Reduced food following WLS

[Lara83 20]

Hi,

I am considering having gastric sleeve surgery and am wondering if you get used to eating a reduced amount of food and how difficult it has been to adjust to this change. Also, I have heard you have bowel problems, is this true for many?

Thanking you in advance!!

[sillykitty 10,776]

I haven't found it difficult to adjust. The reduced capacity was exactly what I was look forward to with VSG, and I got it. You learn pretty quickly how much you can eat, and what it feels like when you are getting full.

No bowel problems here. Other than Constipation early on, I don't read a lot about them on here either.

[Creekimp13 5,840]

The reduced food is pretty temporary. I was eating 1200 calories a day by month two. What's been sort of an adjustment is eating six times a day. I used to eat a lot, but typically only a couple times a day...so it's been kinda weird. I actually feel like I'm eating all the time now...smaller amounts for sure...but I don't feel deprived.

My poo is regular and more normal than it's been in my life. Fruits, veggies, Fiber = great poo.

[Lara83 20]

You have both provided much reassurance for sure about my concerns! Thanks so much and I am so relieved to hear this, as this was one of the things I was really concerned about. I love this forum, you are all so supportive and informative, couldn’t ask for more! I was feeling so alone with all of my struggles with obesity and considering surgery but this is no longer the case!

[Lara83 20]

And love the fruits, veggies, fiber = great poo!! Ha ha!

[sillykitty 10,776]

4 hours ago, Creekimp13 said:

The reduced food is pretty temporary. I was eating 1200 calories a day by month two. What's been sort of an adjustment is eating six times a day. I used to eat a lot, but typically only a couple times a day...so it's been kinda weird. I actually feel like I'm eating all the time now...smaller amounts for sure...but I don't feel deprived.

This isn't true for every WLS patient though. At 5 months out I have a lot of restriction. My max capacity is about 2 oz by weight of most solid food.

A typical meals for me

Sandwich made with 1/2 a slice of bread, 1 slice turkey

Protein Pasta (1/2 oz dry), 2 tbls marinara and a 1/2 meatball

Quesadilla with a 1/2 a low carb tortilla and a 1/2 oz of cheese

A typical snack for me

Slice of watermelon (little less than 3 oz net)

Laughing Cow cheese and 34 Degree Crackers

Jerky (1/2 - 1 oz)

Cheese (1 oz)

Cucumbers w light dip

On an average day I'm eating from home, I'll have a Protein Shake, 1 meal, 2 or so Snacks, plus yogurt or a Protein Bar (low cal) or Protein fortified Soup, as needed to get to my protein goals. After a meal, I'm stuffed. After a snack, I feel satisfied.

I know it looks like, and is a tiny amount of food. But I freaking LOVE being satisfied and full with these sized portion. I also don't feel at all deprived. I have no food that is forbidden, but obviously try to stick with healthier options.

The only time the reduced portions get awkward is dining out with people who don't know about my WLS. The amount I can eat is so tiny, it doesn't make a dent in a restaurant portion. It almost inevitably gets noticed by those dining with you and or servers. So just be prepared with answers.

[RickM 1,752]

Here is the perspective of one bariatric surgeon on how our meal volume progresses over time. In short, after a few years, we will typically be able to eat about half of what we could eat pre-op in a sitting or meal. This is consistent with my experience at seven years out, and my wife's at thirteen years out. There is still enough restriction to aid in effective long term weight control, but also plenty of capacity to go overboard on the wrong foods and see extensive regain. This doc is one of the few that I have seen that discusses this aspect of our surgery, and offers a prescription on how to mitigate the negatives of it. You may or may not get along with his prescription (I don't buy into everything he says....) but he does offer a model that we can use to develop our own approach to long term maintenance and weight control.

[MIZ60 1,291]

I am a little over 2 months post op and I am happy for the restriction and being satisfied with a significantly less amount of food. For example, met a friend at my favorite farm to table place this AM after my doctor appointment. I LOVE this place for Breakfast and would normally eat a 3 egg omelette, breakfast potatoes and 1-2 slices gluten free toast and feel stuffed when leaving.

Today I ordered 2 scrambled eggs and pork sausage (3 patties). I ate just about 1/2 of the eggs, 1 of the 3 sausage patties and 1 small piece of potato (from my friends plate) and was completely full and satistied (still am about 3 hours later) The rest is in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow.

I never feel extremely hungry and only rarely snack between my 3 meals daily. I eat very few carbs other than vegetables and occasional Beans ( like maybe 1/8th of a Fuji apple or 6 sweet cherries) and avoid all processed junk, even if it is low carb or low fat or whatever.

[Creekimp13 5,840]

Here's what a day of eating looks like at my house:) There would also be piece of fruit, and PP shake coffee in there somewhere:) Prolly another snack, too, like yogurt or a packet of oatmeal. I eat A LOT. But I do keep calories under 1200!

PS...I make the ice cream out of frozen bananas, splenda, and coco powder...it's awesome!

