Question:
Something is wrong, I just ate about 8 ounces of food, and I'm still hungry.

I'm only 14 days post op, and I grabbed one of those chef boyardee meal thingy's. And ate almost all of it, except for about 6 little ravioli's.... why can I eat so much? I'm so nervous about everything I do.    — Michelle J. (posted on October 26, 2003)

October 26, 2003
Michelle, If you are talking about the microwaveable onces that are in the small plastic tub with the pop-top I would not worry. At about 4 weeks post op I could finish once-granted I was full!! but I did it without too much of a problem. Now if you are talking about the full size cans you need a can opener for than that might be cause to worry but I think I understoon which ones you were talking about. The problem with these is that they are not that good for us. I bought some that boasted PROTEIN (6 whopping grams is all) and I was hungry again in about an hour. You may want to try a chili or something that is like that which comes in similar containers. Hope that helps.
   — SassySamara

October 26, 2003
I am not so concerned about the amount you ate, but with what you ate. One, I couldn't tolerate pasta but that stuff if full of everything WE DON'T NEED - salt, carbs and junk. There is very little protien in there and it won't satisfy your nutritional needs. Don't mean to preach but I think you should rethink your food choices - especially this soon out.
   — Patty_Butler

October 26, 2003
Michelle- First, understand that years of bad eating habits are not undone by your WLS. Secondly, appreciate that all of us have made bad food choices and have survived. Lastly, you did make a poor food choice with the canned Chef Boyardee-- that stuff is way too high in carbs, contains sugar in the sauce and provides relatively little protein. Try to examine why you chose it and why you ate so much of it-- was it in unconscious choice? were you sad, depressed or anxious and looking for a familiar comfort food? did you just not read the label? I found that I made for worse food choices early on. Whether I was testing the limits of my pouch or just feeling sorry for myself, I definitely made more than my share of mistakes in the first couple of months. However, once I became proud of my weight loss results and comfortable with the eating regimine I was on, I became much more cautious of everything that went in my mouth. Good luck.
   — SteveColarossi

October 26, 2003
and I'm going to disagree with the previous posters. At that early out when I was finally able to eat real food, I found that canned pasta, especially franco-american spaghetti, was a God-send! My surgeon didn't stress worrying extremely over protein the first few weeks while we got our sea-legs back. We were encouraged to make good choices by avoiding crap in general, but hot cereals, canned pastas, and such were 'allowed' as they were easy to mush down to liquid for our healing pouch and did provide nurishment - enriched with vitamins and such. Granted as you are able to eat a better variety of foods, you <i>should</i> avoid these foods, not necessarily eliminate them, but avoid them. I am curious though how long it took you to eat nearly 8 ouces? At 2 weeks I could eat about 1/2 that IF I took about 20 minutes. Also are you drinking when you eat or directly after you eat?
   — [Deactivated Member]

October 26, 2003
I think that a couple of the smartest things you can do right after surgery are 1) get your protein up fast, 2) change your eating habits from the beginning. I know that carby foods go down easy and we can eat a lot more of them than we think would be possible but that in no way makes them a ood choice. I have had to make a conscious effort from the very start to not eat the carbs. I was and am a carb addict and could easily undo this surgery with my choices. I am guessing that you ate that can over a decent period of time and unless you were terribly uncomfortable I would not worry that you hurt anything or that anything is wrong but I would examine your choices and find some more protein rich foods that you can tolerate. I was very lucky to find a protein shake that I could tolerate from day 6 on and have stuck with it ever since. I think that the only way to lose all of your weight and keep it off is to drastically change all of the things that were wrong with your diet before and canned spaghetti ain't the way to go. Good luck.
   — Carol S.

October 26, 2003
Watch what you eat, Just because you can eat it doesn't mean it's good for you. chef boyardee is pasta, with high carbs. Try to watch and limit your carbs. you will loss faster. along with the other things you need to do.
   — Naes Wls J.

October 26, 2003
In Michelle's defense she is only 14 days out, now YES I know carbs are good for nothing but my DR. does not restrict anything, especially when your at the early stages. I know I ate potatoes because they were easy to eat....lol I am sure she will do fantastic! GOOD LUCK!
   — Saxbyd

October 27, 2003
I did not personally have the problem of not knowing when I'm full, but my son sure did after his surgery. He did not develop feelings of fullness until about 4 weeks out of surgery. He was able to eat a lot at one time also, and we were a little concerned about it. Things settled down, and he began to feel full after much less food than when he was a newer post-op. Strange, but true! He's done very well since then (May 5), and has lost about 125 pounds so far. He did contact his doctor initially, and was told to follow the portion guidelines that they established, which I believe was about 1/2 C. total at each meal. The next stage I think you progress to about 3/4 C. total. Perhaps it would help you to follow the portion sizes for right now, until your stomach begins to tell you that you're full. I also can't fault you for eating something like Chef Boyardee. AT first, we're just happy to be able to eat, let alone what it is. As you progress, you will find better protein sources that you can tolerate. Good luck to you.
   — Carlita

October 27, 2003
As I said in a previous post, it also depends on how long it took you to eat it. Aside from the debate on whether it is good for you (I, too, did the Chef Boyardee early on when just getting in food was an issue), your question was not the choice but why can you eat so much. If you are chewing well and taking your time, anyone could eat an entire can, it reduces to a soft mushy mess that just slides right on thru given enough time. Now if you told me you ate an entire burger or a chicken breast, I'd worry. It is not unusual to worry early on. I assume your doctor gave you an eating plan. Follow it, stay here on the boards, look in the library for research on some of your other concerns, ask questions when needed, join a support group locally if you have one, and relax. Its an amazing journey.
   — Cindy R.

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