Eating too much (less than two weeks!)

Hello All, Well, here we all are on the "other side" and I don't know about you all, but I am am not prepared for what I am experiencing. I was prepared for having to push liquids to stay hydrated. I was prepared for having to eat slowly to prevent overloading my pouch. I was prepared for having to put half a Popsicle back in the freezer... But I was not prepared to be able to eat...and it is the worst thing I can possibly imagine. Everyone talks about the 2 oz. that they can EVENTUALLY squeeze down?! Well, I can eat 6 oz of yogurt in about 30 min. and feel fine. I can take what I feel are normal drinks of my water 2-4 swallows in a row - non stop. In short, I feel like I am almost normal! Where is the pain to train me to slow down?! Where is the "fullness" after 1 oz of yogurt that I have to realize that I will eventually overcome? Hell, I feel like I could go out and have a chicken sandwich right now! This really, REALLY sucks. My Rue-N-Y surgery was on the 28th (this Friday will be 2 weeks) and I have NO problems eating. I have not felt sick even once! I'm ready to go have a damn steak and just give up on this diet too. Hell, I even gained a pound from yesterday. I understand that the weight is going to fluctuate, but what the hell when I'm drinking water all damn day long? So, I feel for all you who are in pain. Feeling like the surgery was "too much", but count your blessings that you didn't go through the surgery and are feeling like it isn't going to control your eating. Signed, - Angry Don

Hi Don. I am going thru the same feelings. My surgery was the 25th. I have never felt sick I can eat much more than I expected. BUt if you think about it, we are eating far less than we did prior to surgery. Everything is so new to us and we just have to adjust. A lot will change when we can start eating solids. Liquids and purees pass thru our pouches much faster than chicken salad. My doctor has allowed me to eat Saltines to get some salt in my system as long as I made them into mush before swallowing. Well one evening I just grabbed one and chewed it like I would pre-op and swallowed. That really HURT! So it was a good reminder that I actually did have surgery. Stay active with your surgeon's office and keep coming to OH. It will all work out. Nicole

Nicole, Thanks for the info. I mean I really feel for all those that are feeling sick and down about the surgery - but at least they know that they have a tool they are going to have to learn to deal with. This 'other-side' where some of us feel like the RNY is not restrictive enough is easier physically, but worse mentally - IMO. Getting sick, feeling full, having ANY negative reaction to food is exactly what is going to help with retraining the mind. So if we don't get that feedback, then this is just another "choice" diet, and if that worked for us, then we would not have needed the surgery in the first place! Thanks and good luck, Angry Don

Don i know what ya mean too i just puked for the 1st time and i am 5 weeks out and it was from trying to eat too fast and not eating enough all day long .. Nicole is right things change dramatically when you start on solids when i was on full liquids i could eat 1/2 cup of soup and 1/2 cup of pudding at one sitting ... and i was shocked ... but now that i am on pureed / soft diet much less food but liquids i can drink down pretty easily and in decent size gulps but my pouch lets me know when its too big of a gulp so you are not alone .. i have not had any food issues other than the 1 time and i hope its my last ... best of luck to you Missy

Thanks Missy, Because of the lack of negative reinforcement that you are experiencing, do you feel that your weight loss is progressing adequately? Thanks, - Don

Well thats kind of a trick question LOL i am only eating probably 2 to 3 oz at a meal becuase its what i know i am supposed to do and most of the time i feel satisified ... but not stuffed accorinding to my dr thats how you want to do it you dont want to eat to the point where its like ok 1 more bite and im gonna hurl so i guess im not trying to get satisfaction from food anymore just nourishment .. sometimes i feel my weight loss is slow i have lost 21 since surgery and 51 total i had to do optifast for a month before surgery .. ive also just started walking and i think that was what i was lacking for making the weight come off quicker ... Missy

I am also capable of eating a little more.....I was eating 2 oz. because I thought the dietician in the hospital said to eat 2 to 4 oz. per meal. I truly felt I could eat even more than that because I can take fairly normal drinks of water and liquids as well...... However, I felt the 2 oz. was enough and did not want to push my luck and stretch my pouch.....come to find out after meeting with the surgeon yesterday I am only supposed to have 1 - 1 1/2 oz. per meal and the 4 oz. was for liquids (DUH)....so my next meal I only ate 1 oz. and it was fine.......I guess this is my question......even though you may be able to eat that amount, how much has the doctor told you to have per meal? and if you eat the amount he tells you are you satisfied? Even if you can eat it you may still want to be really careful because you might eat 2 much and mess up your incisions inside (I don't know about you, but that is enough to deter me from pushing the envelope because my hospital stay was no fun and I don't want to repeat it any time soon).....anyway I guess my question is even if you know you can eat that much maybe the thought that you might stretch the pouch 2 much or cause some kind of leak may help you think twice? Just a thought.............Hope this helps some.....Monique D.

Heya Don My eating is very much up and down. Sometimes I can eat a fair amount, sometimes very little. But a "fair amount" is still not the same as it was before surgery. Don't worry, you will not fail at this. Give it time, and give yourself time to adjust. Hang in there. Jezia

You won't really get full on yogurt typically. Yogurt is still a liquid, and liquids are constantly emptying out of your pouch. I am about 5 weeks out, and have not thrown up once. It is not a necessity that you "have" to throw up. I do not have a feeling of being "full" but at the same time I have no feeling of being hungry either so I find that when I get for instance, 1/2 way through a chicken breast, I'll stop and leave the rest for another meal. Hang in there. You'll be okay. Dawn

Don, I have a little sense of what you're feeling. I haven't had any trouble keeping anything down (I'm happy about that part). I've always stopped at about 2 oz. just because I didn't want to pu**** (I'm OK with that part). But at the start of my fifth week now, I'm hungry almost all the time (and that's the part that scares the bejeezus out of me). However, I had my one month follow-up appointment yesterday, and my surgeon told me that I was doing great, everybody's different, etc. So, I'm trying to listen to that rather than the panicky voice in my head. Maybe your next follow-up appointment will offer up some help.