Can't not drink after eating

This is the one habit I thought I would have the hardest time with. I was lucky that my husband never drank with his meals so it was easy to remove any liquids from the table. My kids are now used to not drinking with dinner as well (the only exception to this is when we do something a little "spicy" then the kids can have a little milk with theirs). If it's not on the table I don't miss it. Right after we eat I get out of the kitchen (after checking the time) then keep myself occupied for a little while until I am able to drink. Sometimes I even end up waiting much longer than I need to because I got busy.

I use the same two "tricks" that a couple of the others have lready suggested... not even having something to drink in front of me at a meal and then sucking on a small ice cube if I needed something before the 30 minutes after a meal.

These days, I do sometimes sip with my meal, but never actually drink.  It was hard not to drink with meals at first.

As Lithia said, many of the people who end up regaining a significant amount of weight went back to drinking with meals, so you really should do whatever you can to break the habit.

Lora

I also thought that quitting dirnking with meals would be SO HARD! But to be honest, I haven't had any issues with it. I make sure there's nothing around for me to want to drink while I am eating. Sometimes if something is *really* spicy I will take a sip of water to swish around and then spit out, but I try and not do overly spicy things these days anyway.

Can we have gum post op i we are VERY careful not to swollow?  Or breath mints?  I could see a tick tack or something being a life saver for me after surgery in this situation... I am nervous about it too!

How bad?  For me, it led to a costly revision.  So to me, it's not just bad, it's the worst.  Your miles may vary. :)

I had surgery on 2/21/11 and this is something I am really struggling with too! My surgeon's recommendation is not to drink for 1.5 hours after a meal...this is killing me, but I am following the rules... I am going to try the ice cube trick -- I think that will be a HUGE help!!

I love this site...someone always has an answer! 

While there are some veterans on the board who break this rule and seem to not have troubles with it, they seem to be the exception rather than the rule, so I would try hard to do this. It's actually easier to get into this habit as soon as possible as the food you are eating is probably more liquid/soft.

That said, it was really hard, as it is with any habit that you must break. I didn't have too many problems with drinking while eating, since I used to be too busy shoveling food in my mouth to waste time putting liquid in, but as soon as I finished, I would want to chug like a gallon of water relatively soon afterwards. Things that helped for me:

1. Make sure you are really well hydrated before a meal and in general. My surgeon did not have the 30 minutes before rule, so I make sure and drink lots of water before I even start eating. I finish up about 10 minutes before eating, and find that helps me as well. Chances are you were probably really thirsty before you even started eating, and it wasn't until then that you noticed.

2. Set a timer for 30 minutes and go do something else to distract yourself. I can now go up to 1.5 hours before drinking and find it makes a huge difference in how quickly I get hungry/want to eat again.

3. Make sure your food is moist enough and not dry, use sauces, dressings, etc. and try not to eat super salty foods.

Good luck, you can do hard things. You can do this.

In the end, keep in mind that drinking with meals is a SOCIAL custom. It is NOT a natural thing, no matter how natural it is to you. Seriously!

You never see a cow munch a mouthful of grass then go sip some water, then munch grass, then water..... dogs and cats don't go to eat AND drink at the same time, even though we put the food and water dish next to one another. Eating and Drinking are separate things that aren't usually done together except that we are very social creatures, and we set up the habit and expectation, so we do it.

I really can't emphasize enough that breaking this habit (of drinking while eating) is one of the biggest keys to success, and the inability to break this habit is the biggest risks of failure. No guarantee that you WILL succeed if you are perfect at this rule, or that you will fail if you break the rule all the time, but I haven't EVER seen someone talk about significant regain who FOLLOWS this rule still. Seriously. It's just not worth it to me to risk it.

Disclaimer: I vomit if I break the rule, so it's easy for me to follow it postop, but I did work to follow it for the six month supervised diet.

Actually, yes you can "not" drink with your meals.  We all do it.  (well, most of us).  It's hard in the beginning but you get used to it.  We've all been told the rules before surgery and we agreed to them.  Can you drink with your meals?  Sure.  But you won't be as successful with long term weight loss.  And why set yourself up for that this early on?

I spend a fortune on sugar free gum!!!
I am really thirsty after eating so I chew gum for 30 minutes until I can drink again.
Some people may not think this is appropriate, but it works for me.  I strictly follow the rule of no liquids until at least 30 minutes after a meal, sometimes an hour.  It's not hard for me to do, as I have been doing it for almost 3 years - but the gum really helps.