Well, we should have already seen what is considered "normal size" food based on the food chart/observation. I believe it's a palm size of protein, a cup of carbs, and more veggies. Anywho, what I want to know from post ops that are further along (maybe 1.5/2 years) is the amount of food you eat now considered the "normal" amount or is it still smaller in comparison to what the average person might eat? What I have been doing for a few months is measuring my foods, and using smaller plates. Smaller plates is a great tip, especially if you've always had gigantor plates. My bestie had the RNY, and I have asked her to send a picture of her food to get a visual and it does look smaller than average, but her pouch would be smaller than my stomach.

Well I am not 2 years out and I myself am definitely looking forward to seeing more responses, but I wanted to mention that our stomachs are not bigger than a pouch. In fact I believe they are about the same volume wise. The only difference is the shape. Ours are more like a banana and theirs is like a bowl. But overall the capacity of our sleeves are tiny! The other benefit to the sleeve is that our sleeve is less likely to stretch simply based on where it is. The inner curve of the stomach (what our sleeve is made out of) is much less stretchy then the outer curve (which is removed for us). The pouch still has a lot of that stretchy part of the stomach so it stretches easier over time.

I will say that being 6 months out I do eat more now than I did at the 3 or 4 month mark, but not by a lot. My Protein portion (depending on what type of protein it is) is generally what a serving would be considered to be (like a deck of cards) but I can't eat anything else with it. I generally avoid carbs (though I will have a treat every once in a while) but when I have had them I fill up either extremely fast with a lot of discomfort (i.e. rice or bread) or they are "slider" foods and go through way too easily (i.e popcorn). From what I've read over the last few months it does get to a point where you can eat a childs size portion. I haven't heard from anybody over the 2 year mark though so I'm not really sure.

From what I have read ( I cant find it) the amount of ounces held was more than with the RNY.

I am 18 months out and the other day for breakfast I had; half a slice of buttered toast, half of one over-medium egg, and half a slice of bacon. I was STUFFED, and that's a year and a half out! Lunch was most of a child's size grilled cheese sandwich - STUFFED! Then for dinner I had a 2 inch by 3 inch slice of vegetarian lasagna and a tablespoon of polenta and was STUFFED. See the trend? =)

However, it must be said that the day before my cycle I seem to have expanded capacity and have been able to down almost half a cheeseburger in one sitting and finish the burger a few hours later.

I'm19mths out and I still weigh my food (desperately trying to get to my first weight goal) and I eat between 6-8oz of food in a meal depending on consistency. This is VERY similar to the weight I was eating at approx 8mths out... so I feel this is my limit now! I am more than happy with this as it is enough to enjoy the taste of food and to keep my cals low(ish) they range between 900-1200 daily. This amount also keeps me satisfied for a long period of time and therefore allows me to stay with my 3 meal a day post op plan... yes I am still sticking to this for 90% of the time!

Not sure if this helps... hope so! =]

It helped thanks. So it looks like its a child size amount of food. Not bad.

Yes! Great comparison... in fact both my kids, now aged 11 and 13 both eat a lot more than I do at meal times - we're old fashioned here and all eat our meals, at the table together...lol! They used to comment on how little I ate, but now it is just me being 'normal'! Using a smaller plate is a great way to guage food too, if you haven't got a scales in front of you.

=]

I used to weigh absolutely every morsel, for about the first year. After doing it so much I became quite good at eyeballing my portions until now, I can cut a piece of something, judge it as say, 3 ounces, put it on the scale and it will be spot on. Basically I can handle about a cup of anything, and about 3/4's of the way into it I will stop, wait 15 minutes, and finish it off. Depending on my sleeve's mood that day I could eat again in 2 hours or be done for the rest of the day. I must say, my sleeve has some capricious moods, one day I can chug along steadily eating every three hours, and others I have to force myself to put something in my mouth at least once.

I'm 20 months and eat nowhere near a normal sized portion. I'd say based upon what I've read here I even have a little less capacity than other folks sleeved around the same time. I still have to make sure I log my food to ensure I get enough nutrition - the opposite of the issue I thought I'd be having in maintenance! I will say that my sleeve HAS stretched a tiny bit since one year out but it's not enough that I'm concerned about regaining weight.

I can finally eat 3 oz of Protein in a sitting but it has to be just the right texture (soft enough to eat, I mean, or covered in a sauce/gravy) and it's the only thing I can eat for that meal. So when it comes to eating meat I still break out my scale to be sure of what I'm eating, but only because I HAVE to track carefully or I'll get nowhere near my protein goals. Everything else I can eyeball at this point.

