biginjapan

Haha! This has been an issue for me every since I had the sleeve three years ago. I've learned to only let a little bit of fart out to see if it's actually gas, or something worse! Luckily I've only been caught out at home (a few times I'll admit), but I have extra undies and clothes to wear at work just in case the worse happens.

I asked my doctor for an enema. I needed to fart (and do more) but I felt blocked up. The other gas in my body was dissipating from all the walking I was doing, but the back end needed some help. After the enema (which only loosened the stool a little bit) I was able to pass gas/fart much more easily and it felt so good afterwards!

I agree - I think that's why there are so many different "plans" out there. I was eating purees and full liquids upon leaving the hospital, some people have to wait 2-4 weeks post-op before they even get to that stage. To be honest though, WLS is big business for doctors and hospitals. They know people are willing to pay to slim down, and they do their job and then leave it to you afterwards with some general guidance you can basically find on the internet. Some people are on great programs that help them post-op, many are not. For me, it's not really an option because, believe it or not, there aren't a lot of obese people in Japan, so this really isn't an issue here - not enough for me to find a support group or doctor in my area who can deal with it. So I've always gone abroad for my surgeries, and I've had to do the best I could on my own both pre- and post-op. That said, the place where I just had surgery is being quite good about following up with me, which is really nice and reassuring. I certainly did not have that when I had surgery in Mexico.

It's not about calories. It's about PROTEIN. The only protein I see you consuming in a day is breakfast and dinner. The soup is okay I guess, but I would cut the portion in half and add some protein to that meal. All the snacks are empty - no real nutrients. If you are capable of eating a veggie burger and asparagus, you certainly could add more nutritious snacks throughout the day. *Note: I understand jello and lollipops if that's on your plan, but if you are eating real foods then I don't know why these are still on your plan. More yogurt, or cheese, or eggs, etc - something with protein would be a better alternative. The other thing to consider is that jello/lollipops/etc are traditionally sweet foods, desserts, snacks. Even if they are zero calories, they probably still remind you of eating those real things in the past. If you can avoid those kind of temptations, it will probably help you in the long run. For example, today I had: Breakfast: Chocolate/PB2/banana smoothie made with sugar free almond milk [Protein: 29g, Calories: 266] Snack 1: 1 Mushroom egg bite (size of a small deflated muffin) [Protein: 5g, Calories: 53] Lunch: a chicken roll (basically a processed chicken breast rolled to the size of a small breadstick). I split this up into two servings eaten about 2 hours apart. Today was my first day to try meat of any kind. [Protein: 13g, Calories: 65] Snack 2: PB2 mix (PB2 is powdered peanut powder with 85% less calories/fat. I mix it with water for a small snack). It's actually a bad habit I need to break eventually, but I can't eat yogurt or cheese straight up because of a newfound lactose intolerance problem, so this is my alternative. [Protein: 8, Calories: 90] Dinner: Miso soup with tofu [Protein: 14g, Calories: 136] Total for today - Protein: 69g, Net carbs: 38 (a little high today because of the banana and PB2], Fat: 20g, Calories: 610 You can see that I don't eat a single meal that doesn't have some kind of protein in it. Even when my stomach is feeling a little rough and I want to just have liquids, I'll replace the meals with an extra protein drink (the juice kind) or miso soup, and skip all snacks (just drink extra water). If I have soup, I'll add protein powder to it, or, my preference right now is miso soup, since it's so savoury and high in protein. The tofu is optional but it's basically a puree/slider so goes down easy. My main goal is protein (50g or more on this stage, but if I can get over 60 I'm really happy, staying between 400-600 calories (today was a little high), and under 40 net carbs - 30 even better). Fat, high or low, is not a concern for me. Anyway, I'm just posting this all here as a way to think about what you are consuming. Focus on the protein, not the calories. You can get many nutrients from vitamins, but you can only get protein from food. It's important - if you don't consume enough, your body will start taking it from your muscles to make do, since it's so important for several different functions (tissue repair, hormones, etc.). This can really weaken you. Try your best to find real foods (not protein powder, although that is something we need in the beginning) for your protein. One suggested meal I have now that I'm on soft foods is to add egg white to oatmeal and mix it in. I've never tried that but I will once I can find some oatmeal around here! I don't know what kind of guidelines you've been given, but what I have right now from my surgeon (and bear in mind this is for gastric bypass) is to eat one or two bites of food, chew well, wait 5-10 minutes, then have a few more bites, then wait, etc. But all food must be eaten within 30 minutes - any left over after that time goes back into the fridge for later. Regardless of surgery type, portions should be about 1/8-1/4 cup for real food, and 1/4c -1 cup for liquids like soup, is about right. I also try to be very conscious of what and when I am eating - if I am in front of the computer (which is almost always) I make sure to focus on my food, not the screen, when I am eating. I measure out portions before I put any food in front of me. I weigh things - tofu cubes, bananas, everything. It gets me accountable down to the last gram. It is more work, but I feel much more satisfied with the way things are going. Hopefully you can find a way around this!

