Healthy fears or unhealthy obsessions??

I had my sleeve done on 8/24, I have lost 24 pounds since surgery, 44 pounds total. I feel great and am getting lots of positive feedback on my weight loss. But I really struggle with a constant fear of messing this up, stretching the pouch, etc. I went out for lunch for a work meeting the other day and ordered the crab cake and eggs. I cut the crab cake in half and ate half an egg and was very full. When I got home with the leftovers and weighed the crab cake I realized I had eaten 3oz plus the half egg (I was guessing 2oz of crab). Then I was freaked out the whole evening that I had permanently stretched the pouch and ruined everything. I've had other similar obsessive thoughts.

My question is if others have had similar experiences? I always want to be aware and cautious, but am I freaking too much? I am so excited to have this weight coming off and don't want to jeopardize my chance at a healthy lifestyle!

Well...I'd call it a freakout. We all do that at the start. Think of it like driving your brand new car off the lot. For the first month you park it at the back of the lot, drive like you have an invisible wall around you. It's good to be cautious but you will need to relax and learn to live/respect your little pouch for a lifetime. At your early stage it is helpful to measure out our food then eat mindfully.

A good tool to use when you are out is your hand as a form of measurement. For instance your thumb is about the size of an oz. of solid protien, your palm without fingers is about 3oz. of solid protien - you get the idea. Play with your scale & hand - then you can always stay in control.

Healthy fears and healthy obsessions.....

If your not obsessing a little bit, your not trying hard enough !!!!

My observation is that the people that obsess do better than the people that take a more lax and liberal approach.

The first part of this is a lot of "learn and adjust"..... the long term part of this has a lot of learn and adjust.

My guess is that you were closer to 2oz. of crab cake by "volume". I'm not telling you to stop weighing because that's how you should be calculating proteins.

The reality is that your sleeved stomach was sized for "volume" not weight. Your sleeve does not measure by weight, it measures by volume.

Sleeve stretching happens with constant over eating...... think, major discomfort.

More importantly (my thought) is that typical crab cakes have a lot of carbs. Crab cakes tend to have lots filler, mostly of bread crumbs for a binder. Sauce is the other thing carbs hide in. If the sauce is the least bit thick, it generally gets the thickness from flour or corn starch mixed with a fat..... typically butter.

I share this info with you not to obsess, but to learn and adjust.

Always be aware and cautious !!!

frisco

Thank you Frisco! I've seen many of your posts here and admire your outlook and your success!

i agree it probably wasn't the perfect choice, I am still working on eating out in general. I'm sure a time will come when I will enjoy it again but right now it is a source of stress. I feel like I'm not in control and it makes me anxious. Living and learning!!

Everything frisco said.

If you've browsed much in this forum, you may have noticed that many sleevers tend to "undereat" their sleeve; that is, they don't eat until they feel stuffed. This habit has two benefits -- 1. You never have to worry about "stretching" your sleeve; 2. You don't have to worry that you've eaten too many calories. Careful "undereating" demands careful measuring to make sure you're still getting enough nutrition.

Obsessing at this point is good. You're still at the stage where you and your sleeve are getting to know each other. This is a good time to set the good habits of measuring/weighing your food and keeping a food log, if you're not doing so already. As frisco noted, sleevers must always pay careful attention to food choices and amounts. It's not an obsession; it's a necessity.

psychoticparrot

Early out when I went out to eat I seriously under ate. I would have a bite or two of something then wait. Then I'd have a bite or two more and wait. Usually 4 bites total was all I would have when out to eat with friends until I was about 12 weeks out.

I felt very insecure about eating anything I had not measured by volume or weighed out. My first meal out was breakfast and I ordered scrambled egg. I ate about 3 bites and could not eat a bite more. I didn't feel full at all, but I could just tell it was sitting there. 3 bites also gave me indigestion.

I also was told by my surgical team to NOT TRUST my body to tell me when enough was enough for the first 3 months because the nerves in my new sleeve were healing and not reliable.

Fear and obsession are a good thing in my book, if not carried to extreme. I have noticed that people who are more obsessive tend to get to goal with very few hiccups along the way.

Bit of advice: When eating out choose dense protein that will shut your pyloric valve on the first bite. It's very hard to over eat dense protein. Also, don't lubricate the protein with sauces. You can eat more if the meat goes down more easily.

Thank you so much and I agree...if I could control my own eating I doubt I would have needed WLS to begin with. I am tracking my food with My Fitness Pal and imagine I will always do so. I don't think I could be successful without tracking, with or without sleeve. It's going great so far, I'm just afraid this is a dream that will be taken away from me! :)

Thank you so much and I agree...if I could control my own eating I doubt I would have needed WLS to begin with. I am tracking my food with My Fitness Pal and imagine I will always do so. I don't think I could be successful without tracking, with or without sleeve. It's going great so far, I'm just afraid this is a dream that will be taken away from me! :)