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I still eat from a side plate but have graduated to dessert forks now. 😉 I try to distract myself between bites: read, watch tv, play a game on a device, check social media, etc. I even fold my laundry between bites. I know on the surface that seems to defeat the mindful eating recommendations but for me it takes my mind off eating & just shovelling the food in. Bout then when I go to have the next bite I think about why I’m having it. I’ve said this a lot but ask yourself do I need this bite or just want it? If it’s ‘want’ put the fork/spoon down. You don’t ‘have’ to eat that bite. You may eat it in another couple of minutes or you may have had enough to eat. I also check the time I have my first bite & randomly check as I eat to make sure I’m not eating too fast. It takes time for new habits to become established & just your everyday. You’ll get there.

I have trouble sometimes too. But even if I maybe eat too fast I really try to immediately stop at the first hint of fullness. Otherwise, we all know what happens. I find it also helps if before I start eating something I say to myself "I'm only goint to eat half of this and wrap up the rest." somehow that helps me slow down a bit.

It is also my biggest on-going problem. I had more episodes than I care to admit of eating too quickly/not chewing thoroughly enough/eating too much. The result was excruciating pain, foamies and sometimes vomiting. I am almost one year out, and I still need to focus on eating when I eat. If I am distracted, I end up eating too fast and well....you know how it goes. However, it has gotten better. I serve myself only the portion that I should be eating. I use a small plate/bowl. I use children's utensils at home (it's a cute use for my old baby spoons that my mother kept all these years!). I set my utensil down between some bites. I pay closer attention to body signals and stop at the first sign of a runny nose or the first stomach gurgle. I spit out anything that isn't chewed up (fruit membrane, tough or dry bite of meat). I am able to drink up until eating but wait at least a half hour afterwards before drinking again.

Does anyone else struggle with this? If I don’t struggle with anything else I definitely struggle with this. I don’t know why even after 5 weeks I have trouble reprogramming my mind to eat slower. I never paid attention to how fast I consume food until after surgery. I mean obviously I never had a reason to before now lol. All suggestions are welcome 🤗

I don't believe I have ever truly dumped and I'm almost one year out. I may have had a mild episode based on symptoms, but what I ate really didn't fit the bill. That being said, I've had many episodes of eating too much/too fast/not chewing well enough. Many people confuse the two. I don't want to have the experience in general. But when I eat out, I'm very, very careful to limit quantity and not try items for the very first time.

There's truth in the gherlin explanation, but it's also oversimplified so maybe gives people the wrong impression. There's multiple hormones that affect hunger. Leptin is another hormone that makes you hungry - it is made by your fat cells as they lose energy. Leptin is proportional to the number of fat cells you have, not the volume of fat. Fat cells multiply as you gain weight, but they don't die just because you lose weight - they just get smaller. A normal weight person that used to be fat will be making more leptin than a normal weight person who was never fat because the person who used to be fat has more fat cells. Leptin is part of the reason why people have a "set point," or a weight that their body likes to be at that is maintained by the body by changing your hunger and metabolism. Insulin also increases your hunger in the long term. You make insulin after you eat, while you are feeling full. But if you are constantly making a lot of it, your muscle cells get resistant to insulin and have trouble getting food even if there's plenty of food in your blood already. They will feel hungry and tell you to eat more. This is why sugar is kind of addictive to people who tend towards insulin resistance. If your body isn't getting enough protein, that will make you feel hungry too, even if you are eating enough calories. Also, there's two sets of neutrons involved in hunger - your brain is one set, but your gut also has its own neural network, and scientist understand much less about how this "gut brain" works. One of my friends is a scientist in nutrition and physiology, and a member of obesity research societies. He's the one who told me about this "gut brain" stuff. Scientists in the field don't entirely understand why WLS works. One puzzle is that they've observed that insulin resistance improves right after surgery - within a day or two people will be off their diabetes meds. They know insulin resistance improves when you lose weight and when you exercise, but they don't know why there's this fast change after WLS. Another puzzle is that they've found that a few years out, WLS patients have a higher metabolism that is closer to a person that was never fat, whereas people who lost weight through diet/exercise have a much lower metabolism than a never fat person. WLS somehow resets your "set point," but they don't know how exactly. Scientists have tried to develop drugs that change these hormones like gherlin and/or leptin. "WLS in a bottle" would be much easier than actual surgery. But none of these approaches have worked yet. That's another indication that they don't fully understand how WLS works. But it seems likely that resetting your set point is a process that occurs as you lose weight. It's not just a change that occurs instantaneously when the surgery is done. It's not just that your smaller stomach makes you feel less hungry and you can't eat as much, so you lose weight. It's that the process - losing weight while spending a lot of that time not feeling hungry because your stomach feels really full - changes what your neural networks consider to be your set point, and that in turn makes you feel less hungry without your hunger increasing and metabolism dropping in the long term. If this is how it works, that would explain why the people who stick to the diet more strictly in the beginning have more success in the long term. For instance, if you eat sugar early on, that sugar is going to increase your insulin and insulin resistance and make you feel more hungry over the next week. Even though you may be eating exactly as many calories and have exactly the same stomach size as a person who is more strict about what they eat, that process won't work as well, and your set point won't get as low.

