Need Encouragement!!

Hey my fellow Maysters. I am now at that point where I am getting worried because I am able to consume more food then I think I should be able to (you know, the thing that got me fat in the first place). Anyways, I am sure many have or are going through the same thing. I will attribute alot of my munching to this dang period but I still don't get it. My surgeon made a 1-ounce pouch and yet it seems I can consume a cup of food??? The good thing is I see him tomorrow but was just needing a little encouragement from my buds! Thanks

Lisa, I was having the same problem about two weeks ago. I was hungry ALL the time. I'm post menopause so I can't really attribute it to hormone issues - maybe it was the full moon! My doctor had a fit with me when I told him I was eating about 2 snacks a day, plus my 3 meals. He told me to STOP IT! My feelings were hurt. I was looking for some support as to why I felt that way. Needless to say, I didn't get any. It was not a good office visit even though I'm down 75 pounds. His program allows only 3 meals a day - 1/2 cup serving. Sorry I don't have any advice. It's good to vent though! Jean

Thanks Jean. What I don't understand is why people are so surprised when you tell them you may be overeating. If I had will power, I wouldn't have had this surgery, right? The whole reason for the small pouch was to enable me to only eat a small portion. All I want to know is if it is still going to work if I am eating a cup at a time or so??? These dang nuts, they forget that we still have the same mindset even though they changed our stomach size...so frustrating. Plus, I know surgery was just a "tool"..and I am doing the exercise and what have ya, but I can't help it too much if my stomach (tool) is not doing its job and rejecting the over abundance of food!!!!!

Lisa, I think it depends what you're eating. For instance, I can eat a whole cup of oatmeal and not think twice about it - that freaks me out, sometimes I don't even pay attention to what I'm doing and then, OMG, it's all gone! However, I can't eat more than about 2-3 bites of steak with a little bit of scrambled egg and maybe a forkful of hashbrowns. The softer the food, the more you're able to eat. Your pouch may have started out at 1 oz but it wasn't destined to stay that way - you can't live like that forever. Mine started out at 2 oz and now I'm on 4oz meals - by the end of the year, 8oz. If you think you're eating too much, than promise yourself you won't eat anything you don't measure out per your doc's orders. As for the snacking, I go through it too, particularly around my period, but I started posting signs in my kitchen on the fridge and the insides of the cabinets that say: STOP! Count to 10 and decide whether you really need/want that! It doesn't ALWAYS help, but I would guess that 60-70% of the time it makes me rethink whether I'm actually HUNGRY or just snacking. I think you're doing (and looking) FANTASTIC! Don't be so hard on yourself!

Thanks Becky! I think you are right about the texture of the food. It does seem the things I eat more of are soft. Like Mashed potatoes and some rice with cheese and brocolli in it. I haven't tried meat in awhile except for some in a taco salad the other day and I almost finished the whole thing, well, almost, my DH had several bites of it. I guess I should just Thank God that I can't eat as much as I did 4 months ago!!Thanks for your kind words though!

Lisa, I was getting ready to post an almost identical issue. I get freaked because I feel that I can eat alot too! I only get minimally hungry...but I eat all damn day! Work is the worst...especially during an evening shift. My situation is so pathetic that I actually stopped bringing in money so I would go to the vending machines...only to find myself saying "can I borrow a dollar". What a wake up call that was. I would say that I can eat about 4-8oz at a meal (depending on the food), but I can also eat all day! I'm trying to get in touch with the issues that make me eat, but this is sooo hard. I mean I know I'm going to lose weight by default, but I WANT to KEEP my weight off! I am very pleased with my loss, but I still need to change my life...thanks for letting me vent.

