Ok guys, I'm having a really hard time with the not drinking while eating thing. I created a poll to see if people are really doin it or if it's as hard to get use to as I think. Be honest!!

Never drink during your meals. I stop drinking a half hour before I eat, and then wait between a half hour to an hour to have a drink after I eat. It is the most important rule as far as i am concerned with keeping you satiated. If you drink during your meals its like flushing the toilet, makes the crap go down easier.

LOL...good analogy

I was banded 9-13-06 by Dr. Keilin and Dr. Hekier at Wadley Reg. Med Center in Texarkana. Their instructions regarding drinking is this: nothing for 30 minutes before meals, nothing with meals and nothing 30-60 minutes after eating. However, they want you to drink 64 oz. of liquids a day. I really really try to comply, but in my mind I don't understand what drinking before a meal harms...like someone else posted it looks like it would help fill up the bigger part of your stomach. I do understand why they don't want you to drink with meals or for a while afterwards. I have sipped with meals sometimes especially if I'm eating out with friends but I certainly do not - can't - "guzzle" anything to drink anymore. I work at a hospital Mon.-Fri. and sometimes it is hard to drink enough at work!:rolleyes

Anyway - just my thoughts!

Susan

I was banded 9-13-06 by Dr. Keilin and Dr. Hekier at Wadley Reg. Med Center in Texarkana. Their instructions regarding drinking is this: nothing for 30 minutes before meals, nothing with meals and nothing 30-60 minutes after eating. However, they want you to drink 64 oz. of liquids a day. I really really try to comply, but in my mind I don't understand what drinking before a meal harms...like someone else posted it looks like it would help fill up the bigger part of your stomach. I do understand why they don't want you to drink with meals or for a while afterwards. I have sipped with meals sometimes especially if I'm eating out with friends but I certainly do not - can't - "guzzle" anything to drink anymore. I work at a hospital Mon.-Fri. and sometimes it is hard to drink enough at work!:rolleyes

Anyway - just my thoughts!

Susan

I'm with you on this issue. I can't see what harm drinking before your meals is going to do. In fact this is when I will top up my water intake because I know that otherwise I am going to feel thirsty for the next couple of hours. I am one of those sweaty people who needs to drink a lot. :tired It is fortunate that I really love the taste of water. :confused: Less fortunate that I also love the taste of scotch but that is another issue to deal with, I guess. :phanvan

My doctor (nutritionist) advises NOT to drink while eating. Sometimes it helps to chew 35 times with some type of sauce (low cal) with your meat. Works for me.

Hey Green! Scotch huh? Me - l love a frozen margarita! Haven't had one in a L O N G time, but it sure sounds good! LOL!! The water here is ok, but if I am going to drink water, I usually buy bottled. My "saving grace" so to speak is Crystal Light...yummo! We are fortunate enough to have a refrigerator in our breakroom at the hospital so I keep a pitcher full all the time! We are going to be building a new hospital (hope to be in it in about 2 years) and I sure hope we are as fortunate there.

Susan

I sip a little with my meal, only if it is hard to swallow. I have been doing this since two weeks after surgery, and I have lost 53.9 pounds! So I guess use your discretion, but don't drink a whole lot with the meal, just a few sips if needed. Hope this helps.

I drink right up until I eat. Helps me with thirst while I'm eating.

I almost never drink with my meals. If I drink with my meals I will

get very sick and start throwing up. It's a very uncomfortable feeling.

However, I will wait about 20 to 30 minutes before I begin drinking anything.

I have never understood why some doctors say "don't drink for xxx minutes BEFORE you eat". What good does that do? There is no food in the pouch...the drink isn't going to wash anything thru. It's just going to go right down to the big stomach and help fill that puppy up.

I drink right up until I start to eat. If I'm dying for a drink during a meal, I take a baby sip or two. If you have good restriction and are eating solid food, a tablespoon of Water isn't going to wash it thru the pouch and undo all your good efforts.

