So I have been told that after being sleeved, I must wait 15 minutes after drinking fluids to eat any food. Also must finish eating and wait 30 minutes before drinking anything or it will all come back up! How true is this for you?? I would love some input on how you handle this.

Yup. Almost 10 months out and I still follow the rule. Was hard to get used to, but you do. I don't know about food "coming back up" is the reason. Fluids will make you feel fuller and also flush food out of your sleeve faster, causing hunger sooner than it should. At least, that's my understanding of it.

That's pretty much one of the golden rules for sleeves, but different reasons seem to be given by different doctors. One is that it will wash all the food down out of the stomach so you can eat more and aren't satiated as long. A cool video demoing that with Water and a funnel has been posted here. Others say it fills you too MUCH so you don't get enough nutrients.

I'm pretty sure someone also posted results of a study that says people who keep to this rule lose faster and maintain better.

Whatever the reason it's one of those that I have mostly followed in my year and a half post op. About once a week I forget and it doesn't make everything come back up, but it's a rule I try to stick to and I have been very successful.

Thanks guys. I have an autoimmune that really keeps my mouth dry and parched. I always, always have something to drink. The thought of trying to eat and not having anything to drink with it is hard for my mind to grasp. I do want to "follow the rules" and not go against what is recommended. But I was wondering if I did sip something at a restaurant out of caving to my dry mouth, would there be an ugly scene at the table?

I was kind of freaked out about the drinking rule when I started to look into WLS. I haven't even had my first surgical consult - that happens at the end of the week - but for the past 2-3 weeks have been separating eating time from drinking time. It's SO much easier than I had expected and for me has essentially been effortless. Hope that helps alleviate your anxiety.

Now to learn to chew chew chew. That's gonna be tough.

I was kind of freaked out about the drinking rule when I started to look into WLS. I haven't even had my first surgical consult - that happens at the end of the week - but for the past 2-3 weeks have been separating eating time from drinking time. It's SO much easier than I had expected and for me has essentially been effortless. Hope that helps alleviate your anxiety.

Now to learn to chew chew chew. That's gonna be tough.

There is an app called eat slower that helps remind you to take longer to chew and to take time between bites. I have been practicing that

I will be 6-months post op tomorrow, and when I first started I had to really pay attention to the time between eating and drinking. Now it comes pretty naturally for me. I eat and then instinctively wait a while before drinking anything.

I admit I don't always follow this rule. It is very hard for me not to drink with meals.

But what I find is if I do it creates more stomach pain and a higher likelihood that I will have to throw up after eating. If I don't drink before a meal I can eat more and usually won't throw it up. If I do it could go either way.

I find it very challenging, I usually want at least a sip or two of water after a meal. A few little sips is okay for me.

I've been on a mostly liquid diet for a long time as well but now that I am transitioning to solids I have a feeling I will have to abide by this rule more.

I will sip a drink at a meal if what I have chewed and chewed and chewed is so dry it hurts to swallow. I have chewed some stuff that felt like it GREW in my mouth and when I swallow it feels like it sticks in the back of my throat. I sip, a small amount, and move on. I have spit it onto a napkin too.

I'm almost 11 months out and do not drink with meals at home at all. When eating out, I'll sip water until the food comes and then no drinking with meals or for 30 minutes after. My rationale is that the water keeps me away from any temptation to eat something other than just my meal when out to eat. It still is quite uncomfortable to attempt drinking with or right after eating, so Sleevie enforces that rule. I have never regurgitated/vomited since being sleeved. Hope this helps!

I'm almost six months post op and I drink sips with meals. But I am very careful (I've only thrown up once... I think day 14 post op). I used to drink lots and lots of tea with my meals, but now I only drink 2-3 oz with meals. I order Water and am very purposeful to watch the level in my glass.

Edited June 12, 201511 yr by JaneJaneDoe

If I drink with a meal I get the slimes. It's awful. Don't do it. What they say is true. It causes discomfort, gas, spit up and heart burn.

I'm 3 months and having a hard time eating slow. My boyfriend and I have a bad habit of eating our meals while standing in the kitchen talking.

I was always a fast chower and learning to take small bites and eat my meal over the course of thirty minutes is difficult for me to grasp.

This was one of those rules I found nearly impossible to follow pre-surgery and easy to manage post-surgery. I am now 14 months out at goal weight and have sipped water along with meals the whole time. I only take in enough to keep my mouth moist. I find it an easy rule to follow as its so easy to get stuffed on a few bites of food and drinking makes the full feeling almost unbearable. I don't puke anything up but I will start to get the hiccups!

I am not the poster child for bariatric surgery. I'll be 6 months post-op in 5 days and am down 113 lbs (80% of the way to goal) so the success is there. But, I have not followed the rules in doing so. The truth is everyone is different, and how your body responds to drinking while eating may be severe and it may be nothing at all. For me, it doesn't seem to have any effect. Since the surgery, I've avoided my addiction calories (soda, chips and other empty calories) and focused hard on Proteins, fruits and vegetables. I've also really increased my activity getting (and using) a gym membership and trying to get 100% or more on my activity tracker each day. Other than that, I have chucked the rule book out the window. Again, everyone is different. The key is to let your body (and your scale) tell you what you should and shouldn't be doing.

One key reason for this rule (among others) is that drinking during eating or immediately after does flush the food thru your system.

You are eating so little 'real food' that its important to allow the small sleeve stomach to begin the process of digestion, which is also where you start to get the real nutrients from real food.

Over time, that issue abates. But early on, its very important.

-RC-