Anyone have such an easy time that it made you nervous? When does FULL feeling kick in?

[staceyp 29]

This is in no way meant to taunt or bother those that are struggling with challenges post surgery but...

From day one, I have had no problems with drinking and eating post surgery. I am almost 4 weeks post op and from liquids to now soft foods, I have yet to eat or drink anything that didn't agree with me.

While I am not hungry, I don't get that FULL feeling either. I have been eating by measurements and weight and not by body cues because I am not sure if I have them and I know I don't trust them.

I usually do 1 oz of a food the 1st time to make sure it goes ok. So far everything has and I have done everything from yogurt and cottage cheese to egg whites, Beans and most recently, fish, ground turkey, shredded chicken, broccoli, cauliflower, squash and potato. When I up it to 2oz. I don't feel any different. For my meals, now that I have some variety to work with, I never exceed a total of 3 oz which is usually 1-2 oz of Protein and 1 oz of some side. I really feel like I could eat more and it's making me worry.

I don't want to complain about feeling good and I will take the tolerance to foods but I am concerned as to why I feel like I have a larger capacity that I read others describing. I feel crazy saying this, but I have been tempted to keep eating just to see if I will feel something that would tell me "enough".

I have no interest in being sick, I just don't know where my limit is. So I continue to weigh and measure and log to stay in check but without the limited capacity of a smaller stomach, this could be me doing another "diet" or "change in eating habits" and I know that my track record with the longevity of this is not good.

Has anyone experienced this only to have the full feeling kick in at a later date? I'm afraid if I don't get that signal I will test boundaries especially as the newness of surgery wears off. Long term, the food plan won't keep me where I need to be but I am hopeful that the WLS tool will.

[McButterpants 2,846]

Hi there.

Yep, you sound like me. I have yet to find anything (other than my bariatric vitamins) that bother my stomach - I seem to have a sleeve of steel. And that's bothersome on some level for me - there are really no foods off limits.

I had a hard time identifying what full feels like - it's so different that what I felt pre-op. At 4 weeks, I really didn't know what I was feeling and couldn't identify full. My doc said that was very normal and that I should stick with measuring until I figure it out. Measure your food and remember, you don't have to eat all you have on your plate.

I make sure I eat very slowly - I downloaded an app called Eat Slower and set it to chime every minute...that's when you take a bite. I don't eat for longer than 20 minutes.

I take small bites - I began eating with appetizer forks and spoons to force smaller bites.

I remove distractions - I don't eat in front of the TV, computer or book. I focus on eating.

Here are a couple of hints I might get when I'm getting full...

My nose might run.

I might do a hiccup and burp at the same time.

I might feel a poking - not a pain, but a slight poke in my stomach. It feels like a tightening sort of.

Once I feel anything of these things or I reach the 20 minute mark or I run out of my measured portion, I stop eating.

I have also found that sometimes I just lose interest in eating - if I do, I stop.

[LindafromFlorida 1,542]

Stacey, Sounds like you are keeping a good plan going. I am 8 weeks post op. I measure nothing because I do not get hungry. Every doctor is different. Ours said "Eat Healthy". No guidelines after 4 weeks. So we are content to have a shake or 1 egg for Breakfast, a yogurt for lunch, and maybe some refried Beans for dinner with a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese melted on it. Makes my life simple. Sometimes I felt like I was not even sleeved, because I could drink so much without a problem. I personally feel the more I eat the more I will want to eat, so while I don't have these nagging stomach/hunger pains like I used to I am taking it easy. I still grab a SF popsicle when I feel it is head hunger. I had a bad experience with a small piece of chicken, so I did find out the hard way I was sleeved. We are all so different. Your plan sounds good and is working for you! Best of luck!

[Carlotta1 401]

I cut my food small and try to eat slow..( which is a challenge for me) ..I feel that something is scratching my esophagus when I eat. And feels heavy in my throat. The way my bod tells me I am about to reach my 2-3 oz is I start to burp ..then a few minutes..hiccups. So I stop... Today is the first day I ate dark chicken.. Yeah .and it stayed down.

[Jdub 109]

I'm only a few days on the soft foods (4.5weeks post op), and I've only tried a few things right now, but really feel the same way. I was told to start out with 1oz of soft food, but I've had 1 large egg (made into egg salad) with 2 laughing cow cheese wedges for lunch, and didn't have an "OMG, I'm so stuffed I'm in agony moment"...I've had 1oz of tuna salad, some ground chicken, and tonight I had some mashed up haddock fillet, with 2.5tbsp of mashed carrot along with a cheese wedge. I have been following the guidelines of trying to eat 1oz per 10 minutes and it seems to be helping.

I will say that I tried some blenderized ground beef with a bit of salsa mixed in the other night and I could only eat half of the 1oz portion as I felt some pain running up the stomach line and I think beef is still too hard at this point. I've been able to tolerate everything else very well though, but if I don't take my time eating and do small bites I will feel tightness in my esophagus and get sharp pains across my chest! I feel comfortable when I'm done the small portion, but I know my NUT is going to push me to eat more as I need to get in an additional 200 calories/day, and it's hard as I feel like I'm constantly eating all day long now!

Edited January 14, 2014 by Jdub

[LindafromFlorida 1,542]

Jdub I also feel like I am eating all day. Guess I need to stop, regroup and write down everything. Good luck!

[Tikvah 70]

Yeah, I can relate to OP. I am 4 weeks out and have been doing solids very easily (chicken thigh and breast meat, chili, cold cuts (chicken and turkey), bariatric foods of different sorts, peanuts, flatout pizza (yum! gamergirl rocks!), shrimp, etc.

I was kinda worried that my surgeon had forgot to do the surgery due to my crazy recovery. liquids aren't a problem (I still go slowly, but thats due to incorporating habits I learned immediately post-op). I definitely can recognize when my stomach says "no mas". Else I get slimed, and no one likes that!

[tami j 277]

I too have the same feeling. I was measuring 2oz and eating all of it. The past 7 days I was feeling hungry within 1.5 hours after eating purée and getting down for not feeling restriction. I Re-read my big book from dr plan and see that it states 1-2 oz Protein and 1/4 cup vege. Sleeved 12/16.

Tonight I measured out 4oz of rotisserie chicken, dark and white mixed and puréed it and had a single serving of those instant cup of mashed potatoes. (Which is really two svgs of 1/3 cup each!) I turned on my timer and took a small bite with a little mash and a little chicken and chewed 25 times.... After twenty minutes and setting fork down FINALLY I started getting the FULL feeling, re-measured what was left and I had eaten 2.5 oz of chicken and less than 1/4 cup of tators. I was thankful to finally get the feeling... Guess I had been missing the second component the dr recommended for me at mealtimes! I have no issues with liquids either! Good luck! T

Edited January 14, 2014 by tami j

[mikey856 11]

Same here. I still haven't really figure out how to tell that I'm full. Sometime I hiccup. Sometimes I feel full like before surgery. And sometimes nothing. I started just measuring out all of my meals so that I don't overeat. Have no problem with getting my fluids in.

I'm worried that because I don't feel any restriction, I may be eating too much.

I have read on this forum of people that are in a similar situation, and start to have the restriction later.