Can too much water stretch your sleeve?

I know that it's considered a "slider", but if you are drinking too much water at once, can it stretch your sleeve?  I know it will cause discomfort...

Nope.  You are safe with water as long as you haven't eaten for about an hour before drinking it.  The pyloric valve at the bottom of your stomach stays open for liquids to pass on through so as long as there is no food blocking that passage it runs right on through.

I was very concerned when one week post op I drank a full bottle of flavored water in about 15 minutes.  I couldn't figure out where it went ... I thought I might actually have a lea****il I found out about the pyloric valve not closing to prevent liquids from passing on through.

oh so THAT'S why we have to wait to drink after eating?  very interesting.  thanks.

That is part of the reason we wait.  The other part is that the pyloric valve opens for liquids and not for foods.  Food in your stomach gets digested which turns it into liquids which signals the pyloric valve to open and let things pass on through.  If you drink something and there is food in your stomach the pyloric valve could sense that liquid and allow the food to pass through earlier than it would have otherwise.  

The longer the food is in your stomach the longer it will take to become hungry again.  You basically are not wanting the liquids to help flush the food through your stomach too early.

so i was thinking of this a bit more, and my plan (and a lot that i've seen on here) calls for 5 small meals a day.  If i'm not eating an hour before or after each time, that means there's no time left in the day to actually get the water down.....i'm so confused!

Yes it is tough at first.  It seems like almost all day long you are either drinking or eating something.  I was one of the lucky ones that can drink a lot in a short time.  I usually make a mug of tea which is three cups and I can drink that within a half hour to 45 minutes.  That is about a third of your daily requirement. 

My day is usually started as soon as I wake up with a protein shake.  I actually don't eat 5 times a day as I don't need to and as you mentioned it could be hard to do so.  Other than my protein shake I tend to have only three other times I eat and only two of those times are of substance.  One meal might be about 3 1/2 oz of pork that I have cooked in my slow cooker until it easily falls apart into a pulled pork melt in your mouth consistency.  Then about an hour or so goes by and I drink a mug (3 cups of tea). Then depending on the time and the way I am feeling I might drink more or eat my oatmeal concoction which is great and my favorite meal of the day.  (I am in maintenance now).  Again I let another hour or so go by and get another mug of tea.  And after that if I get hungry again or if I have not gotten in all of my protein I will make something small like scrambled eggs (with cinnamon and Splenda and a little crunchy natural peanut butter ... mixed up with a little almond milk these eggs taste like cinnamon toast ... yum)

These days I actually tend to get in about 12 to 14 cups per day not counting my protein shake which probably could be counted.  But as I mentioned I only eat about three times per day.  I just make sure that most of my meals are protein based so I can get in all the protein I need.  I do get about 85 to 90 grams of protein each day at this point.

To be honest early out I was bad about getting in my fluid as I usually only logged about 6 cups per day again not using my protein shake as anything even though with it I was probably very close to the 8 cups.

Calking - I'm pretty good about waiting a whole hour after eating a meal before I drink anything.  But how about after a snack like greek yogurt or string cheese?  I'll admit I typically only wait about 30 minutes after snacks to start drinking.  Do you think I'm causing potential problems??

My understanding is 30 minutes minimum before and after food. I have found as I got more experience under my belt and able to get all my fluids in less time, that it is actually beneficial for me to wait longer than one hour after eating because I feel full longer when my dense proteins can sit against the pyloric valve before emptying.

Good to know - thanks, Mimi!

my doc's instructions, FWIW, were at least 30 minutes afterward.