It was. But over time I was able to eat around it. You can't really stretch the sleeve, despite what many people (and doctors say), but you can find ways to eat more. Slider foods (simple carbs) go down real easy so it's a slippery slope once on it. There's a reason why not everyone loses everything they need to lose, there's a reason why people regain. Hunger does return. After your stomach heals, it can deal with more food, and even being stuffed. That's why I'm much more conscious of bad habits and most importantly, PORTION CONTROL. One thing I did until recently was eat until I had the "full" feeling. I realised after awhile that this was a comforting feeling and something I needed to feel satisfied. But when I was losing on the sleeve I was much more aware of always being just slightly hungry (without the hunger, if that makes sense). Once I learned what that feeling was, I was okay with it, realising I had more energy. But of course over time the pleasure of being full overtook it. Think of being obese as like being an alcoholic - they are both diseases based on addiction, and once you recover (i.e. surgery/weight loss), you'll have to deal with your addiction for the rest of your life. So many people ask, oh, when can I eat cake again, or cookies, or a pizza, or chocolate...but from my experience I think there are some things that I will always have to avoid, because the chance of falling off the wagon again is too great.

I would highly suggest making your own shakes - after doing so for years I have a hard time drinking any of the pre-made ones, they just don't sit right. That way you can try non-dairy alternatives (at least for the time being) like soy or almond milk. I also like the juice protein drinks (like Syntrax) - they mix easy and go down easy. Note: I noticed that this is a slightly older thread, but the advice still stands for anyone new to the discussion.

I went through the same experience as you as I recovered from the sleeve - I was way ahead of the curve in terms of what, and how much, I could eat. Here's the thing - it takes a long time for your stomach to heal completely - not days, but weeks, even months (it is a major amputation if you think about it). So it may not be sending you the signals you need to stop eating. As someone who's sleeve failed, partly because after 6 months, and especially after a year, I could a proper dinner plate of food again (at least 2 cups), I would say follow your dietary guidelines. If it says half a cup, eat half a cup. How many calories (and other macros) are you allowed in a day? Are you staying within them? Just because you CAN eat more, doesn't mean you SHOULD. The guidelines are there to help us get into the habit of portion control, because the honeymoon period of easy weight loss/no hunger only happens for 6-18 months (depending on the person). After that, if you overeat, you may regain, even with healthy foods, as it may encourage you into the same bad habits you had before surgery. Also, how long is it taking you to eat? If it's more than 30 minutes, then you are definitely overeating. When are you drinking liquids? If it's too soon from eating it could make the food slide faster through your stomach making it easier to eat more. I'd also be worried about the asparagus - it seems too early to be eating such a fibrous and low protein vegetable. They are really hard to digest and can form clumps in your stomach, especially early on. In any event, I'm not trying to make you feel bad about this - as I said at the beginning, I went through exactly the same thing after my sleeve, and I had the belief that the surgeon made it too big which is why I could eat so much. However, on my recent revision surgery, my (new) surgeon said that the sleeve was perfect and small, so I know that my weight regain had less to do with my stomach, and more to do with me. Some of us can eat more, and don't feel pain (others are the complete opposite). In that case, you have to be vigilant about what, and how much, you are putting into your body.

