Feeling "full"?

[Mikochan 0]

Okay, this may be a silly question, but how do you know when you are full? Does it feel different from pre-op?

Before surgery, I would only feel full after eating a lot and it would feel like my lower belly was distended and I basically couldn't take one more bite. Now, I am 3 and 1/2 weeks post-surgery and after I eat I can't tell whether I am full or not. After eating a good portion (about 1 cup, max), I do feel some sort of tightness in my UPPER chest, and I feel satisfied, so I stop eating. But it is not coming from down there anymore.

Am I abnormal or is this what feeling "full" will feel like from now on? Will it feel different after my band is filled?

[bombaman 0]

Good question!

I asked the same thing to my doctor and the dietician and they looked at me dumbfounded. Both where a size 2 and have no idea what I go through. Full does not equal being stuffed which is what I'm used to.

I've found that I get stuffed much quicker with less food and then I'm in pain for a couple of hours. So I've learned thru trial and error where the stopping point is.

Is that full...I have no idea but it works for me.

[Harvest 0]

What you've been experiencing is the effects of the surgery. The swelling is going down now and you're going to get that hungry feeling back. Once you get your first fill you'll start to feel full again. Right now just focus on healing...don't worry too much about weight loss until you get your first fill.

[Carrie D. 0]

I felt the same way at the stage you're at. Someone told me a great thing that I try to keep in mind even now. Stop eating when you're not hungry anymore...not when you're full. I keep this in my mind for the most part and the times I haven't, I overdid it and was in pain. It sounds kind of like the same thing, but there is a very big difference.

[hopeendures 0]

This is a great question, and one I was actually going to ask too. I never feel that nice filled up satisfied feeling. I have not had a fill yet, but I have restriction. The doctor told me that he used the smallest lap band available, (because I am a small person, a phrase that still makes me smile.), and he said I would have restriction before my first fill.

So, I am 4 weeks out, and monitoring my calories, Protein, potassium, and everything because most days, it's a major chore to get in a minimum 800 calories. I fix myself 2 oz of potato, and 2 oz of tuna, and eat half of it, and feel like I can't swallow another bite. Not because I feel full, or even satisfied, but because it seems there is no more room, and it's building up in my esophagus.

Additionally, even though my doc gave me the go ahead to start introducing regular food a couple days ago, I haven't found much I can eat. chicken, Pasta, tuna steak, scrambled eggs....all a no go.

Love the weight loss, and it's worth it to cope with this, but I would like to be able to lead a somewhat normal life. As it is, I absolutely will not eat in a restaurant. Most things end up being regurgitated because they will not enter the stomach, and it feels like I have swallowed a whole cow. (and yes, I chew thoroughly, take small bites, wait in between...etc)

[Mikochan 0]

hope endures,

You're regurgitating with only a few ounces of food? I don't know for sure, but that doesn't sound normal to me. I do get that feeling you are talking about where the food feels like it's coming up to my esophagus, but it never gets to the point where it actually comes out.

[hopeendures 0]

hope endures,

You're regurgitating with only a few ounces of food? I don't know for sure, but that doesn't sound normal to me. I do get that feeling you are talking about where the food feels like it's coming up to my esophagus, but it never gets to the point where it actually comes out.

Only certain things that I cannot manage come back. Like chicken...apparently no matter how it's cooked. Oddly enough, I ate a 3 oz ground beef patty, and it was fine, but even still I didn't feel full...just felt it building up in my esophagus, and knew it was time to stop.

When I talked to the doctor about the food that won't stay, or go down, he said, "You are on a journey of trial and error...you will get to know what you can and cannot eat."

I have been around a few other bandsters, and they seem to be able to eat almost anything, just much smaller portions. I am willing to give up almost anything to not be "fatty fatty 2x4, can't fit through the kitchen door" .....but only if I have to.

[Jodi_620 37]

I don't eat until I am full. I was told to stop eating when I am satisfied (no longer hungry). And eat again when I am hungry and I have been following that. At first, I measured everything so that I could get a handle on how much food satisfied me yet didn't leave me hungry an hour later. Now I have a handle on it and pretty much know without measuring how much food I should eat. I did overeat at lunchtime once . It felt like a weight on my chest and like the food was getting backed up. I felt uncomfortable all day and was not able to eat until the next morning...something I don't ever want to do again.

Edited July 21, 2008 by Jodi_620

[hopeendures 0]

I don't eat until I am full. I was told to stop eating when I am satisfied (no longer hungry). And eat again when I am hungry and I have been following that. At first, I measured everything so that I could get a handle on how much food satisfied me yet didn't leave me hungry an hour later. Now I have a handle on it and pretty much know without measuring how much food I should eat. I did overeat at lunchtime once . It felt like a weight on my chest and like the food was getting backed up. I felt uncomfortable all day and was not able to eat until the next morning...something I don't ever want to do again.

I guess that is one of the things I am struggling with. I never "feel" any fullness. I just know that if I eat more it will be painful. And if that's the way it has to be to get skinny, fine, but I was curious if that was the norm.

Granted, once I eat until it's backing up in the pipes, I don't feel hungry again for a LONG time. Not a fun experience. Pain Trains! Now when I say, "I've had it up to here" I am not kidding! lol

Edited July 21, 2008 by hopeendures

[TheGh0st 9]

The Old feeling so many of us equated to full that involved the wish to unbutton the top of our trousers should NOT be the new feeling of full. That feeling came from the fact your stomach was literally stretching and pushing against other organs. The "New" full is more in your upper chest. I relate it to a feeling I use to get pre-band where I wasn't yet "full" enough to wish someone would just roll me out of the room but was full enough that I felt I couldn't take another bite without stretching, yawning or burping to make room for that "one last bite".

