How much food do you eat at your sweet spot?

[peggy1011 0]

I can usually eat about 1/2 cup to 1 cup, sometimes a little more, depending on the food, the day, the hour..... :rolleyes2: It's always a crap shoot!

[Daisalana 33]

If my doc wasn't givin me fills when I asked for em, I'd go to another doc.

Luckily, he lets me decide how I think I'm doing. I had a fill from the port-revision, was too tight, unfilled in November, decided maybe I wasn't too tight, just not use to how restriction fills.. got filled back up in Dec. Now I am pretty tight, it's hard to eat a lot of solid foods, but liquids go down fine.

I eat about 1/4-1/2c of food depending on time of day.

Mornings are a lost cause, I will always spit up solid breakfasts, so I stick to a coffee, frappuccino, v-8, or milk.

lunch I am still pretty tight, so I have Soup, or a few really small bites of something solid that take a while to eat.

dinner I am still restricted, but not nearly like I am for the rest of the day. Depending on what I'm eating.. I have never had a rice problem, but Pasta doesn't go down well. And bread is out. I still try to eat bread even though it makes me sick!! A typical dinner is about 1/2c of food, spread out over whatever I feel like eating. I make dinner most the time, DH eats most of what I make and I take 1/2c and pick at it.

[mattintosh 0]

Well your Dr. or nurse is a @#&$*? for sure. Here is my answer to your question I think.

How to Tell When You Are Perfectly Adjusted

You are losing 1-2 pounds per week. That's it!

However If you are not losing 1-2 pounds per week:

You may need an eating adjustment

1. Are you eating 60 grams of Protein a day
   
2. Are you eating 25 grams of Fiber
   
3. Are you avoiding all liquid calories
   • Soup can be sign of “soft calorie syndrome”
     
   • Alcohol contains a lot of calories – 7 calories per gram
     It's also a stomach irritant
     
   • fruit juice is just sugar wAfter

[*]Are you making healthy food choices from a wide variety of foods?

• Are you avoiding soft foods
  
• You can't just eat what's easy
  
• cheese is glorified fat

[*]Are you drinking 6-8 glasses of wAfter a day between meals

[*]Are you eating too much junk

• chips, chocolate, nuts, ice cream, Cookies and other highly processed junk foods are too calorically dense to be regular parts of a healthy diet. But don't avoid them completely to the point where you feel deprived.
  
• Stay out of fast food places

[*]Are you getting in two servings of Calcium daily

[*]Do you always eat the Protein first

[*]Then the vegetables or fruits

• Five servings a day
  
• Potatoes are NOT a vegetable

[*]Is your portion size appropriate?

• meat or fish - 3 ounces – the size of a deck of cards
  
• Vegetables - 1/2 cup – the size of your fist
  
• Starch - If you eat the protein and the vegetables first you don't need much. Avoid: rice, potatoes, Pasta

[*]You might try avoiding artificial sweeteners

• Some people think that artificial sweeteners stimulate the appetite
  
• They are HUNDREDS of times sweeter than sugar
  
• They teach you to like things too sweet
  
• There is no evidence that people who use them are any thinner than people who don't

[*]Avoid most diet foods

• Real food usually tastes better
  
• Real food is more satisfying than low calorie substitutes
  
• When you are only eating a tiny bit the caloric savings is not that great. Use a teaspoon of real butter instead of a tablespoon of diet margarine

You may need a behavior adjustment

1. Are you eating only when you are hungry?
   • If you're not sure drink 8 ounces of wAfter and wait.

[*]Are you eating three meals a day?

• With maybe 1 or 2 small Snacks

[*]Are you sitting down to eat?

[*]Are you eating consciously?

• No distractions, turn off the TV, put the book or newspaper away, pay attention to your food and your companions

[*]Are you eating slowly?

• Put the fork down between bites
  
• Take 20 to 30 minutes to finish a meal
  
• Taking longer might cause the pouch to begin emptying

[*]Are you taking small bites?

• Tiny spoon, chopsticks, cocktail fork

[*]Are you chewing well?

[*]Are you drinking with your meals or too soon after your meals?

• Practice wAfter loading between meals
  
• You won't be thirsty if you are well hydrated before the meal

[*]Are you stopping at the first sign of fullness?

• Sometimes it's a whisper: not hungry, had enough
  
• Hard stop versus soft stop

[*]Do not eat between meals. Stop grazing.

[*]Do not eat when you are not hungry

You may need an activity adjustment

1. Are you getting in 30 minutes of physical activity at least 3 times a week?
   • Over and above what you would do in the usual course of your day
     
   • Could you make it 4 or 5 times a week?
     