I first started here back in 2016 and let me tell you, although there were a ton of supportive people (especially veterans who were 3-5 years out and had years of experience to draw from, which I find really lacking now), there were also a lot of flame wars and ganging up on people. Whole threads would get shut down, people got banned, and a lot of people left en masse to try out other forums (but I still like this one the best). So the current group of active people here are great, no real shaming for going off-plan, or hurt snowflakes who couldn't take constructive criticism/help for what it was. At least, I haven't seen that since I've been back. It's almost like this is a new place. The little bit of tension that does exist is a pale shadow of what was here before! As for soda (or any carbonated drink), I think in the end it's up to each person to decide if it's worth it for them. I used to be addicted to Diet Coke/Coke Zero, drank at least a litre a day, until one day it just made my gastro-intestinal issues so bad I decided to stop cold turkey (this was years before my sleeve surgery). I never went back. I would occasionally have a Sprite or ginger ale but I wasn't addicted to those so it never got me back to drinking Coke. After my sleeve surgery, about 6 months out, I was with some colleagues at a restaurant and my only choice of drinks (besides water and alcohol) was soda, so I tried a very small ginger ale. I was in so much pain after a couple of sips, not only could I not finish the drink, I couldn't finish the meal. The few other times I've tried anything carbonated over the years has been the same - my stomach just can't handle it. The other thing I would worry about when re-introducing it (or any other "problematic" food/drink) is that it can be an enabler to other foods we shouldn't be eating. While I drank Diet Coke on it's own, I also liked it with pizza, or Doritos, or chips, or pretzels, or... you get the idea. I've learned from my failure with my sleeve that that's what I have to be the most concerned about - not that having something once in a while will throw me off track, but that it will encourage me to try other off-limit foods once in a while, until it becomes a regular habit once again.

Your surgeon/nutritionist/center should have some sort of guidelines for you pre-op. Not every pre-op diet is liquid only. For me I was allowed to eat 800-1200 calories a day, having two protein shakes and one proper (lean) meal a day. The day before surgery I was allowed to have a carb-rich meal for dinner (I had a pasta salad). My surgeon believes that the extra calories helps recovery go faster and based on my experience I'm totally on board! Even with my first surgery, I was allowed a similar pre-op diet with clear liquids only the 3 days before surgery. But on this board you'll find people who had to do 1-2 weeks liquids both pre- and post-op. It really depends on where you are getting your surgery. Whatever they suggest, follow it. If they aren't suggesting anything however, I'd be a little worried about that (and find out why).

Do you want to spend the rest of your life getting bigger? Wait until you are 50 BMI (with probably more co-morbidities) to qualify? I think most people will say the earlier you do it, the better. You are young so don't wait for 20 years letting things pass you by that you couldn't do because of your weight. Get the surgery. Compared to all other weight loss methods, cutting out part of your stomach will "reset" your body - metabolism gets boosted, most people with diabetes no longer have it within weeks (sometimes days) of having the surgery, and for many women, the PCOS issue also gets resolved. There are a lot of medical journal articles about this, easily found on the internet - and I imagine, since you are at nursing school, you probably have even more resources to access that support these claims. Another benefit to your youth is that your skin is still pretty elastic and will probably bounce back a lot better than those of us who are older and are already dealing with sagging skin, not just because of the weight. If you haven't already seen her videos, Clusie L has a ton of great videos explaining her process of getting through gastric sleeve surgery, food, plastic surgery, etc. I know she has multiple videos explaining why she got it and her struggles trying to get her family on board while she was still a teenager, but I can't find it at the moment. However, this video is a good substitute, geared towards teens, but maybe it will help you in making a decision. Edit: my first surgery (sleeve) was done at 42, I just had a revision (45). I wish I had done this 10 years ago when my weight really started ballooning up beyond Obese (class 1) into 2, then 3, then beyond.

