Questions for Pam T or anyone else who wants to answer LOL

Hello Everyone, I hope this post finds everyone in good health with happy pouches. May each and every one of you and your loved ones have a blessed and Happy holiday season. This is the first year in a long time that I wont hide from the camera's on christmas .

I have finally hit the 50 lbs down mark. Took a lot longer then I had hoped. I( had surgery on July 28th so 3 months to lose 50 .

My questions is.   I understand that at about 3 months out your pouch " feeling " comes back as the nerves are repairing themselves by then . I soooooooooooo enjoyed not having the hungry feeling. For some reason this past week, I feel ok one minute ,and the next i get that " I havent eaten in 3 days feeling in my tummy " past hungry feeling onto the nauseated feeling. and when I try to eta something I cant eat very much because i just get even more naseated . I cant handle this feeling. Feeling sick all the time .... Also having a hard time finding different way to prepare the foods I can have . Chicken high protein , sickof it ,hamburger high protein, sick of it , greek yogurt high protein sick of it . Cheese , high protein, sick of it . Cottage cheese , high protein SICK OF IT ... beef jerkey high protein SICK OF IT TOO   .....I'm only 3 months out and getting sick of the food , what do I do ?????.

I go to school full time and everyone in my class always knows I'm good for some cheese,beef jerkey, yogurt or rice crisps. today because I'm so sick of all of that I brought in a weigh****chers dinner 17 grams of protein, it was three cheese ziti and they all about dropped the food out of theirmouths when I pulled it out of my bag. Only ate 4 bites and was full LOL




Ilook forward to your answers, PLEASE HELP 

Christy

P.S. I would love to have a christmas get together up here in the Flint area, WHOS GAME ?

 Christy -

Good job on the 50lbs!  Actually that is right on track with the average, so you'redoing fine.  (20-ish lbs in the first month, 10-ish lbs in months 2-6) So 50 in 3 months is perfect.  

Yes, the nerves in the pouch were cut during surgery and it takes some time for them to heal and start working again.  It can be as early as 3 months or can take as long as 18 months.  For some hunger comes back with a vengeance but for most we never experience "hunger" in the same way we did pre-op.  I still get hungry but my signal strength is not as strong as pre-op and it's not the same feeling as before... it's more of an empty feeling rather than a gnawing hunger feeling.  So no, when you hit 3 months, the hunger doesn't automatically come back overnight. 

SOOO..... you're starting to get signals from your pouch.  This is good.  It will help you be more in tuned with your body.  If you're feeling extreme hunger or emptiness, then try to figure out a pattern.  Does it always happen at a certain time of the day?  For instance if you find that you always get that gnawing feeling at 3pm, maybe your body is telling you to add a snack at that time.  I personally find that if I eat every 3 hours or so, my body is happiest.

Variety is hard to get at your stage.  If you haven't already, you'll likely be cleared for any food you can tolerate at your 3 month mark.  They key is finding some interesting ways to cook the foods you're allowed to eat (or can tolerate) in ways that are tasty and within our restrictions.  Gotta start searching for recipes.  There are plenty on my blog.  Also Eggface has a ton of great stuff every day.  Learn how to play with your food.  Make it fun.  

I have a very hectic schedule with working full time and going to school full time.  I eat 5 of my 6 meals on the run or at work.  So everything I cook must be portable and easy.  I also need to have all my food lined up for the week by Sunday afternoon so I can stay on track.  This week I made a pot of chili and I'm having that for lunches all week.  Breakfast is usually yogurt w/ fiber one twigs or oatmeal or something similar.  Snacks are fruit and cheese or protein bars (rarely) or some recipe I've made and packaged up for the week.  My rule is: "If I can't pack my lunch in 20 seconds, it's not going to happen."  So everything in my house is all pre-packaged by me when I get home from the grocery store and is ready to grab when I'm heading for the door.

Ok, I'm rambling...

Pam

I love your rambling, LOL

Thats the funny thing, I dont feel that , SO hungry I'm nauseated" at any specific time a day, but it just comes on . its strange, I wished I could not feel hunger ever again , LOL I will have to check out your recipes. I eat breakfast usualy at school, a piece of cheese and some beef jerkey. and then lunch at school. Dinner when I get home  . Give me some good ideas for snacks.I find myself eating my snacks as meals now cause I'm tired of my meals.

R u avaiable for a christmas get together anytime soon  in FLINT 

Christy

 Ideas for snacks.  Mmm...  
My general rule of thumb is that I try to keep my meals at about 300 calories each and my snacks at 100-150 calories.  So thinking in those terms helps me distnguish meals from snacks.  So a snack might be grapes and a cheesestick or a protein bar or a yogurt with fiber one twigs or protein pudding (chocolate with strawberries for dipping is the best!).  

Of course your meal calorie count vs. mine is going to be difference since you're not 2 years out like me.  My daily calorie intake is 1500 right now.  So to come up with your own calorie guidelines, split your daily intake into segments. 

Get together?  mmm... yeah, sounds like fun.  My schedule is swamped though and I have very few days clear.  Finals next week and 3 Christmas parties the following week.  LOL!  I'll be at the Flint support group on December 21st - maybe we can meet up there and grab a coffee afterward?  

At 20 months out I don't really get hungry like before surgery. I do get head hunger, but not physical hunger. I try and eat a healthy snack when my head tells me I am hungry. I too tired of cottage cheese, and protein meals. I started creating deserts out of sugar free pudding mixes and protein shake mixes. First just puddings, then cream pies with sugar free fruit preserves. Finally I expanded into even making my own high protein, sugar free, ice cream with an ice cream maker uses shake mixes.
Here is my easy treat trick if you are not into making your own or have a busy schedule. Put Jello sugar free pudding cups into the freezer. They make a great, ice cream like treat, with 6 grams of protein and only 60 calories. Adding treats, that are low fat and taste great really helped me.

Christy -

I think 50 lbs in three months is great!  YOu are right on track.  That's an average of 16.6 lbs per month!  Keep up the good work!

I agree with what Pam says but just wanted to add that I think I am starting to feel 'hungry' at times too but not the same as before surgery.  What I find is sometimes I mistake this feeling of hunger when I'm really thirsty.  So I've been trying this lately....if I get that hungry feeling, I drink some crystal light and normally that usually takes the edge off my hunger feeling.  I am not very good about getting all of my liquids in so I'm trying to do this for two reasons.  First to force more liquids in and second, to make sure I'm not eating when it's really thirst vs hunger. 

Keep up the great work, you are doing great.