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How much food can you really eat?



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I am having my sleeve done Monday. I am curious as to what everyone's typical meal is like after surgery (after the 3 weeks on liquids/soft foods, once you can eat normal foods again). What do you normally eat, and how much? How much does it take before you have to stop due to feeling full?

I am excited to get this feeling for once!!

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Depends on what I'm eating. Two ounces of chicken breast or drier steak stuffs me to the gills... more tender meat, I can do about 3 ounces of.

Last night I had 4 oz. of shiratake noodles and 4 meatballs (with sauce) and was very full after that.

If I treat myself to a bowl of Cereal, I'm satisfied with a cup of Cereal and half a cup of almond milk, but could probably get more in if I let myself.

I've done an entire bag of microwave popcorn... not proud of that.

You'll hear people talk about "slider foods" ... those are the ones like the popcorn, and the cereal, that are really light and usually full of carbs, that go in easily and slide right down. If you stick with the denser Proteins, you'll get fuller faster, and stay that way longer.

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Well I am 5 months out and eat about everything and anything. . .for example this morning for Breakfast i had 1 c of sugar free pudding and coffee. . . for lunch 4 oz of lentils and then a metamucil wafer for an afternoon snack, then about 1 cup of whatever there is for supper. . . NO snacking for this porker though, I've tried really hard to avoid snacking, hard, but it's working. . . lots of Water and crystal lite too. . . good luck

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2-3 oz of baked salmon. That's it. I am stuffed. That's at almost 8 months out. Everyone is a little different. The sleeve is a "miracle drug".

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Totally depends on what I'm eating. I can eat 1cup of yogurt, chili, mashed potatoes, etc and then I can eat 30-40 minutes later if I want to. Not to say that I'm actually hungry, but those are slider foods, and don't stay long. Same goes for chips, cheese, crackers, pretzels, Cookies, etc. Rice and Pasta are pretty close to slider foods for me now as well.

When it comes to meat, dense Protein such as chicken breast, ribeye steak, rib meat, I max out about 3-5 ounces depending on how it's cooked, and if I use some sort of condiment with it. Protein stays with me it seems like for a couple of hours. Meaning, I can't really eat again for 2-4 hours. I might be able to squeeze in a couple bites of veggies with 3-4oz of super tender, A1 steak sauce covered, ribeye steak.

My restriction also varies. Yesterday I couldn't really get down a lot of dense foods. So, I stuck to things that I knew would go down, and keep me satisfied.

I'm over 11 months out, and that's been my experience. It took me over 3 months to be able to eat more than 2-3oz of chicken salad. Dense protein and me didn't get along all that great in the beginning.

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This is something I'm really interested in. Since my surgery I've been able to consume a lot more than my girlfriend. It's not like I'm trying to race or stuff my face, I just can, without any discomfort. Of course, it's still a LOT less than it was, and if I push it I pay the price.

Right now it's useful -- I'm on "full liquids" until Saturday (when I go on puree) and it's really helping me to get down all of my Protein, Vitamins, and Water.

I just don't want to sabotage myself when I go to solid foods! I guess that's why they say Protein first, then veggies, then carbs.

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Also, don't forget that you can't just go and start eating everything right off the bat. You should wait a couple of months before the dense meats, and no raw vegatables until 3 months out. And then of course it is always stay away from sugar as much as possible. Right now, don't worry too much about your eating, you most likely will not have much an appetite after surgery. Many of us have to remind ourselves to eat.

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I am 4 weeks out and I found that I have no interest in carbs at this point (tried a peice of donut from my brother this weekend and actually spit it out since it didn't do anything for me :thumbup:).

I tend to eat about 1/3-1/2 cup of food per sitting, with the occasional between meal Protein craving. Breakfast usually one poached egg and a few bites of banana. lunch / dinner about 1/3 of a cup of chicken salad or a chinese dish with chicken. Beef has to be chewed so much that their is no flavor by the time it gets to the right consistancy to chew. I found that I tend to spit it out rather then swallow it at that point.

Lamb is a good Protein as it keeps it's flavor through the chewing process. I LOVE tuna salad, but I have to put mayonaise in it to get it down from the texture, it likes to stick (trying to avoid since mayo is evil :sneaky2:).

I always supplement with at least 1 Protein shake daily to get my protein intake abover 60, I like Jay Robb whey protein with 1% milk).

I had a bad pre-op food bindge last night. Felt hungry at midnight and grabbed tuna salad and ate without paying attention, that HURT. I think I prefer the denser Proteins since I don't forget to eat slowly.

One fun thing is going out to eat (I travel for my job so I have to eat out a lot). The waiters keep wandering by your table eyeing your plate and waiting for you to complain or send it back! They look so surprised when you ask for a togo bag!!!:001_tt2:

Tracy

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I can eat one taco or one piece of pizza. If it's something like steak, I can probably eat 3 oz tops. That is just a guess. I think the steak is 6 oz and I can eat 1/3 of it, so maybe it's more like 2 oz. I know I can't eat an entire chicken breast.

Edited by Oregondaisy

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Here is a youtube poster that shows pictures of what she eats now. Good info.

[nomedia=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uTV-pOxCNI]YouTube- Wk #47 - Pictures of food portions I eat now[/nomedia]

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Here is a youtube poster that shows pictures of what she eats now. Good info.

I watched that video in amazement because she and I had our surgeries one day apart, and she can consume two to three times as much as I can especially of the big portions of meat and some of those other items. There is absolutely no way I could get that much in during one meal even if I ate for an hour or so.

Today was a good sleeve day. I woke up had a bagel thin (1/2 bagel thin sandwich) with 2 pieces of deli meat and some cream cheese. lunch, I went out with a girlfriend, and ordered cream of potato Soup, had 3/4 cup of the Soup and drank a bit of tea waited about 15 minutes, and was only able to eat 4 of these tiny teriyaki chicken wings with the skin peeled off. I immediately got the hiccups, and knew right then I was done. The soup was not chunky and it was actually pretty runny for a cream of soup.

I came home 3 hours later and ate 1 crescent roll filled with some pizza sauce, ham pieces, and shredded cheese.

I'll have to eat at least 3 more times tonight just to hit my calorie goal for the day.

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I just watched the video as well, and with the food that she ate "after", i would not lose weight. They may be somewhat small portions, but they were calorie dense foods. For me to eat those foods, it would have to be much smaller potions than that. I'm really hoping i won't be able to eat nearly as much as she did in those videos.

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I just watched the video as well, and with the food that she ate "after", i would not lose weight. They may be somewhat small portions, but they were calorie dense foods. For me to eat those foods, it would have to be much smaller potions than that. I'm really hoping i won't be able to eat nearly as much as she did in those videos.

She is in Maintenance--big difference there, but its something to look forward to! Everyone is different too in sleeve sizes etc. She probably needs to eat that much to keep from loosing.

Edited by Swiftflow

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I am a little over 5 months post op. Last few weeks this is what I've eaten:

1/2 cup kashi high Protein Cereal with 1/2 cup skim milk

small banana

2% cheese stick

1/2 -1 cup of food for lunch (1 taco) (1 fillet of fish) (1 grilled chicken breast)

cottage cheese duo with peaches

2% cheese stick (i'm stuck on these right now)

1/2- 1 cup of food for supper (chili) (boiled shrimp) BOILED CRAWFISH!

Fudge scicle or other low fat treat

I stay under 800 calories and around 50-70 Proteins a day...and RARELY feel hungry...I have habits that are still hard to break/control, but a true feeling of hunger is only when I forget to eat.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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