How's YOUR restriction doing?

I'm nibblish all evening, too. Some cheese slices or popcorn usually does the trick for me. When I get tired of eating and still feel munchy, I chew on sf peppermint gum (never in public, Mom!)

 I'm in the "what restriction" group.  Im about 18 months postop and since about 8 months out Id say, Ive been able to eat a normal meal.  About the same amount as I could preop, but, I was NEVER a volume eater preop...  And NOW, I can eat that meal, and then be hungry again in a few hours and eat again...  For example-

at a steakhouse- I can eat 1-2 pieces of bread with butter, 3/4 of my salad (I always share it with BabyBean), my entire 6-8oz steak, and most of my extra loaded mashed potatoes.  I can also often share a desert 3 ways, and suck down 1-2 drinks (water or Diet Coke) in that same sitting.

Tonight I had a bowl of cottage cheese with a small plum chopped into it at 6pm.  Then an hour later- for dinner I had a HUGE taco salad with at least a cup of meat, 1/2 cup of cheese, big scoop of sour cream, lettuce, tomato, onion, salsa, guac, and a handful of tortilla chips crunched up.  Since dinner at 7pm, Ive also had a handful of potato chips with french onion dip, one knock off Oreo (was icky, hence only one), a string cheese, and just sent DH out for McD's.  I'll have a McChicken sandwich and a small fry.  

I pretty much eat nonstop.  Tonight was definitely a carb overload, and more carbs than I would usually have in a day, but I'm PMSing, feeling cruddy, and was craving stuff after being fed hospital crap for almost a week.  I thank God everyday for my malabsorption.  I actually lost about 10lbs in the hospital, even though they fed me nothing but carby crap and pumped me full of IV fluids.  Seriously, the ONLY protein I got in there was my shakes...

While I do have restriction during the day, I noticd NO restriction whatsoever at breakfast time.  I can almost eat as much as my boyfriend.  A typical breakfast might be two fried eggs, 4 pieces of bacon, and two corn tortillas deep fried.  Well, re-reading that I suppose I would have eaten more preop...like maybe snuck a couple more pieces of bacon while cooking "for" the family and probably another tortilla and a side of hashbrowns too.  So, I guess it's less...but a heck of a lot more than I can eat at other times of the day.

This has been fun reading everyone's responses.  Now I'm craving steak.  You're not going to believe this, but I think I've had steak ONCE since my divorce in April of 2010.  I've eaten about 90% chicken, eggs, and cheese for my protein and the other 10% ground beef.  I may just have to splurge this weekend. :)

 I was thinking of this post this morning, as I eat breakfast.....two eggs, a HALF A POUND of bacon, and one slice of low-carb toast! 

Felica, I think my meal would be about the same as yours, except instead of the six piece chicken nuggets mine would have to be 2 grilled thighs from KFC.  Since my DS I am horribly gluten intolerant so the breading just would not work.  It's probably my only regret with the DS 'cause it makes ordering out very difficult (also because I don't eat beef.)  It's probably a good thing that my restriction is not any greater, 'cause I get all my protein from food (can't do shakes, lactose intolerant.)

-Jenny

I never completely lost my restriction, but at 2 years+, I could easily go out and eat an entire Red Robin burger plus a couple galsses of light strawberry lemonade and a few fries. Pre-op, I could have easily added an appetizer and dessert, so while the original meal I described is still a full meal by anyone's standards, it's still less than I could eat before.

However, since I've become pregnant, my restriction has come back full force. I'm only in my first trimester, so baby is only like 1.5" long, so it's not like it's squishing my organs around yet or anything, but, to stay consistent with the same example, we went to Red Robin the other night, and I'm completely full now off of some french onion soup (no bread/croutons, leave most of the actual onions behind at the bottom of the bowl) and 4 mozzarella sticks. STUFFED. And nothing to drink. I don't intentionally avoid drinking with meals, and I always order a glass of water, but I just don't have room for water on top of my food.

I'm just shy of 2.5 years out.

At 20 months out I can eat two pieces of bacon and half an egg at one sitting.  Or the whole egg and one piece of bacon.  So I still have pretty good restriction.  As for nuggets it would probably be two at one time.

So I was highly restricted for a lonnng time. I would say 18 months was around when I finally was able to start eating a meal and not bites.

My restriction is just like most I heard, not consistent and depending on how carby the meal is as well. I never finish a meal out, even if I order a child's size. Another factor I didn't hear mentioned is something I deal with...sensitive DS stomach. I never know when I'll try something that the tummy will deem unfit and reject. Last night, I had a fried pickle spear dipped in delicious sauce as an appetizer, I threw up in the parking lot, on the way home, at home and right before bed still had pickles chunks come up. It is why I usually don't want to try something new in public because I love my food too much to pay for it and lose it.  (however I had gator bites the weekend before dipped in roumalade and they were to die for)

On a day where I am not super restricted:
B-2-3 slices of bacon, a scrambled eggs with cheese on WW toast after already drinking a double shake.
L-I can eat a entire can of tuna w/mayo on about 3-6 wheat crackers. However...if I were to put that same tuna on bread, it'd be half.
S-an entire tub of yogurt
D-chicken leg quarter and a few bites of sides
S-fruit

On a day where I am feeling restriction:
B-double protein shake
L-1/2 can tuna, 1-2 WW crackers
S-1/2 tub yogurt
D-chicken thigh
S-prob none.

 Not much restriction left here either.