Yep, the topic of this post sounds a bit strange but I promise the two tie together. I have not heard of any bariatric team that doesn't require it's patients' to consume tons of water on a daily basis. My hospital requires 80 ounces of water to be consumed each day. This is a habit to last for the rest of your life. There are many reasons why we have to consume so much water and that can be explained if you check out the following link:
Bariatric Choice - Water and Fluid Needs of Bariatric Surgery Patients
I am in no way affiliated with the link above. I just simply did a quick search for reputible links that explain the importance of water, especially in bariatric patients, and thought this covered it well (and saves me some typing).
You may think you get more than the needed amount of water, but you may be surprised. One of my prescriptions (unrelated to bariatric surgery) causes me to constantly feel overheated and my mouth is always dry. So, you can say I definately drink a lot of water, or so I thought. Some days I'd drink close to about 60 ounces, other days I'd hardly make a dent in my required amount. Having to force yourself to drink more water than you are used to is, in my opinion, just as hard as getting yourself to get up and go to the gym. It definately makes you feel full all day, which makes you NOT want to consume all the extra vegetables you're supposed to be consuming as well. You have to pace yourself also or you will experience nausea from guzzling the water too quickly (which can also be dangerous, but that's if you go on like extreme H2O overload binge within a much shorter period of time).
At first, I was making tick marks on paper to keep track of how many glasses of water I had, so I knew if I was meeting my goal. I found it to be easier to just use a large bottle or pitcher to keep track. That way, you can see how much you've consumed so far that day and how much is left. There's a 64 ounce bottle of blueberry-pomegranate juice that I find to be perfect for the job. It's big, but not quite as bulky as a gallon jug, so it usually fits width-wise wherever I need it to. I fill it up one and a half times a day to be sure I get my daily water intake. Many patients like to use flavorings such as 'Mio' to help them get down the water easier. I tried a generic version of 'Mio', and found it reminded me too much of a more watered down version of NyQuil. I'm not sure if the name brand would be any better or not, since I haven't tried it yet. 'Crystal Light' has always been something I like, as well as the Kool Aid powder (sweetened with something like Splenda, NOT sugar) to occassionally mix things up.
Now here's where the whole 'sex appeal' part comes in. I want my water to stay cold so I keep the large bottle in the fridge for the most part. However, others come accross it and decide to help themselves. Sure, you can say "hey, I use this to keep track of my water intake", and that might keep all other hands off, but in some cases (such as mine), it won't make a difference.... especially if it's a pretty color from some flavoring. Our water has 'sex appeal'.... aka, others wont keep their hands off it and are attracted to drinking our cold water.
Solution? Everyone who knows me knows that I have bariatric protein shakes and vitamins. They have no desire to try any of that stuff. I may use an empty bottle of some sort of juice to hold plain water in, and I'll put a piece of masking tape on it and write "Bariatric Water". The bottle will still have a scent from the juice that was previously in it, so it seems to our unknowing suspects that something is in the water. However, they usually just see the 'Bariatric' label and run for the hills. I've also done this with water I've mixed with, for example, "Crystal Light Raspberry Ice". It's like a psychological trigger.... they are otherwise attracted to this colorful beverage, but if they see a 'bariatric' label, they see the color and think, "eww. That's some medicinal stuff! Gross!" None the wiser that we bested them and our drinks no longer appeal to them, thus we can maintain an accurate measurement of our water consumption.
This trick has also worked with food. Sure, unless you buy some special labels to make it look professional, they're gonna see it's homemade. However, they don't know if you mixed some special source of gritty vitamins in with your food when preparing it. I know I'm not happy when I spend half a day in the kitchen preparing food to last me a week and next thing I know, everyone is 'picking' at it until it's more than halfway gone.
Give the "Bariatric" label a try... It's proven far more helpful to me than writing "don't touch" and/or my name on it.
Have any stories you'd like to share? Please do! Comment below!
Update (4/14/2013): For those of you with smartphones, there are plenty of water tracking apps available. I've found this more helpful as I switch between various flavored drinks and water bottles. Speaking of waterbottles, Sportline created the Hydracoach (you can find on Amazon.com) which tracks the amount of fluid you drink in a 24 hr period. This was advertised as being 'motivating' and that it would 'remind' me to drink my water... but don't be fooled. There is not alarm that goes off if you don't drink (which is pretty much WHY I purchased it). It is also hard to figure out just how to sip it to get the dang thing to record accurately. Personally, it wasn't my best way of spending $30, but for those of you who are less anal then me, this may be an option.
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