Question:
WILLI GET FULL FEELIGN

I LOVE TO EAT. I LOVE THE TASTE OF FOODS. I LIKE TO EAT ALOT. HENCE, PROBABLY WHY I AM HERE. IF I STUCK TO DIETS I WOULDN'T BE FAT. MY MAJOR FEAR IS STAYING ON A "DIET" IF YOU WILL. I GUESS I WILL STILL BE ABLE TO EAT WHAT I WANT EVENTUALLY? I GUESS IT WILL STILL TASTE GOOD? MY FEAR IS I WON'T STOP AT THE SMALL AMOUNTS YOU GET. IF I DID THAT I WON'T BE HERE. I JUST WANT TO KNOW THAT I WILL FEEL FULL AND NOW WANT ANYMORE AND NOT GET THE HUNGER PAINS ETC. EVEN NOW I HAVE MY LIMITS. ON THANKSGIVING FOR EXAMPLE, I EAT ALOT. I OVER DO IT. IT GET FULLLLLLLLL. WILL THAT FULL FEELING BE THERE WITH THE SMALL STOMACH AND SMALL AMOUNT OF FOOD/ SO AS I WON'T WANT OR NEED MORE FOOD THE SATISFY ME?    — BILL S. (posted on August 8, 2003)

August 8, 2003
Hi Bill. I'm also pre-op. My friend had open RNY in May. She gets FULL really fast. She & I went out about 6 weeks after her surgery. Food was NOT the central part of our get-together, but we did get dinner. I sat across the table from her & I SWEAR that I saw her get stuffed on about 1/2 cup of chili. By the way, I overeat, too. Especially on pizza and Chinese. I eat so much that I feel truly sick for hours. I've recently tried to get away from that, but I know what you mean about liking the taste. I think that we'll both be ok after surgery in that department. WLS people DO feel full. And they get really, really sick when they get TOO full.
   — Annie H.

August 8, 2003
Hi, Bill. I am another pre-op and sorry I can't give you my first-hand knowledge on this. I have a friend and a cousin that are post-op. My friend is a few months out, my cousin is 3 years out. My friend and I got together to let our sons play and we ended up at Burger King. I ate a 10-piece chicken nugget and fry with a coke. (and I had a refill on that coke, you can be sure!) My friend, on the other hand, ate a few bites of a small hamburger (no bun) and a couple fries. She was DONE. FULL. STUFFED. Now, my cousin Michelle had the surgery done a few years ago. I saw her last Thanksgiving, when she was just over 2 years out. I watched her like a hawk! (I had been researching and considering surgery) and this is what she ate: a turkey wing, some green beans, some sweet potato/acorn squash soup with cinnamon (maybe 1/2 a cup or so), a few bites of homeade whole cranberry sauce made with splenda and orange zest, and then she even had a bite of pear-raisin pie a couple hours later. She said she wasn't tempted in the least by the rolls or potatoes b/c she'd dumped on both before and the thought of consuming them didn't appeal to her. She did have a pinch of stuffing while her mom was making it. I was soooo impressed b/c I LOVE all the things she ate, those are the things I beeline for at our holiday dinners. SHe told me not to expect to be able to eat so much this Thanksgiving (tentative surgery date-9/28) but that by next year if I'm not eating a lot of the same foods as everyone else (just in much smaller quantities) then somethin's wrong! I was relieved. And when I asked her if she was honest to God full off of what she ate, she said she was completely satisfied and even felt better than had previous years b/c she wasn't nauseusly-unbuckle the belt-realllllly need to burp stuffed. Content and full and satisfied. How neat, huh? You'll be fine, I'm sure. Best of luck to you!
   — jenn_jenn

August 8, 2003
I am 6 1/2 weeks post-op and I loved to eat. The more new things I could try the better. I still love to watch the Food Network and try new things. I am able to eat whatever I want and have had no problems but I can only eat a small amount. Last night I did eat too much of a salad. When this happens you will feel AWFULL! You will have a lot of pain and discomfort. If you way over eat you will throw up. I didn't get to that point but did wish that I could have thrown up. I even tried but could not. I learned my lesson and will listen much more closely to what my body is telling me. This is the main reason for eating so slowly. Your brain does not recognize the full signal until til 10-15 min after you get to that point. I ate too fast and as a result ate too much.
   — Kathy J.

August 8, 2003
Bill, is there anyone among us who does not love to eat???? LOL I was the same way - I would eat WAY past full because everything tasted so good (I have the misfortune of being a wonderful cook, lol). That's how I ended up 100 pounds overweight! But one thing is for sure - I can NOT do that now. I am amazed at how quickly I get full on so little. I admit it took me awhile to learn to recognize when I was full, because for a long time I ignored the "signals." But I have learned to listen to my body. I eat slowly, take my time, and chew till everything turns to water. I make my meals last at least 20-30 minutes so I know I'm full. And when I get that "feeling", I push the plate away and I'm done. I've learned the hard way that if I take just that one extra bite, I can pay dearly for it later. I have been truly blessed that so far I've been able to eat anything I want (although I haven't tried sugar yet ... nor am I in any hurry to do so), but if I eat too much I will spend the better part of the next hour feeling really sick to my stomach. It just isn't worth it. You will learn over time how much you can handle and when you should stop. And you'll also learn what you can't eat and what won't like you eating it! It's hard to imagine that anyone can get full on so little food, but when you have a stomach the size of an egg, it doesn't take much! GOOD LUCK!
   — MomBear2Cubs

August 8, 2003
Bill, I am 17 months out. I don't always get full or overeat to the point of pain, but it does happen sometimes. In fact it happened last night at a cookout when I decided to graze. I had 2 1/2 pork spare ribs, 1/2 cup of potato salad and about three tablespoons of sweet potato. I was full, but then about an hour later I had a chicken wing and 1/4 cup potato salad. I was writhing in pain and did vomit a little. It lasted a hour. After my stomach was sore and it was hard to even drink water. In my opinion, the full feeling you get postop is a lot more painful then preop and stops me from overeating.
   — Lisa N M.

August 11, 2003
Bill-- I hope it's not too late to put in my two cents' worth, but here goes anyway: I think we all had that fear about letting go of food; it's a good bet that most morbidly obese people have a pretty intense relationship with eating and food. I know that I overate as an all-purpose way to deal with my emotions (Happy? Let's eat! Sad? Let's eat! Depressed? Let's eat! Anxious? Let's eat! and so on...). I was completely opposed to WLS (for all the usual reasons), but I couldn't stick to a diet. Eventually, I went through 3 years of group & individual therapy to work on my food& weight issues. When I finally understood why I was doing the things I did, I was able to look at WLS from a new perspective (as a tool, not a cure). WLS is an excellent tool to help deal with the physical aspects of the food issues, but you have to do the psychological prep work, too! You need to understand why you eat past the point of fullness, and try to find other ways to fill the void that you're now filling with food. Since I had surgery, I've had to find new ways to cope without food, and though it's been relatively easy physically (lucky me, no complications), emotionally it's been HARD, even after all the "head" work I did beforehand. Soooo, I guess my point is this: WLS is not magic. You have to work at it for life. If you're willing to make the commitment, your life will change forever for the better. If you can't commit to a new lifestyle, WLS is probably not the answer for you. It's not a decision to make lightly, but it's been the best decision I ever made. Good luck to you, whatever you do.
   — Maggie T.