FEELING DISCOURAGED (BUT SHOULD I BE?)

Jeannie,

You have to live with yourself, not your not...she's not living in your body.

Okay with that said, try maybe a new food every two to three days...give it a bite, see if it stays down, if it does, try another bite. If it stays down, you've added another food to your list...Keep doing that til you have a long list of new foods. :)

While at work, keep your portions small and don't worry about your new foods...keep to the tried and true for that meal. And there is NOTHING wrong with having protein drinks at all...Maybe have that for your 10 min meal?

I know what you mean about not being hungry...I have times like that, I had them pre-op as well. I have to make myself eat and that's hard. When that happens, I find something that is light or maybe drink tea. I know it's not food but sometimes it is all I want.

You do need to stop before feeling full and "vomiting" as that can hurt your esphogus and can cause damage which might lead to an ulcer. Find your "full" signal. Mine is sneezing. :) Some people burb. But most of us have one.

Liz

Jeanne, I was at that same place about 8 weeks out (and about 13 months ago).

I finally added another milk-based shake, as well as tossed some protein into my greek yogurt, and eased up on the dense proteins for a while, especially if work was a crazy day. The combination allowed me to get in more calories and more protein without irritating my pouch/esophagus.

At about 12 weeks, everything calmed down and I could start adding in the dense protein the nut wanted and cutting back on the shakes.

A nurse friend who had RNY explained to me one day when I was upset by how precarious my pouch was that it's literally like a baby's stomach. The part of the stomach they make into our pouch has literally never had food "sitting" on it before. Using it as a pouch is touching all kinds of nerves (that are already jangled from surgery) that are sending "alert! alert! Intruder!!" messages to your brain and causing the upset.

Let things heal a bit longer - some people DO heal right up, and others of us take longer - and you'll be fine.

Rebecca, I love your analogies.  I'm still laughing over the one about stalls being your body reacting to the surgery, thinking it was falling off a cliff, and screaming "WTF?" 

LOL!  Yeah, my friends and I tend to wordsmith a lot.  And analogies are just plain FUN.

 its funny  some of us have " cast iron  " pouches and some have " sensitive baby " pouchies lol.... 

mine is of the cast iron variety .  My problem is  I could probably eat huge whole plates of FOOD until I start SNEEZING if I forget myslef ...  I can dump and get the ow ow ouchies all night l ong  and into the next day  easily ....and of course being able to eat a lot  bring s the old eating addiction forward again  that got me  here in the first place .....

so I would RATHER  have a sensitive tummy lol !! 

well maybe ... then again i love salad n veggies n fruit ...don't U crave THOSE ?  Id so  be sneaking in a bite of berry  here and papaya there .. 

31 pounds down in 8 weeks and they are complaining that you are not doing enough?  Every plan is definitely different.  Mine calls for only protein and no carbs except vegetables until 75% of the excess weight is gone.  And I think I was still on pureed food for the first 4 weeks.  I've taken to nodding my head when I see the nutritionist and then doing what feels right anyway. (Then again, my scale hasn't moved in a while LOL)

Be gentle to yourself and try to figure out what makes you throw up.  For me I found spicy, very hot (as in heat) and very cold (like ice) are the worst offenders.  I try to remember to order my water at restaurants without ice now.

Congrats on your success so far- I know it will continue.
Janet

At a year out I stiill don't take in much more than 3/4 c at a time. Also still supplement with protein, usually with my Greek Yogurt chocolate pudding and Miralax concoction. Many of us will have a lot of foods that will never go down-chicken has caused issues for me more than once, and a gal in our support group cannot tolerate beef in any form, including ground. Make sure your vitamins, fluids,  and protein are at the required levels and weight will absolutely come off. Trying new foods is highly overated, IMHO. (BTW it is hilarious when someone-my husband- has spent 30 years telling you not too eat too much and now switches to nagging you to eat more. Just needs sometihing to nag about, I think?)

Wait - do we have the same husband????