If water is a "slider"......

then why can't we drink BEFORE a meal? Guess I'm asking how long does it really take to slide through? 30 minutes? If it slides right through, why can't we drink 5-10 minutes before we eat something? Been curious about this!

Every doctor has different recommendations on this.  But, for me, I drink all day, and right before I eat.  I think it's more so that you don't feel overly full just before you eat.  I don't find that it affects me in that way, so I drink up until I start eating, then I push my water away if we are at a restaurant.  And if I'm at home, I don't make a drink for me at the table.

That "rule", like many others, is ridiculous.

I drink right up to (and sometimes even during~~gasp!) meals. I am almost 10 years post op. I am at goal weight.

Flog me now!!

Only recently did i finally FINALLY understand that rule. I thought it was ridiciulous postop, and ignored it adn did fine.

I think that it is designed for those who have issues with liquids filling them up... the people who have trouble getting in liquid. If they don't drink thirty minutes before they eat, they'll have space for their food, and not starve themselves. '

Since I wasn't one who had ANY issues with liquids postop, the rule WAS ridiculous, and to make people follow it forever....also ridiculous.

But I finally GET why it is a rule... I think it should just be .... maybe..... a follow this rule until the two or three week checkup and then discuss.

For me, I am six weeks out and it stops me almost in my tracks to drink that close to a meal.  I assume it is because all of the plumbing is so new in there - but I look forward to being about a year or so out and hopefully being able to drink up to and hopefully with my meals.  I have tried not to drink, but I feel thirsty all the time and I am a firm believer in drinking with my meals (a sip here and there).  However, the minute I do that I regret it.  I struggle every day with not drinking before my meal, during and then 30 minutes after.  I have yet to make it through a day with that goal acheived.

My doctor told me that I could drink up until the point I was going to eat. I do sometimes take a small sip during but not enough to "clear" my pouch out. I am lucky however since I am still not hungry. I am pretty much at goal but if I lost a little more I wouldn't be upset.

There is no logical reason to not drink up until you eat. With RNY you have no pyloric sphincter to "hold" the water in anymore so you can't get "full" on it. I do get nauseated if I drink too big a gulp even over a year out though.

Many surgeons DO allow patients to drink right up until they start eating.  Mine restricted drinking rigth before meals only early out.  It literally only takes a couple of minutes for even a large amount of water to pass through your pouch.  Some people eat less if their intestinal system is loaded down with water, because that contributes to a full feeling.  That's a GOOD thing later on, but early out it may make it hard to get in enough food, especially if you are already not wanting to eat (which are the reasons my surgeon suggests NOT drinking right befoer meals early out but suggests that you DO drink right up until meals later on).  Some surgeons used to actually suggest "water loading" before a meal, but I have not heard anyone mention that in a couple of years, sp perhaps it has fallen "out of fashion"?!?

Lora