You are still recovering from surgery so your weight will likely fluctuate for a few weeks (although overall should be going down). I think as we start using up the glucose in our fat cells it can cause some fluid retention which causes our weight to go up temporarily. Don't weigh yourself everyday - it's the fastest way to de-motivate yourself if you don't see any movement, or only upwards movement. I "gained" five pounds after surgery but have been slowly losing since then. It's best to pick one day a week for an "official" weigh in (for me it's Monday morning) - don't worry what's happening the other days (easier said than done!). Stick to your post-op diet, walk as much as you can, and distract yourself by doing other things. Make a list of non-scale victories (NSV) that you can track or look forward to, like fitting into smaller clothes, being able to sit on a bus/subway seat with enough room for another person to sit beside you (and not touch them!), seeing your collarbones again, being able to fit into smaller/former shoe sizes since your feet may have been too big/swollen from years of being overweight (this was a big one for me), being able to wear heels again without being in pain, not needing a seatbelt extender when flying, etc, etc. You can also make a list of "rewards" or future plans to look forward to. Like, when you lose your first 10 or 20 pounds. 50 pounds. 100 pounds. Making it to "onederland" (under 200 pounds). For example, for me, once I hit goal weight (or near it), I'd really like to do a physical challenge that I really couldn't do before because of my weight (and therefore my knee and back problems). So climbing Kilimanjaro and walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain are two bucket list items that I would like to do once I lose the weight (and save the money) to do so. Having a really great makeover (hair, makeup, clothes, everything) is something else I'd like to do. Another thing to remember is that (I think, for all of us), we didn't gain weight every single day as we were overeating or making poor food choices throughout our lives, it was a gradual, but steady, increase over time. Same with losing weight. It's not going to happen every day in a steady decline. Some days (or weeks! It will happen eventually) the weight may not move at all, or may go up a little. But stick to the plan, try not to fall off the wagon no matter how tempting, and the weight loss will be steady over time. Not every day, but it's happening.

I have 4 scales - a really old one from Weight Watchers that is good for measuring dry goods like beans or lentils, although it also has a "plate" that is useful for just about anything. When I had my first surgery I got a bigger digital scale that I used daily, for everything. I then got a smaller digital scale (about the size of a passport) for use at work, so I could weigh things that I bought on the go. I love it so much as I can keep it in my bag, bring it travelling, etc. because it weighs so little and takes so little space. Oh, and I do have a spoon scale, similar to this, that is good for small amounts or liquidy/semi-solid things.

What a great resource list! I'll definitely be ordering a few books to add to my collection. I've been wanting to move off meat to a more (if only) vegetarian diet, so these will be really beneficial for me.

I had the same issue! I thought what I had was dumping, but after emailing my surgeon he thinks the same as catwoman7: lactose intolerance. I was in pain/discomfort for 8+ hours after eating it, which is way too long for it to be dumping syndrome. The thing is, I've been eating other things - yogurt, cottage cheese, adding cheese to different dishes, even my protein powder is whey based - none of them cause the same reaction (well, except the Greek yogurt I had once I returned to Japan. Maybe different from the ones I had in Europe?). Despite the awful reaction with the ricotta bake, I still add cheese to other dishes. Shelly's egg bites have a lot of cheese in them and I made my first ones (in a long, long time) last night and had no issues. So my takeaway from this is don't eat a primarily dairy-based dish - it will cause too many issues. But adding small amounts of cheese (or other dairy products) to a non-dairy dish (like eggs) is okay. For now. I may try again in a few months time and see how things go then.