What it’s like being a mini gastric bypass patient on BariatricPal – what I found useful, and why I needed a pause from participating on the forum I think the forum is a fantastic resource, I love the store, and I can’t imagine not having read all of you wonderful people’s stories along the way. However, you feel lonely here as an MGB’er, because it’s very America-centric and there’s just not a lot of MGB’ers in America. That’s how it is. Consider this my tiny contribution to change that. What drove me off the site is the already-discussed-ad-nauseam rigidity you meet, and I seriously urge anyone to consider if they’re posting their “I can only eat half a lentil a week, am I losing too fast?” story for themselves rather than for others. Now that I’m below goal, I can say: I had a LOT more calories than what you’d believe was necessary to be a success. And I’m still losing on 2000-2200/day. Had I gone by the consensus here, I would’ve given up a long, long time ago. And I see some of the posters who had surgery around the same time as me, who were very active, and very judgmental of me and people like me, well … they’re not posting anymore. That makes me sad. Because I know why they did that; they needed the resolve and the boost from telling others they were doing it wrong. I hope they made it and that they’re happy wherever they are in their lives. I am back to say we should be so much more forgiving, kind, and open to each other’s experiences. We have a whole world judging us and frankly, we shouldn’t put up with it. That starts with forgiving ourselves and each other, and then stick together, us former, current, and future fatties

Why I think you should consider the MGB I think this surgery is worth considering, even as a self-pay option (I paid myself). We don’t get the serious dumping usually, we lose as much or more than the RNY’ers, our surgery is simpler and can be reversed or revised, and we learn to eat a Mediterranean diet … … by our anatomy. That’s right. My fat malabsorption steers me away from high-fat foods, and that includes pizza and burgers. I simply do not want them. I can have a slice, but it makes me feel … oomph. Not bad just not very nice. I find myself scanning restaurant menus for vegetarian options, just because I feel like it. One year out, I’m still experiencing shifts in what my body craves, and it’s fruit, veggies, protein. That’s coming from someone who ended up living on a diet of mostly fast food, juicy steaks and quick carbs. I don’t even want ice cream anymore. Not because I dump-dump, but because it just doesn’t give me that satisfaction. I make smoothies instead when I feel like a treat. I know, boooring.  Many MGB patients tell the same story. We can eat well, but we slowly learn to go for the things we should be eating. Automatically. Neat! At least give it a look. And consider any surgical team has a business to run. If you’re asking for a product they aren’t selling, they’ll be inclined to sell you what they do sell. Usually, that’s RNY or a sleeve. Did you know sleeves can be done as quickly as 14 minutes? That’s my surgical team’s record. And that RNY takes 2-3-4 hours? If you get paid the same, more or less, you’d be happy to sell your patient the 14 minute job, right? (Yes, yes, I know, that’s not how all surgeons are. I’m just saying: consider your options. It’s your life and your money).

