A little concerned

So I'm a week and a half post-op and  I'm feeling pretty good.  No nauseaa, nothing I've tried to eat  has disagreed with me.  My problem is that I'm maybe only drinking 1 litre of water a day ony having around 40grams of protein a day.  I'm finding it VERY hard to drink enough water, get the amounts of protein I need without feeling full all the time.
Plus I got my TOM yesterday which came along with a ton of cramps and even before my surgery whenever I had TOM I never felt much like eating.

I'm concerned that I'm not eating enough or drinking.  For example today@ 1030- I had about 4oz of cream of wheat with a scoop of protein powder.  I ate that over the course of a hour and a half.  Then I drank around 6 ounces of water over the course of another hour.  Now by this time I feel full, and they tell you not to eat right after drinking, so I wait about 45 minutes to eat and then by then I was tired and layed down.  I ended up sleeping for 2 hours this afternoon, so now at 4:30 I'm only getting to my second meal where I don't feel full.  Also I've had absolutely no physical or head hunger which is good, but makes it a little harder to put food in your mouth.

HELP!!!!

One more question...what is everyone who has had their surgery in the last 2 weeks eating?  How much & how often....also on phase 2 it says we can have pureed meats like chicken or fish.  Can we use fat free mayo to moisten it a bit?

Thanks for letting me rant...

From Dazzed & Confused....

I think you are doing ok. It really does feel like "work" to get food and water down for the first few weeks. Rest, drink and keep getting in the protein. Keep watch on how you feel. If you start to feel worse instead of better, talk to the Dr's. It took me until 5-6 weeks out before I was getting both protein and water in. For me though, it was a job and there wasn't a lot of extra food getting into me either, maybe a cheese string or two LOL. I used a meal replacement type of protein for several months. I also ate on schedule. The same time everyday worked best for me. My kids are school age so that was a good guide for me. :) I aimed to eat after they were out the door and I had done my workout.


I used mayo and made a bunch of pureed meats. Way better than the baby food kind..LOL

 I found that I had to set a timer to eat whether I wanted to or not.  I would sleep for an hour after I ate and I would set a timer to start drinking again.  I would use a little med cup and sip one after the other.  When I moved to pureed I would add chicken broth or light mayo to moisten it up.  

I focused on fluids first. Then Protein and then calories/food. It's going to take awhile before you can get all your fluids in and protein. But your fluids are the most important ( to avoid having to go back to the hospital if you are dehydrated.  It took me almost 3 weeks before I was getting close to my protein and water . by 4 weeks I am doing a lot better.

Don't worry about the food/calories at this point. The first month- you don't feel like eating much - especially with what you are allowed ( like the mushies etc)  Just eat little bits of what you are allowed.

I'm at the same stage as you and I'm having a hard time too...maybe it's normal.  I actually feel discouraged with what to eat as everything seems to make me feel queasy now.  I wonder and hope that in 2 - 3 months from now, it will be much easier.  I have the most problem with the protein, I put one scoop in my shake and felt nauseaus after that...what gives?  I don't think I can't stand the protein but can't handle the meal repalecements at all!  Seems kind of impossible right now...

I tried peanut butter and sugar free fruit spread mixed together today but I'm not sure that was okay.

I know I didn't bring you much help but hopefully others will help us out!  What do you eat right now?

Thanks all for the encouragement.  I have been setting times to drink, its just the full feeling. I really do not want to push that feeling.
@ Rosebutt,  dont think your not helping...just hearing others are going thru similar situations is help enough to make me think...ok, this is normal, just keep moving on.

Tonight I overcame my fear of dumping and tried some flaked canned turkey.  I mixed the entire can
with about 2 tsps of half fat mayo and added S&P.  Then I divided that into 4 portions and wowzer it tasted delicious!!  And it didnt bother my pouch.  I have also been doing cream of mushroom, cream of chicken (reduced fat from Cambells) mixing in a can of 1 % milk and then having around 4-5oz of that and I add 1-2scoops of the beneprotein with S & P.  Ive also had cream of wheat with protein powder with cinnamon and splenda.

Other than these Im sticking to my water & boost.

I have my nurses apt on Wednesday so hopefully they can give me some insight on how I am doing!

I had a sleeve but overall we all have the same problems. I found those 1st 3 weeks the absolute worst. At that point I was only getting in about 48 oz of water and 30-40 grams protein. I only waited 1/2 hour before or after meals. Try drinking a glass of water as soon as you get up. Wait 1/2 hour then have your breakfast. Wait another 1/2 hour then start drinking some more water.

I ate a lot of pureed soups, yogurt and cottage cheese and would add beneprotein to anything I could including my cream of wheat or oatmeal to try to get my protein in but was only getting up to about 50 grams until around week 3. For proteain I also added canned flakes of chicken to my soup and pureed it in really good. I added tuna to some homemade vegetable soup I had made and pureed all that together too..ends up tasting like clam chowder. I found at 2 weeks, it was very hard to eat tuna any way other than pureed soups, it was too dry otherwise even with salad dressing. Have some f your protein shakes in between your main meals so you are getting fluid and protein too. You need both in order to heal for those 1st crucial weeks. Each week gets easier, trust us! Barb C

I also found hot/warm liquids went down sooo much better but my sister was the opposite. She finds ice cold liquids are easier to tolerate and get down. I have no trouble now getting in my liquids. It gets WAY better... I remember feeling at 3 weeks turning a corner and then again at 4 weeks felt way better.

I've been doing protein drinks every morning for about a year.   Woke up from surgery and didn't like my go to shake.   I went to Costco and got the Premier protein drinks  (chocolate)  it has 30g of protein and actually takes like thin chocolate milk and not fake.  So much so that I think I'll be sticking with these for awhile.  maybe even venture to vanilla!

I've found the protein easy with the help of those.... 48 oz is my max on water so far.   Need to work on that tomorrow.   I made some crystal lite popscicles tonight... hoping that will motivate me!!

I feel like I've had a child in the sense that we're on feeding times... it's work!   Kudos to all the moms....especially to those that did it more than once!    This new tummy is enough for me!

My biggest challenge... when to take iron?  Shouldn't take it within 3 hours of any dairy products.   Um...I've got that going 24hrs right now?

I was told that the main focus those first few weeks was to get the fluids in and add the protein and foods slowly, that the water was more important in the early days.   The protein is a building process and you guys sound like you're doing very welll to be getting in what you are.  Also with the vitamins I was told no big worries that it could take 3-4 wee****il I could get them all in.

I tried to stick to the time schedule that was in the book from Laura.  It really helped me in those early days to balance eating and drinking.  I find I could drink 25-30 mins after eating and could drink up to 15 mins before eating.  I guess everyone is different.

I am in Saskatoon for a conference and in talking with the speaker over lunch she told me her daughter had wls last december and is 100 lbs down and it has only been the last 2-3 months that she is feeling normal.  She spent the first 4 months dumping all the time. I guess she noticed how I was eating and instead of asking me she told me about her daughter and then I told her I had also had wls. 

Anyway keep up the eating schedules ladies and sip all the time.  Just an fyi I read somewhere here about poweraide zero and finally found some at walmart.  I tried some as I was feeling dehydrated and thirsty all the time and sipping wasn't quenching my thirst and guzzling is out of the question and it helped.  I think now that I am drinking some coffee again ( maybe too much at this meeting environment ) is why I am so thirsty.