Question for all post op DSers

The no drinking thing is for RNYers, not DSers.  A lot of surgeons offices still give out RNY information to DSers, even though it doesn't apply to us.  That being said, I don't drink very much while I am eating, and I was always a person who drank while they ate.  I just found, through experience, that I can usually eat a lot more if I'm not drinking too.  My surgeon made my sleeve very small, so even at almost three years out, I still can't eat very much in one sitting.  Now I don't really think much about not drinking while I'm eating, I usually just wait until I'm done to have a sip of something to drink.  But there is no reason why you can't drink while you're eating - it's not going to "wash out" the food from your stomach because you still have a pylorus valve to hold everything in.

I couldn't do it very much at first, because my capacity was only 2.8 oz.  Our stomachs undergo a "maturation" process in the first year that makes it possible for us to eat good quantities of dense protein (meat), to get our protein needs met.  That's why some docs taper off the shakes during the first year, they want you to use more food sources as protein.  In my program's nutrition guide for the first year, the quantities and densities of food increase and vary as time passes, so that your new stomach will be able to accommodate a small meal with more dense protein sources at one sitting by the end of a year.

As for drinking with meals, as my capacity increased, my ability to drink more with meals increased.  I also found that warm beverages, like coffee or tea with a meal somehow helped me to get more food in.

That said,  protein from food sources is not enough for me.  I'll be on shake supplements, and possibly Creon (Rx digestive enzyme) for life.

LOVE that we (as DSers) can drink while we eat.  There is no way I could eat without drinking.  Always have always will.  Obviously the amount I drink while I eat has changed.  Pre op when out to dinner I may have had 3 sodas with dinner.  Now I have a quarter of a glass.. maybe up to half a glass but that is it.

I drink a beverage with every meal. Always have, always will.