It can take some getting use to but as the OP Mikochan stated you can still feel "satisfied" without needing that old bust a gut feeling.

Good luck all!

[Brian 2]

Hi, I am post-op 22 days, and still pretty much am on mushies, but I still use the puree and liquid foods. This is a key question for me as well. I hate to think what "full" meant to me over the years. What ever it was, I got up to 322 pounds. The stomach sits up fairly high in the abdomen and wherever the satiety center is located, (in the brain I guess), I must have overridden whatever impulses my stomach was sending. I never really thought of it as a "lower sensations"; it did seem to be higher up.

Now over the years when I've been truly hungry, I felt it all over the abdomen, with attention to the "pit of the stomach" hungry; whatever that is, but probably just under the end of the breastbone (sternum). A couple of months ago, as an experiment, I ate (2) 12 inch Subway meatball sandwiches. At that time, it was really about all I could eat without getting sick feeling- and even that was pushing it. Did I feel full? Yeah, sorta, I just felt uncomfortable, and full, and felt it in what I thought was the stomach.

In the pre-op diet, for those 2 weeks, I really felt the hunger more in the "stomach", or as you say "higher up." I got, it seemed, more "in touch" with true hunger, and true satiety, - the stomach filling up. But then, it isn't like you can drink Water and feel true satiety- the brain can't be fooled that easily. I also felt my brain was rebelling at the lack of calories, more light-headed, more easily fatigued, jittery. It seemed to get better.

Then surgery, post-op liquids, etc.. I did ok because I was recovering from the band, and a hernia repair. Not a lot of appetite. I feel "normal" now. So I meet with my doc 3 days ago and he says, showing me the rubber stomach with the band on it, "you have something like this..." You have to make sure you don't over-eat" ".....think of the volume of food you are supposed to be eating.. and don't exceed it..... you have some restriction, ( I've felt it)...."

So I go home and eat some cream of wheat/grits, (that I combine). Well, bandsters have this hour-glass effect, and the fluids and mushies tend to zip past the "pouch", into the big stomach, so I get down this 200 calorie creation, combined with 1.5 cups of milk. I'm pretty full, but not for very long. Well, in another meal, I follow the Protein principle, and eat finely ground tuna, with minced onions and pickles, with non-fat dressing. Wow, what a difference. I really feel as I eat this, that I'm eating something that is staying in my new stomach. I ate 1 serving of tuna, and stopped. I had to listen to my stomach and brain, and tell myself, you know brian, you really for now, feel full. I tried that with scrambled eggs, less feeling of satiety. but still full. It seems like you have to take the time to slowly listen, just like listening for sounds in the dark. And that is where I'm at. I'm motivated now because I am fearful of damaging my insides or vomiting. But I think we all know that Cookies and ice cream and stuff will go down just fine, and that will kill weight loss, just as lots of liquid nutrition. It has to be real food- next week I'm off a formal post-op diet- the doc was preparing me for that. But- my pants don't fit, my belt has no more holes, my shirts are looser, (27 pounds down) and when I walk through the grocery store, THAT is what I think about rather than all the goodies on the shelves and the smells from the deli section. I guess we will just have to figure it out together! Best of luck.

[kdlee 0]

I was banded June 30th and have this same problem! The first 2 weeks of liquids, I was fine and had no problems. Then last week I went to pureed food. I couldn't tell when I was full because I was looking for that "stuffed" feeling you describe that I was used to. I was eating larger servings that I should have, I guess. I had really bad left shoulder pain. I spoke with the nurse practitioner and she said to eat no more than 1/2 cup of food at a time. She wants me eating 6 times a day, 1/2 cup servings. It's working great! The pain is totally gone. I don't really get hungry and I have lost 6 lbs over the last week. My belly "Growls" every 2-3 hours and I eat a 1/2 cup of food. I try to eat Proteins. I have been eating cottage cheese, yogurt, sugar-free pudding with Protein Powder, and some mashed potatoes. I'm still on the purees for another week. I'm getting in my calorie and Protein amounts that I should. I go a week from today for my first fill. Try to eat just a 1/2 cup and then stop and step away from the food. See how you feel after that and go from there. Good luck!

[Mikochan 0]

I was banded June 30th and have this same problem! The first 2 weeks of liquids, I was fine and had no problems. Then last week I went to pureed food. I couldn't tell when I was full because I was looking for that "stuffed" feeling you describe that I was used to. I was eating larger servings that I should have, I guess. I had really bad left shoulder pain. I spoke with the nurse practitioner and she said to eat no more than 1/2 cup of food at a time. She wants me eating 6 times a day, 1/2 cup servings. It's working great! The pain is totally gone. I don't really get hungry and I have lost 6 lbs over the last week. My belly "Growls" every 2-3 hours and I eat a 1/2 cup of food. I try to eat Proteins. I have been eating cottage cheese, yogurt, sugar-free pudding with Protein powder, and some mashed potatoes. I'm still on the purees for another week. I'm getting in my calorie and Protein amounts that I should. I go a week from today for my first fill. Try to eat just a 1/2 cup and then stop and step away from the food. See how you feel after that and go from there. Good luck!

Thanks! That is really helpful. How much protein did your doctor tell you to have? Now that I am looking at my dietician guidelines again, I do see that it says to stop at 1/2 cup.