Question:
Could someone explain to me about your water intake

how come you cant drink with meals and you cant drink 30 min before or after a meal and can water stretch your pouch out is there a limit to how much water you should drink per day. Thanks    — Donna B. (posted on June 21, 2002)

June 21, 2002
You should not drink with your meals, because it will push the food on through your pouch and hunger can return much quicker. The water empties out the pouch and your food with it, drinking DURING meals. Now, on the water issue...you need to drink at least 60 oz. of water daily. (not as a fresh post op tho, at least I could not). And sip-sip-sip water as much as possible, stop drinking water approximately 10-15 minutes prior to your meal and do not drink for about one hour after your meal. "Fluid Loading" is drinking as much as you can, then stopping about 10-15 min. prior to your meal, after you have been hydrating all throughout the day. Fluid loading helps curb your appetite.
   — Barbara B.

June 21, 2002
You should not drink with your meals, because it will push the food on through your pouch and hunger can return much quicker. The water empties out the pouch and your food with it, drinking DURING meals. Now, on the water issue...you need to drink at least 60 oz. of water daily. (not as a fresh post op tho, at least I could not). And sip-sip-sip water as much as possible, stop drinking water approximately 10-15 minutes prior to your meal and do not drink for about one hour after your meal. "Fluid Loading" is drinking as much as you can, then stopping about 10-15 min. prior to your meal, after you have been hydrating all throughout the day. Fluid loading helps curb your appetite.
   — Barbara B.

June 21, 2002
I find that I really can't drink with meals because it makes me very uncomfortably full. Picture your new pouch as a paper cup with a hole the size of a pencil poked in the bottom. If it is empty, water will flow fairly quickly through that hole. But if you fill the cup up half way with food like for example cottage cheese, it will flow through that hole very slowly. Add water to it very fast and it will just over flow or force the food out faster. I find that on a completely empty stomach, 1-2 hours after eating, I can drink water fairly quickly, 20 oz bottle in 10-15 minutes because it flows through the stoma, but on a full stomach, water causes pain and overfull sensation because it doesn't have anywhere to go. Hope this helps.
   — Dell H.