Hello everyone! I am 5 months out and have lost 52 pounds. Feel great, exercise a lot and am almost completely following the rules. LOVE MY SLEEVE!

My question is: if we aren't supposed to eat and drink since the sleeve is so small that the little food we eat is washed away by Water, and we will get hungry too soon; if you "cheat" is it a good idea to drink to get rid of it? I had cake for the first time at an office party, and then drank some tea instead of waiting 30 minutes. I felt fine and nothing happened. Anyone else? If you eat something you shouldn't, is drinking water a good way to help get it out of your body faster?

I just don't think it works that way. I am just over 10 months out and I have drank while I eat the entire time. For example I am eating granola with greek yogurt while drinking coffee as I type this. If it just washed the food away by doing so I am pretty sure I would not be alive right now.

It is OK to cheat some as long as you can handle it. For some it is a slippery slope to doing it every day.

Most of the breaking down of food happens in your small intestine...Your stomach is basically a sack that keeps it until your brain tells your body that it is full. the flap at the bottom opens up if the food is dense and goes to the small intestine and after finished there goes to the big intestine where that takes what little is left out of what you ate.

One of the reasons that we don't drink when we eat is because you can actually eat more then you should...by not allowing the flap to close over to get to the next point of digestion. It also dilutes the food so you don't get the complete value of what you eat....

Your body is still going to get calories to break down but not properly....Eating cake is going to be processed like any other carb where ever it ends up..

Most of the reason is because it fills up needed space for denser foods and does not allow the stomach to do its job as well either.....K

The only way to get ride of it and not absorb it is to puke it right back up- which I am NOT suggesting at all but that’s just the facts of it.
Even then you will never get all of it up.
If you eat cake enjoy the cake at the time of eating it or don’t eat it at all lol

Thank you all so much for the informative and well thought-out answers. As long as we are on the topic, how does Soup fit into all of this. I made a delicious pot of vegetable, chick pea and quinoa soup (very high protein) which I can manage about a half a bowl of. What about pureed soup?

bit of a long explanation but its real interesting:

I watched this nutrition show a few years ago and this always stuck with me they went to a army base and give half of them rice veg chicken and a glass of water for lunch the other half got exactly the same amount of food only they blended it up altogether as a soup.

They did some kinda scan before the meal on them all then right after to see the capacity of the stomach then every 10mins after.

The ones who had the rice chicken veg plus glass of water their stomachs emptied by half within 10mins the soup eaters were still full.

Anyway as time went on the soup people had food in their stomachs far longer than the food eaters.

It was to show how water washes out food and also the nest way to keep soldiers fuller for longer to have more fuel to work off while out in the field.

It always stuck with me and I found it really interesting.

So for us having a op and going broth to thicker is not only because we are sore and healing and pureeing the food means its already halfway done in being broken down but soup also sits for longer keeping us full and not being hungry plus look what you blended up set that out all on a plate that’s a complete meal you can not get in the early stages and all you have to do is sip on it and get all the good stuff.

My house we blend up soup all the time non veg lovers have no clue whats in it if you blend it and will still eat it lol