I feel like the WLS oxymoron lately. food is sounding good again. Most foods, including ones that I know are no longer on my menu of okay to eat.

Problem is, I no longer like eating.

Before weight loss surgery I was a champion eater, which was a big part of my problem in creating the rather large body I was residing in. I love to cook and I love to taste test while doing so. I would pick at food while cooking, serving, etc. When I sat down to eat, I had already had three or more post surgery size meals while cooking/plating and then would have my rather large plate piled high with at least two full size servings. I didn't know the word halt, put the fork down until the pain in between my shoulder blades in back warned me it was going to be a Tum, ta-Tum Tum night. Now? I have really slowed down my eating, the sleeve doesn't give you options if you don't; just pain. I have forced myself to take small bites, put the fork down, think of something else while waiting to take the next bite. Heck, I even took someones suggestion of using one of the small hourglass/sand timers to turn over in between bites to force myself to pace, pace, pace...<sigh> It does work, but the whole 40 minutes we are supposed to take to eat our 1/2 cup of food? I have little to no patience. I want to EAT! Hence, I no longer like eating.

And what is up with only wanting to drink or feeling thirsty while I am eating?! I know to follow the 30 minute rule, but oh my heck!

Is there anyone else out there that has gone through this and made it out the other side with their sanity intact?

Yes I know exactly what u mean! Oh and another thing is I hate to waste anything, especially food. If u go through a drive thru and even get a kids meal, ur still gonna waste half of it! So I waste a lot of food and money.

I'm STILL working on the time to eat thing. How on earth do I make my half cup of food last half an hour? Especially since my doc's book says that I'm not supposed to have distractions while eating!

I have tiny plates and bowls, shrimp forks and baby spoons. Last night someone handed me a full size fork to eat with and it felt SO large in my hand! I even used the cake forks before surgery because, despite my size, my mouth itself is rather small. My dentist is always complaining about my "tiny mouth", although my schoolteachers certainly claimed it was big!

Dolly, I'm trying to avoid certain foods as well, but I will have something "not allowed" if I really want it. During a trip out of town last weekend, my cousin made biscuits, which she learned to do from our granny. I'm avoiding bread, but I did eat part of a biscuit with gravy and an egg and it was SO good. Cousin Vicky makes biscuits JUST like granny did.

I had to realize that I'm going to be living with the Sleeve for a long time to come and it's not realistic to expect that no bread will every pass my lips. So, I'm trying to modify things to the point that I CAN have the special stuff, just not every day. In the future, I can see myself having a bite of birthday cake or some of a decadent food that I especially love. I just don't see me having any of that stuff in great quantities.

Since you're a great cook, you'll have more temptation than I will. I CAN cook, and I'm good at it, but I am the kind of cook who only does great things for holidays. The rest of the time, I'm content with very simple food. When I lost weight on Atkins before, I actually had a daily menu that I followed pretty religiously. When I strayed from that menu is when I ran into trouble. I'm trying NOT to put myself in that position again...where I eat something bad for me just because I'm bored with the daily grind.

I wish us both luck finding out way to healthy eating.