This just randomly crossed my mind........ so u know how right now we have to wait to eat.. only eat 2oz per whatever.. 4 oz per whatever etc etc Water in between bla bla....

is it always going to be like that? like 2 or 3 mos from now am i going to still have to remember that if i eat Breakfast i cannot eat again till a certain time? what if i want a snack in between? am i going to get sick if i dont stay on schedule?? Im just thinking you know... I have lunch.. and what if i want some crackers and cream cheese a few hrs later before dinner or a cupcake after dinner?? ... will i able to do these normal things like an average healthy person does??

I guess i am worried that i will not be able to go out to dinner with friends like normal ppl do .. and maybe have a small dessert, or a few bites of an appetizer.. ugh.

I am not sure what you mean by "waiting" to eat but I am just about 6 months out and I eat like a normal person, just way less. I drink up until maybe 5 minutes before I eat. I don't drink with meals and wait 30 minutes after. If I am thirsty after a meal, I chew a piece of gum and it helps to pass the time and moisten my mouth. I can barely eat a half a cup of food, and I am happy about that but if I want to have a dessert, I have a littel bite of my husbands. I have had ice cream on occasion and I am living my life and not eating compulsively anymore.

Don't get in the mindset of what you 'can't" have or "can't" do. Get in a positive mindset. It may take a bit but you will get used to your new stomach and be happy that you don't need to stuff your face with food. I feel more confident at restaurants. I order food that can be reheated and get 2 nights of left overs from one meal ordered out!! Good Luck

One reason I can see having to think about eating is that you probably wont be hungry and may need to remind yourself.

There is no rule about "you can't eat crackers between lunch and dinner" or "you can't eat a cupcake for dessert"

However- two to three months out- do you really want to? Don't forget you have a wonderful 6 months or so for optimum weight loss- use it girl! Get to your goal and then work some things like that back into your life. It seems to me that everyone who did the best around hear was pretty strict in the weight loss period. That is my plan anyway!

Of course you will be eating a wide variety of foods into your future- and you will be the rule maker. Just remember crackers and cake are slider foods- they reduce to nothing in your mouth and go right down- and hence the possibility of gaining the weight back after all that work.

Tamz:

I understand what you are saying. And ironically, I was having a similar thought yesterday. I would never have posted about it as I hate stirring up the "why don't you think this is all fantastic" stuff but since you started a post of similar consciousness, I'll add my two cents.

I had a very crazy day yesterday. Before I left the house I made a little index card of the times I have to eat. I packed a little bag with yogurt, sliced turkey, etc., things I knew I could eat because I had no idea what they would have at the facilities I was visiting. Due to a bad situation (one of the people I was visiting was very ill) I missed one of my times to eat. I just can't eat when I'm in a room with someone who is being suctioned or vomiting or whatever. I mean, what? Pull out my sliced turkey? I wasn't hungry, so it could wait. So it was an extra 90 minutes before I was in my car and could eat. Well, that means I am not going to be able to get all 5 meals in for the day. Because you see, before I could have that second meal --- which was supposed to happen while I was in the nursing home but got delayed --- I had to WAIT 3 hours. Most of us have to WAIT between eating. (That's what she means by waiting, I think.) And she's wondering if there will ever be a time where (using my case) I could have eaten before going into the nursing home even though it was slightly less than 2 hours. Because at 2 months out, I couldn't. I had to wait until after. I could not yet hold more than maybe 1 or 2 bites at 1 hour 50 minutes.

I too hope there will come a day when this is all a bit more flexible. Right now, if I miss a meal, I can't physically make it up so I'm just short the nutrition for that day. I can do some liquid Protein but as many have said here, it might not be as beneficial.

I think there are people who have stressed difficult lives and people who are maybe retired or not working who have very different experiences with what a job this is to do right. If you are a person who can whip food out at any time, if you are a person who has friends who will schedule eating out at your 3 hour interval, you should really count your blessings. That's a wonderful thing and I can see why you would have difficulty understanding why anyone else would find this regimented schedule a challenge.

And that was what my thought was as I was driving and eating the sliced turkey breast. Now that I'm into this I'm realizing how very difficult it can be. At least in the first months. And I really wonder if there are people for whom this surgery is not correct for that reason. I wonder how many people are out there struggling because they don't have the skill set to manage this. And I wonder how many start out on easy street and then have their lives suddenly disrupted and it causes the failure we sometimes see in people who have had WLS.

I have to admit that before I had this surgery I wondered why some people gain so much weight, or look horrible because they are obviously not getting enough food (a very good friend is in this group) but now that I know what a balancing act this can be, I'm not so judgmental.

