Am I doing this right?

[curlychic32 5]

This is a bit of a vent and a lot of questions...

I'm concerned I'm not eating enough. I'm 3 weeks out and on soft foods. I've just recently had my surgeon change my acid pills because I was having terrible heartburn that inflamed my sleeve. I'm a bit better now, but I don't think I'm eating enough, and I'm not sure I'm doing this right. Yesterday, I measured out 1/3 cup of cottage cheese with some crushed up pears for Breakfast. I try to eat only about 1 tsp a minute or so, but each one makes my sleeve contract in pain. By 5 tsp or so, I'm full and tired of the pain so I stop. I can't drink my Protein shakes because they are just too sweet. I'm going to try my GENEPRO unflavored in a bit of chocolate milk today. Anyway, I ate 3 ounces of refried Beans for lunch which took me 15 minutes or so because of the pain, and then dinner I had 1/2 cup of roast beef hash which went down nicely but was way too much by the end. I even tried to eat a pudding with GENEPRO in it to get my Protein in but I'm too full and uncomfortable after half of the snack pack. I totaled 545 calories yesterday and 50g of protein which I know is not enough.

Should I just eat way slower and keep trying to get this food in, or is it ok to be this low? I'm having such a hard time telling "full" from the pain because every bite of food that isn't liquid makes my sleeve contract in pain, and it does this the whole time I eat. I don't really know when to stop because I know I can't be full from one small bite, so when am I supposed to stop?? I'm feeling so confused and discouraged. I'm losing weight, but I am not eating enough to have any energy, and I've been feeling terrible the last few days. I'm supposed to walk 2 miles a day, but how can I do that when I'm barely eating anything??

[nervousnelly719 67]

It gets better with time. It's ok to start with eat on meal a day and supplementing the other two with Protein in the beginning. My doctor told me that that the order of importance is liquids, protein, and then pureed and soft foods.

[Proud2BMe 1,016]

Try to get Protein Shakes in as they will give you both liquid and Protein. You don't have to buy expensive ones if you don't want to. I use Body Fortress from Walmart. I do two shakes a day, Breakfast and lunch, and then a normal dinner, plus the occasional snack.< /p>

[FocusOnMeNow 599]

Honestly not sure why you are trying to eat so much at one time. My nut told me 1/4 cup of purées and yogurts at 3 weeks and that was all I could take. Even that would take me at least 1/2 hour to get down. So if you're trying to eat a half cup in 15 min three weeks out, perhaps you are just trying to eat like way too much. Protein Shakes are what they are and you gotta do a lot of them the first few weeks.

[FocusOnMeNow 599]

If too sweet thin with milk or plain yogurt.

[FrankyG 1,450]

I hope you're using sugar-free chocolate milk and puddings. Getting hooked on sugar that early is not going to help with the long-term eating habits.

But yes, sounds like you are trying to eat too much and too solid stuff. It doesn't matter if the diet they gave you said to start solids or mushy foods now; your sleeve is telling you it's not ready. So ease it back to more liquid stuff (yogurt and use milks to thin it down?)

You might look into getting the high Protein milks like Fairlife or Mootopia (in Texas HEB stores). They are reduced sugar, high Protein filtered milk (available in whole and 2%) and you can mix protein powders into them to give them even more of a punch. They won't taste super sweet - just like regular milk and would be a good way to get nutrients in easily.