amounts of food after surgery

I am new to this site and am looking for advise.  I had surgery Feb 4, 2014, I was told to measure food at 1/4 cup, before eating.  I was still hungery, so I have moved up to 1/2 cup. Is this normal??? I don't want to stretch out my stomach. I have lost 50lbs since surgery, seems to be coming off more slowly now. I have come so far, no more insulin or meds for Diabetis.  Worried I am going to mess this up.  Am I the only one who thinks about food all the time????

What did your Dr say about you doubling your portion sizes?

I don't think it really matters if  your behavior is "normal" or not. 

If you were told to measure out 1/4 cup of food and you've arbitrarily doubled that amount, non-compliance is your problem.  We can't help you with that.

The best course of action is to do what you've been told to do by your weight loss surgeon/team.  There are many different eating plans, just as there are many different surgeons.  You chose the program and surgeon - it's your responsibility to do as they instruct or deal with the consequences.  And yes, you should be worried about messing things up if you're not going to follow instructions.

Just my opinion, but you probably need to talk to your surgeon or WLS team and tell them what you've been doing and why (ie, that you're hungry).  Do it sooner rather than later, like right NOW.   Don't allow yourself to get any farther afield, or I can tell you that you absolutely will be dealing with either re-gain or not meeting your goals. 

I'm not trying to be mean, but I am trying to be very, very honest.  Non-compliance with program restrictions is a huge red-flag.  In the beginning (kinda like where you are at only 3+ months out) the weight will come off pretty much no matter what you do.  If you don't use this time to develop a new and better way of eating, you're setting yourself up for failure.  And none of us want to see that for you or for anyone.

Call  your surgeon or nutritionist and just be really honest.  Get it straightened out and move forward.  It would be very unusual for your stomach to have stretched this early out so you're probably gonna do just fine after you make some adjustments.

Best of luck to you.

I agree with the others.  While every surgeon has a little different plan, you should follow your surgeon's plan as he gave it to you.  It is important because if you can't stick to things now, this early, you will probably have even more problem sticking to the rules later on.  We don't want that for you!

I don't know what sort of surgery you had because you don't say, but most of them usually do away with the true hunger feeling for about 18 months or so. Your new feeling of full might be simply feeling like there is a bit of a knot where your pouch is.  I also get the hiccups often when I hit my full stage.   I will tell you that at 3 1/2 months, 1/4 cup is not an unreasonable amount.  Many plans seem follow this plan.  Some plans will be at 1/2 cup by now, others still at 1/4 cup.

You are probably feeling cravings or what is usually called "head hunger".  This is not your stomach asking for food.  This is your brain and subconscious saying that you couldn't possibly be full because you didn't eat very much.  This is habit.  Pretty much everyone battles this in some form or another.  The fight is different for everyone and easier or harder for each of us.

Remember, this is the time for you to build your new habits for a new lifetime of healthy eating.  Each surgeon has reasons for the plan they follow and they vary widely. Please - re-read the rules yours gave you and follow them.  You owe it to yourself to do whatever you can to make this a success for you!

Good luck and hang in there.  It really sounds like you are doing good overall.

Also - I just wanted to say that yes, I think about food a LOT more than I did before surgery.  It is slacking off some now, but having to make sure you don't go too long without eating, getting the protein and fluids in, not drinking with or after meals... yeah - that planning of meals and such did take up a lot of my thoughts.  Right now, it is finally becoming more of a habit with me so that I am making good choices without having to pre-plan so much.

I think about food a LOT, and frankly I make better choices when I think ahead. If I have a day when I'm very busy and let myself get hungry before I start thinking about food, I'm far more apt to eat whatever is quick and easy instead of 'better' foods that require some preparation.

As for doubling the amount of food you're eating---which form of WLS did you have? Do you drink with your meals? What, specifically, are you eating? How often are you eating?

After 1/4 cup protein, you should then eat veggies - not more protein.  

Check out Eggface's site for recipes.  

Cook up some zuccinni noodles, spaghetti squash or mushrooms.  

Stick to your doctor's plan. 

After 1/4 cup protein, you should then eat veggies - not more protein.

Really? Why? Who told you this?

This makes absolutely NO sense. Most people struggle to get in enough protein, so why should she eat veggies instead of more protein?

I have a slightly different take on this.  What type of surgery did you have?  I am only talking from a sleeve point of view.  If you are eating 1/4 cup of food and you don't think it is enough there are a couple of things I would look at first.  1.  Are you taking an antacid?  Acid in your stomach can mimic hunger.  2. When you say you are eating 1/4 cup of food, are eating soft foods or dense protein?  3.  You really might be hungry and need to up your intake. 4.  Are you hitting your daily protein goals?

I did not measure my food by cups.  I measured and still do measure by oz.  I have a plate that I put on my scale, zero out the plate and then add my food and zero out again if I need to weigh something else.  I personally don't like the cups way to measure because depending how it is cut up will vary on how much actual food you are getting.  I also found out that if I ate dense protein, like chicken, steak, pork chops, these foods stayed with me longer than yogurt and cottage cheese.  Once I realized that and started concentrating on eating more dense protein, I started having real success and didn't think about being hungry.  It was about 3 -4  months out that I upped my intake/calories.  I was eating 400-600 calories with a goal of at least 70 grams of protein, it took me until about 6 month**** this rountinely.  The type of food that you are eating will make a huge difference in how hungry you are.

Congrats on coming off your meds.