My surgeon told me 1-2min between sips and I've been doing tht with bites as well. What do u guys usually do?

I cant eat and drink at the same time. If I do, because we all know I have tried, everthing gets caught in my esophagus and nothing goes down. I eat, wait 30 minutes and then I can drink normally again. Im fortunate that I dont have a problem drinking I can even gulp things down. I have found that gatorade goes down better than Water though so I mix it 50/50!

I don't time it but I try to put my fork down, chew, swallow and then pick up my fork again and begin to select and cut up my next bite. Maybe 15-30 seconds between bites after I swallowed my last bite.

Rules are set into place, as a quide line for beginners to start practicing for life long behavior changes...eventually these rules will begin to become more personal as he band takes more control....

My band will tell me at what pace to eat, if I need to slow it down....depends upon the food....some foods I can eat more easily than others, and some I know right away to take it real slow...putting the fork down, stare out the window, etc....

I'll also say that there is nothing I can eat fast...even straight liquids have to be slow...they DO NOT go right thru like some other people say they experience...

And then there is the other rule that goes along with it...whatever I have not finished withing 20-30 minutes, well I'm done....

Otherwise one can eat all day at a slow enough rate....theoretically because my band will tell me when I'm finished long before that can happen...portion control from the band

Also, it is physically impossible for me to drink anything while eating...sips or otherwise...just cannot do it without unpleasant effects...

One thing I have noticed, initially, I ate quite quickly, just because my husband is a quick eater. We had a discussion about it, and he has also slowed his pace down, which really takes the pressure off me, to finish and go..

The payoff for slowing down for him, he has lost the three pounds he has been struggling with for as many months. Win/win

In the first weeks of being banded I practiced with a clock and waited a full minute between bites. It was so hard, especially putting the utensil down. I really resisted that. It was good for me to notice that about myself so I could modify the behavior. Now I just eat naturally slower and I listen to my band, but I put the utensil down as a matter of new habit. I know when I've had enough and I stop. In the beginning I would push this a little and I had to learn not to do that. How did I learn? By getting stuck and regretting it.

Thank u everyone for all the wonderful answers. I love to hear everyone's experiences and get opinions. Great group here.

It depends on the food I'm eating, but I typically only have to wait 10 seconds or so between bites. You'll start to notice that some foods go down no problem and some go down slower. The ones that go slower it takes more conscious thought to not eat too fast otherwise it hurts lol I admit that I don't pay much attention to how I drink liquids like water. I have to be gulping it pretty fast for there to be any sort of discomfort. You'll start to notice your body's cues, just be sure to listen

There's a balance between the size of the bite, along with the timing. In the early stages of learning what worked for me, I did find using small utensils as well as slowing down, made me more aware of prior bad habits. I had to recognize what I was doing before I could change it.