I have found one of the most challenging parts of adjusting to the surgery is not being able to Sri I liquids with a meal. It’s taking so much time and energy to figure out when I can eat and planning my liquid consumption around that. How long did it generally take for everyone after surgery to be able to drink more like a normal person? I know there will always b some delay but waiting 30 minutes to drink is so hard!

This may help understand why fluids should be avoided when eating meals....

https://www.tristatebariatrics.org/blog-post/eating-and-drinking-after-weight-loss-surgery

I find it easy to not drink for 30minutes after a meal since my ESG, I look at the time I finished eating and don't drink for 30 minutes. I assume this is more complicated in the post op stages with a lot more smaller meals thus eating more regularly.

I guess its all in the sipping, carry a water bottle with you, sip away - a lot, stop drinking the required time before a meal and don't pick it up for 30 minutes. It may have been a little different for me, I have been use to sipping a lot and often (for a number of years) as a I have a autoimmune syndrome that results in no or very little salvia production.

I know someone who takes very small sips when eating and she is doing fine, she is about six months out, she was given the okay to...but each surgeon seems to have their own guidelines and its best to follow your own surgeon's guidelines.

I actually have to keep liquid near me on hand and have the surgeons permission because I have EOS (Eosinophilic Esophagitis), which is an autoimmune disorder that causes stricture in your throat and leads to choking. I don't sip often when I eat, but usually during lunch or dinner a bite of food sticks in my throat and I have to. I've had EOS for about four years now and my food has always gotten chewed to absolute mush and I've been a slow eater since I first started choking, but the issue still happens. I get my throat stretched usually every two years and it's been a year and a half since last time so there is definite stricture issues and just last week I choked on one of my multivitamins... -_-". I'm currently sticking to chewables now since my throat is officially too narrow to swallow pills. So there are medical exceptions to the rule.

you'll never be able to drink like a normal person. Well, you PHYSICALLY can, but not if you want to keep your weight off. You will have to wait at least 30 minutes after eating before drinking anything for the rest of your life. My surgeon said two of the biggest reasons people gain weight after surgery is 1) grazing 2) not following the food/drink separation rule. The good thing is, it becomes automatic after awhile for a lot of us. It was a challenge for me at first, but I got used to it pretty quickly.