HELP HELP, Advanced Myself

What did you eat your first month home????? I have been eating food plus drinking water and protein shakes, soft stuff like sweet baked potatos, eggs, pasta, knowing I don't pose to but please help me here. I do want to stay on track and not stretch my pouch. My doctor did not advance me yet, but all of a sudden I got this hungry thing, like I need to eat. I thought once that nothing happened, but I know it did because two scrambled eggs fills me up. I just don't want to make no mistakes. I think I read in another post that I might need to get more protein, so today I didn't eat no eggs, I had a liquid protein (25g) and put two scoops(15g each 30 g total) into a Clear Frui****er. But I still felt hungry later on and ended up eating some mini ravioli (8g of protein) then I went back to drinking crystal light. What am I doing wrong? My doctor's appt is wednesday and I know she will advance me to puree or soft foods but I just need help now. Maybe its because I am on my Menstrual cycle (8 days now) shoot I don't know......

Relax!! Now Breathe!! It's okay!! Eat foods high in protein, chicken,turkey salmon, (baked) crab meat, steamed shirmps, eggs, chesse, tuna fish, high protein seems to curve the appetite??( oh & it does work) Perhaps it is your cycle? It's a good thing you do have a doc. appt. coming up though. Just try and read your lables carefully, by doing low carbs & watching the calories and sugar. Mostly pay attention to the protein. That's what it's all about!!! & Water too. Depending on that protein drink you mentioned, try having 2-3 daily. Find out from your doc. if the calories on your protein drink are acceptable? I know each doc. is different, but the more protein, you get in the better to heal U up!! and keep you healthy and strong!! Watch all those high starch foods!! big NO-NO. Does your Surgeon have a nutritonist in his office? That you can see as well. Hang tight, It will be alright!! Don't feel bad, I got sick of my liquid diet almost two weeks out & I ate boiled eggs, so I know that desperate feeling of hunger!! It will get better Soon!! Peace. jbug You can do this!! Get lots of suggestions from your doc. Write a bunch of questions down, & be ready for this appt. Good Luck 2 U!! keep us posted.

I don't know what I did with all the stuff from my nutritionist when I was with Kaiser. Man oh man, thanks for the info....

I don't know what to tell you. No way I would have been able to eat that amount of food even now at 7 months out. Something like a ravioli would make me dump for sure. All the pasta is something I can't handle. Did you have a lapband or RNY? That might be the difference. Maybe you need a fill. Best of luck. Aime

RNY and that is why I don't understand. My fist week was fine. The second week the hunger started, lol hungry hungry hippo, lol I have not dumped yet, thank God.

Hi Yvette, I just wanted to share a bit of my experience and what our nutritionist recommends in the first 1-2 months. I know that different docs have different recommendations but the basics are still pretty much the same everywhere. First of all, I want to warn against drinking and eating at the same time. The rule should be (in the beginning) nothing 30 minutes before you eat and nothing for 30-60 minutes after you eat. This helps to avoid "flushing" your food out of your pouch too quickly. I am now able to drink right up until I eat but I still wait 30 minutes after my meal to drink again. (I am 14 months out.) Secondly, your food should take 20-30 minutes to eat. This is really challenging with such small amounts in the beginning. But if you eat more slowly then you will feel full and satisfied as well as avoid "over stuffing" your pouch. If you take longer than 30 minutes to eat a meal then you are starting to "graze" which is not good either. That is where I get into trouble now. I tend to eat breakfast and lunch at my computer at work so I can sometimes take an hour to eat a meal. Which doesn't ever let me feel full. Soft foods such as eggs should not be a problem for you at this stage, as long as you aren't experienceing pain. However, try to avoid pasta, potatoes and other carbs like that. While they are easy to eat and easy on the pouch, they are not great nutritionally speaking and so are what I consider a "waste" of calories. Eat food that is really high in protein and you will feel full longer and get the protein you need. As for the hunger, everyone is different but many RNY patients do not feel hunger until 2-3 months out. Not all, but many. I didn't experience true hunger until I was 3 1/2 months out. You may be dealing with head hunger. You will probably experience emotional feelings of loss from not being able to eat. I truly cried some days because I knew I wasn't able to eat certain foods. I was grouchy, and angry, and sad, all together. Try to really listen to your body. If you think you are really feeling hungry, drink some water and wait 20 minutes. If you are still truly physically hungry, then you should eat something. Our nutritionist recommends 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. Believe me, in these first few months you will feel like your whole life centers around food and the clock. Timing your drinks & food and getting your meals in can be quite a chore and will take up a lot of time. But it is worth it to do it right. I hope this helps. A great book with this kind of information is "Success habits of Weight Loss Surgery Patients" by Colleen Cook. I highly recommend it. I re-read it every couple of months to remind me of what I am supposed to be doing. I wish you all the best. You can do this. Use your tool and it will help you! Hugs, Robin

Thanks for the information. Tommorrow I will be talking to the Dr. Because I think my pouch is bigger then the pictures, lol cuz I swear I can eat something, cream of soup and still be hungry. Man oh man, I need to see a picture of my pouch cuz right now, um hungry and I eat an hour ago. Hmm

Hi Yvette, I am truly amazed because when I was 2 weeks out I could barely drink all my fluids and I felt full I was not on solids. I could never even eat more that an tablespoon of mashed potatoes. I would really call your dr and explain to him what you are going through. Robin gave you wonderful advice. I wish you the best. Hugs, Cira

I would add to what Robin said about carbs. Do NOT eat potatoes and pasta. If you are really experiencing hunger (rather than head-hunger), these are loaded with the kind of carbs that will just make you hungrier. And definitely watch the drinking and eating times. You really really really need to talk to your nutritionist. He/she should be able to get you back on course.