leesh_213

Thank you everyone for your input! I do notice the hiccups, and the burping, which also happens when I’m not eating too. Also I had my first post-op appt on 12/7 this week I’m on liquids and puréed stage and my surgeon told me that the sleeve can hold up to 6oz so I’ve been consuming about 1/2 cup of food which is 4oz. I bought some ramekin bowls from Amazon they have different sizes I chose the 4oz ones and they’ve been great to use so I don’t have to measure 1/2 cup each time I eat since I have them to use as a guide. Good luck to everyone with their journeys pre-op and post-op!

it takes a while to decipher the cues because it takes a while for them to fully develop while you are healing…
i didn’t really start to feel things until i was on soft food and much stronger on regular food… i am 5 weeks po so still early on but ca. tell a big difference

watch for hiccups, burps, feeling of pressure in throat, pressure in chest, heart rate or breathing changes, those are all cues people have reported (mine are stomach heavy feeling and hiccups)

My surgery is next week (14th) . This is all good information. I appreciate it all. It will help me manage expectations and deal with the realities of sleeve. Good luck and thanks for being inspirations to those of us who are following you on this journey.

Hi Alicia, I had surgery on 11/22, I can also tell easily when hungry, but the first time I had food had trouble telling apart from digestion or fullness so I took it really slow.

What you are feeling means you ate too much, you want to eat until you are satified but not stuffed.

I'm allowed to eat 1 to 2oz, once I hit 1oz I take a few min break and see if I still want more and do the same at 1.5oz. If still hungry consumed the full 2oz but if I start feeling the food is slowing down when going down I stop.

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A lot of nerve endings were cut during the surgery, so many of our old signals just don’t get through or don’t get through in the same way. This is why it’s very important to eat to the recommended portion sizes & to eat slowly. You may find too, that when those signals come back they’re different & you have to relearn what they mean.
Also try not to eat until you are full (& try to stop before you feel your restriction when that kicks in). Signals take time to get through (another reason why we’re advised to eat slowly) & by the time you’re brain says you’re full, you’ve actually eaten more than you need. Eat until you’ve had enough. That is when you’ve eaten what you need not want.
Don’t feel you have eat until all your portion either. If you feel you’ve had enough & don’t need any more stop. I still often have partially eaten food in my fridge. You can finish it later if need be or save it for tomorrow. Left overs are great.
I know lots of things to learn & learn about yourself. But you’ll work it out. Congrats on your surgery.

It was shopping for me. For a good 6 months I spent way too much on clothes. I really did need to replenish my wardrobe after losing 130 pounds, but I was buying more than I needed. It took me a while to recognize what was going on and stop doing that. I have a couple of friends for whom the weight loss itself became their transfer addiction. Instead of stabilizing once they reached their goal, they kept dieting and losing. Eventually they were both emaciated and skeletal. In their 50s, both of these ladies developed full-blown anorexia. Fortunately, with treatment, they both recovered and they are at healthy weights now. But it just shows that literally ANYTHING can become problematic if you use it to self-medicate. It's like whack-a-mole.

I share this story in hopes that it may help someone to never pick up a drink after VSG or to at least be hyper-vigilant about the dangers of drinking post weight loss surgery.
I was sleeved in August of 2015 @ 310 lbs. Quickly lost most of the weight needed and began running 5k. Not really setting the world on fire, but it was really good for me. Prior to surgery, I had always enjoyed drinking with friends. Typical guy stuff - couple beers @ a football game or watching the game on Sunday, meeting for drinks after work, etc. Never an issue or problem. Never anything that i had to have.
My doctor warned me against alcohol, sodas, and transfer addictions, but I thought "never me". WOW, was I wrong. I remember the first couple times I had a beer after the surgery (I waited 6 months), it was very fizzy and uncomfortable. I convinced myself that it would get easier, and unfortunately it did. Next came the rum and coke zero. Wow, that tastes great, and I get a buzz very quickly.
That fast buzz turned into getting very drunk, very quickly. Our new bodies absorb the alcohol in 1/2 the time that a normal internal system would. Over the last couple yeaars there have been many episodes of drinking way to much, blacking out, and not remembering what happened. I have had to apologize for my behavior more than once after a night of drinking. I even started drinking every day. I would make a drink as soon as I got home each day. 1 turns into 2 or 3. Just like lays potato chips you can not have just 1. Alcohol consumed my every thought. When can I have a drink? How can I make sure I can get a drink? It amazed me how I was able to justify that if Creamer was good in my morning coffee, how great would Rumchatta be (it's damn good, by the way).
I am living proof that transfer addiction is a real thing. I am now in counseling for my alcohol addiction.
Transfer addiction is definitely a real thing. Prior to VSG surgery I was over 300 pounds because I had an addiction to food, and all the wrong kinds of food. My new addiction is alcohol and it's best friend is food addiction. what goes with beer = chicken wings, or nuts and pretzels, what goes with a margarita = tacos, etc.
Alcohol also makes it impossible to lose weight. So if you are really dedicated to clean eating but you drink, your weight may stay the same, but it surely will not go down. I have packed on 60 lbs of the 120 that I lost. And, I am slowly changing behaviors to get back to where I want to be.
It is a journey,, but I am worth it. I will overcome.
Addiction is sacrificing everything for that one thing !
Recovery is sacrificing that 1 thing to have everything !