Re-Post

Thanks for everyone's responses to my original message. I feel like I am still having a problem with not getting restriction. I'm sticking to low carb and protein shakes (with a few minor slip-ups along the way, hey, I'm still learning/figuring this out), but I feel like I don't have restriction still most of the time. I will be 2 months post op on 10/31/15, is this still a normal thing while nerves are healing up or is it possible that they didn't make my pouch small enough?!? I'm having all kinds of paranoid thoughts about this whole process, again-head games! I have read/reread some old posts on here about people not feeling restriction. I'm just concerned that I'm only at 28lbs lost. Maybe I just had the thought in my head that it would go more quickly. I'm walking a couple miles every day, maybe I need to up my weights/cardio?!? Any feedback (hopefully helpful feedback) is appreciated. Thanks team!!

Only your surgeon can tell you the size of a pouch that was made. There is no standard and surgeons do what they believe is best. I only feel restriction if I eat dense protein.

Use the Post Op Planner to see if your weight loss is what is expected. It is under Resources.

You are probably doing this - but make sure you are waiting one hour after eating before you drink. If you drink earlier you are flushing the food right out and will not fee full.

So, the nutritionist at my doctor's office said 20 minutes to wait, does that sound like maybe it's too fast and that's not helping?

That recommendation varies a lot. My office said 30 mins. A lot of times I try to wait longer just because I feel less full after I start drinking again and I try to get the most "bang for my buck" with fullness.

I saw some references to 30 min, but this came up in my support group last night and our NUT recommended an hour. Check to see if the longer delay might help you.

I hear you! I never feel full with protein shakes. The liquid flows right through the stoma and doesn't fill me up at all. I still have them for breakfasts though because they're easy and convenient. I also have been a fairly slow loser since surgery. I also started feeling physical hunger again 2 days post-op. No year without hunger for me. =(

I also feel like I require a larger quantity of food to quell my hunger than most people do at this phase. I usually eat 1000-1400 calories a day, but very protein-heavy, and I do a lot of exercise. I had a remarkably easy recovery, and my op report talks about creating the pouch "conservatively," which leads me to think that due to my age and significant pre-op weight loss, my surgeon made my pouch bigger than usual. At 5 mos out, I'm eating 3-4 oz. of dense protein as a meal. But I'm trying to find other ways to try to get more satiety out of other foods. Adding a tablespoon of Grape Nuts to my Greek yogurt only adds 26 calories but makes it much more filling for me. Grapes are surprisingly filling for me without setting off carb cravings or sending me into an RH episode. Play around with foods, see what fills you up and what lasts you longer.

One other thing -- this goes completely contrary to the advice that a lot of vets give here to measure your food and only eat what you measured, but my dietitian says you should be eating to the point of satiety and not stopping when you're still hungry. She said if that's the case, you never get the "full" feeling to signal you to stop, and you're more likely to eat again sooner because you're still hungry, winding up grazing and taking in more calories overall.

I agree with you on the protein shakes, but I drink them in the morning for ease as well and to get a good amount of protein in my day. I also didn't get the no hunger experience and feel hunger, well, actually it is more like an empty feeling in my stomach sometimes. I was also worried about eating too much, so I talked to my doctor at two different visits, and his advice was to eat when I was hunger, and stop when I felt satisfied (note: not full....satisfied). I was worried about weighing,measuring, and tracking, and he assured me that it was not necessary if I followed this method. So far it is working well. I do measure from time to time just to get a feel for the number of ounces of protein I am eating. This has worked for me because one of the reasons I gained weight, is my all or nothing philosophy. So, this new approach is not easy for me, but seems to be helping me stay on course.

If most of us could stop when we reached the point of satiety, we'd never have become obese. I don't think, as a group, we have any idea of what an appropriate portion size looks like, nor do we know what the appropriate point to stop eating really is. We chase that feeling with more and more food.

I just think it's really bad advice to tell obese (or formerly obese) people to just continue eating until sated. We'll just eat way too much. I firmly believe the much better plan is to weigh a portion, and readjust our thinking to realize that THAT is what a proper amount of food really is, and not chasing an ephemeral full sensation.

I was concerned about my lack of restriction at first, too. I weighed and measured and didn't eat past the guidelines. I can't say I was actually hungry, but I never felt "full". Suddenly, last week at month 3...bam!! I'm not I've been hungry at all. I keep accidentally skipping meals because I have no hunger sensation at all. So maybe it's coming?