BellaLuna

I am 4 months post op (tomorrow) and I am noticing that I need to start figuring out what works for me as a sustainable plan for the rest of my life. For now, I am working on intuitive eating combined with still logging my food. I am choosing to still log my food (in MFP) so that I have an understanding of how often I am feeling true hunger and also to understand the correlation between what my body is needing and why. I think logging/journaling is a good way to gain insight and help refine areas that need adjusting. Up until now, the weight loss has been easy, but I am starting to notice trends (mainly related to my menstrual cycle) and I want to nip the bad habits and reinforce the good habits. It is an interesting time post op. You get quite an education on your mind/body connection. My biggest advice is when you start to notice a trend you don't like, start finding the tools to deal with it. Use the time post op to really get an idea of how your body works and get in tune with what your body needs. The immediate post op is a great time to really reset and adjust so that you are successful for the rest of your life!

How did you know it was time to up your calories? I am 3 months post op and averaging about 750-850 calories a day. I am hitting my recommended protein and fluid goals. I recently started working out regularly and burn about 250-400 calories a day from exercise (according to my Apple Watch). I am starting to wonder if I am not eating enough and it is hindering my weight loss. I am still losing, just slowly, and it is more of a yo yo type loss. I am worried about not properly fueling myself and wrecking my metabolism. I am not feeling overly hungry or deprived. My dietitian/surgeon won't give out calorie goals. They take the approach that if you follow the protein/fluid/serving size guidelines, everything else will fall into place naturally. They want us to track what we eat, but only focus on protein. It's hard, because on MFP all the other numbers are right in your face (calories/macros). Just curious what your calorie intake looked like around 3-4 months post op and how you knew it was time to adjust your calorie goals as you progressed. Thanks!

Hi! I am about 2.5 weeks post op. I am currently on puree stage until 12/12, after which I move to soft foods. My recovery has been surprisingly easy. I am getting my recommended protein (averaging 70g) and water in and I haven't found any food tolerance issues (so far). I have had zero issues with keeping things down. My question is... I am fresh off the liquids and just starting into anything of "substance". I started purees this past Monday. I am struggling with the boundary between "satisfied" and "too full". I have noticed that I either eat too fast or too much (haven't figured out which yet) and get the chest tightness/esophagus fullness, where it feels like food is sitting in my chest/throat. I know this means I have done something wrong and I am trying to correct it, but having a hard time finding my "stop" moment. I really want to get this figured out before starting soft foods. I also really don't want to cause any damage to my still healing stomach, but I feel like that "one bite" can be the one that is too much. For example - this morning I had 1/2 a Fairlife Core Power (26g) protein shake. About an 90 mins later I had a hard boiled egg. That was about 45 mins ago and my chest feels tight. So, how did you start to figure all this out? Is it normal in the beginning to struggle with finding the new limit? I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. Liquids was so easy, I almost miss them. 😆 Thanks!

Thanks everyone! I had been giving myself 1/4 cup servings of things because that was the recommendation from my surgeon. After some adjustments, I found last night that in reality I can only get about 1-1.5 Oz in before I am feeling finished. So, I think I might of been pushing myself too hard and I need to scale back my servings. I am going to experiment with that over the next few days and hopefully find what is working for me and what isn’t. I also think my brain is still adjusting a bit too and I am starting to realize how little I really can tolerate. I can tell this is going to be a constant analyze and adjust process. I re-read my surgeons binder and realized their suggestions are maximums, not minimums and I was treating the suggestions like minimums. So, I will constantly be referring back to my binder as I adjust! Thanks again everyone!