No Liquid With Meals Is The Hardest

You aren't alone!  It took a while but it's second nature to me now.  I do drink up until 5 minutes before meals, but I never drink sooner than 30 minutes after -- and in the last couple of months, I have actually increased the time to 45 minutes to an hour if possible.  It does get easier.

This is also hard for me and I am a "rule follower" so it has even been anxiety producing!  The program I am in has a "no fluids 30 minutes before and 45 minutes after"  Sometime I will have a good amount to drink (like 8 oz) and then start preparing my meal.  I move the bottle of water out of site while I am preparing and I find that a lot of times that is 30 minutes so I have successfully distracted myself.  I also find distractions for after.  Get a shower, fold laundry, do dishes and put dinner away or enter my food into my fitness pal. It is hard though.  If OH has a like button I would like this a million times!

OH does have a like button now.  

It is my new normal.  After my last bite I set the timer on my phone for 30 minutes and I'm good to go.

I actually credit this rule with being the most helpful in maintaining.  Even if there is no physical reason I have to say that it helps keep me mindful.  It puts an end to my meal.  No nibbling, once I am done I am done.

It helps me avoid snacking and impulse eating as I like to drink and always have my bottle nearby and I know if I put food in my mouth I will have to start the timer.

I have my own rule which is I have to drink at least 16 oz before I can eat again, preferably 32 oz.  It helps me stay aware to keep hydrated and it keeps me from impulse eating.

I really like your 16 oz rule.  I do really well getting in a lot of water in the morning before breakfast, and then again before bed.  I get distracted by the tasks of life during the work day, though, and then realize it is time to eat, and that I am hungry, but have not had a drink.  Anyhow, I will try that.  Thanks.  

This rule is so ingrained in me that I will get sick if I drink right after I eat. 

I'm actually having trouble getting enough fluid in because I'm eating denser protein meals that keep me full longer. I really have to work to get the fluid down.

Drinking before does not matter with RnY. We have no pyloric sphincter so fluids goes right through.

After you've learned this habit it's interesting to watch this in restaurants. It's how people eat a large  amount of food. They keep pushing it though with fluids. 

Move the glass away.

DebT.

I know this sounds dumb, but would someone remind me as to why we cannot drink water for 30 - 45 minutes after we eat??

Drinking pushes the food through the pouch, thus emptying your stomach and making you hungry sooner.

Also, if you add water on top of food that does NOT push through immediately, the water that cannot drain from your esophagus into your pouch will give you that "brick in your chest" feeling.

Does waiting also help us better absorb the little nutrients we get from food? Some activities makes time fly faster than others like a walk, cleaning, showering, talking on the phone and especially the internet.

I drink right up until I pick up my fork.  The reason they tell RNY people not to drink 30 minutes before meals is because they think we are not smart enough to remember that it is after meals that we don't drink.  They figure if they say no drinking before or after meals, then we will not have to process that information and remember it.

Years ago I was working for a company and we were preparing a machine that would be used in another country.  It required three steps to start the machine and the engineers wondered if that would be too much to ask someone of another culture to remember.  Those people turned out to be much smarter than those engineers thought and now the company has engineers that were born in that country.

Just because people are obese is not a reason to think they are not smart enough to remember that they do not drink after meals.