I am most nervous about having to stop drinking with my meals. How did you manage this? Truth be told I'm also struggling with giving up pop. I don't drink pop at home, but there's nothing more refreshing than a large diet coke from McDonald's! A small sacrifice to be thin I guess!

I'm pre-sleeve and I have been practicing not drinking with meals and It's going really well. I just don't eat really dry things. I thought it would be much more difficult but it's not a big deal.. and I used to drink 3 full glasses of Water with dinner!

As far as the soda goes, I LOVE it too, but haven't had any for a long time. Last week I took some fanta orange zero and shook it up and let it go flat with just the teeny tiniest bit of zing to it.. I sipped on half and it was good. I used the other half as the base for a chocolate Protein shake.. the jury is still out on this combination.

I'm really enjoying taking my time to practice my life in "post sleeve" world. I'm going to be miserable enough after surgery, I don't want to be going crazy suffering from food withdrawals or adjusting to new habits if I don't have to....The one thing that is giving me a REALLY hard time is careful chewing. I sometimes don't chew at all.. Even salad just gets a couple of chomps and goes down pretty much whole. I'm working on it but it's really REALLY difficult for me!

I am on full liquids right now, so I still drink with my "meal", but I am not sure how I am going to handle it either, when I get to eat actual food. I have this phobia about things in my throat and take a sip after almost every bite! My Nut told me that i have to make sure I measure my food before I plate it, if I cannot abide by the guideline. I am going to try very hard to change my behavior and stick to protocol

I am 9 months post op. I still need an occasional sip while eating. usually less than 1/4 of a cup. This was and still is once of the hardest parts for me, but if I try to drink with my meal it upsets my stomach horribly and i can't eat enough food.

You get used to not drinking with meals. Occasionally I will have a small sip if I am eating something really dry, like chicken, which still does not go down well (7 weeks post op). You obviously can't gulp down like you used to, and that you become accustomed to as well. I've never really been a soda/pop drinker, but I imagine you could eventually try a small amount and let it go flat (I've heard). Now, if I had to give up Crystal Light, they'd have to take me out in a straightjacket... that, Vitamin Water Zero and Atkins protein shakes (milk choc) are my daily go-to's.

This is the absolute worst part for me. I don't drink when I eat, but the hard part for me is the 30 minutes before or after. I get really sick to my stomach if I do drink too soon before or after, but I'm getting there!!!

I think the hard part is getting adjusted to the wait time before drinking. Basically it is behavior modification. I eat until just before I have that full feeling and then stop, I then start my timer and wait for it to go off. In the meantime I find myself busy doing other things and most times now when the timer goes off I don't have to instantly take a sip. When at work I try to take a walk and talk with colleagues, before you know it 1/2 hour or more has passed. You will have to learn to change your behavior. As for soda, I would drink diet Pepsi daily, I don't miss it at all. Oh, and BTW I stopped the day I had the surgery (10/8/2012). The less you stress about what you can't do before you are required to do it, the better off you will be. This is a small sacrifice in my opinion.

Understanding why might help. Check this video out.