It's so strange, isn't it? I was on full liquids/purees from the moment I left the hospital. Now that I'm past two weeks I'm allowed soft mushy foods but I'm mostly staying on liquids/purees because I had a couple of issues last week (not sure if it was overeating or lactose intolerance, maybe both). Generally speaking I have a full protein smoothie that I make every morning (my favourite is almond milk, chocolate protein powder, peanut butter powder, and maybe half a banana), then miso soup with a few chunks of tofu for lunch, and either canned tuna with shredded cheese (not pureed, I just chew well) or an egg bite (mini quiche - muffin size) for dinner. I drink water or clear protein drinks in between. I don't drink coffee but my doctor said it was okay for me to have a cup on the day of surgery (!) as well as my second day post-op. Maybe it's a European thing.

You're right. To give you some examples of what's available: fried pork cutlet on a bowl of rice. Ramen and gyoza. Udon with any number of fried (tempura) vegetables on the side. Japanese curry rice. The curry is sweet and has meat and maybe some vegetables. Sushi - more rice than fish. Omurice - about a cup of rice wrapped in a very thin egg omelet. It might have some cabbage on the side. Even the little rolled omelets that you get here have sugar (as does sushi rice) - despite not liking overly sweet things Japanese actually put sugar in a lot of things you wouldn't expect. I'm not saying that all of these things are unhealthy, but if you are looking for protein + low carb and maybe some real nutrients (veggies) on the side, it's hard to find anything. At least near my university. Go to the touristy areas or downtown there are a lot more options - tofu restaurants, vegetarian ones, etc.

Congrats! I'm looking forward to hitting onederland myself - I have about 11 pounds to go, so hopefully I'll hit it before the end of the month! I'm also looking forward to purging my closets and shoes as time goes by. I did ages ago after my first surgery, but since I gained weight I had to buy clothes again 😞 so I'm looking forward to getting rid of them. I'll probably keep the stuff I really like and see if I can get them taken in so I can get a little more out of them.

They do and they don't. If there is a woman at home (mother, grandmother) then they usually prepare healthy meals. But many people who live alone (like students and young workers), or salarymen on a busy day, will stick to fast foods like ramen, which is so full of calories and fat one bowl of it will almost make up your entire daily calorie limit! The bentos at my university (all universities are the same) are geared to be cheap, so every single one of them has some kind of fried food (chicken or pork usually) in addition to at least a cup (or more) of rice. If you want something other than that the little cafe has curry rice. The department store next door doesn't have any healthier options, it's all noodles or rice-based dishes. Japan is a mountainous country, only 11% of it is arable land, and many people live on that. There are fruits that are grown here - apples, peaches, grapes (muscat - the kind used for wine, for some reason), and watermelon are the most common, but they are so babied (each piece of fruit has a little bag hand-tied around it to protect it from birds and the weather) which makes them quite expensive. If the fruit is not perfect, it doesn't go to market. I've seen watermelon fields where about a third of the crop was left to rot in the sun, especially after the crows got to them. Students at my university (and some teachers!) would sneak into the fields at night and go grab perfectly fine watermelon for a snack. The reason they were left to rot? Either because they were not perfectly round, or they had a patch of yellow on them (in Japan they should be 100% green). The further south you go the more citrus fruits are found. Vegetables tend to be a lot of starchy root vegetables which take a long time to prepare and/or may be quite slimy, other veggies like Chinese eggplant, tomatoes, and pieman (a kind of green pepper that most children hate) and leafy vegetables like lettuces, spinach and cabbage. OMG, they love cabbage here! I can't eat it, which makes it almost impossible to eat pre-made salads here since about 98% of them are mostly cabbage. Also everything is grown really big - big apples, big peaches, big carrots - they look good, but the taste is meh. The apples and carrots are not that sweet. Tomatoes look good, but can be mealy and tasteless. I think the reason many Japanese are so thin is a good part genetics (fast metabolism) and the fact that they eat smaller meals than what is available in most Western countries. For example, large drink here is the equivalent of a small back home. Sweets are not that sweet - when I first came here I didn't like them because I couldn't "taste" anything, but after being off sugar for almost a year I found that they were much more palatable than Western sweets which were too sweet. Also, they walk or bike a lot. In fact, they move more than almost any other people on the planet so that helps too.

