So you've learned you are capable of eating...

I think I’ve said this in posts before, but heck…why not repeat it.

 

I’ve seen a lot of posts from folks who have found they have the ability to eat a good amount of food. I can understand why this might freak you out. The surgery is supposed to take care of that, right?

Welcome to one of the most significant lessons you can learn post-RNY. You may be able to eat more than you think you should. Further, you may be able to eat things you think you should not be able to eat: sugar, bread, pasta.

 

That’s dangerous knowledge, especially in your first year as you’re learning the in’s and out’s of this new lifestyle. I can’t say I would have used that knowledge responsibly in my first year, to tell you the truth. That’s why I’m thankful for my initial restriction, dumping and many, MANY vomiting episodes. By month five I had a well established general phobia of food that precluded any pushing of limitations.

BUT if you find you can eat more than you thought you would be able to OR can eat things you thought would make you sick, take heart. You have a few defenses to help you.

 

1.      The element of CHOICE. This one is harder for newer folks to grasp (deep down…academically we know we have a choice but it doesn’t always feel like it). But you can choose NOT to eat as much as you are capable of eating. For most of us, it isn’t a matter of physical hunger that drives us to eat large portions after WLS. It’s not always head hunger either. Sometimes in the midst of a stall we seek to eat more. Or we accidentally eat more (I’ve done that…sat, talked, ate…and before I knew it the whole damn plate was gone!). Being conscious of your food choices is a tool you can use. It’s also a pain in the ass. Frankly, I don’t always WANT to think about how much or what I am eating. Sometimes I just want to eat. But this is the life I chose, so…

2.      I have this theory. It is unproven by science, but I think that EVERYONE has a limit with sugar. It’s just that some folks have higher thresholds than others. My former Bariatric Foodie partner, Jen, was a “non-dumper"…that is until she was mistakenly given a full-sugar Slurpee (thinking it was sugar free) and THAT was enough to cross that line. I don’t propose you all test to see where your line is, but simply assume you have one. And use that information to make responsible choices. (notice the recurrence of the word “choice"?)

3.      Barring special cir****tances, most of us don’t have gnawing hunger driving us to larger portions. I know that technically I’m good to go with three or four bites of food. I can feel that my physical hunger has been satisfied. I am also very cognizant of the fact that there is a threshold in my mind as well. I measure out a portion and I want to eat all of it. So I do. But technically if I only ate the three or four bites, I’d be fine. I would not die. I’d probably get hungry faster but that’d be  about the worst that would happen. Again, CHOICE. We choose to eat beyond our physical needs, even after WLS. Some of this is for necessity. We can’t sustain ourselves on tiny calorie diets so we sometimes have to eat a bit more than what our pouches say is enough. But those same choices can become distorted as time wears on. So cognizance…and CHOICES!

 

Am I making sense here? My main message is not to freak out about being able to eat or being able to eat so-called “off limits" foods. YOU are in control. You’re steering the ship. You have a choice. Make the right one!

 The "stopping while eating" thing is something I have to start practicing. What damn hurry am I in, really? Do I think the food's gonna sprout legs and run off my plate if I don't eat it in one fell swoop? Am I being timed for an olympic sport? I think part of it is waiting too long b/w meals - letting myself get so famished that I NEED to eat ASAP is just a recipie for disaster.
 Eat a few bites then STOP and reassess if that was enough or do I need more. Gotta do that.

Thank you for this wonderful post.  I guess when we go into this surgery a lot of us think our choices are made for us (I can't eat too much physically,.  I can't eat sugar, .)  It is good to be reminded we need to make these concious choices.... not just rely on the surgery to do it all for us.

I so needed this like 2 days ago....lol.  I'm going to print this out and keep it with me at my desk since it seems that most of my problems occur when I'm at work.  Thanks Nik

As always, you hit it out of the park!

I'm so glad I was terrified to even veer from the rules in year one....later I learned I can eat pretty much anything with little to no dumping issues....and I do have days where I cannot get enough to eat!  However, I still have the POWER to make a CHOICE.  And I do--sometimes the choice is better than others, but I still had the power.

Great post-thanks for educating me today. Very true!

Jen 10 yrs post op

I wanted to add, even though it scares some of us when we realize how much we can eat or that we can eat sugar or other foods we think we ought to avoid, it doesn't mean something is wrong with us or our surgery isn't working.  Surgery was not supposed to make us unable to eat, or make us get sick a lot when we ate, or make us unable to tolerate  lots of foods.  The fact that you can eat is a good thing.  That fact that you don't sick a lot when you eat is a good thing.  Your body is working normally.

Now we gotta do that head work to get our brains working normally, to go with our normally-functioning bodies.

that's the hard part... believing that "something" has changed and I am now able to beat the head games. Stopping when satisfied was never my strong point
My counselor has his hands full helping me lol