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How many minutes between bites of food?



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I am supposed to wait 3 minutes between bites, so that my tummy has a chance to feel full. I have found this really hard to do, especially for my lunch at work. I have been eating slower than I did before but not the 3 minutes in-between bites and my sleeve still gets full rather quickly. Am I hurting my sleeve or weight loss if I don't wait the three minutes?

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I used to sit and time myself and make sure i waited 2 minutes between bites. . . that was in the beginning, now at 21 months out I eat and when I'm done, I'm done. . .I'm back to normal living and sometimes it takes me only 10 minutes to finish 1 cup of food or depending on what it is, it can take up to 15 minutes. . I don't time myself anymore.

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Boy, 3 minutes? That's a new one on me. It seems not only impractical but impossible as your meal size will increase. I wait a few SECONDS between bites. I may pause after a few bites for a few minutes but then resume the same pace. I also drink while I eat too, I just cannot choke down food without a beverage.

I must be doing something right, see the ticker below for my current progress.

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Boy, 3 minutes? That's a new one on me. It seems not only impractical but impossible as your meal size will increase. I wait a few SECONDS between bites. I may pause after a few bites for a few minutes but then resume the same pace. I also drink while I eat too, I just cannot choke down food without a beverage.

I must be doing something right, see the ticker below for my current progress.

wow rootman, you are doing excellent! what great progress you are making! Keep up the great work! I drink with my food too, but i'm finding lately that it's either one or the other, because i fill up way too fast. . .weird, may need to talk to the doctor about that soon cause my bougie was really small 28/32F and i just hope i'm not scarring up. . . ugh. . .

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I can't wait that long between bites, but I'm still measuring my food and undereating my sleeve. I would rather measure for the rest of my life than take that long to eat! I don't wolf it down and I'm chewing very thoroughly, but 3 minutes? No way!

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In the begining, maybe the first couple of months, I used to time myself and wait a couple of minutes. I have a REAL BIG fear of getting sick from eating too fast or too much!!

I eat a lot faster than I did then at 4 months out, but I still wait about 30 seconds in between bites. I measure my food and undereat my sleeve.

Kelly ;)

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When were you sleeved?

I think I'm typical. In the beginning I actually used an egg timer because it hurt if I ate too fast. Now, just shy of 6 months out I eat pretty much as I did before. I think the thing that changed more is that I do think I take smaller bites and chew much better. I also measure my food and when I'm done, I'm done. But I have a pretty small capacity yet and pretty much have to stop.

I have tested this and I really don't see any difference between putting time between bites or just eating. food doesn't digest that fast and if you can only hold 4 ounces, you can only hold 4 ounces.

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I slowed my eating way down in the beginning but now it has picked back up. This doesn’t cause me any issues and I know how much my pouch can hold of the food I cook so I just portion out that amount. I’m sure that many people still eat slow but I just can’t do it. If I eat something new I do eat it slow though until I learn how much of it I can eat. The point of this is to give yourself the chance to feel satisfied and/or have restriction kick in. I just portion out less than it would take for restriction and that works for me.

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On 12/13/2021 at 12:03 PM, ShoppGirl said:

I slowed my eating way down in the beginning but now it has picked back up. This doesn’t cause me any issues and I know how much my pouch can hold of the food I cook so I just portion out that amount. I’m sure that many people still eat slow but I just can’t do it. If I eat something new I do eat it slow though until I learn how much of it I can eat. The point of this is to give yourself the chance to feel satisfied and/or have restriction kick in. I just portion out less than it would take for restriction and that works for me.

Just wondering what size portions you are doing. I weigh out my portions, but don’t wait between bites. Right now I usually have 2-3 oz Protein and 1-2 oz veg. My calories are around 800 a day and I’m a little over a month from surgery. I’m hoping I’m doing things right and am hopeful that the sleeve will help me to not overeat.

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7 hours ago, OutdoorsGirl said:

Just wondering what size portions you are doing. I weigh out my portions, but don’t wait between bites. Right now I usually have 2-3 oz Protein and 1-2 oz veg. My calories are around 800 a day and I’m a little over a month from surgery. I’m hoping I’m doing things right and am hopeful that the sleeve will help me to not overeat.

That sounds about where I was at your stage. Now I can eat quite a bit more. Like a full slice of cauliflower pizza or a whole burrito. Basically around what things say as one serving size. Sometimes a little less. But I am 8 months out.

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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
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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.

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

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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