Hardest part?

Hey y'all. I'm 2 months until my claim is submitted for insurance. In the meantime, I'm trying to make some changes in my diet and daily life to make things possibly easier down the road. I've already cut out the fast food. Switched the sodas to water. But what was some of the hardest things for you to get adjusted to?  Like I've read some of the posts that mention not drinking while eating? What's up with that? Any advise is greatly appreciated! 

the reason for the not drinking before, during and right after eating is so the protein you eat can sit in your stomach longer. Water makes it exit faster.

Hey Laura222, I had my surgery Oct. of 2012 with the Santa Fe Medical Group. My surgeon was Dr. Sergio Quinones. By far the hardest thing for me to adjust to was the not drinking while eating...I still find myself struggling with that one to be honest. The reason they say not to eat and drink at the same time is because it will make the food you eat go through your stomach faster. Here is a video you can watch, this guys gives a great visual demonstration on why drinking when you eat is not the best thing to do after WLS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR0VM3mnsgM . The 2nd hardest thing for me to learn was distinguishing head hunger from actual hunger. After your surgery you will find that you have times when you feel hungry more often. A lot of people freak out and think the surgery isn't working for them...that's not the case. A great way to learn to distinguish your head hunger from you real hunger is to drink water. Sometimes your body will trick you into thinking you are hungry, when what you actually need is fluids. So what I did, is set up an eating schedule. My life is hectic, so I just set up various alarms on my phone. I would eat only at those times, and if I felt hungry before that alarm went off, I would start drinking water. I would have 1 glass of water, wait 15 mins, and if the hunger went away, I knew that fluids was what my body was needing. However, if 15 to 30 mins went by and I found that I was still hungry, I would opt for a few small bites of a lite snack...thinks like a few almonds, a table spoon of peanut butter, a low fat string cheese etc. The next thing that I would suggest is right after surgery when you start transitioning to solids really take some time when your eat food. It takes a while for your mind to catch up with the fact that a big part of your stomach is now gone, so eat slowly so you can figure out at what point you are satiated during a meal. Now, with that being said, YOU WILL OVER DO IT FROM TIME TO TIME...when you do this in the beginning it will either hurt, or make you throw up...it is normal, we all do it, it sucks, but don't freak out. There will be a learning curve as you get adjusted to the new tummy, but just follow your doctors orders, post op diet, and you will be just fine. I hope this info helps. Best of luck to you! Feel free to message me if you have any specific questions. 

The hardest for me was cutting the pop which I didn't do until I was forced to at surgery. Now I can't stand pop, so not worth the pain it causes. The second hardest was the not drinking with meals. At the time I was a diabetic so not drinking every 5 minutes or so was just not going to happen. Now that I am no longer a diabetic I can eat my whole meal and hardly even think of a beverage. Good luck! And feel free to message me if you would like to chat!!

I heard from my nut that there will be no room for drinks and protein in my smaller tummy., plus drinking too much with meals can lead to vomitting. It's more important to eat the protein & let it digest first, then have a drink like a half hour later.She said I can have a sip but definitely can't guzzle down a drink, rt now I'm on the liquid diet portion as I have surgery scheduled in April, but what I did find difficult to give up was sugar. I still have a crazy sweet tooth but I know having alternatives let me keep sweetness in my life without it dominating my life., that and remembering what all that sugar led me to keeps me focused on making and keeping positive changes in my life. Good luck to you!

The not drinking with meals is an RNY thing, and it's because your pylorus, the stomach's normal emptying port, is bypassed. I have a DS, so my stomach's smaller but still fully function, and I drink with my meals.

You did a good thing by cutting out the soda before surgery.  I didn't do that and the caffeine withdrawal was a ***** post-op!   The other two hardest things have been not drinking when eating, although I'm very good about that now.  And the slowing down of the eating/chewing.  I was good about that in the beginning but as time has gone on I've gotten back into the bad habit of eating much too fast.  

Try eating and not drinking with your meals.It was one thing that I do have trouble with sometimes.I would practice that.I used to wash my food down with a drink at all meals.So that was a change for me.

Eat lower carb meaning cut out white carbs.