Being only a month out I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find much I could eat in a social situation. I am surprised how well my sleeve is tolerating everything I have attempted to eat. I'm still supposed to be doing mushies but I've been able to eat shrimp, chicken and even some ground beef, all chewed very thoroughly. This brings me to another thought...while in the hospital after surgery my doc tells me he made my sleeve bigger than he normally does because I don't have a lot of weight to lose. I wonder if that is why my sleeve is able to tolerate what it has. That is certainly the reason I can eat 3 to 4 ounces with no problems. Hopefully I will continue to lose weight with this 'bigger' sleeve!

Being only a month out I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find much I could eat in a social situation. I am surprised how well my sleeve is tolerating everything I have attempted to eat. I'm still supposed to be doing mushies but I've been able to eat shrimp, chicken and even some ground beef, all chewed very thoroughly. This brings me to another thought...while in the hospital after surgery my doc tells me he made my sleeve bigger than he normally does because I don't have a lot of weight to lose. I wonder if that is why my sleeve is able to tolerate what it has. That is certainly the reason I can eat 3 to 4 ounces with no problems. Hopefully I will continue to lose weight with this 'bigger' sleeve!

hi upward

my sleeve is "normal" size i guess,didn't want it bigger to hold more food.

as far as going out to eat, DH and i always went out to restaurants, any reason - out shopping, went to drug store, ground hogs day, or it could have been the 2nd day of the month. LOLOL

have not tried to go out yet, (saving lots of money by the way) don't think i could handle it yet being in a position where theres alot of food - i will go out eventually DOS 12/15/11 go out socially - just waiting til i think i can handle it better - maybe ground hogs day next year LOLOL

best

kathy

It holding more food is worrisome to me. I certainly didn't ask the dr. to make it bigger! Sure, I guess it will be helpful in the long term as in I will be able to eat more like a normal person but eating more usually = weighing more Ugh, once this weight comes off I am def going to have to focus on continuing to eat right and exercise!

my doctor did same thing since he saw i was committed by losing 65 pounds before surgery. at two weeks i was like you eating well chewed solids simulate mushy

Thanks Thomas! I was wondering if I was the only one. How has your weight loss been? How has it progressed as opposed to others who have a 'normal' sized sleeve? I have been slightly worried I may not lose as much or I may lose at a slower rate seeing as I can eat more. Does that even make any sense though? I can eat more than others who have been sleeved but still, I am only eating up to 4 oz when my stomach used to hold 4+ cups!

Even if your sleeve is slightly bigger it shouldn't be a real hindrance to your loss. It should still be more than enough restriction to get you to goal, especially if you watch what you eat.

There really isn't "slow" loss. I mean, I say I was a "slower" loser all the time, but I'm comparing myself to a minority that reached goal in nine months or so. We had surgery to change our lives, to lose the weight and keep it off for good. Reaching goal in less than a year isn't somehow more satisfying than doing it in, say, 17 months. That's how long it took me.

You've lost 36% of the weight you wanted to lose and you've lost what, 16% of that in less than two months, right? Not too shabby!

And when you say you can eat more are we talking dense Protein? Say you sit down to a meal of only chicken breast. How much can you eat? I'd measure it and figure it out if I were you. Because I'm willing to bet you have a little more restriction than you think. I can eat a nice 4-5 ounces of food in a meal if I choose to eat Soup, salad and veggies first. Eating protein first fills me up and I don't have room for anything else. So if you focus on eating that way you might see faster results, but I'm sure you'd lose the weight anyway.

I love eating out now. I usually order an appetizer or salad to share with the table and share meals with my husband or friends. I'm a really cheap date now but I always feel satisfied. I get a huge variety of foods and never feel stuffed or bloated from overdoing it.

You'll be just fine. Congrats on handling eating out well. It freaks a lot of people out, but so long as we're prepared for it to be different than it was before surgery I don't see why it would be an issue.

~Cheri

I've starting week 4 and I ate out twice this week. It was fun to do something that I love! Thursday night we went out for Mexican food. I ordered a cup of Chicken Tortilla Soup. I barely ate a quarter of it and two spoonfuls of my daughters refried beans and I was full. I brought it home and nursed it for a couple of hours till it was gone. Then tonight I had salmon. I ate about 2 oz. and brought the rest home. It didn't bother me at all not ordering a Margarita or wine. It's funny how I look at food now. When with girlfriends tonight, I did play w my food and move it around on the plate so it didn't look like I wasn't eating.

My family and I went out twice this week, once to Red Lobster and once to Taco Bell. The mash potatoes at Red Lobster were tasty and slide down fine, well the few teaspoons my sleeve could handle. Refried Beans at Taco Bell was another story. One bite and I was ready to vomit, the second bite I knew my choice was a bad one.

Thanks clk. I can def get in more liquid than say eggs, chicken or fish but I'm still able to eat 3 to 4oz of that stuff. We went to Movie Tavern and I ate a whole skewer or shrimp, a skewer of chicken and the veggies. It's helping me get my protein and nutrients in, that's for sure. I am thankful I can get more down just for that simple fact since I see so many struggling to get in the amount of protein and liquids that they should.