I'm with you Tamz. I will be very happy to some day not be tied to the 3 hour interval. I will some day love being able to skip protein a day and just go wild with fresh cantaloupe and garden tomatoes. I will some day love to eat at bit at 2 hours instead of 3 just because I run into a friend and decide to join her. I don't know if that will ever happen. But I'd like that level of normal too. If I understood your statements, you're not saying you'd want to eat wild and crazy. Just the freedom of a little bit. And frankly, the freedom I hope eventually will come with the sleeve. It would sure be nice to get back to that level of freedom. And I think the answer is that it will vary for each of us and we'll have to wait and see.

And see what you did? You made me get long winded.

Just for the record, I don't go more than 2 waking hours without putting something nutritious in my mouth. I can't drink the shakes so I'll have a thing slice of deli roast beef with cream cheese in it or a couple of bites of string cheese (handy when on the go!) or anything else that is Protein that I can get my hands on. Now, this isn't a full fledged meal but I don't eat full fledge meals normally. I wasn't taught that way. I was taught how to amp up my metabolism and that is what I'm sticking with. YES it's important to get all your protein in, but it isn't set in stone that you can only have 3 or 5 meals or whatever a day, just get it in when you can before you go to sleep. That's it. Keep it simple and listen to your body, that's something I learned when I got sick, listen to your body!

I eat a couple of tablespoons at a time, sometimes 3 tablespoons, not enough to hurt myself but something to give my body nutrition and fuel to run on.

Renee`

I hardly think about how much when anymore. I know if I drink my protien shake in the morning and 3 bottles or tea Water I had enough fluids. Sometimes I have greek yogurt mid morning some times I don't. I pretty much go by what i feel like I need. lunch of course is a must and then repeat on after noon snack if I feel like it.

I guess what is happened is that I have become SO busy now, Instead of thinking what will I eat, I am thinking I can't wait to go ride my bike, go walk the dogs, get to my class at the YMCA, basically the sleeve has changed how I see food and LOVE IT! Not so much in the start, honestly, it was tough but as the weight fell off and found more things to do food is only something that I need to keep going,, no keep going to eat food.

Thats exactly what I was sayin!!! I dont want to always have to freakin count between meals! I wanna eat breakfast... Maybe if I want some cheese later fine.. Then I wanna go to lunch with friends etc etc without time frames!

Thats exactly what I was sayin!!! I dont want to always have to freakin count between meals! I wanna eat breakfast... Maybe if I want some cheese later fine.. Then I wanna go to lunch with friends etc etc without time frames!

Tamz, give yourself time and be kind to yourself. You and very new to this and learning to eat again. That is why it is important for you to focus on how much when right now. You need to make sure you at least get the right basics in your body as it is so hard to get things in the beginning. About 4 months out you will start to be able to trust what you feel go with your instincts.

Tamz:

I understand what you are saying. And ironically, I was having a similar thought yesterday. I would never have posted about it as I hate stirring up the "why don't you think this is all fantastic" stuff but since you started a post of similar consciousness, I'll add my two cents.

I had a very crazy day yesterday. Before I left the house I made a little index card of the times I have to eat. I packed a little bag with yogurt, sliced turkey, etc., things I knew I could eat because I had no idea what they would have at the facilities I was visiting. Due to a bad situation (one of the people I was visiting was very ill) I missed one of my times to eat. I just can't eat when I'm in a room with someone who is being suctioned or vomiting or whatever. I mean, what? Pull out my sliced turkey? I wasn't hungry, so it could wait. So it was an extra 90 minutes before I was in my car and could eat. Well, that means I am not going to be able to get all 5 meals in for the day. Because you see, before I could have that second meal --- which was supposed to happen while I was in the nursing home but got delayed --- I had to WAIT 3 hours. Most of us have to WAIT between eating. (That's what she means by waiting, I think.) And she's wondering if there will ever be a time where (using my case) I could have eaten before going into the nursing home even though it was slightly less than 2 hours. Because at 2 months out, I couldn't. I had to wait until after. I could not yet hold more than maybe 1 or 2 bites at 1 hour 50 minutes.

I too hope there will come a day when this is all a bit more flexible. Right now, if I miss a meal, I can't physically make it up so I'm just short the nutrition for that day. I can do some liquid Protein but as many have said here, it might not be as beneficial.

I think there are people who have stressed difficult lives and people who are maybe retired or not working who have very different experiences with what a job this is to do right. If you are a person who can whip food out at any time, if you are a person who has friends who will schedule eating out at your 3 hour interval, you should really count your blessings. That's a wonderful thing and I can see why you would have difficulty understanding why anyone else would find this regimented schedule a challenge.