You may find that your weight is in a holding pattern and then boom! down 3-5 pounds. It can be more like steps than a constant declining slope. I find it interesting that I can see the weight loss happening (in my face, my body, my clothes), but the scale doesn't reflect that on a day to day basis. Just hang in there, it's happening!

I think you're doing really well! I've only lost 3.8 kgs since surgery and that was two weeks ago. Some people lose weight really quickly post-op, for others it's more of a slow burn and then really gets going a few weeks in. Also, in regards to your friends, I find that a lot of people don't understand how weight loss works. Most people think it's a matter of less calories in + more exercise = weight loss. But our bodies are really complicated, much more so than a 2+2=4 equation, and most people who are obese or morbidly obese have other issues, like insulin or leptin-resistance, which can really hinder weight loss. In addition to that we have lower metabolic rates that are difficult to change. There are two contradictory actions when we diet and start an exercise regimen at the same time. The exercise will give a boost to our metabolism, but the diet will slow it down. So in effect they cancel each other out which is why most people plateau after a few weeks and can't figure out why. The body doesn't like change and will always try to get back to where it was, especially metabolism. Also fat cells like being fat and will use any opportunity to fill themselves up again - something to remember when you are 1 or more years post-op. Going back to any old habits will be a very happy reunion for your fat cells, which is what happened to me and why I needed revision surgery. Fat cells never disappear, they are always there, just much smaller than before. Which is why people who were obese before will always struggle with food compared to people who have always (or mostly) been at a healthy weight. And of course most of us probably have real addictions to food, which is difficult to deal with. Compared to drugs or alcohol, none of which are needed to survive, we need to food to live, so have to deal with our addictions every time we eat, go shopping, or are in any other situation involving food. It really is a hard mental game to keep up with. Anyway, I'm just saying this because if you think of losing weight as a race, obese people do not start at the start line with regular (mostly healthy, maybe overweight) people. We are handicapped by our obesity, our metabolism, our brains, our resistance to different hormones, our food addictions, our co-morbidities, etc which puts us way back behind the start line. So we never get a fair "race" compared to our healthier counterparts. But when we get surgery, the loss of part of our stomach basically resets the entire body back to zero, and now we have a more even playing field. We still still have to work at it, and be vigilant with our food choices, but at least we are no longer handicapped by everything else that was preventing success in all the years we were trying to lose weight. I was reading an recent medical journal that says a) obesity is a disease, just like cancer, and should be treated as such, and b) gastric surgery should be renamed metabolic surgery since it has so many positive effects on the body. Honestly, it's now even being considered as a treatment for diabetes, since it has been so successful in eliminating that problem with obese people who had it pre-gastric surgery, but not afterwards. A good book to read (if you haven't already) is "Fat Chance" by Robert Lustig (M.D.) who goes into really good detail about what I explained above. I find educating ourselves with facts is the best way to counter people who will dismiss what we are doing as a "scam". Most people who think that probably have a very limited idea of what weight loss really entails. Finally, you don't need to prove anything to your friends. The only person you need to prove anything to is yourself! Good luck! Stick to the program, don't worry too much about the scale when it doesn't move fast enough or stalls (because that will happen). When it does, focus on non-scale victories, like clothes fitting better, or moving down in size, being more comfortable in a seatbelt, needing to fill the bathtub with more water since you don't displace as much as before (!), finding your collarbones and cheekbones again, etc. You got this!

