I'm at 3 weeks out now and can eat a wide variety of things, albeit only small amounts at a time. What I'm having a problem with now is GRAZING. It's a bad habit from before surgery that I'm afraid will come back to bite me. I find myself making a small plate of food and eating from it over the course of an hour or two. I know you're not really supposed to do that, but without doing it I feel like I'm not eating enough, and with it I worry I eat too much.

So, how bad is this? Or am I just trippin' cause I've hit the dreaded 3 wk stall and the scale stopped moving

It doesn't make sense to me to eat 3 meals a day with 2-3 bites. There isn't a way to get in your needed nutrition for your body to function well. If we are doing exersice to make our bodies stronger we are using up more calories. The reason we got this surgery is we aren't listening to our bodies. We don't pay attention to full signs or hunger signs. With the smaller stomach we have to pay much more attention. It only makes sense that each person's eating habits should depend on the amount of activity, the amount they are able to get, and their calorie goals. It is a very personal number. I, myself, will never eat 3 meals a day. I have learned through Nutrition classes long before hearing about this surgery and my sucessful attempts at weight loss that my body and my mind do better at 5 small meals or "grazing" as some call it. Like the previous poster I also, before surgery, would eat a little something before going shopping or to a party so I didn't feel the need to over indulge. I'm glad to hear everyone's experiences though!

Hey TehErika, I had my surgery I think the day after you and I am kind of feeling the same way. I don't think I'm grazing but it takes me a long to eat to make sure I actually get in the little bit of food on my plate. I don't think I'm over eating. I don't see how I possibly can be. I end up worried I'm eating to little and not giving my body enough gas to go- so I make sure to eat my whole "meal" even if it takes me a while. I don't want to starve my body and have it hold onto everything. Its so frustrating that every surgeon has their own methods and everybody has their own ideas of what to do....eat for 20 then toss the rest, eat what you can no matter how long, etc... I wish there was an international rule book of VSG surgery.

Wow, we all have a lot to say about this topic.

I really try not to graze. I eat 4X a day and supplement with Protein shakes. I will let a meal go on past 20 minutes though.

I was a grazer before surgery. Grazing, not bingeing got me to over 200lbs. There is research out there suggesting that grazing is a common cause of WLS failure. I don't want that to happen to me. Check out this link http://ezinearticles.com/?Avoid-Weight-Gain-After-WLS:-Learn-the-Difference-Between-Snacking-and-Grazing&id=61380

I think we all need to find our own way after surgery. I'm glad there is no international rulebook out there; I'm sure I'd disagree with some part of it. For me grazing is out but maybe it's ok for you.

" For me grazing is out but maybe it's ok for you."

I realize that this may have sounded snarky at worst or equivocal at best, but actually it was neither.

Rules are great as guidelines, but as each of us is different, we will have to navigate our own way. My own nut's diet plan was too restrictive for me. I tried to negotiate some different alternatives with her, but I just got the party line. The problem was that her plan didn't make sense to me. I can't follow a diet plan that doesn't make sense for the rest of my life. So I researched a lot. Finally I went with the Cornell plan with a couple of tweaks. I did find that certain rules were repeated in plan after plan. One of these was no drinking during meals. I follow that one because there's pretty much consensus about that. Another common (but not universal) rule was no grazing. I took this one for myself because grazing has been a long-standing problem for me. I didn't graze through the beginning stages but it was hard. I drank a lot of Protein shakes.

Tehericka, I hope you can take all of our advice, admonitions and experiences with a small grain of salt. Only you (and your nut) can decide on the right plan for you.