Alcohol and MGB So this will be controversial for the Americans. Sorry in advance. I’ve had alcohol weekly since week 5. I made room for it in my calorie count. Sometimes, I went over. And then got right back on the counting the next day. Alcohol is a part of life where I live. And I’ve found myself wanting to go out more. I get drunk super fast, and I have to pace myself. It hasn’t really been an issue; I can see why people get addicted, but I’ve never been the kind of guy who would drink alone and that’s a hard rule for me. YMMV is what I’m saying. If you’re reading this thinking you’ll never drink again, well, a lot of us are while being successful still. Don’t you wish you had refrained from drinking and then your EWL might have been 95 instead of 89? Absolutely not. I wouldn’t have gotten to a year by staying in. I did this my way, and it worked for me.

I have not thrown up since that one bout Friday. I feel it was brought on by eating jello too fast. I havent had jello since because it doesnt seem appetizing now, of course. Im a little better every day. REALLY looking forward to the pureed/soft phase. Sent from my SM-G986U using BariatricPal mobile app

your butt shape will change after all the weight loss. Mine was pretty saggy - but I had a lower body lift which tightened it up. Usually lower body exercises like squats and lunges will help with glutes - but again, your shape will change pretty fast, and there's not a lot you can do to help the sagginess with the amount of weight we typically lose. immediately after surgery, all I was cleared for was walking. After four weeks, I was allowed to do everything except for weights. At eight weeks out, I was cleared for weights. The first few months I did mostly water fitness classes - and walking. I also did the stationary bikes at my gym. Now I do dance cardio (like Zumba) and biking, but I was too heavy to do those when I first started on my journey.

How lucky do you feel ? , how much do you weigh ? You are risking your surgeon opening you up and stopping the surgery. Stress will always be with you and going down the route of fast food will not get you the results you crave post surgery. Do you think you may need extra therapy ? People on this forum have cheated and gotten away with it. I have read 2 where the surgery stopped. It can be very risky with a large fatty liver. Please come back and tell us how you doing

Hello to all. I am new here… Any advice / suggestions would be great! My surgery is in 3 days and I cheated TWICE on my 7 day liquid diet 😐 I started my diet on Nov 30th. I cheated with a fast food meal on Dec 1st, got back on track - but then cheated again today with another fast food meal. I told the nurse about the first meal and she said it was okay I had a slip up. But I didn’t get to tell her about the second meal as the office is closed now. I know I can do this - I’ve just been under extra stress lately. My question is - If I strictly stick to it for the next 3 days, should I be okay? Has anyone else gone through this?

I suspect that this is incision pain, related to the fact that your abdominal muscles were cut and need time to heal. I had this pain for about 6 weeks almost. It might not be where the actual external incision is. It was very uncomfortable! I didn't start having pain from eating too much/too fast until I was eating solid foods; I could drink a ton of liquids/broths/etc, but when I started with solid foods I would feel the chest fullness (that got better!) and now I get hiccups when I eat too much/too fast.

Congrats on your surgery! I'm 2.5 months out and I will say that I can swallow a fair amount of water in one gulp now. I can't chug a whole bottle like I used to, but it doesn't interfere with my life. PACE: that's the hardest thing for me. I can't seem to get the hang of it, and most meals I'm in pain afterwards. When I'm at my parents' house my mom will remind me when she sees me eating too fast, but I eat most of my meals alone, and it's hard to remember!