OMG! I was going to come on here and post the exact same thing! It's so strange, I can eat pretty much anything now and while it's still not a whole heck of a lot, it's a LOT more than I was eating. Like the other night for dinner, I made bbq chicken, greens (collards, mustard, kale, that sort of thing), mashed potatoes, and corn bread. I was able to eat 1/2 a small chicken breast, about 1 tbsp of the greens, a few pea sized bites of the potatoes and about a 1x1" piece of corn bread. I would NEVER have been able to eat all of that before. Granted, looking at it all on the plate it's not that much, but it's a lot more than I COULD eat before! And like the day after that I was able to eat an entire can of Progresso soup - the BIG can, not the Campbells' soup size. I don't get it. I have noticed that I've been snacking a bit more than I did before, too. I've not been as careful about waiting my 3 hours in between eating things. I've also been (as I said to hubby last night) getting a bit ****y and eating faster than before. Whereas a meal used to take me about 45 minutes to eat, it's now taking me the prescribed 20-25. Which is good, but sometimes I'm not chewing as well as I need to and have a few times in the last month. I have noticed for me, though (this is just a thought, and it may or may not apply to you) is that on any diet I've ever been on, 3-4 months is about as long as I'd stay on them and I'd be tired of it and move onto something else. Well, I just went over 4 months since my surgery, so it's about that time to start 'blowing the diet' so I think this is where the REAL work may begin. It's been pretty easy to maintain my eating habits up until now - I've been forced to. But now that things are fully healed in there, I'm feeling really good - it's (before surgery) time to blow it! Does that make any sense? I think that we're all at the point now, too that we are getting pretty comfortable with the ins and outs of this pouchy and we're not so 'on guard' anymore if that makes any sense. I know for me I was scared to eat anything, scared to eat too much, scared to do anything that may disrupt things in there, scared that I wouldn't chew it enough, scared that something may make me dump, etc. But, like I said, things are pretty much healed up in there and the only things I've not been able to tolerate is most lactose (I can do the sf pudding cups and cheese) and steak. Other than that I've been able to eat anything (I've not tried really fatty foods like deep fried stuff or straight up sugar) and like I said earlier, I feel absolutely fantastic. But, as I said, I think this is where the real work begins. Michelle Who is probably rambling at this point!

Hey! I like your rambling!!! It all does make sense though doesn't it. I mean, we knew most of our weight problem was this "head hunger" stuff anyway, so its only been 4 months...its gonna take some time to think like a smaller person! Thanks so much for all you said. It is always great to know you are not alone.

michelle, it was like dey sha vu when i read what you wrote, i was talking with my husband just the other day about all the times i went to ww how i would go for like 3 or 4 months then id start blowing it off. i never last over that long with any diet. just last night i was wanting to eat so bad. i bet i looked in the fridge 100 times. luckily i didnt eat anything but here lately ive just been wanting to eat and eat alot. ive had to really discipline myself at meal times. on sunday i made salmon patties, green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, and biscuits. i felt so bad when we were finished because i felt like i ate way more than i should. not physically but mentally. i measure things for the most part but sometimes i find myself sneaking in extra bites. im so scared that i am going to ruin everything. i dont know if im just tired of eating the same kinds of foods all the time or what. candy

Hi fellow Mayers, I guess all of us are into a newer state of transition with the wls. At first there was so much to learn and try to do. Of course we were freshly healing from major surgery and full of hopes and dreams for the success of this new "tool". It has been a tremendous time of learning. Not only the pouch rules but taking the time to observe and respond to how certain foods react with us and how to put the fork down and quiet ourselves to learn to discern when we are full or in distress (like with dense foods or meats stuck). We lived a lifetime of shoveling in the food and sometimes barely tasting it. Now we have physical obstacles to doing that. The things we used food to soothe and pacify still exist. And it is a challenge to now find new ways to address those feelings and stresses. Some days I catch myself grazing and almost in a frenzy, "hungry" to fill a void and it is hauntingly familiar to the days when I could physically eat to oblivion. It has humbled me to realize I need to pray and ask daily for the grace to obstain from the compulsive overeating. I am finding myself praying for the grace to face and deal with underlying stresses and conflicts that seem to whisper that "another bite would make it better". It is a lovely thing that we can encourage and support one another and find we are not alone. That we seem to be wrestling with the same giants and we can and will make it through. The lady who leads our support group returned to weigh****chers after 3 yrs out because the support and accountability keeps her on track. She said she began to regain weight and didn't want to go backwards. It makes alot of sense to me. It takes whatever it takes. Whatever support we need . Counselling, support groups, OA, weigh****chers and honest interactions with friends who struggle like us with these issues. We cannot make this journey alone. And through fellowships like this we don't have to. M.