   • Could you make it 45 or 60 minutes?

[*]Are you taking advantage of opportunities to increase your physical activity?

• Taking the stairs instead of the elevators or escalators
  
• Walking on the escalators instead of riding
  
• Parking your car further away from the entrance
  
• Getting out of the car instead of using the drive through
  
• Getting off the bus one stop before your destination
  
• Washing you car by hand instead of the car wash
  
• Playing with your kids

You may need an attitude adjustment

1. Are you committed to your weight loss journey?
   
2. Are you totally honest with yourself about how much you are eating and exercising?
   • Log your food and activity on ww.fitday.com for 3 days

[*]Are you using food inappropriately to deal with emotional issues?

• Have you identified what the emotions are that drive your eating?
  
• Can you think of more appropriate ways to deal with those emotions?
  
• Are you willing to seek help from a qualified counselor?

[*]Are you attending and participating in support group meetings?

[*]Have you drummed up some support from your family and friends?

[*]Have you dealt with saboteurs realistically?

[*]Do you have realistic expectations about the weight loss journey?

[*]Are you still obsessing about food, weight, dieting, eating?

• Obsessive – compulsive thoughts
  
• Perfectionism
  
• Patience with the pace of healthy weight loss

[*]Are you acknowledging your successes with non-food rewards?

[*]Have you learned how to take a compliment?

[*]Are you giving up diet mentality?

• Stop weighing yourself several times a day or every day
  
• Stop dieting
  
• Stop depriving yourself
  
• Stop defining food as “good” and “bad”
  
• Stop rewarding and punishing yourself with food

You may need a band adjustment

1. You feel like you are making healthy food choices in appropriate portion sizes but getting hungry between meals?
   
2. You can still eat white bread, fibrous vegetables and large portions.
   
3. You are having to struggle to lose
   
4. You are gaining weight in spite of eating right, exercising and having a good mind set.
   
5. There are times when you can't get fluids down
   
6. You are vomiting too much

Mattintosh Long I know but maybe helpfull.

[Mammysm 10]

Hello everyone. I was banded on Dec. 2006, I have a small band and have not lost alot , I would say about 40 lbs tops. I just got a fill, so have a total of 1.5cc's I got the fill on Tues and am having alot of restriction . I had fills done before up to this amt. then was stressed really bad and had to have all the saline removed and had to start over. I don't seem to be able to tolerate alot of saline, I am hoping that this amount will be ok in few days. I did mostly Protein Drinks for the first 2 days and now trying to get back on some solids and not doing very well with it. And have a question . does anyone ever get like kind of a sinus headache when you are going to be sick or if the food just isn't doing well with you. I get this alot. Maybe I am weird but would like to know..I could use some help and advice and would love to hear from people who are in the same boat. Thanks Donna in NH

[shortgal 5]

when a food gets stuck, my nose gets runny.

when i get a fill, I am advised to be on full liquids for two days to give the band/stomach time to adjust to the fill and then I'm to be on soft food for two days.

Maybe you are progressing to normal food too quickly after a fill. Are you chewing really well after a fill, once you progress to solid food?

I never know how tight a fill might make me, so I am careful to progress very slowly. some people have said that after a fill, they can;t eat in the a.m and they progressively get better during the day, so maybe you just have to try to "read" your bodies reaction to the fills.

[Mammysm 10]

Thanks for writing to me. I think you are right that maybe I should have gone to soft foods for a bit. And that happens to me too that I can't really eat anything much until later in the day. Today has been a bad one, I had a Protein Shake for Breakfast and that was fine and then tried some veggies and cottage cheese and a veggie pattie, the veggies didn't go good at all or the pattie. I had the fill on Tues. and this is only Friday so maybe I should back off a little for a few more days..thanks again for writing. Please write again. Donna aka Mammysm@aol.com

[wombat712 2]

I think it just takes a little time to get used to good restriction. I got good restriction on my fill (Last Thursday). I still can't eat breakfast. I drink slimfast or if I wait a couple of hours I can eat maybe 1/4c of something.

I have pb'd more in the last week from this fill. It lets me know when I ate too fast or didn't chew enough. If I eat too fast then I can only eat about 3 bites of anything.

I can eat more when I do the soft foods but then I'm hungry sooner.

Now I can eat about 1/2c at night of solid food.

I hope you feel better soon!!

wombat

[Crazy4MyK9 0]

Hi Everyone,

To those of you who eat 1 cup or less of food per meal, how long are you satisfied before feeling hunger again? Do you have the smaller band? I have the larger APL band. It's capacity is 14 cc. I'm now at 8 cc. I'm definitely eating less than before, but I still get hungry within a couple of hours. I just read a thread from folks with the APL band, and most of them are going through the same thing.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks for the helpful tips, Mattintosh.