Everything has gone by so fast. I had my gastric bypass on Monday 11/29. I'm Finnish so I did my surgery in Finland. Everything went well and the nurses were amazing, the whole experience was loving and calm. I feel extremely grateful for that. On Tuesday I could go home after getting in my 1000 ml of liquids. I never felt nausea, pain or discomfort why drinking and I tried to walk as much as I could. Gas pain was very difficult Wednesday and Tuesday. It's slowly leaving now, Friday. I've taken pain meds every evening and sometimes during the day if I get pain, but I'm trying to manage with the little pain I have. I'm excited for what's to come, it feels like a huge life changing moment, which it of course is. I'm scared and anxious as well; what if I never can eat a piece of sushi again, my absolute favourite food? What if I can't travel and enjoy the food? Food is such a big part of our lives and has so much to do with our social life and culture. I know it's worth it, I know this surgery is for me and for my future, for my health. But it's still scary. That's why I love going on here and reading everything. It gives me so much comfort to know there's so many people all over the world going through a similar experience. I'm gonna start weighing myself after two weeks after surgery, giving myself time to heal and rest for now. Here are some stats that I can look back on in the future. HW: 308 lb (140 kg) Operation weight: 291 lb (132kg) GW: in-between 130-150 lb Sent from my KB2003 using BariatricPal mobile app

Hi everyone new here. Not sure the etiquette here or what. I'll just start and if I need to post to certain areas, kindly point the way. I had my sleeve done 11/29/21. So far so good. You go through so many emotions I wasn't expecting. Kind of makes you take a step back and think a min. I've been really working on pace. I've always been a fast eater. Yesterday was feeling good and picked up my bottle to swig some water. For a second I forgot, but I caught myself and slowed my roll. The mouthful I had was 3 swallow very carefully:) No one around you gets this. And it's do hard to explain. It's a journey I am seeing and I'm only at day 3....I'm excited and happy for the first time in a long time. This is for me and no one else. Later, Nannette Sent from my SM-F711U using BariatricPal mobile app

As of today I am down 14 pounds in just a day or two over one week on liquids. I met with my dietitian yesterday and she said I am loosing to much to fast. Because I am lactose intolerant I can’t do dairy and I’m diabetic so I can’t do fruit juice. So when we went through my food journal we figured out I was eating/drinking between 500-700 calories a day. So she tweaked it and added more Protein Shakes - I felt so much better yesterday no hunger. I’m down to a 12-14 shirt and 14-16 pants (tight 14 loose 16 in a little over a week but don’t take that as what should happen she made it really clear to me that I need at least 1000 calories a day and Protein is extremely important for my body to be healthy for surgery and recovery. She said it isn’t just about liver shrinking but also optimal health for the surgery. She is a sleeve patient herself and she said it will be 6 months recovery but she is there with me every step of the way! I wasn’t taking in enough calories and while I lost weight I wasn’t doing it the healthy way. Hope that helps! . Good luck glad you started this thread it will be helpful to many I feel!! Also no one told me to start the Vitamins with the liquid diet so just found that out yesterday

Saw my dietitian yesterday and I’m down 14 pounds in one week. She said I’m loosing to much to fast so we went over my food diary and because I’m diabetic no juice and I’m lactose intolerant since a baby no milk so she tweaked and adjusted my food (liquid diet) I’ve already dropped a pant size and 14 shirts are to big now. Also no one told me I was to start vitamins when I started the liquid phase so she had me get those yesterday. I feel a million times better now and I’m not starving anymore! I have 20 more days of this before surgery date and she is meeting with me again next week. I am so glad I reached out to her!!!

