Question:
I'm a few days past 8 months post op LAP RNY

Today for lunch, I got an order of chicken tenders from the cafeteria. It comes with 4. I ate 3 chicken tenders and I'm not really full??? Why is this? Can anyone else eat this much? Is this really bad or what? Now keep in mind these are chicken tenders not nuggets... Please let me know.    — [Anonymous] (posted on December 20, 2001)

December 20, 2001
Going out on a limb, I'd say that three chicken tenders didn't fill you up because there's not much volume in three itty bitty pieces of chicken. Why didn't you eat the 4th one if you were still hungery?????? Then you could have followed that up wth a couple of bites of salad. THAT would have been a meal that would keep you full for 4 or 5 hours. You don't lose more weight by starving yourself. If you undereat, all you do is leave yourself open for hunger and grazing and you reinforce all the bad old habits.
   — [Anonymous]

December 20, 2001
I am not to that stage of the game yet as I am still 4 months post op... but from a lot of people I have been talking to that are 7 months post and beyond, they are saying that they are now encountering the same thing as you. They say it happens like "overnight" where they can all of a sudden consume more food. One guy said he suprised himself by ordering the Spicy Chicken Sandwich and eating the whole thing, when just a week earlier he wouldn't have been able to. Another guy said that at 7 months post op his surgeon told him he should be able to eat around 9 oz of food and consume 1200 calories a day. He was only getting in around 4 oz of food and then again, one day he could eat more. It has people worried that they are going to all of a sudden start gaining weight and many of them said they wished they were back at the "beginning" and able to only eat 2 oz or so as they felt more comfortable doing that. I don't think it would have hurt you to eat the 4th chicken tender... after all, it is protein and as long as you are filling up most of the way with protein first, then vegies, then fruit and finally with pastas, bread or rice than I don't see how you can gain back the weight. Even eating 9 oz of food is considerably less than what you were probably eating pre-surgery. Relax and enjoy the fact that you now have a way to get in more of the protein that your body needs to maintain losing weight... Good luck!!!
   — Kellie Jo B.

December 20, 2001
Amen to anonymous - I am almost 9 months out, and after losing 70 lbs. in the first 5 months, I have lost only 10 in the last 4. Until the last 10 days - I have lost 5 lbs - by eating bigger meals. I am full longer, skip my planned snacks and don't want to graze. I think I am used to eating very little. Just like I was used to eating so much. I do have an appetite, it came about month 4 or 5. I just needed to eat more at meals. Weird. <break> - to the poster - don;t worry, some days you eat more. SOme you eat less, just like pre-op. And that sounds like a very small lunch at 8 months out.
   — M. A. B.

December 20, 2001
I have had the same experience. Some days I can eat an "amazing" amount of food considering how much I eat most of the time. Some days I hardly eat anything and am full. Today I ate ribeye--probably 4 oz or so, some salad with orange segments and cheese, and a couple of small bites of dessert for lunch. I was very shocked, but I was satisfied--not overly full after finishing the lunch. Now, the dessert made me feel too full but it was only a couple of bites. Yesterday I ate like 2 oz of cheese for dinner and that's it. I never know if I will have an "eating day" or a "non-eating day." I am 7 months out.
   — ctyst