Did they give you an Incentive Spirometer at the hospital post-surgery? When I had my sleeve in Mexico they gave me one and told me to use it regularly to promote deep breathing. I didn't use it as often as I should have and when I returned to Japan I developed a low-grade pneumonia that lasted a couple of weeks (nothing that needed hospitalisation). For my more recent surgery we didn't get anything like that but were encouraged to do deep breathing exercises (which I did when I remembered). I'm now 2 weeks post-op and so far feel good. Although to be fair if I did develop symptoms I'd probably go to the hospital because I would have no idea if it was a post-op issue, or a Covid-19 issue. Anyway, I hope you feel better soon and that it doesn't develop into anything more serious.

Oh, I hope you're feeling better! Did the doctor say why this happened? The only time I almost fainted was after my first surgery in Mexico. I waited until I was a week out before flying back to Japan (spent some time in San Diego which was great), but that was a long day - train to LA, then flight to Korea then flight to Japan, then a train from the airport back home. I drank water and protein drinks all along the way (and had miso soup at the airport), but when I got off the train my whole body was shaking and felt very strongly that I was about to pass out. I'm guessing I was suffering from hypoglycemia. Luckily there was a small kiosk right near where I got off so I got a little box of fruit juice and sat down and drank that and it really helped and I was able to get home without a problem. Anyway, I hope you're okay now!

Well said. When I had my first surgery and was finally eating regular foods I focused on carbs and protein and let the fat macros fall where they lay (probably around 40-50g per day, but I did eat a lot of cheese ). The other day I was going through all the books I had related to eating, weight loss, keto, and bariatric surgery and came across the Pound of Cure book by Dr. Weiner (who has great videos on YouTube as well). I know I read some of it, but I'll definitely have to reread it for when I'm past all the post-op stages and into eating regular meals. The problem for me in Japan is that there is a very limited variety of vegetables here, many of which are hard for me to eat due to some gastrointestinal issues I have unrelated to my gastric surgeries, and anything not local tends to be very pricey, so it limits my options. Honestly, when I go to other countries (US, Canada, Europe), I feel like crying when I go to the supermarket and see all the amazing fruits and vegetables available that I just can't get in Japan, or in a limited way because they are so expensive ($3 a peach anyone? $2 for 3 spears of asparagus? $5 for 1/3pint of blueberries?). However, I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out. Note: for everyone who thinks Japanese food is healthy, most of it is carbs+protein, with very few vegetables. If you think of a bento box, half the box is rice, the other 40% tends to be meat or fish, and the remaining 10% is vegetables, usually pickled. A traditional breakfast may have miso soup with tofu (healthy, lots of protein), rice, and fish. Or rice porridge. Many people just eat toast, or maybe eggs. Lunch and/or dinner might be something like curry rice, or fried chicken and rice, or ramen, or whatever. Few to no veggies. When I ask my students how many vegetables they eat per day, the vast majority of them don't eat any, although to be fair, they are university students (this is usually part of a larger discussion of what it means to be healthy - just because people are thin, doesn't mean they are healthy, and vice versa). People doing keto, or who are vegetarian (or worse, vegan, since so many things are made with fish stock) really struggle when travelling here to find enough healthy foods for them to eat.

I also can feel (?) the difference between those foods but I've also had some pureed carrots and chunks of tofu in my miso soup and they went down fine. As does the small foil pack of tuna that I mix with mozzarella cheese (and warm up until it melts) that I've been eating daily. The baked ricotta recipe is a very soft food, almost like a souffle or mousse, so in theory it should have been the same as the other foods I've been eating, but I honestly think I just overate because it didn't feel any different to other foods that I've eaten and thus I didn't not portion it out correctly.

This looks good. I'll probably try something similar now that I've had bypass (it's hard to remember that since what I'm going through now reminds me so much of my post-op days after sleeve). I need to keep reminding myself that my stomach is about the size of my index finger - very different to the sleeve.