I can eat one egg scrambled with cheese and if I eat slowly enough I can also eat one turkey sausage link in the same meal. That's vs. one year out when I could only eat one egg scrambled with some cheese.

If I limit my protein to about 1.5-2 oz in a sitting, I can eat about 1/2 cup of whatever else I want. But for some reason, I have a big capacity for salad now as long as I eat it first. So tonight for dinner I had about 1/2 cup of salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, radish, shredded cheese & dressing), 2 oz salmon and about 1/4 cup each creamed spinach and mashed potato. For me, that's a HUGE meal. I ate five hours ago and have no desire to eat anything else tonight.

If I do Pasta or rice (or bread) I can't eat but a few bites, so a 2x3 square of lasagna has me feeling envious because there's no way I could eat that. If I eat half a grilled cheese sandwich I can have about 1/2 a cup of thin Soup (like tomato) on a good day. Some days, I only have room for a half sandwich. I can't eat a whole cheeseburger (unless I stretch it out over two or three meals, which I do when I really want one!) and I couldn't begin to eat more than one slice of pizza, no matter how thin the crust.

Comparing it to a child's portion is pretty accurate, though there are times when my growing twins eat more than I do in a sitting.

Junky foods are a different story. I can eat 2-3 cups of popcorn. I cat eat one cookie at a time, but I'll be darned if I can't go back and eat another one thirty minutes later, too. So the capacity for carbs/slider foods really does increase from the beginning. The good news is that the desire to eat those foods is pretty much gone.

Unless it's that time of the month. Because yes, the absolute ONLY time I can eat all day long is the day before my period starts. I not only battle head hunger but I definitely seem to have an increased capacity, too. Of course the desire to use that capacity to eat a steak wouldn't be so bad...but it's definitely the chips, Cookies, pretzels and french fries (ugh, and cherry coke!) I'm after, so it's definitely not a good thing. I'm glad I'm not alone in that.

~Cheri

CLK - that is fascinating! I remember you from back in the day, you had your surgery about a month or so before I did so I've always been interested in tracking your progress. 20 months out and you are still eating like a post-op! That's a good thing, I'm jealous! Are you at goal? I'm still 17 lbs shy of surgeon's, 40 shy of personal.

Pasta is still a no-go, even though my capacity is more than yours. Anything beyond say, 5 or 6 spaghetti noodles causes alarm and fears of sliming. Plus my tastes have changed and I would way rather have the meatballs and cheese =)

I wonder if the whole slider/carb slider thing has more to do with flour content? Maybe there is something mysteriously and specifically bad about flour that makes our sleeves take to it so horribly well ... hmm.

Yep, the day before my cycle I feel like I could do a face plant into a vat of haagen daz and tear the sides off a cow, my God, that first bite of a sizzling juicy fatty cheeseburger, the day before you start, ohmmmmmmygodddddd. foodgasm bliss.

Can someone tell me what the slimes are? I keep hearing about it. Please be very descriptive. It sounds gross. Like snot.

The slimes are different for everyone I think. For me it is that one bite too many, that one sip too much, and I suddenly get the worst feeling of needing to vomit only I can't, and instead I produce copious amounts of viscous saliva and a lot of pain. It is HORRIBLE.

And after all my big talk about the change in my capacity - I tried to eat some tuna salad for lunch and I barely managed 2 ounces, no bread no crackers just the tuna, and my stomach is contracting painfully =( guess I rediscovered a filling food =/

Is the contracting pain the same as the pain felt when you take a laxative or something similar? Usually laxatives without ginger makes my stomach feel that way, like "Where is the toilet? Stay out of my way"

I have never gotten full-blown slimes or vomiting from eating, but I do get some discomfort with too many carbs or just too much to eat. I've discovered that soft breads (untoasted loaf bread, soft tortillas, rolls, etc.) really cause me some discomfort and seem to swell up my sleeve. I can eat a a piece of toasted bread with a thin spread of peanut butter, but don't do it too often as I get too full and it's not enough protein for me (and too much fat/carbs).

I'll be 3 years out next month and I can eat quite a bit more than I could at 2 years out. I can now pretty much eat 2 pieces of pizza. It used to be one piece and I was stuffed. I can eat half of a sandwich.

I normally stick to meat and veggies, but I do seem to eat more if I am out to eat with friends.

What does two pieces of pizza look like? Are we talking personal pan from pizza hut?