You are exactly correct and my Dr. said the same thing when asked. My dr. suggested drinking as much as you can "before" you eat and that will keep you well hydrated during the meal and help you not get thirsty. My dr. also said, that some dr.s tell you not to drink for an hour "after" because they want to ensure you don't have something to drink too early and wash out the pouch. He said if you absolutley wait 30 minutes that is long enough to wait.

I'm glad I found this thread because for me too this has been by far the hardest thing for me. Whenever food gets stuck, I freak out and drink something. It hurts like hell but it forces the food through. My doc has told me that this is really bad and can cause slippage. I'm going back for another fill tomorrow and I'm hoping that it will help me stop. My dad who also has the band, is MUCH tighter than me, and he physically CAN'T drink with his food, it causes him to PB right away. I'm hoping for the same results and that will help me get past this habit. In the last 2 weeks I barely lost anything and I'm sure it's because of this.

I understand you should NEVER drink with your meals. It defeats the purpose of the band. That 'stuck' feeling is your band telling you to stop eating and to see what happens, not to wash it down. Both of my doctors cannot stress this enough.

I have been drinking with my meals for the last year or so and have lost hardly any weight as a consequence. When I follow 'the rules' my weight loss starts again at a good rate. Just my two cents worth but it's what my banding doctor in Australia and now my current doctor in the US both say.

btw, do you get the fullness sensation when you are almost at the end of your meal or is it when you feel pain that you stop eating?

Regards,

Dana

:funscale:

In answer to your question about "fullness sensation"-I don't ever have the fullness sensation I used to have preband; Now, when my POUCH is full, I start getting pain/tightness up in my chest, and if I have enough self control, I put my fork down, and STOP EATING. If I keep on eating, even one bite more, or heaven forbid, take a drink, I have to meet with the porcelain goddess (if-you-know-what-I-mean-and-I-think-you-do).:thumbup:

That feeling is SO unpleasant it kills what was left of my appetite. THat is why the band works for me. It is sort of a negative behavior modification punch in the gut to make me stop eating. My stopping point pain wise usually means I have taken the edge off my pre-meal hunger, but don't think for a minute that I am really full like I used to get preband. I still struggle with hunger.

Even with no drinking during the meal, I frequently get hungry a few hours after eating-usually when I have eaten an especially small volume of dry food-like chicken. That and eggs give me a stop signal long before other moister foods like veggies.

In fact, The only time in the last 4 months that I got that wonderful "full" feeling without pain was last night after having a bowl of hot chicken Soup with matzoh balls. I actually felt pleasantly full in my lower stomach! However matzoh balls are not at all healthy-they are hi carb high fat slider food. Bad Bad Bad. But Passover is only once a year, so I splurged. That and the warm soup went down really easy, and gave me that full feeling with no upper chest pain.

This is why my doc also told me not to drink Soups for meals once I got restriction from my fills. Soup DOES go down very easily, and it helps move any calories you eat along with it down too, defeating the purpose of the band. And don't even think about high calorie cream soups. You may as well be eating a tub of Haagen Das!

In answer to the survey-I drink immediately prior to meal time, often warm tea or wine, to fill my lower belly, and then I don't drink again until about an hour after the meal. On rare occasions, I may have a sip of wine with my meal because it is there on the table. But I try to avoid it. I usually just hand my glass to my husband and have him finish off what I started just so it isn't there on the table tempting me.

Nary a sip of any fluid passes my lips from 30 minutes before to 60 min after a meal. I would really love to have a glass of wine, but until such time as I am 'rock solid' in my eating habits, and can afford the calories, I will abstain. I was only banded in Feb, so I don't think I know enough yet (on how my body will react, how the band will react, etc) to really risk anything. Perhaps when I am 6 months or a year out, I will feel differently, but for right now at this early stage, it is no fluids for me.

I wait 1 hour after meals and don't drink within an hour before my meals.

Right now my band is very tight ( just had a fill 5 days ago) so even when I'm drinking I have to take baby sips and suck on ice chips.