During weeks 1-4 if you are on liquids/purees, the restriction won't kick in. You'll feel the restriction when you go on solids. This is why the Dr. suggested to limit the purees by volume, to avoid taking in a lot of cals. (And I guess to train me in the proper portion sizes for later) After the surgery gas dissipated, I haven't experienced stomach pain. While eating or otherwise. Had some discomfort a couple of times when eating puree too fast (big spoonful, not waiting enough time in between) This is more or less what I followed. Week 1. Used a 2oz medicine cup. One every 10-15 minutes. More like 5 minutes toward the end. If too fast, would get stomach pain. Week 2. Liquid diet, protein shakes, etc. I could drink a protein shake (12 oz), in about 30 mins. Just a sip at a time, no particular wait in between. 3-4 shakes per day. Week 3 - 4. Pureed phase. 2 Shakes. 2 snacks. 2 meals (whatever protein was for lunch/dinner, pureed with salsa,broth or mayo). meals limited to 3 fl. oz. (~ 1/3 cup) Week 5. Solids. Dr. suggested 2 shakes, 1-2 snacks, and 2 meals. Meals consisting of 4 oz total. 2 oz protein, 1oz vegs. and 1 oz carbs (optional).

Whole bunch of non-scale victories lately. 1. I am no longer morbidly obese because my BMI is under 40. Combined with the resolution of my comorbidities, I no longer qualify for surgery. 😁 2. My A1c is 5.1. A physician friend of mine said he hasn't seen anyone under 5.4 in a long time. 3. I needed to get into the bed of the ranch truck today and the tailgate was blocked off... so I went over the side using the (not small) tire. My balance is so much better! 4. I can do burpees like I'm on springs now, at least 10 in a row. Before I would do what are popularly known as "grief burpees" (look it up on Google Video search). 5. I got in trouble with my sleep doctor. It took me 6 weeks to get a video appointment and my CPAP (technically APAP) was choking me with all the air it was putting out. It's locked down, so I found the manual (in Russian), translated it, guessed the password, and reset the lower bound. I sleep better now (and my suspicion was correct, previous range was 10-20 cm H2O, now that I've lowered it, I average about 8 over a night). 6. I ran a mile for the first time ever in my entire life. It wasn't very fast (10:26) but it was a real mile and there was no walking or stopping.

You are not going to have a problem living with high protein low carb. I was a huge lover of bread and other carbs...huge. After I went on the diet and got the surgery, the weight falling off literally changed my whole perspective in a couple ways: 1. I physically cannot eat carbs and bread like before because it fills me up too fast and makes me feel ill. I am just not interested in carbs and fatty foods any more. 2. Once you see the weight coming off, you will be motivated to keep it going off. 3. You learn to eat your protein first and veggies next. After that, there is no room for carbs. I really don't miss the carbs at all. 4. You will be satisfied by the food you eat so it is not like before...nothing like before so you have to forget now and realize your body is changed and you are NOT PHYSCIALLY ABLE TO EAT LIKE THAT ANY MORE.

I’m about a month and a half out from bypass and I haven’t had any issue drinking enough. I was expecting to feel an issue if I drink too much, or too fast but it’s been suspiciously easy. Hope I’m not hurting myself.

Husky mama mentioned using the Baritastic app. I’ve been using this app since I started the required weight loss program prior to my surgery. BTW my gastric sleeve surgery was 11/01/21. I love using this app. I found out there is a timer. My nutritionist suggested that when eating there should be at least 20 seconds between each bite. That means put your fork down and chew your bites thoroughly then swallow. There are exceptions to the rule with foods such as scrambled eggs, yogurt etc. With that said this will help slow down your eating. The question is are you eating too fast and finishing your meals in less than 20 to 30 minutes. If you have a scale go back and start weighing your food again. Finally if your weighing yourself everyday day you’re not going to see changes. Pick a specific day and time to weigh yourself. Then weigh yourself once a week on the that specific day you chose and you may see some progress. I wish you the best and please don’t give up. You’ve gotten a lot of good advice and I hope you will read them use these to help you succeed with your weight loss. Keep us updated on your progress as all of us want to continue to support you. 🙏🙏🙏

Yes I been following and earring 800 calories a day sometimes less because I don’t eat much I get full so fast. The only thing I’ve been struggling with a lot is water, my stomach hurts after a few sips