AM I DOING SOMETHING WRONG?????

I find that sometimes I can eat more that 1/4 cup. I am still on pureed because of a stricture but over the last two days I have had 1/3-1/2 cup of chili yesterday and about 1/3 cup tuna salad today. But this morning I had 1/2 an egg scrambled. Is this too much at 6 weeks out? I am looking over my docs papers and all it tells me is what foods to eat at stage 4, not how much I should be eating. What are all you 6-weekers eating now and how much? Also, I have been hungry right from the beginning. I went to a support meeting the other day and out of the 30 of us, I was the only one who was hungry right from the beginning. I feel like a freak. Joanne

Joanne, I am almost 7 weeks out, I had my surgery 2/2/04, so I can relate to you. At this point, I'm on the soft phase of the diet, no more pureed foods! Thank goodness. I'm still not eating much more than 2-3 ounces at a meal, but mainly I listen to my stomach. My nutritionist recommended eating a meal over 20-30 minutes. I find that the meals can stretch out that long much easier now that I'm actually chewing things up. I eat what I can in that time frame, or until I'm full, whichever comes first. Some things aren't quite as heavy in my stomach, so I can eat a little more, but other things (like TUNA) fill me up quickly, with much less than my portion size. I can't relate to you about the hunger, but I would just remind you that everyone is different, and just because you're experiencing it isn't a bad thing. Don't compare yourself to everyone else, some of them may be experiencing it or having other problems that you're not. Don't beat yourself up over it. Michelle

Hi Joanne; I'm a freak too. I'm just over 6 weeks and find that 4ozs. is not doing the trick for me either. However I also notice that I prepare my food while I'm hungry, and I tend to dole out a larger portion than maybe I should. Then it seems, I feel obligated to fini**** I spent this morning throwing up, because of this habit. I'm going back to measuring out my 4ozs. I've heard a lot of talk about "head hunger" and I think that's what's going on with me. So for me, I'm going to try and stick with the measuring cup, to see if I can't get through this "head hunger" thing. Good luck to you. God bless, Bob.

I did measure my food but yesterday at work I 'winged" it and just brought half a small container of chili from Wendys. I didn't eat all of it but I did have more than 1/4 cup. I just didn't know how much weare suppoed to be eating on an average at this stage.

Joanne - Some things go down easier than others. Actually, I'm *less* than half the time you are out (only 3 weeks) and find that if the wendy's chili is more "liquid" (ie: not really thick) then I can manage to eat the whole thing. Of course, I'm also having issues timing my bites apart (something I'm trying to work on - gonna look for a resettable kitchen timer or maybe borrow back the Palm Pilot that my wife now uses). I also find that if I eat too fast or too much, I don't throw up but 'dump' in the form of getting very very tired... This surgery is a lot like diabetes was for me when I was diagnosed - it's very very individual, and each person's experience tends to be a little different - which makes it hard for anyone to tell you EXACTLY what you should be doing.. the best advice any of us can offer is to tell you what works for us (as well as it works) and tell you that we're all on the road together... Your surgeon may also have some tips, depending on how many of the surgeries he (or she) has done, because each surgeon tends to size their pouch the same, and some may position the stoma slightly different meaning that the liquid foods (like chili/soups) go through quicker than solids. The other thing to remember is that there are 'good pouch' days where you can eat more (if that's good) and not have a problem, and 'bad pouch days' where if you eat 2 oz you feel way full or get sick. So it's really a "mileage may vary" type thing not only from person to person, but day to day. Hang in there - you sound like things are going better than they did before you had the stricture looked at, at least ..N

I will be 6 weeks tomorrow and I routinely eat 1/2 of a small serving of chili from Wendy's with 2 saltines with no problem. I see the surgeon Monday for my 6 week check up, but find that when I upped my food a little, my weight loss kicked in again and I'm down 35 pounds which feels good to me. I've also gone out to dinner and ordered a cup of soup twice now and finished almost all of it. Remember that soup runs straight through you and the 2-3 ounces in your pouch is "chewed" which is probably a little more when you measure it out. Hope this helps, Julie

Hi Joanne, I don't think you are doing anything wrong. I can eat a full scrambled egg and I do get hungry too sometimes. Meat does fill me up faster though. My sister in law had her WLS july 2003 and she was hungry right away after surgery. Me I felt hunger pangs right after surgery LOL it was the weirdest thing but it only lasted a few hours.. Don't worry your doing really good, hugs, Michelle~Denver

Joanne, I think a lot depends on the density of the food. Something softer, more airy like mashed potatoes or food that has been pureed ... would go down easier than something denser and less fluid. I only been doing pureed a couple of days. I measure out about 1/3 of a cup and that seems to work fine. I found out tonight when we went out to dinner, it was a negative to have the leftover food sitting in front of me. It was easy to take another bite. Finally put the food at the far end and ignored it. My nutritionist doesn't tell us amounts either as examples just foods that are OK to try. I haven't been hungry, but have had head hunger and it can be very difficult. My focus now is to eat until satisfied not till I'm stuffed. I don't have the "full" feeling when I eat so far. So that is one of the reasons I measure. Mary

Hi Joanne I'm about 6 weeks out also, open rny 2-5-04. I am just noticing that I can eat a little more, I'd say about 1/2 cup. But like everyone else said, and I'm finding this out myself, it does depend on what you're eating. Is it solid, or semi-solid.....ya know? Food with the consistency of yogurt won't stay in the pouch to long. (like meat & veggies) I ate almost a whole cup of chili the other day at work and scared myself. It didn't have alot of meat, mostly beans and broth...is that what ya call it in chili....broth? LOL I felt hunger pains right from the beginning also. I read somewhere though that it was just the tummy healing. Don't know if that's true, but I chose to believe it and continued to drink my water. Right now though I don't get hungry...I just get this wierd feeling, the best I describe it to my husband is 'empty'. Our bodies are so amazing....and everyone's is different. ~Vanessa Open RNY 2-5-04 -58lbs gone forever!

I'm about 7 weeks out now, and I am eating everything, basically. I just make sure whatever I eat is something I can chew down to mush. But, yes, it depends on what I am eating as to what the amount is that fills me up. I chew on ostrich jerky, and I can't eat 2 oz of that at one time. I can eat about 2 oz of chicken, but I can eat 1/2 cup of cottage cheese. Chili, if it's thin, I can get almost a cup down with no problem. I haven't eaten to the point where I make myself sick, I'm too scared to try it. So I find I probably eat less than I should some days. And some days, I want food, most days, I don't. But I find that if I concentrate on getting my proteins in, I don't have any room for the other stuff. And I do try to keep my protein intake high (50-60g). It's working for me, apparently, I had lost 54 pounds at my last checkup (about a month out).