Only able to eat tiny amounts

bugirl928 · April 20, 2011

Hi all. I am 3 weeks out today, and started soft solids. I was so excited, because I was so over the liquid stage. However, I'm noticing that I'm only able to eat literally a couple of bites of anything before I feel like I've over done it. Is this normal? I would like to be able to get some Protein in through food, instead of having to do so many shakes, but I just can't get anything in.

Tiffykins · April 20, 2011

Extremely normal, and that's why you'll find so many us on a more conservative post-op diet. I was still on liquids at the 3 week mark, but you can try some greek yogurt, refried Beans, mush up chicken/tuna and add greek yogurt to it with a little dry ranch dressing and chew chew chew and when you think you've chewed enough, chew some more.

Your stomach is way swollen, and until that trauma subsides, your capacity is going to be super limited.

mandems mom · April 20, 2011

Extremely normal, and that's why you'll find so many us on a more conservative post-op diet. I was still on liquids at the 3 week mark, but you can try some greek yogurt, refried Beans, mush up chicken/tuna and add greek yogurt to it with a little dry ranch dressing and chew chew chew and when you think you've chewed enough, chew some more.

Your stomach is way swollen, and until that trauma subsides, your capacity is going to be super limited.

Tiffykins, do you happen to know when the swelling goes away and the stomach has normalized?

Tiffykins · April 20, 2011

Tiffykins, do you happen to know when the swelling goes away and the stomach has normalized?

Everyone is different. There is not even an average really from what I've read on the boards for over 2 years.

For me, I was stuck at 2oz of dense Protein until I was over 4 months out. I stuck to mushy/soft Protein such as deli meat with cream cheese, chili, ground meats with some sort of sauce, chicken/tuna/egg salad well into my 3rd month post-op because I could get in the calories and protein goals without having to use shakes which made me puke so I stuck with what worked.

I was moved to "regular" food on week 4 of my post-op diet, but I really had a tough time getting in a decent amount of food until 3.5-4 months out. I could eat puree meats, or chili, or meats with some sort of condiment, so those are little tricks I used to get in more protein from food sources.

Some don't really struggle after the first 6 weeks, or they just supplement with shakes. I didn't have that as an option so I stuck with what worked for me. A lot of it was also the fact that I did have a leak and lost additional stomach tissue with my revision from the band so I had more trauma than most, but then there are others that report the same thing and they had zero issues with their sleeve nor had any complications.

bugirl928 · April 20, 2011

Oh Tiffykins! I was so hoping you would reply to my post! Thanks for the advice and the reassurance! I guess I am still really early out, and my stomach isn't used to anything but liquids. Like you always say, it takes time!