Question for vets re: restriction

I have a 36 french bougie and am 11 months out.  I can eat a 4 ounces of meat with 1/2 an ounce of cheese, and a few red pepper slices normally and on average..  However, I can eat a cup of gluten free lasagna or mac and cheese (rice based noodles), or 8 ounces of Fage yogurt sometimes, I guess because they slide more.  I can't do this every day.  For instance, tonight, I am stuffed on 1 ounce of cheese.  I've only been able to eat one ounce of meat for all three meals today.  I am stuffed today for unknown reasons.  I'll have to drink a protein shake later to get enough protein in.  My mileage varies.  But one cup of soft food on a hungry day or my period is my satisfied capacity, then there are the one ounce days like today.  Somewhere in the middle of the two extremes is my normal.

Also, I felt my capacity increase at 4 months post op, then another at around 8 months post op.

It was a very gradual process. At 5 months, I may have been eating 2 oz of dense protein. At almost 13 months out, I eat 3 oz of dense protein. I measure out 3 oz and keep it at that amount. I usually have room for a few bites of veggies, although, this can vary on daily basis. Some days, I can get in a little more veggies than other days.

Also, salmon and fish go down easier, than chicken or pork. I use salsa and/or avocado to help moisten the dense protein. I use a little avocado in place of mayo. Avocado is a healthy fat and is great in small amounts.

I can eat about 6 oz of Greek yogurt, but I usually eat it in stages, since I put about 1/2 cup of berries in it, along with about 1/3 cup of a high fiber cereal. I can't eat it all at once, so I eat about 1/2 and have the rest for a snack an hour or two later.

I think that my capacity really jumped at around 8 or 9 months out, although it still varies tremendously day-by-day.  I still have about 3 or 3.5 oz of protein (depending on the day and the protein) but fill the rest up with veggies (usually red pepper, tomatos, roasted eggplant, cucumber).  I worry about people eating so little (2 oz of protein beyond the first few months)... because I don't believe that it is a realistic plan for the long term... and what happens when the dieting phase is over and we enter into maintenance.  We need to be able to eat until we are satisfied - healthy, lower calorie and high protein foods - so that we learn what that feels like and become capable of eating that way for the future.

That's my two cents, anyway :)

Hally

I understand your concerns about the 2 ounces, but I think too, for me - my reasonings for learning to be satisfied with small amounts came from the ways I saw that people were UNsuccessful (in their own eyes, in their own words).

I never asked people how they were successful, like so many folks do, when I was finding my way on how to be successful - I went back to the failed surgery and revision surgery boards and looked at why folks considered themselves unsuccessful or why/how they gained their weight back.

Aside from letting danger foods back in their lives, a big thing I saw was letting themselves eat until full (I know that full and satisfied are not the same - but I had to teach my stomach a new "satisfied" because it only knew "FEED ME" and "sleep") then when/if they became sick or injured - they did not know how to scale back their calories to accommodate less movement in their life - and by the same token, they did not know how to increase calories without either increasing volume OR adding foods that were dangerous to them - and regaining a habit that had been lost to them. 

So, for me, regular small meals, knowing how to manipulate my calories without manipulating my volume hugely or adding in foods that are nothing but the road back to obesity (because of *my* poor reaction to those foods) is an insurance policy of sorts. 

So, for me that is a big part of my "why continue with small meals."  Which absolutely does not negate anyone else's reasons for their choices, it just solidifies for me why this is wisdom for me *and the way I am!*

As I mentioned above, I found the concept of eating until satisfied to be a little hard for me to adjust to. It's what I do now, but for so long I had defined "satisfied" as "can't stuff another bite in" that adjusting that thinking was a big growing process for me.

I do agree with you about danger foods. After reading some of the books you recommended (especially The Thin Commandments) I've decided that pasta is probably a box out and most other "soft white carbs" (bread, mashed potatoes, ice cream) are going to be only out on special occasions foods. I just don't think I can introduce these back as a normal part of my life without letting them gradually take back the control I'm working so hard to transfer to myself.

I know right now I'm content with the types of foods I eat. Not excited maybe, but that's OK - keeps me from being as food-driven as I was. But if I went back to those foods, I think I'd find it really hard to stop and go back again to where I am now. So...I eat boring and let other things provide more of the excitement and pleasure in my life, and stop relying on food to do it.

Me too, re: satisfied.  That's why, for me, measured amounts are helpful, because it takes the quibble away.  I know X portion is enough calorically and size wise- and therefore that is satisfactory!  Feeling "satisfaction" in my belly, for me, is going to be affected by a lot of things, how hard I worked out, my mood, am I insane with work, have I had enough sleep.  This, too, is why intuative eating, I just cannot see taking the gamble on.  I have the diet power program that tells me - your bmr is X, to be the weight you have told me by X time, with what you have consumed, output and weighed in the past X is what you need to eat, and when I tell it I did X activities, it tells me "add X many more calories"  It takes guesswork out of it for me, and helps me focus on things, that for me, need more attention than they would get if I were paying rent on "was that enough, will it be enough, am I full, is this satisfied, what if I lift weight today, then what ?"  I get that not everybody has that process, but I do, and its worth not paying that rent for me!

I thinkk how you are is very much how I am.  I also KNOW that not everyone is like us and that is groovy, it really is!  For me the peace of mind is priceless - not having to spend so much time and energy on food thoughts.  Its not good or bad, its just the way I am!  :} 

Update: today is my 3 year anniversary so I did the cottage cheese test. I got to 5.75 oz before I decided I didn't want to shove any more in. I think I could have gotten in 6 if I had felt more up to it. (I still had slightly less than a minute to go.)

I've been getting results in the 5.5 to 6.5 oz. range ever since I started doing this test at 7 months out so this jives with my feeling that my restriction hasn't really changed since then, only the way I am eating.

As an example, sometimes I get a single serving of chicken & string beans at Panda Express. Usually I can't fini**** but usually I eat most of the chicken out of it before I start on the veggies. Thursday I finished one. But I just ate from the top down. I have noticed that, if you eat something slider-y with something dense, you can eat more of it and this is exactly what happened. If I fill up on the chicken, I can't eat as much as when I mix the chicken with the veggies.

I want to do the cottage cheese test tomorrow morning.  What is the allotted time when eating it for the test?  I'll post my results.  I hope, like you, I will see no change in the years that follow.

Is large curd OK to use?

This page describes the whole thing:

Bariatric Resource Center: A4 The Cottage Cheese Test, BSCI Articles, A4

Thanks for the link! 
I bought the cottage cheese, so we shall see the results in the morning!