hi guys! i got my sleeve on 9/29/10. i lost 8 lbs the first week. since them i feel like i can eat too much! i get hungry. i feel like maybe i should have gotten the bypass after all! i go to my dr tommorrow and im almost scared to get on that scale! i feel like i probably havent lost any more weight! i think i can eat too much! nothing makes me throw up. i can eat sweets, which i knew i would be able to. i can have about 6-8 oz of food! i question myself that maybe the dr made my sleeve too big! i get this burning feeling in my stomach just 2 hours after i eat that it feels like a bomb blew up in there. im going to ask my dr to prescribe nexium because it just might be acid. im just feeling defeated you know? like here i am i went under for this surgery only to loose a couple pounds. i went back n forth so much over the bypass or sleeve. i felt id made the right choice. now not so much. there are foods that get me so nauseaous like potatoes, butter & rice just doesnt go down right. ive changed my eating habits. i am eating more fish & chicken. much less red meats. maybe i felt like id have lost 25-30lbs by now and seeing that i havent makes me sad. this only leads to wanting more food. omg and the head cravings are insane! i wish there was a support group in my area! i know all of our experiences are different. i also know i need to make a sacrifice on my part. i thought this would be easier. i thought id never be hungry again. never crave sweets again. i still have to learn to just throw away food. thats such an issue for me. its like i have to clean my plate or else i feel guilty. please give me tips, suggestions to make this easier. i want to change, i do want to be a slave to food ever again. i hate being addicted to food. i swore this surgery would be the answer, but now i am 2nd guessing my desicion.......

I think talking to your surgeon is the first step. You may be right in the acid issue which may be causing "false hunger" pangs.

When you say you can eat 6-8oz of food, what kind of foods are you talking about? Can you give us an idea of a typical daily eating regime?

I am so sorry for your emotions right now. The emotional strain after surgery is bad enough without worrying if the surgery "worked" for you.

Are you weighing/measuring yourself at home? Or, have you stayed away from the scale and "just feel like you aren't losing"?

Keep in touch and let us know how things go with your surgeon. You are in my thoughts?

"i thought id never be hungry again. never crave sweets again. i still have to learn to just throw away food. thats such an issue for me. its like i have to clean my plate or else i feel guilty. "

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. It sounds like you went into this with unrealistic expectations and are now dissapointed. If your doctor told you you'd NEVER be hungry again, then that's just plain wrong. I get hungry every day, even on an acid reducer. It's not like it was when I had a lap-band or before WLS, but it is still there.

Though I can't eat things with much fat in them because I had my gall bladder removed, I DO still crave sweets. The difference now is that I can have a couple of Hershey's kisses and be satisfied instead of eating half a bag. Or a couple of bites of cake, or one cookie, etc. You can't really stop cravings, no matter what they're for, so you may as well try to learn healthful ways to deal with them. I actually enjoy fruit-filled yogurt as a sweet snack now, which I never used to do. I certainly feel better after eating it too than I do if I have candy.

Regarding throwing away food - I'm not really sure where that comes in. I never throw away food. If I'm at home, I put cook and put portions on my plate that I know I can get down. If I'm at a restaurant, I order appetizers or get a take-home box with my left-overs. Heck, I can get 4 meals out of some Entrees now.

Your life IS different now, so you have to live that way every day. You can't live the same way you did before the sleeve. It just takes some practice to get it down right. Even at 5 wks you're still very new at this. Give yourself a break and discuss this all with your doctor. These feelings are normal and will get better with time and experience.

Good Luck!!!

G

I am 3 months out and felt the same way as far as feeling like I could eat too much. I still think I can eat too much and my weight loss was slow at first. I lost 10 lbs the first 2 weeks then lost nothing for like 3 weeks. I eat sweets and other things I just eat such small amounts that my calorie intake stays less than 1000 calories a day. I have now lost 46 lbs in 3 months. That's really a lot if you think about it so though I was feeling the same way when I stop and think about it then I realize I am losing a lot. Some things made me really nauseous at first but they don't now so just keep trying things. I loved diet coke before and now it makes me nauseous but diet pepsi doesn't. I don't know what the difference is but that's how it is. I look at things that make me nauseous as a good thing because it helps me stay away from things that I shouldn't eat. Like Chocolate shakes make me sick. That's a good thing because that used to be my weakness. hang in there it gets better and you'll start to lose I bet soon.

I'm 5 weeks tomorrow, but I haven't tried sweets yet. I still have to make myself eat and drink. I'm afraid I'm not eating enough and your afraid your eating to much. It's so weird how different we are all. I am currently averaging 600-800 cal per day and measure all my food so I don't have to throw to much away. The first few weeks I was throwing lots of food away. I think I am learning slowly how to eat. Keep us posted on what the doctor says.

