First Post

[DaleAnn 16]

I had my surgery about a month ago. It has been difficult. I never had pain due to surgery but pain from eating. I don't seem to get a signal of when I am full. It doesn't take much and when I eat that next spoonful it goes over and then the pain begins. We are talking about 4 teaspoons. I make Protein the priority - don't want to lose my hair. So I eat plain greek yogurt with no added sugars and Protein Drinks. I try Soups and have had some apple sauce. It is very liquidy then it is sort of ok - though even then I can drink too much. Apple sauce (the kind without added sugar) tastes good but really I can only have 2 teaspoons before it will start to hurt. So I pretty much measure ahead of time based on the experience I have had so far, what I can eat before it hurts. I stop before then and wait. I wish I knew what feeling full felt like. The one thing I am happy about is that I don't get ravenous. I think I feel hungry but not that ravenous feeling I used to get when I would try to diet.

I did have a few things that would be considered poor choices - grape juice, potato chip (yep just one) and a few others thing but I could only get so little. I panic and then focus on why I went through this in the first place and try to move on. This is very hard. Not so much eating healthy - just eating period. It takes just one bite to make the difference between being done and pain for the next couple of hours. I hope this doesn't last and I figure out when I am full without pain being associated. Yes, I have seen the Dr and they agree I need to measure ahead of time. Unfortunately, the measurement changes with the food type. I guess it is a brain thing that I will figure out.

Oh and the exercise thing - way too tired. I did walk for about 2 hours last weekend. I took breaks in between. Still when I finished, I slept for 4 hours and was wasted for 2 days. Today, I walked about a mile - slept for 2 hours and am still exhausted. Hope this goes away soon too.

How was it for everyone else 1 month out?

[orionburn 1,024]

Energy wise the first month was really difficult for me. I'm not much of a napper, but I felt exhausted all the time. Walking is helpful for the healing process and exercise is important, but I didn't stress much about exercising for the first few weeks. I got off to a rough start so my focus was on healing first and avoiding any further complications.

If your doc isn't overly concerned at this point that's a good thing. I wish there was a solid answer to your struggles, and it sounds like a cop-out excuse, but the truth is we all react differently. It may be taking longer for your stomach & brain to work together again. After surgery things are in chaos and those signals are all messed up. It is frustrating when a baby spoon full of food can make the difference of being satisfied vs feeling miserable.

My suggestion is to keep doing what you're doing. Measure your food and stick to that. Eventually you should be able to add in another spoonful and not be bothered. Stick to that for awhile and then try increasing again. This is difficult phase to go through for a lot of us. The full sensations will come in time. Just keep in mind that with liquids and soft foods like applesauce and yogurt won't typically give you a full feeling as they pass through your system quicker. I had zero appetite in the early days and ate because I needed to, not because I wanted to. Things will start to come together soon. Hang in there!

[Claudiarb 21]

Extreme exhaustion has been one of my biggest drawbacks yet. I’m a month out and it’s definitely getting better but up to a few weeks ago even showering seemed like I had ran a marathon. Are you taking B12 ? Also in terms of eating, I have found out that waiting 5 min in between bites helps with the fullness and stomach pains, I take a very small bite, set my timer to 5 min and so on, it takes me a long time to eat 1 oz of anything but I’ve found that the signal to when I’m full comes around the 5 min mark so it’s perfect, I know to whether take that last bite or not.

[James Marusek 5,244]

I had a different surgery than yours. I had gastric bypass. I found the transition to solid foods such as steak and chicken to be difficult, so I relied on softer foods such as chili and Soups. I have included some recipes at the end of the following article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

[DaleAnn 16]

Thank you all for your replies - it actually helps to see others had similar issues. The first topic I goggled was "regret" because of the stomach pain. I don't want to feel like this all the time. I am afraid of eating. But I can see now that others have gone through this. I am still very concerned about calories. They sort of drill that into you before surgery. No carbs. Ok I get the basics - bread, Pasta and starches but fruit is hard to absorb. I thought fruits were natural carbs and OK but guess not. Bananas and pineapple are my favorites and yet they are so high on the carb list that I have been told to only eat 1/2 a banana. For now that would be fine because I don't think I could finish 1/2 a banana in a whole day.

Weight loss is coming more slowly which they tell me is normal because my body is in starvation mode and will hold onto whatever it can. They advise eating more but I am afraid of the pain - it really hurts that badly. At this point, my body can keep the weight - I am not going to try to eat more till I get the measurement thing about eating down. I like the 5 minute timer thing and will be trying that today.

I am taking Calcium, Multivitamin and B12. They are chewable and for me count as a meal - more than that and I will pay for it.

[Losebig 508]

I'm just over 5 weeks out and have had some eating pains, but usually after having more than 4 oz of dense Protein or drinking too fast. I do find that I can eat more if I focus on softer foods (i.e. I can eat 4.5 oz of really well ground chicken salad, but only 3 oz of steak). I always chew 25 times and am taking tiny bites (I use cocktail silverware or baby silverware). Smaller bites are key otherwise I'm full immediately or in pain. I also really need to wait 30 minutes after drinking to eat and 30 - 60 to drink again after eating.

My program focuses on protein for the first 6 - 12 months, so no or close to no carbs. This makes hitting the protein goal easier because its all I eat and I get 80 - 90g consistently. This is really important because if I miss the protein goal I have no energy. In general I'm hitting it and my energy has been very good so I can do normal activities and exercise lightly. Fluid is also important and I try to get 60 - 80 ounces a day, which means I'm always drinking, but I have found warm liquids are way easier and seem to ease my stomach.

Vitamins are 2 chew-able Multi Vitamins with Iron a day, B12 (weekly dis-solvable) and Calcium with D3 2x a day.

If you can only do a few 2 TSP at 4 weeks then you may have a problem and should make sure your Dr knows. If you're chewing it right and eating slow most folks are able to do a few ounces or more at 4 weeks.