I am at 12 days post op and still on liquids and soups.. have had the odd piece of chicken and chewed it until it’s nothing and I’ve had a piece of chocolate that I let melt before I swallowed - oops. Anyway my question is that I’m worried as I haven’t been 100% on the 30 mins post eating without water - basically because I forgot about it! If I start now am I ok?? I’m paranoid! ugh.. this op is pretty full on. I see my surgeon and dietician tomorrow and apparently I start on puréed food. So from now on if I do the 30 minute wait after eating anything I should be ok? What about before eating?? Does this apply to before eating too??

I think the bigger issue here is that you have eaten chicken and chocolate.

Practicing self control is going to go a long way with your success. In addition, now is not the time to test things. That one piece of chocolate could have sent you over the edge and made you ill for hours or even all day.

You stomach needs time to heal, a tiny little shred of chicken could get caught on a stitch or staple and cause major problems, like infection.

The 30 minute rule is so that you are not "full" of fluids when you try to eat and actually have room for the food. The 30 minutes after is to allow the food to stay in your system long enough for your body to absorb it's nutrients,a s the water will push it through your system faster. Not the end of the world if your forget sometimes but it may make you sick when you start more solid foods.

Refocus, you can do it.

Yes, it really is important and yes, you need to start now and stick to it.

On my plan, I was instructed to start the 30 min before and after thing only when I started on solid foods. It was not needed or even suggested on my plan when I was on full liquids. The explanation was that it's all liquid anyway, so there's little reason to do this.

Your plan may have handled things differently, but just wanted to provide my experience.

my plan said it didnt matter till i started purreed/soft foods

Yeh ok. I realised about 8 days in after being reminded by another post from someone on FB and it freaked me out. Eek! I’m ok I’ve been fine and had no issues yet. Day 13 today.
I’m seeing the dietician and surgeon today so will talk more to them about it too. I’m just gonna give it the 30 mins before and after until they tell me differently. From what I hear the 30 mins after is an ongoing thing anyway. Thanks for feedback.

9 hours ago, kcuster83 said:

I think the bigger issue here is that you have eaten chicken and chocolate.

Practicing self control is going to go a long way with your success. In addition, now is not the time to test things. That one piece of chocolate could have sent you over the edge and made you ill for hours or even all day.

You stomach needs time to heal, a tiny little shred of chicken could get caught on a stitch or staple and cause major problems, like infection.

The 30 minute rule is so that you are not "full" of fluids when you try to eat and actually have room for the food. The 30 minutes after is to allow the food to stay in your system long enough for your body to absorb it's nutrients,a s the Water will push it through your system faster. Not the end of the world if your forget sometimes but it may make you sick when you start more solid foods.

Refocus, you can do it.

Yeh I know. ? I was given instructions by the dietician that the liquid girt could include liquified meats also- eww! I did chew that little piece of chicken until it was liquid. Yuk. And yeh, the square of chocolate was so sweet it was sickly. Ugh!. Anyway, So far no issues thank God but yeh- I completely forgot about the 30 min waiting period until I was about 8 days in and saw a comment on FB from another person who had brought up the drinking during eating issue- I haven’t drunk during eating, it’s just I had not allowed a full 30 mins pre or post eating at that stage.. Im day 13 now and see the surgeon and dietician today so I’ll talk to them again about too. So far I’m feeling good and having no issues with anything fingers crossed.. I’ve lost 10 kg since the beginning of pre op. Wtf?! It’s ridiculous how well this procedure works! I’m already in the 80kg zone and my blood pressure has redused to normal. It’s amazing. Anyway thanks for feedback! I was having an existential crisis anticipating worst case scenarios.

8 hours ago, Sleeve_Me_Alone said:

Yes, it really is important and yes, you need to start now and stick to it.

Thanks mate. Fortunately I haven’t been drinking whilst eating- but I’m definitely gonna stick to the 30 pre and post eating rule. Thanks for the video!