will be able to drink "normally". My experience is I can drink quite fast ( lots of small drinks ) MOST of the time, and I consider myself to have great restriction now. Sometimes 3-4 QUARTS an hour....if I'm really sweating and need to....about a half a quart every 10-15 minutes. Keep water handy and drink often, just like the suggestion would be pre-banding. Best wishes on your upcoming surgery.

i always have my peach ice tea...........with me......i drink non stop.....

Thanks for your input. I had my final weight check / consult today. I asked a lot of questions and got what I needed. Now within two weeks I will be notified by phone when my surgery takes place. I can't wait. I feel excited.