Edited July 11, 2018 by Creekimp13

[Creekimp13 5,840]

OH yeah....almost forgot....I eat this almost every day:

Veggie Soup with a few beans...food of the Gods. Yum! never get sick of it, and switch it up every time. Sometimes the broth is chickeny, sometimes beefy, sometimes I go coconut milk and curry, sometimes I throw a glob of Peanut Butter in there with ginger and garlic and lemon grass.....and the veggies and Beans are mix and match as well. Made by the bucket once a week...my family lives on this stuff.

Edited July 11, 2018 by Creekimp13

[sillykitty 10,776]

Well now you're just making my food look sad @Creekimp13

Seriously though, I wonder how stomach capacity can vary so much?

[Creekimp13 5,840]

Well, your food IS sad! Because you kinda starve yourself sillykitty...cause you want to have plastic surgery by the end of the year.

I love you, Kitty...but I'd die trying to eat your diet. I'd lose my mind one night and eat french fries out of a dumpster while hissing "My Precious!" I don't know whether to think you have the most impressive will power I've ever seen....or a screw loose....but I support your efforts and root for your success. And wow have you been losing! Well done, girl!

I'm more of a...screw it, slow and steady loss is just fine kinda person.

My ability to control my eating depends so much on not being hungry and eating good stuff that supports stellar energy and stable blood sugar.

I have learned SO MUCH this year about how to cook right, and find stuff I genuinely love that is good for me. Love love love the mayo Clinic Diet. FINALLY a diet I can stick with and really enjoy:)

The sleeve helps...a LOT....but finding that diet and discovering how it changes my cravings has been a huge part of the puzzle for me, too.

Everyone is so different. If I get hungry....I screw up. I don't wanna screw up...so I work hard to never let myself get hungry.

For me ....hungry = an eating accident begging to happen.

My emergency food that I have learned to run to in crisis.... Watermelon. After a cup of watermelon, sanity returns rapidly. 46 calories is cheap price to pay to regain food sense and make good choices.

Edited July 11, 2018 by Creekimp13

[Orchids&Dragons 9,047]

Omgosh, @Creekimp13, I can't imagine even being able to eat an entire hard-boiled egg in a sitting, never mind the rest of the salad! That's one reason I don't mind my Soups too much. Since they're sliders, I'm able to get a little more food in at once. I think my "banana" might be closer in size to an overweight string bean. However, I'm a determined little bugger. I manage to get about 800 calories a day, surprisingly.

Edited July 11, 2018 by Orchids&Dragons

[sillykitty 10,776]

@Creekimp13

That's the thing, I swear I'm not starving myself. That's what I love about how this surgery has worked for me. I'm truly not often hungry, and I'm truly satisfied to full on 1-2.5 oz of food. Trust me, I do not have that kind of willpower! That's how I would fail on diets before WLS, I'd be starving and have a f*ck it mentality and go off the rails, and never get back on.

What I do have to use my willpower on is head hunger. I have to stop myself from clicking "Get It Now" on the Postmates app. Driving home I have to not go through a drive through, knowing I have healthy food at waiting for me. Stop myself from making that box of mac and cheese that survived the pantry purge. And head hunger comes and goes, so I've fortunately been mostly free of it for the last 2 weeks or so.

The other side of my diet is I do a lot of dining out. I travel 2-4 days a week, 40+ weeks a year. It is impossible to eat super healthily, while traveling, if you're not willing to make a bfd about it. And I'm not. I'm usually w colleagues or clients, so I don't want to draw attention to my eating habits. So that has it's own limitations. Restaurant food is inherently richer than things I would now make at home. I won't order a 1/2 chicken or a $45 plate of fish knowing I will eat only 2 oz of it, and can't take it back with me. So I'll order a small dish that may not be as wise, but won't be as wasteful, or as conspicuous to my dining partners how little I'm eating. And when faced with restaurant menu's, my willpower does often fail me. I know I should order a turkey burger, and mostly eat the patty, or the cobb salad with dressing on the side. But the reality is I'm often tempted by less healthy choices, especially if they are regional or seasonal specialties (I'm looking at you, biscuits and gravy, fried squash blossoms, cheesesteak!)

I know you're a big advocate of higher calories than I currently eat. But to get up to 1000-1200 per day, with my stomach capacity being what it is, I'd have to eat pretty much constantly, eat slider foods, and/or eat very calorie dense food, which are likely to be carby and fatty. None of that makes sense to me, whether or not I have a plastic surgery timeline. I feel like I have this great tool of small stomach capacity combined with limited physical hunger and I should really take advantage of this gift as much as I possibly can. Especially considering I have the challenges of dining out and head hunger to contend with.

Thanks for the congrats on the weight loss. Objectively I know it is going well, but when the scale doesn't move, or the next size down pants are too tight, it can feel frustratingly slow. And speaking of being successful, how exciting you're almost at goal. Considering your WLS was just two months before mine, it doesn't seem like "slow and steady" to me!

[Orchids&Dragons 9,047]

12 minutes ago, sillykitty said:

But to get up to 1000-1200 per day, with my stomach capacity being what it is, I'd have to eat pretty much constantly, eat slider foods,

Yup, that's me to get to 800-1000, slider foods galore (she types as she finishes her second yogurt of the day )