Anne

[coltonwade 27]

For those of you who eat 1/2 to 1 cup of food plus small Snacks and have good restriction , did it take ya'll a little while to wrap your head around the fact that eating that small amount of food SHOULD be enough for you ?

For instance, I was eating about a cup of food my last fill , I found myself thinking " that is not enough for me to be full " So i would try to eat MORE then end up getting stuck " I ended up getting a slight unfill because I was just not comforatable, I was probably a tiny bit too tight.

I need another fill now , But im worried now if i get to the 1 cup meals again i wont b e able to wrap my mine around " this IS enough for you "

does that make sense ? Does it take you a while to get use to that ? and does that amount REALLY keep you full ? Do you have to get over the head hunger still ?

Thanks

Mindy

[Crazy4MyK9 0]

Hi Mindy,

When you eat, how long before you feel hunger again?

I think this is a head game that we have to win. I must not be winning, yet.

Anne

[Frustrated 1]

Hi Mindy,

When you eat, how long before you feel hunger again?

I think this is a head game that we have to win. I must not be winning, yet.

Anne

You hit the nail on the head there Anne. This is very much a head game. The things I often missed when I first started this journey were the social aspects that go along with food. A barbeque, picnic, party all revolved around food. When your ability to indulge in the biggest attraction to these events was considerably reduced, I wondered if I'd even enjoy going to them again. It takes more time for our heads to come to terms with the reduction in appetite and ability to consume foods than it ever does for our bodies.

In the Lucky 7's thread that is my "home", more often than not we are dealing with head/thinking problems than with the physical aspects of using the band to lose weight. Sliming and PBing and restriction physically stop us, but our heads still believe we want and need more food to keep us happy/full/feeling good.

Sometimes I just miss chewing. With the liquids and mushies that we all endure at the beginning, and then graduating onto small portions of food, a lot of that chewing time is considerably reduced (even with the extra chewing per mouthful we do). So I took to sugar free gum and have become somewhat addicted to it. But it curbs my need to have food in my mouth when all I want is to exercise my jaw.

There have been a couple of occasions when I've watched my hubby and son stuff their faces with sub sandwiches and wish I could experience that feeling again of a full mouth with juices running down my chin. Head games. Mind torture. Food envy. Thankfully those episodes are becoming less and less frequent.

A lot of my thinking still revolves around food. But now it's more a matter of what will go down, what will satisfy me and more importantly what is the best choice. If I want to have a treat - which I allow myself probably once or twice a week, then it's planned for accordingly. A small slice of cake or pie instead of the whole thing. A scoop of ice cream instead of the whole pint. A glass of wine with a meal is savoured instead of needing to finish off the whole bottle. I've come to appreciate more the small treats I indulge in rather than feel guilty because I've over-indulged more often than I should have.

We've said quite often in my home thread that we wish we had a band for our heads as well as our tummies because more often than not, that's where the problem lies.

[coltonwade 27]

Hi Mindy,

When you eat, how long before you feel hunger again?

I think this is a head game that we have to win. I must not be winning, yet.

Anne

Sometimes its a very short time sometimes its a few hours.

Im sure a lot of it is head games and I know its me thinking " that surely was not enough to keep me full so I SHOULD Eat more " So I do and pay for it later.

right now I am pretty sure i need a fill i get hungry with in 1-2 hours of eating a good size meal . But the time i was speaking about was right after a fill when i could only eat a few bites.

Thanks

Mindy

[Crazy4MyK9 0]

Thanks for your responses!

Frustrated - thanks much for your long, thoughtful response. I will definitely check out your home thread soon.

~Anne

[niki 1]

very interesting post.

It's curious how this works differently for so many of us.

I wish i would be eating just 1 cup and feeling satisfied...

Seems that you need to go to your surgeon next time and forget about that stupid assistant of his, that woman is nuts.

You're doing fine and you seem to be on the right track.

keep up the good job,

niki

[wombat712 2]

I'm with you Mindy. When I get that little bit of food it doesn't look like enough. So I get more. Well I chew well but I don't always eat slow enough. Because there's more on my plate then I usually end up with an OMG that last bite was tooooooo much feeling.

My head is definitely messed up. I WANT more but I can't eat more. I don't actually feel hungry between meals but feel like I should eat something.

I devoured an entire bag of butter popcorn - I don't know how!!! So, I bought the 100cal bags. If I can't control how much then the bag will :frown:

Someday the head will get under control - someday - don't know when that is though - sigh.

wombat