Am I too tight? I need your insights please....

[marieze 5]

O.k., here's the deal. I was banded on 2/13. Could eat a horse right after surgery. Had 1st fill....3cc's in a 10cc band. Could still eat a horse. Second fill comes and I get another 3cc's and couldn't swallow Water. The doc takes one cc out. Now at 5CC's.

Have been TRYING to eat slow and take small bites. This has been VERY hard for me. A real work in progress.

On Saturday I went to Breakfast and was able to eat 2 eggs, 2 pancakes and 4 link sausages. This clearly does not look like restriction to me.

However, yesterday, any time I tried to eat ANYTHING I pb'd. I mean anything! For instance: Breakfast sausage-Yak....scrambled egg...yak..shrimp..yak...prime rib..yak!!! I was however, able to eat some guacamole with tiny pieces of tortilla chip.

So, am I too tight? If so, how did I eat the stuff the day before? I don't know what to do. I'm flustered as to whether it's my habits or too full of fill. What do you think?

Marie

[Wheetsin 714]

I'll be straight with you. It doesn't sound like you're too tight when you're eating meals that are closer to pre-op portions. Sometimes we're just tighter some days than others. Many females find that a few days before their period, or the day of, they're largely unable to eat. Yesterday could have just been a "tight day" for you. They don't have to be period-related.

A few other things I'm noticing. A lot of the foods you tried to eat yesterday are foods that a lot of people have problems with. If you find you're having a "tight day" don't push it with hard foods, go with something mushy or that you know you can get down.

Another - you yakked on sausage, but went on to try eggs. Yakked on eggs, but went on to try shrimp, etc. When you yak on something, that's it for the day, possibly two days if it happens at night. Yakking causes irritation and swelling in the area of the stoma. In other words, if you yak on something, you're that much tighter for a while... so stop trying to eat when you can't do it. Stick with Water and a Protein drink for the day and give your stoma & relevant areas time to heal.

I'm seeing some bad habits in your post, e.g. trying to force eating even when you've already yakked several times. I think you'd go far to really learn how to listen to your body and take it easy with food. E.g. a good rule of thumb when you're learning is one bite, then wait 5 minutes. Bite after bite after bite doesn't allow the "uh oh" to register until it's too late.

[marieze 5]

thank you for your response!

You are right about everything. Here's where I'm confused. I remember the nutritionist and surgeon telling me, "we don't want you just eating mushy foods because they go down so easily". You need to focus on solids. I did. Also, they said that the band only works with "solids", so I am really trying to see how much restriction I have after my fill to see if I'm at a good spot.

It would be easy for me to just have a shake or mushies but that's contrary to what they said.

Now, at 53 I no longer have periods; do we still just have some days that are tighter? I really want to go make some breakfast as I'm starving from not eating anything yesterday but am very reluctant. I could make Soup, but again, how will my band get the chance to work?

I'm confused:confused:

but to my original question; do you think I'm too tight? Because yes, I did eat pancakes, sausages etc. the day before.

[Sades 4]

You don't sound too tight to me if you can eat what you are eating. I am at 7.5cc in a 10cc band and still able to down a fair amount of food. Some things get stuck and I feel full for much longer but I definitely have room for more fill. I find different days and different times of the day make a difference to my restriction so as Wheetsin said, listen to your body, it will always let you know when to stop. When I don't listen to mine, I generally end up suffering in some way.

[Marimaru 7]

The band is made for solids, but if you have irritated your stomach you need to go to liquids/mushies and give your stomach a few days to rest and let the swelling go down. After that, yes, go back to solids so that the band can restrict you.

I don't think you are too tight, I think you just irritated things. Even without periods you are likely to have days that are tighter than others. The weather can affect me, as well as my mood. Stress always tightens me up.