tk21872

I TRY to focus on chewing my food well.. then I play on the the internet for a minute.. take another bite..chew.. internet... wash, rinse, repeat.
I am a SUPER fast eater.. I NEVER even chewed my food previously.. even meats would receive maybe two or three Chomps and get swallowed. It's been the hardest thing to get used to!

Using a small plate and fork, I eat half what's on my plate then stop for a few minutes to see how that feels. If that's ok, I eat half of what's left on the plate - then stop again for a few minutes. If I can eat more, I eat half of what is still on my plate, then stop again.... You get the idea. Depending on heat I am eating, sometimes I clear my plate, sometimes I leave some but I don't get the stuffed feeling.
Lots of good ideas in the answers, hope they help.

It takes a while to learn to slow down, i mean, think about it all our lives we've been taught to hurry up and eat; now the slower the better. Set a timer, allow 2 min between each bite. It's a bit of a pain at first, but eventually it will become second nature to you.

I have the same problem and deal with it everyday. I'm 5 months post op. I always eat with a fork and knife and cut everything very small and take each bite at a time. I TRY to chew 20 times before swallowing. Very often I use chop sticks to eat and that has really helped with slowing down. I chop what I'm gonna eat small then use the chop sticks to eat it. I got the chop sticks at the dollar store they had a four pack for a dollar.I also bought a scale on walmart.com the weight watchers one 18 dollars , its awesome. I weight my food and try to keep the total at 4 ounces so if I eat fast I'm not over stuffing. hope this helps

Among the reasons are:
- you need to get your Protein in and liquids take some space, replacing where your protein would go
- liquids help food bypass the digestive process so you don't get the nutritional value from your food. If you have watched those championship hot dog eaters, they soak their food in Water before swallowing it. That way it doesn't go directly into the stomach and they can eat more. You eat more without feeling full.

I had surgery Monday then Tuesday i did not pass my barium swallow so another day Nothing by mouth. Today they did a kub xray and just came to tell me out looked good and i can start my 30cc/hr! So excited.

Thank you so much for sharing. It is hard on any day to be a teacher. But this is just over the top! I am staying positive knowing this is temporary!

Tried it about 6-8 weeks after surgery. NO rice and NO eggroll. I had hot and sour Soup and some garlic chicken that was not breaded. Went fine and had A LOT of leftovers!! I am almost 4 months out.

oh, and AmandaRaeLeo... I *LOVE* this comment, I need to put it up at my office:
"If you mess up. Have a weak moment. "Cheat". Own it."

I'm gonna jump in on this one because, in my philosophy, for many of us it's a bigger picture issue.
I had a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. Not a personality change, not a lobotomy.
If my obesity is part of a larger mental health issue, then the Sleeve is just half of the answer. Some folks don't know that they have addiction/personality disorder components as part of their diagnosis. Or have some amount of denial. So, they go into the procedure with only half the solution at hand. They can hear/see the formula and "know" the way the lifestyle works... but if they're not addressing the addiction/personality side of it because they don't realize or don't acknowledge it, then it stands to reason old habits will TRY to be retained.
I will freely admit and discuss that, for me, obesity resulted from a life of addiction/mental health disorder. I was damn lucky that my Sleeve Journey started with years of counseling and culminated in a watershed moment where I knew I had to change and needed help to do it. Not everyone for who the story is similar has that resource or insight. I know that without my small army of professionals, family and friends supporting me, I'd probably be asking the same questions you're frustrated by. I often wonder what the support of those asking these questions is like.
Is it frustrating to see folks posting freely about wanting to "cheat"? Yep. Is it SCARY how soon some folks push the envelope? Totally. Do I wonder what is in their minds? All the time. Do I want to shake them and aks why they bothered? Ohmygosh yes!
But then, I think about my own heart and how many times in my 9 weeks post op I've had a (albeit much quieter) demon on my shoulder telling me how good that toast would taste, how a "little piece" of this or that won't hurt me, just ONE will not make the scale go up. How many times in my 9 weeks post op I've failed to follow the program by not getting enough water/protein/exercise... giving in to the demon in my brain on a few occassions.
I guess my point is, I feel ya AmandaRae. Completely. But as a person who is struggling, I'd just ask for those who want to "tell it like it is" to do so, but add a dash of compassion into it too- the person asking about bread/chinese food/eating "normally" may not have half their own story solved or it may be winning them over for the moment. Shall I prepare for the flames now? Or perhaps I've just killed another thread?

You my friend are fortunate..

This is a rant in the truest sense of the word. This is probably the most frustrated you will see me get on this forum. I've been hanging out on VST for almost a year and I am now 3 weeks postop. I'm no expert, but I am a woman with food addiction trying to get healthy.
Some of the questions I've come across blow my mind. Truly. It's not that I don't get this is a journey and a struggle. I do. I get it. I've wanted to lick spoons!
But really?! bread a week out?! Trying to figure out how soon b4 you can get drunk?! Let's eat at McDonalds for Protein? ! I've been sleeved a month, can I get Chinese takeout?! I sure miss bingeing?!?! Pass the box of donuts, it is all I can afford?!?!
Disclaimer: I plan to eat realistically. I know I will eat bread again. I'm sure wine will pass between my lips again. I imagine I will partake in Chinese food, although a buffet would be a total waste. I will sink my teeth into a Boston cream donut. But I'm 3 weeks out. These things are not my priority. And while I won't tell others what their priorities should be, if these are yours you may want to find out why.
I've been tempted to ask my uncle, he is going on two years sleeved, what he can hold comfortably in one sitting max. But when I reflect on why I'm asking that I realize its my addiction wanting to know this. Wanting to anticipate max binge ability. When I read some of the above questions my brain translates it to my subject title: How Soon Can I Resume My Pre-Sleeve Eating Lifestyle?
Maybe I'm wrong/reading more into things, and my emotions and whatnot are getting to me postop.

The great thing is at only 26, you have the best chances of your skin bouncing back:).

I remember once when Oprah had lost a lot of weight...she heard that people were saying things like "Well, she's rich, it's easy to lose weight when someone cooks all of your food and does everything for you." She was talking about it on her show and basically said...she was the one who had to make healthful dietary choices every day and refuse her beloved Ruffles potato chips. Her wealth didn't do that for her. And she is the one who had to get her butt on the track and walk every day. She couldn't pay someone to do that for her.
I think it is so similar when people say that VSG is "the easy way out." We are the ones who have make sure that every morsel we put in our mouths is good fuel for our bodies and resist head hunger. The surgery doesn't do that for us. We're the ones who make special holiday meals for our families and then don't partake in most of it. The surgery doesn't do that for us. We're the ones who go to the gym even when the weather isn't good or we feel like going to bed early instead. The surgery doesn't do that for us. We're the ones who keep drinking (and drinking and drinking) Water when part of us would rather hang out with our old friend Diet Coke or Frozen Margarita. The surgery doesn't do that for us.
And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. Yes, the surgery is a tool, but I still feel that we own and deserve every hard-earned victory we see on the scale and every NSV. If others don't understand that, it's okay. I know that I haven't taken the easy way out, but I also know that what I'm doing is an investment in something very important--me. And that's something that money definitely can't buy.