Water

Yep. for a long time plain water was a little tough to drink. even iced tea was easier made with nothing bu****er and instant tea. go figure. I will say it has gradually gotten easier and at 2 years and 7 months i can take some pretty big gulps now and feel pretty normal drinking it. I really don't like artificially sweetened drinks - never have - and always preferred plain iced tea. probabbly why i didn't weight 350 instead of 250.  Anyway, I think you are right that its the last thing to be really comfortable. My hubby was ordered to have more fluids and likes soba water and crystal light..

sometimes i think our sense of taste becomes more accute after this surgery and the natural iron and minerals in normal tap water can seem icky. don't know about the ph thing. i do drink water at my studio because its too hard to get anything else there (like ice) but come home eager for that iced tea!    diane

Is Powerade zero that bad? Ive literally been drinking it in place of water for about 8 months now. It is the only thing I could find that I would stand long term, I buy it by the case. It never effected my weightloss and I still like the taste. I hate tea

You sound like me! I've lived on Powerade almost exclusivly since surgery. I was also buying it by the case whenever I could and would panick when Walmart was out of it! Unfortunatley you can't take a case of Powerade on a plane with you when you travel!!! I even joked with my coworkers about taking an extra suitcase of Powerade on my last business trip.

When I "quit" Powerade I had a migraine for 3 days. I swore then I wouldn't start drinking it again, but I am.

I'm not really looking for suggestions, just wanted to know who else still has issues with plain water. Who knew this would be a side effect?!? Powerade is great, but it does get expensive!

Jen

I can drink water wide open and have no problems. But get this, after surgery when I was stupid and thought I knew everything, I skimped on water, the way I had my whole life. I started having bad bladder pains and treated myself for bladder infections X 2. Finally, I started drinking the recommended 64 ounces and then, and only then, did I quit having bladder pains. That whole scenario was completely new to me, as I had never thought about drinking before. Then yesterday I was busy at meetings all day, skimped on the water, and in the car on the way home, I got those annoying bladder pains again. I knew how to stop them and 32 ounces later, they were gone. I have no idea if I am the only VSG patient that undergoes these weird symptoms with poor water intake, but newbies might read this and it might help them avoid the same pitfalls. VSG does cause life-long changes in your body, besides just the usual ones we all know about.

I wonder if I force myself to drink water if things will get better?

It hasn't for me. I'm about 3.75 years out now. I still can gulp down tons of flavored water but have trouble getting down plain water. I mostly drink decaffeinated green tea at work and Vitamin Water Zero at home.

The thing is, there is no real reason to force yourself to drink plain water that I can see. Our bodies are designed to extrac****er from our food. It's a lot easier to extract the water from a Vitamin Water Zero than it is to extract the water from a steak. Yet our bodies can extract the water from a steak just fine.

So why force yourself to drink something that means you aren't going to consume as much water? (Assuming you don't have negative reactions to anything in the flavored water, of course.)

I love the flavored water, don't get me wrong!

Here are my reasons:
1. It's not always convenient to get flavored water. I'm very picky! My most favorite is grape Powerade Zero. This does not come in powdered form. Second fav is grape Propel, this I can get in a powder. But it's not even a close second to the Powerade! Third in my line up is grape G2, this comes in a powder as well, but it has calories and carbs.

This has been extremely inconvenient for me when I travel because not everyone sells Powerade, or at least I can't always find it.

I can't stand most all other flavors since I had surgery. I used to love fruit puch, but can't stand it now.

2. I also would like to get away from all artificial sweeteners. There are some studies out there showing negative side effects.

3. I've found during races I have a hard time drinking. This may or may not be related to my water issues and I'm planning on doing some experimenting while I'm running outdoors this summer. Last summer I only ran on a treadmill, but I've moved on and only like running outside now.

Thanks for your input!
Jen

Have you tried any of the electrolyte powders you can put into water for working out? Maybe you'd like those.

Jen, I'm 3 1/2 years out and still can't take plain water.  I do try, but only manage a 16 oz bottle a day and everything other than that has got to be flavored.  Fortunately for me, I like all of the crystal lights and Hawaiian punch flavors.  I sometimes use fresh lemon or lime and sweetener.  That's the down side I guess...the amount of sweetener I use.  I also do a lot of tea, both hot and iced with sweetener and of course coffee which I do count towards my fluid intake.  Heck, I even count milk and almond milk.  It's so frustrating not to be able to drink lots of water anymore but there's nothing I can do about it.  I have heard of an alkaline water called Essentia water but it's pricey and I haven't tried it yet.  Anyhow, I do understand what you're going through.  I wish I could cut back on the sucralose but I don't see it happening.  And I can't stand stevia so that's not an option for me.  I use a liquid sucralose called sweetzfree. 

Laura

Occasionally. It's odd, some days I'm ok.. some days I need ice water.. and some days- forget it, and I reach for a lemon or some True Lemon stuff..