Satiety - what is your feeling of "full" after VSG?

I want to encourage as many people (yes, that means the daily non posting readers, too!) to respond to this personal survey of mine.

My sense of full has changed since VSG. I no longer get the same sense of satiety as I did when my anatomy was unaltered. I remember reading about "restriction" prior to VSG and I had a belief that restriction meant I would feel my sense of fullness eating very little food. NOT THE CASE.

My therapist has asked me more than once that if I had known about this major change prior to VSG would I have still gone through with it. My answer is "Yes". However, there is a hesitancy with that conviction. The only sense of full I really have now is when I've eaten a tad more than maybe I should have and I can feel a pressure on my esophageal sphincter.

Please, if you're willing to share, what is your feeling of full?

The strength of my restriction is in direct proportion to the density of the protein, with a spectrum of nuances. For me, steak yields a quicker/more powerful restriction than hamburg...chicken breast more so than chicken thighs. Sauces, sides (moisture content) all factor in.

When I eat dense protein first, I do feel a heaviness and a sensation of pushing up against something. Bites of salad, vegetables, rice, some soup skews this sensation and I feel pressure on my esophagus as my restriction chimes in. The times I alternate bites of different types of food is when I usually don't feel the restriction until I'm beginning to feel uncomfortable (often nauseous).

This is why I often eat my dense protein before adding bites of other food.

My challenge to you is this: Paint the physical sensation of your "restriction" or sense of "full" with words. Where is that "heaviness" felt? Where do you feel the the pushing up - in your throat?

I'm curious because I have no in between feelings of fullness. I have "empty" and that too full feeling when there is pressure on my esophageal sphincter - which is pretty yucky, even when mild.

Diane describes what I feel too more or less. I remember telling people I n my first year after WLS that "full" was different then it used to be. Diane's description of heaviness is as good as any other. When I get there I feel I HAVE to stop eating as opposed to the old full when I could pu**** and get more full. I probably feel that way because I did go beyond a couple of times and got terribly nauseous, a feeling I avoid at all costs. It happens pretty quickly with dense protein, eggs and cottage cheese. It actually will happen with an English muffin with peanut butter, but not bread alone.

So I just had breakfast (eggs, cottage cheese and Canadian bacon) and I am feeling very "full". I know it is different than the pre-WLS feeling but after almost 2 years my brain definitely identifies it as being "full", as in I can't put another bite in without peril. Hard to really define it otherwise. It does make me sit up straighter though to alleviate it a bit.

I guess that "different" than the pre VSG full feeling is what I'm after. I'd like to know how it's different for you. Can you describe really what you feel now? I know it's hard to paint a feeling with words, but I really do want to know.

I can feel hunger, but I need to be really empty to feel real hunger. If I'm at a dog show, it is not uncommon for me to have gone 12, 16, even 18 hours without eating. The sense of hunger is fairly mild most times.

For me there is no registering of full. I used to have a sense of fullness along the way when eating. I was a volume eater and became quite adept at knowing when my sweet spot of fullness was. There was a pleasant sensation in my gut when I got to the sweet spot.

Six years post VSG, I am used to the new full, but I do miss the ability to gauge as I go. I also do miss the pleasant feeling of full. Probably an emotional issue when it comes down to it. Certainly worth exploring, IMO.

What is my feeling of full?

At 3.5 years post-VSG, I do get full. And I feel full.

My full feeling feels pleasant, warm, comfortable, relaxed (the opposite of anxious). Please notice those terms are pretty much about my emotional feelings, not my physical sensations.

And now for some physical sensations: Again, my mid-section feels "warm" (temperature-wise), my stomach (sleeve) feels like it's filled up with contents that are pressing on the walls of my sleeve, as though nothing more would fit comfortably inside my sleeve. At this point I don't think there's any food stacking up in my esophagus, but there's a little fullness in my throat that lets me know I've reached a stopping point.

As you know, these days I eat at least 8 veggies and fruits a day, so there's a lot of fiber going into my sleeve and hanging out there for a while. The majority (but not all) of my V/Fs are raw, so the fiber is crunchy and raw, so there's an even bigger "fiber effect."

I eat about 100 grams of protein daily, and I usually eat the protein first, even if it's one of the pre-made Healthy Choice Power Bowls I eat often for supper. So I imagine that to some degree eating protein first slows down the passage of all food from my sleeve to my upper small intestine.

I also eat as slowly as I can -- stretching my meals out to 25-30 minutes. I chew my food well, take smaller bites, and wait longer between bites. These behaviors by themselves give my brain a chance to catch up with my appetite and help me feel satiety in time to stop eating more food than I intended to eat.

I also stop drinking at least 15 minutes (usually longer) before meals and don't drink after meals for at least 30 minutes (often it's longer than that). I think (but can't prove) that these behaviors help me feel satiated (fuller) for a bit longer than I would if I washed all my food down with liquids.

I'm not one who's ever thrown up post-op. Heck, I didn't throw up pre-op either. But I do sometimes feel slimies when I've eaten too much. That's always "interesting" in that I feel like, "Oh, I wasn't paying attention there!" or "Wow, that food fills me up faster or more severely than other foods seem to do."

Finally, I could eat a whole bag or sleeve of Milano double dark chocolate cookies and NEVER feel satiated. There's something about a lot of sugar that throws off ALL my post-sleeve satiety signals. I don't understand what happens chemically and/or biologically, but the result is as if sugar breaks my "feels full" mechanism.

That's all I've got, Devon. If you'd like clarification, please ask. I may not have any ready answers, but I'll try my best to dig deeper.

Thanks a lot!

It is interesting to me to read the different physical feelings people have. I also like that you include the emotional component that accompanies satiety. I know for me that at the very beginning of my post VSG life I had moments of not wanting to be finished. I wanted one more, two more, three more bites. Of course, I could not because my sleeve was quite small then. I began to understand how emotionally driven that "hunger" was and the wanting more when I was physically sated went away. The "one more bite" syndrome returns only when I eat sweet/fat combos.

Interesting, too, how you cite your eating behaviors. I'm not sure how the behaviors link with the physical feeling, but I certainly understand the nerve brain connection. I don't drink after meals either. Usually for an hour or so. I do drink right up to a meal though. I was told by my 2 VSG docs that it takes 5 minutes for the sleeve to fully empty of clear liquid, so right up to 5 minutes prior to a meal is fine. Perhaps I might rethink this.

Milano cookies - by the time they hit your gut, they are already in liquid form. They are so processed that they liquify quickly in the mouth and enter the sleeve as a thick liquid. I can eat a sleeve, too, with little consequence. However, I am proud to say, I have NEVER eaten an entire sleeve in one sitting since VSG. Damn close, but never the whole damn thing! LOL!

Oh, I'm a non puker, too! Slimies, yes. Barf, no!

I rarely felt full pre-VSG (my surgeon said my stomach was "enormous". High praise indeed!). Basically full then meant tired of eating and sleepy.

Now full is a feeling that if I kept eating, it's going to hurt. The hurt is a stretching feeling in my stomach combined with feeling like food might be waiting in my esophagus to get into my stomach. I feel it most when I take a breath, like my lungs and my stomach are jockeying for real estate. Very unpleasant. Like overfilling a gas tank.

Thanks!

I relate. My stomach was/is long. Because of that my capacity is a little more than I would like.

I have never felt the it's going to hurt feeling thing.... I do very much understand the esophagus feeling. I feel like something is pushing up to get out. I can't lie flat if that happens. It's far too uncomfortable.

I would very much like to understand the stretched feeling people describe.