Meals and Drinking?

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks post surgery for me and I get to move onto soft foods.   My instructions say stop drinking 20 minutes prior to meals and don't drink again for 45 mins to an hour after a meal.  What are the reasons?  Are they concerned about overfilling your stomach, food not staying in the stomach long enough or what?  Just wondering because someone who is having revision surgery posted to be sure to follow this rule implying that it had something to do with not being successful.  Just want to get it right the first time.  Thanks!!!

My understanding is that it is about food not staying in the stomach long enough to keep you satisfied.  If you drink liquids around meal time, the food tends to flow thru faster. 

I am almost 3 years post op, and I still don't drink anything with my meals, or after.  I don't really think about the time before meals, and it doesn't seem to make a difference.  I find that after meals, there is no room in my tummy and if I drink something, I feel over-full, so I have to observe this rule!

I decided if I was going to do something as radical as removing over 1/2 my stomach, I was darn-well going to follow the rules.  And its worked for me.  I lost 98% of my excess body weight and I've been maintaining at a normal weight for almost 2 years.  I'd recommend following the rules.

best wishes,

Carol

Advice taken and congratulation on maintaining a normal weight for 2 years.  I hope to be able to follow in your footsteps!  Kind of you to stay on these boards and give advice to all us new WLS people.  Make the journey so much better for us.  

I don't/can't drink with meals because it takes up valuable food space.  

Couple of reasons (and the reasons are also somewhat dependent upon which surgery you have).

1. Early out with VSG eating with a meal can result in great discomfort and the inability to ingest adequate protein. Eating dense protein causes the pyloric valve at the bottom of the sleeve to close. This creates a high pressure system. If you drink the water has no place to go. Often times the pressure in the closed stomach filled with food will cause any water you drink to come right back up bringing the protein with it. NOT FUN!
2. Later on with a mature sleeve or with a mature RNY anastomasis, drinking water with a meal will speed food through the stomach and into the gut. The rapid emptying of the sleeve or pouch can result in a lessened feeling of satiety and cause eating too frequently. Another issues is using water to wash food through the sleeve or pouch so that you can EAT MORE per sitting. My partner's uncle does this and has gained a bunch of weight back after a very successful RNY and weight loss. It's had for me to watch how much he can put away. 

Hope that gives you some idea of why that rule is one to follow. 

Everyone else has already made some great points. I just wanted to add that I drink right up until the moment I eat, then I wait a minimum of 30 minutes after. My instructions allow for drinking up to the point when I start eating. Makes it a little easier when in restaurants because I can sip, sip, sip on my water until the food comes, then move the glass out of reach.

This is what my plan says too: can drink right up until the time to eat, and then not again for 30 minutes after.

Besides the issue with pushing food too quickly through the pyloric valve, drinking right after a meal is UNCOMFORTABLE!  Horribly uncomfortable - you can do it, but it takes effort.  

You want that food to remain in your stomach as long as possible.  I typically drink right up until I eat and that's always worked for me.  But after almost 3 years out, I still to this day wait an hour after eating a meal (15-20 minutes after a snack). 

If you drink fluids right after you eat, the food in your stomach will become mushy and pass through the pyloric valve much more quickly.  

The goal is to keep you feeling satiated as long as possible so you don't feel hungry.  Fluids can also cause significant discomfort especially to the newly sleeved.  There's just not that much room for food and beverages in your gut right now.

I drink liquids up until the time I eat, then I try to avoid them for an hour.  I've seen many people return to OH complaining about regain, and many of them confess to drinking with their meals.  It's a good habit to get into and easy once it becomes a routine.

Every time I forget about the drinking with meals rule, I regret the results.  If I don't wait the full 30 minutes after eating, I get overly full and instantly wish I hadn't had that first sip.