I knew going into this that the surgery was going to be on my tummy, but not my brain (or my eyes or nose for that matter!). I'm only a week+ out, but food LOOKS good, it SMELLS good, and yes, if I could have it I know it would TASTE good. And I still in the stages of carefully measuring my food. I cooked 2oz of egg beaters this am. And at about 1.5 oz in, I got a little "ping" in my tummy. And I knew it was full. It wasn't uncomfortable, but I just KNEW I could not stuff in one more bite. Do you ever get that sensation? And yes, I tossed .5oz of my egg beaters down the drain...but it felt ok. I don't like to waste food either, but I knew that last little bit wasn't NOT going to fit.

Just because your sleeve can hold 6-8 oz of food, doesn't mean you need to put all that in there (I know easier said than done). You are only about 5 weeks out. I know my surgeon's guidelines are very strict. At 5 weeks out, my meals are to be 90% Protein and 10% complex carbs (fruits and veggies). If I want something sweet, on my approved list is sugar-free pudding or SF popsicles.

I guess I feel like this, I paid a lot of $$$$ and went through the hassle of surgery and the HUGE to-do list required by my insurance (high-ded, hence me paying $$$$ into this) and my surgeon and even though this is not easy, I WANT to follow the rules and I WANT to make this work. And if I ever feel like this is NOT working, then I will seek help (surgeon, counselor, etc.) When you visit your surgeon, can you ask about starting a support group?? My surgeon hasn't done many sleeves and there is not a specific group yet for sleevers, (they are also restructuring their support groups altogether) but this forum is sort of my support group for now.

I think the brain/eyes take a LONG time to be able to figure out that our tummies are NOT that big anymore!

I got sleeved close to when you did (mine was October 4). My first three weeks I was only allowed liquids, and now I am on mushy foods. I haveven't even tried much else, since I am not yet allowed solids. My surgeon told me it was to protect my staple line and to give my stomach time to adjust. I don't know if this made a difference, but I don't crave anything. I do get hunger pains, but I wonder if it is really acid. Because it feels different than hunger used to.

Like someone else posted, I didn't go through something this drastic to cheat. I journal everythign I eat and drink each day. I make sure to get in 48-64 hours of Fluid and when I do eat, I made sure to get in my Protein first. Once I get my protein in, I stop and see if I am still hungry. I never am. I may not be full, but I am not hungry. Now if we can just conquer the "head hunger" we will be set.

I recommend writing down everything you eat and drink. It was a pain at first, but now it is just a habit, and it really helps me see how much I am really eating and how much protien I am getting in.

Hang in there - you just need to find what works for you!

I am glad to hear that you have switched to more protein food and less carbs (potatoes,rice), that should help with the weight loss. Don't get discouraged, I had my sleeve on Oct. 5th, I lost 11 pounds pre-op (2weeks) and another 10 pounds the first week post-op-then I stopped loosing and gained 4 pounds having nothing but liquids. I thought to myself "what have I done and for what". I didn't loose another pound until 4 weeks post-op (4 pounds in 3 days) -I am now down a total of 25 pounds (PRE & POST OP). I had to realize that the weight is not just going to fall off-I had to eat the right foods, drink my water and exercise, thats when the weight started coming off for me. Don't give up, work the sleeve and it will give you the results you desire.

I would hope that your doctor told you that this surgery is not a cure, but a tool for you to use to help you with the weight loss. You have to learn to treat it as such. I'm 9 months out (03/03/10) and have lost 105 pounds altogether so far. I still have 20 pounds to my goal weight and it's coming off more slowly than it did at first, which makes the frustration even worse. It's not easy, no matter what. The loss of appetite is only for a short amount of time. About 6 months after the surgery you'll start feeling hunger pangs again. The key is to learn how to correctly interpret your body's signals for food without being able to over eat. You can still gain the weight back just as easily because nothing keeps you from sitting and eating a bag of M&M's except you. Exercise, eat right and take your Vitamins every day. I have a friend who's been "normal" sized her whole life, and her interpretation of some of my angst is that what I'm feeling now is considered the norm by the thinner populations standards.

Don't give up. Treat every day as a single day and if you goof up one day, the next one clears the slate. Make better choices by finding things that are healthy for you, but still satisfy's the cravings. I find that logging my daily intake is both liberating and confining. I use Livestrong's www.thedailyplate.com to keep myself in check. I haven't given up the things I love, but I've had to change my thinking a lot with this process. Nothing is bad as long as it's done in moderation. Training your mind to think that way is hard when you want to eat that whole box of Cereal instead of the allotted portion.

It's a tool. Use it to your benefit.