How Fast Are You VSGers Drinking?

Hi guys! For those who haven't read my previous post about my struggles, I'm in my 7th week post VSG. Thanks to a suggestion in answer to my other question, I set my alarm so that I can drink water every 10 minutes. Yesterday, I drank 4 sips every 10 minutes. They are medium sized sips. Any bigger sips or any faster than that and my stomach will hurt. Sometimes it hurts even with that rate. I did that yesterday until I got tired of my alarm and wanted to have protein. I drank 2 bottles of water total yesterday which is a vast improvement. I need to get to 64 ounces. This morning by drinking every 10 minutes, it still took me 3.5 hours to finish 1 bottle of 16.9 ounces. Therefore 4 bottles would take me 14 hours total to drink. In a 24 hour day, if I sleep 8 hours, that would leave me 16 hours for eating and drinking. For me, 14 of those hours would be devoted to drinking those 4 bottles of water. So 14 out of 16 hours for water. That leaves 2 hours for at least 75 grams of protein consumption. And then according to my surgeon, I cannot drink 30 minutes before or 30 minutes after eating and need to take at least 30 minutes to consume whatever it is. LOL! Either this is mathematically impossible unless I don't sleep at all, or I've gone crazy which is entirely possible at this point! I can't imagine going through all this when I go back to work. I will be doing nothing bu****ching the clock and sipping water. How fast can you guys drink? And eat for that matter. Thanks in advance.

It gets better, really. Before you know it, you'll be able to drink completely normal.

Some lucky folks have no trouble drinking right after surgery. Some take a few months to get fluids in easily.

There are a few that develop a structure, which requires medical intervention. If things don't improve, check with your doctor.

• Hi. Thanks for answering. I'm also really afraid of the reverse happening. If I start to be able to drink more, then that might mean that my sleeve stretched and then I will eat more. When I complained to my team about my symptoms, no one was at all worried. After a few e-mails and in-person visits, I didn't want to keep harping on the issues because I was afraid they would want to dilate my sleeve. I know it will eventually stretch, but I wanted to keep restriction as long as possible. On the other hand, I hate feeling weak. It's like the same merry-go-round I had with the lap band I had in 2005. Either I was too tight or too loose. They could never get my fill right. And those fills were painful. Also, the scale is not moving with this sleeve. I've lost a few inches. I know I'm probably not eating enough calories. I'm trying to stay low carb. I've been on so many diets that I've probably messed up my metabolism for good. I keep thinking I should have had the RNY. I was too scared but it might come to that. Thanks again.

Been there. Are you calculating that any protein drinks that you consume are included in your 64oz? Also, I'm 3 weeks ahead of you and at this point, can almost drink normally. Not huge gulps or chugging like I used to. But I can take normal swallows now, not just Baby sips. It gets easier.

Hi. Thanks. I'm adding more shakes in. It seems like I probably have more healing to do inside. Did you have the sleeve or the RNY? When you found that you were able to drink more, did you find that you ate more or felt hungry more often as well?

I had the sleeve. I asked my nut the very same about the water and she basically said that to stretch you pouch with water, you'd almost have to be trying to do it. As in chugging an uncomfortably large volume of water over and over.

i do have hunger returning this last few days, but it's not the water. That's been steady for a few weeks now. I know my max volume for my sleeve is about 3-4oz. I just make sure I'm not drinking more than that all at once. Water empties from your stomach pretty quickly, so it's not like it just pools up in there.

finally, your mileage may vary. I was able to advance my diet on the nutritionists schedule with few issues. There's no law saying everyone has too. You might have swelling or a smaller sleeve or it's just taking more time to adjust. But you really need to get the liquid it. It's crucial to your health and weight loss.

That's likely been the problem all along. People told me I was getting a little smaller, but the scale wasn't moving. I was staying low-carb by only consuming protein but not even enough of that. I had no room for vegetables or carbs. I was in deep ketosis by the ketostix. I was so angry that I didn't see progress on the scale. I know that inches count too, but I couldn't understand how I could be eating essentially nothing and show zero progress on the scale. Yesterday, I was able to drink 2 of the 16.9 ounce bottles of water. This morning I saw that I had dropped a pound. Yay! Finally! Today I'm on my 3rd bottle right now. I'll drink a 20 gram protein shake tonight. I had been trying to do the intermittent fasting thing and not eat after 6:00, but I'm going to stop trying to follow too many different programs at one time. I was doing that because it finally clicked in my head that weight loss surgery is just a tool and that I need to be following something else with it, but for now I'll just stick with low-carb, and try to keep up with the water.

You can't stretch your stomach with liquids. They go right through. It's hard to stretch your stomach very much, at all. A properly made sleeve is done with the least stretchy part of the stomach.

We ALL can eat more after a while, as our new stomachs mature and we heal. Theres not a thing we can do to stop it. You'd have to eat very recklessly to stretch things more than that, though.

We all know that a fire won't burn without oxygen. What's less well known is that you can't burn fat withou****er. I know it's hard. But you need to find a way to get more in.

Hi. Got it! I'm almost finished my 3rd bottle. I might be able to get the 4th in if I stay up tonight. I find it's hurting a little less than before, and keeping it room temperature instead of ice cold helps it go down. Thanks!