10 months out and getting paranoid

I feel very full right now.  I just ate 5 (baked) chicken wings.  I didn't weigh them for ounces because obviously I wouldn't get an accurate number with the bone and who peels off all the chicken from wings prior to eating them? Lame excuse, I know, but I feel like I overate.  I don't feel like I'm going to throw up and my stomach isn't in severe pain or anything though.  What does overeating feel like with the sleeve?  I think I may have gone too far a few times in the last few weeks.  I know I know, measure/weigh/portion my meals.  I try my best but it's not *always* an option.  Sometimes I need to rely on my intuition.  It works most of the time but sometimes I just miss FOOD and I eat what seems like just a couple bites too many.  I'm freaked out that I'm stretching my sleeve.  I know that regular overeating stretches the sleeve but I can't find any specifics anywhere online as to *how much* or *how often* overeating will cause the sleeve to stretch.  Be that as it may, my goal is to change the behavior rather than justify it by saying "well it's only happened a couple times so I'm good."  I feel like it's only been a couple times but it has probably happened more times than I realize.

Part of the problem is now that I'm *nearly* 10 months post op I can eat more than I could at 3 months.  It used to be SO easy.  2 oz of dense protein and I was done.  Simple.  But now I'm getting in more vegetables and I can fit in more protein and it's freaking me out.  I'm really enjoying salad now and lettuce goes down easy.  Should I stop eating salad? I used to only be able to fit 1-2 chicken wings and today I ate 5.  That scares the hell outta me.  I feel like I should still be eating 2 oz of protein and be done with it.  But my appetite disagrees.

For those of you who are 9+ months post op, how many ounces are you eating now?  Are you experiencing the same paranoia as me at times?

I weigh my meals to be 4-5 ounces and, for the most part, this suits me.  If I ever start to feel hungry, I take Nexium for 2 weeks and then I'm not hungry anymore.  

Sadly, of course, I still like to eat, I still can eat, and food still calls to me.  But I'm working on those things with therapy and I know that it will be a never-ending process to improve the way I've wired myself from years of misuse.  

This is probably a dumb question, but why does Nexium make you non-hungry?  I don't know much about it.

Not dumb at all!  It was something I didn't know until I had lurked for a while here.  A lot of the times, what we feel as hunger is actually stomach acid.  It's not real hunger.  Nexium is a proton pump inhibitor, so it reduces stomach acid.  For me, I've found that when I start feeling unusual hunger, it's cleared up with a 2-week course of Nexium.  I don't take it all the time, but every 3-4 months I take it for 2 weeks.  

I'm 9.5 months out and I worry too.  I've over eaten a few times and actually felt so full that I made myself throw up so that I would feel better.  I've learned my lesson though, and it hasn't happened again in over a month.  I've eaten chicken wings...but I think I stopped at 4.  My answer to my problem has been to eat slower.  I think it takes a bit for the message to get to your brain that you are full and in our case, if the message comes a bite or two too late, we are miserable.  So, if you eat slower you'll realize that you are full before you take that extra bite.  As for how much I can eat...when I measure my protein and just eat protein I can eat about 3 oz.  Sometimes less, sometimes more (I don't know why it varies but it does).  I don't eat many veggies because I don't like them, so I don't have any advice about that.

It's good to know I'm not the only one.  Perhaps slowing down will be a good idea for me.  I've always eaten fast but now that I'm not weighing my food as often as I used to I should definitely be more aware of how fast I'm eating because it's true that sometimes just an extra couple bites is what puts me over the edge.  Thanks for the response.

Amy, if you think you are over eating then you probably are. If you are asking yourself then it is a good indicator and it means that you are more aware than you want to admit to yourself but at the same time you know what is at stake here and you don't want to lie to yourself. You don't want to go into denial which is why you are reaching out. So yeah, peel the meat off of those wings and weigh. Who does that? I do. And it is STILL hard. I STILL managed to bagel on five lbs in the last three months. I have been stepping on the scale hoping that the numbers will just change as if by magic. But we all know that there is no such thing as magic. The sleeve really is a great and wonderful tool but it is all really on us. What and how much we put in our mouths is all on us. What you think is paranoia is not that at all. It is your inner alarm bells being sounded. Listen to yourself. It happens to most of us. Some catch it in time and some end up at the 3X rack again. Let's not go there! It sucks that it is like this and what's more, it is like this for life. The sooner we accept that fact, make peace with it and take charge, the better we will live. Hopefully long and healthy.

Thanks for your response.  I shall listen to my inner alarm bells!

Most of the successful people I know who have had surgery are the ones who still weigh and measure years after their surgeries or they measure at least once a month to make sure they are still on track with eyeballing things. This is something you will need to do forever if you want to keep the weight off.

Most veggies don't have alot of calories so I wouldn't worry about them as long as you are getting your protein in first. As for lettuce you can eat alot without worrying much about it because again it doesn't have lots of calories. I use it to kind of fill up on, I eat most of the protein first then work on the lettuce part of the salad so when I start to get the full feeling I can just stop there and be done.

Your stomach will stretch to hold maybe an ounce or two more over time but shouldn't stretch much more than that. A mature sleeve shouldn't stretch a huge amount.

I find different foods fill me up at different rates.  I eat a decent amount of rotiserie chicken and for a meal I'll have a leg and a wing w/ veggies or a thigh and veggies.  I find that the thigh fills me up WAY more than the wing.  IDK why.

I do not weigh my food at all -- I don't really even measure.  While at home or bringing things into work, I use small plates, tuperwear & silver wear.  This keeps my meals to less than a cup in volume.  I don't tend to overeat in these situations bc I serve myself the right amount.  

When I am out I do find that I can eat more.  I have stressed over this as well.  You will not stretch your sleeve unless you overeat consistently.  Try more dense protein than chicken wings -- try steak or chicken breasts.  I bet you will be surprised at how 3 ounces can keep you happy!