Not hungry vs. full

I'm ten days out and trying to figure out whether I'm "full" after I eat.  I have never been hungry post surgery but I also haven't had the sensation of being unable to take another bite.  I expected that after a few bites of food I'd feel stuffed like after after Thanksgicing dinner but I seem to always feel the same - just not hungry.  I'm wondering what others are experiencing.  I'm limiting any food to 1/2 cup max so as not to stretch my pouch and the NP said I can drink as much as I want at a time but somehow I think  I'd feel better if I had a clear signal I'm full.

You may not get any "full signal" for quite some time. Nerve endings were cut, your stomach sliced, diced and re-routed, there's a whole lot of healing to happen in there. Keeping strictly to the amounts your centre advised you is very important because "feeling full" may not happen for some time.

Thanks so much for the advice.  I guess at this stage I just have to give it time.  It is tricky because I would say right now, without eating a bite, I am constantly in a state I would have called "satiated" pre-surgery.  Yet I have to eat to get my protein and fluids in.  The trouble for me at the moment is that there is no change in sensation, not eating vs eating 1/2 cup of purée feels the same to me.  So I measure carefully and hopefully it is just the nerve endings healing or will change when I go to full solids.  I suppose a lifetime of measuring is no great hardship either.  

To be honest, I'm now pretty good at "eye-balling" the appropriate amounts BUT I still do check every once in a while to make sure I'm not "vanity-sizing" my food. LOL I can very honestly tell you that I have yet to feel "hungry". My surgery was over 8 years ago - surely you would think that would return and somewhat normalize my eating life. Not so much. So, I set out each day and follow my usual plan. Trust me, I know I'm not the norm. If measuring and weighing works for you, do it. It works for me.

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever gotten from my centre was to eat until satiated (not hungry) and not til full.  The thing is that the "full after thanksgiving meal" is OVERSTUFFED, not full.  So if you are constantly eating until you get that feeling, chances are you are going to eat too much too soon. That's why the measuring aspect is important.  I've seen people not measure who can eat far more than I ever could early out.  Don't count on those body signals as not everyone will have them.

Dawn

I was under the impression that we cannot drink anything for at least 30 mins after as to help not wash out the contents, keeping us feeling satiated. If I chew small pieces of protein, and i mean small few cm's in cubes to a mush, then swallow, doing this repeatedly for a 1/2 cup or less each meal I would think the bodies satiation signals would kick in ALOT faster and easier with the slow eating. Right now I can ascertain the difference of satiation and comfortably full. 

It is a tricky thing to get a feel for.. I'm now three weeks out, and onto stage four in my diet (soft, wet proteins), and it's a big change from the mostly liquid diet. My stomach gets full much faster with chewable food, and it's also taking me a while to get used to again. I have a feeling that it'll be some weeks before you or I will understand all the changes in our new stomachs, so I've been trying to listen to my body a closely as possible.