And that was what my thought was as I was driving and eating the sliced turkey breast. Now that I'm into this I'm realizing how very difficult it can be. At least in the first months. And I really wonder if there are people for whom this surgery is not correct for that reason. I wonder how many people are out there struggling because they don't have the skill set to manage this. And I wonder how many start out on easy street and then have their lives suddenly disrupted and it causes the failure we sometimes see in people who have had WLS.

I have to admit that before I had this surgery I wondered why some people gain so much weight, or look horrible because they are obviously not getting enough food (a very good friend is in this group) but now that I know what a balancing act this can be, I'm not so judgmental.

I'm with you Tamz. I will be very happy to some day not be tied to the 3 hour interval. I will some day love being able to skip protein a day and just go wild with fresh cantaloupe and garden tomatoes. I will some day love to eat at bit at 2 hours instead of 3 just because I run into a friend and decide to join her. I don't know if that will ever happen. But I'd like that level of normal too. If I understood your statements, you're not saying you'd want to eat wild and crazy. Just the freedom of a little bit. And frankly, the freedom I hope eventually will come with the sleeve. It would sure be nice to get back to that level of freedom. And I think the answer is that it will vary for each of us and we'll have to wait and see.

And see what you did? You made me get long winded.

I think of the concepts- protein for example- as guidelines. If I miss my 60-80 grams one day then I refuse to stress because my thumby already RUNS me but there has to be a limit. Yesterday, for example, I missed a meal because of my schedule. Oh well!

Some of the stress may also have to do with our particular doctors and their instructions. Mine fully expects and endorses having up to two Protein drinks a day throughout the weight loss period. No way can I get enough protein from these tiny meals and I need at least two hours (3 is better) between meals or I wont be able to fit anything in. That small capacity is what we wanted! And in actual fact most of these "rules" have to do with maximizing our weight loss and getting to goal.

I have absolutely no doubt you will be quite free to eat as you like, sooner rather than later. Small amounts, of course! But it gets easier and easier, and your capacity increases. You could ignore the guidelines now- they are only there to help you achieve your goal- but you are the captain of the ship !

The first three months are the worst, I think- and in fact I feel as if I have taken a part time job taking care of monster thumby! But I also have learned to chill when I don't meet my goals as I am very goal driven but I just can't be beating myself up when I don't get my protein, or eat a few too many carbs- this is a journey, and it has a steep learning curve!

We can do this!

Trying to stick to the "schedule" sux a big one. When I wake up at 6AM before I have my coffee ( I found my love of coffee again yayyy! ) I have a protein shake. After I get to work around 10AM I usually have a snack, cheese, some pork rinds etc. Then lunch at 1PM usually a bare burger or lunch meat or tuna. Then at 4PM have another snack, then dinner at around 7PM and around 10PM I have another shake. On Thursday I missed the morning snack because of a meeting I had that ran over then when I got out was too busy with follow up stuff to eat. My next meal wasnt until 1PM I was able to eat. I was worried but basically got over it and went about my business. You can stick to it as much as life permits, but sometimes you have to work around it. You will be able to do all of those things but SHOULD NOT until later. Like Meggie said take advantage of what you can right now and worry about that stuff later. Someone said it earlier, focus on the POSITIVE things and what you CAN do and not what you CAN"T do.

Trying to stick to the "schedule" sux a big one. When I wake up at 6AM before I have my coffee ( I found my love of coffee again yayyy! ) I have a Protein shake. After I get to work around 10AM I usually have a snack, cheese, some pork rinds etc. Then lunch at 1PM usually a bare burger or lunch meat or tuna. Then at 4PM have another snack, then dinner at around 7PM and around 10PM I have another shake. On Thursday I missed the morning snack because of a meeting I had that ran over then when I got out was too busy with follow up stuff to eat. My next meal wasnt until 1PM I was able to eat. I was worried but basically got over it and went about my business. You can stick to it as much as life permits, but sometimes you have to work around it. You will be able to do all of those things but SHOULD NOT until later. Like Meggie said take advantage of what you can right now and worry about that stuff later. Someone said it earlier, focus on the POSITIVE things and what you CAN do and not what you CAN"T do.

10 p.m. is lucky. I have to cut anything but Water 2 hours before I go to bed or I have terrible acid reflux. As long as I cut 2 hours before bed, I'm fine. So that means I have 2 fewer hours to try and get the meals in. So I can only get 5 meals in per day. They complain about that but I'm not sure what to do. Eventually I think I will be able to change to eating at 2:30 intervals instead of 3 hours but right now I just don't have the capacity for it. And, as you said, I'm doing as much as I can. And right now I'd rather have one fewer meal a day than the consequences of nightly acid reflux. The few times it's happened, it's pretty miserable. I now understand why people have such issues with that problem.