How do you know when you've had enough?

It happens to all of us at one time or another as we make this journey. We eat one bite too many and live to regret it. Early on, I thought "OMG, what have I done!? I can't believe that I'll have eat like this the rest of my life!" The good news is that it gets better, much better. Part of that is learning to know when you've had enough. Part comes through your pouch healing and maturing.

So, how do YOU know when you've had enough? Have you learned to recognize the signals your body is sending you to let you know you have had enough? If you over-eat do you get sick or just feel awful. Do you recognize the 'if you take another bite you'll be sorry' feeling before you take that bite?

Just after surgery, pretty much regardless of the surgery type and then again after fills for banders, you might find that you can only take in what seems like a tablespoon or two before you get the ‘OMGoodness’ feeling telling you that you've crossed the line. For people that had their surgery a while ago, they realize that they can now eat more than they used and that can be scary.

Right after surgery, you can likely only eat an ounce or two before you will have filled the tiny, swollen pouch that you fought so hard to get. You may also have had some of the nerves that will ‘signal’ you that you are full cut and that may impact your ability ‘sense’ that feeling of fullness. When you couple that with a lifetime of eating HUGE quantities at lightening speed, that can be a recipe for some painful lessons.

Here are some tips that might help you through this process.

1.       Measure your food. Believe me when I tell you that you don’t have a ‘good idea’ about the size of a portion. This is for several reasons. First of all, in our society of super-sized meals, we all have a distorted perception of what a ‘normal’ serving looks like. On top of that, we have surgically altered our pouches and now they can’t even accept a ‘normal’ serving. So measure your serving portions. It will really help you develop a new sense of what your portions will look like. You need to do this over and over again. Also know that as your pouch heals, you will naturally be able to consume more and that’s okay.

2.       Slow down and put your utensil, sandwich, etc… down between each bite. It will help you focus on what you are eating. As you slow down and focus on what you are eating, you are much more likely to learn your body’s subtler cues that will alert you when you are full. Know that right after surgery, you may only have a one bite window between full and overfull. As you get farther out, this is likely to relax a bit. But, to be honest, this early part of the journey is very good training. It helps us to learn to pay attention and learn our body’s signals.

3.       Eat mindfully. What does that mean? It means to pay attention to what you are doing when you are eating. You don’t get to eat that much anymore, so be sure that you are paying attention and enjoying every morsel. Sit down at the table to eat. Measure out the portion and put your utensil, sandwich, etc… down between each bite. Savor the taste. Enjoy it. You don’t get to eat nearly as much as you used to, but once you get past the initial few days, weeks and early months post op, you may find that you can and do enjoy eating as much or more than you did before, because you are paying more attention to what you are eating.  

Please go to the Loser's Bench Discussion forum and share your ideas on this issue.

 

This was something that I was really worried about as a pre-op. Since WLS there have been a few occassions where I felt like I overdid it but they've been few and far between. I try and measure my food. Having said that I'll also admit to having become less strick about that the further out I get. I still use my small plates at home, my Mom's and at church functions. At work I eat most everything from a coffee cup - it makes it almost brainless for me.

When I eat too fast - I get the hiccups. Very loud and painful hiccups. The kids and David think it's quite entertaining - me, not so much.

For me, getting a to go box very early into the meal when eating out is a must. If I don't then I tend to keep picking at the food. Also ordering smaller portions has become second nature. Take Saturday for example. MacAllister's portions are huge. I purposely ordered a cup of soup but when they bring it out surrounded by tortilla chips - it's still way to much. So I tried to focus on what I was eating (which is hard when there's such great company around). After I ate about half of the serving I asked Ginny to put it on the other side of her - if not I would have continued to eat until the soup and the chips were gone - then misery would have set in.

Not drinking with my meals was probably harder for me than limiting portion size or slowing down to chew. Prior to WLS I would easily go through 2 - 3 glasses of tea per meal. Lots of times when I'm in a restaurant I simply won't order a beverage now. It still feels strange to do that but it eliminates the urge to drink with my meal.

Hope this helps someone out there.
- Iris

Hi Iris,

Thanks for the input. I think that you made a couple of great points. Using smaller plates and selecting smaller portions when out I think will be a long-term key to your success. I know that plate sizes in general, and especially those when we go out to eat are just enormous... Remember when we would eat all of it?! You are right when you say that it's important to set aside whatever you don't eat in the first 20 minutes or so, because  you can get the 'whole thing in' just by grazing through the meal. I think that is something that people don't quite realize earlier on, so I'm glad you brought it up.