Thought once I had the surgery that I wouldn't be hungry but seems that I am still hungry. But not able to eat like I use too end up purchasing too much food and not able to eat half of it and I usually start hurting because too full. Is there something that I can do so that I don't over eat because unable to eat everything that I am buying and end up throwing a lot of food away.

There are many reasons you may feel "hungry".

You might have excess acid production. The acid can causing a "hunger" sensation, and as it moves further up the esophagus, will then lead to true heart burn and pain. If this is the case, using an acid reducer, or proton pump inhibitor (PPI) such as Prilosec (Omeprazole) can be VERY useful. I take a 20 mg Omeprazole tablet 2 x per day and it keeps things nicely under control for me.

As well, the most likely culprit for hunger is "head hunger". This is where your brain is telling you that you want/need/crave something that your stomach and body will not end up agreeing with. And it's usually in much larger quantities that we can handle now that our stomachs are so tiny.

Your brain, and mouth, are used to ingesting much larger quantities (as we did in the past....that's how we got here.......no portion control!). Now, when you put just a few bitefuls of food on your plate, it makes your brain scream "WTF....you can't live on that.....come on, pile it up baby". That leads to overeating our stomach capacity, pain, nausea, etc.

It takes months to learn what your real capacity is. I'm only a 5 weeks out and I've bought too much food nearly every week, and had to throw things out. I was putting too much on my plate (I thought I could handle 4 oz...and barely made it through 2 oz!).

My new favourite weapon is my digital scale. I weigh EVERYTHING and keep my total meal at about 3 oz. Not only does this prevent me from overeating and feeling just horrible afterwards (pain, nausea, etc.), but I can accurately enter everything into my food log (I use MyFitnessPal) and monitor exactly how many grams of Protein, carbs, fat, etc. I am consuming.

Get yourself a scale and starting weighing everything. You'll quickly learn to "eyeball" the right quantities for yourself.

You don't mention how far out you are post-op. In the first few months, your capacity is constantly changing. In the first month, the swelling is still going down (and therefore your capacity is increasing). In the next few months, you're learning what foods you tolerate well and how much, and which give you problems. It's shifting landscape and you have to learn to "roll with the punches" for a while.

It does get easier!

finally someone who has the same issue as me, buying too much food and not being able to eat it all. I take your remedy and buy a digital scale and weigh my food. Thanks somuch.

I bought a digital scale as well and that has been a lifesaver! Since I know most sleeves won't hold but just 3 oz. I weigh my food on my plate as well. Keeps me in check and I don't waste near as much food. Got mine for 30 bucks from Target!

Thank you very much for the speedy replies I thought I was the only one going through this I have a digital scale already I am going to have to start taking it with me everywhere. Because failure is not an option I need to lose the last 35lbs and over eating to I hurt isn't a good thing either.

Thanks for the quick response and now I know how food I can hold and I will not have to be so concenred with getting to 1200 calories per day.

Any reccomenations on thescales?

I bought mine off of ebay but someone said you could get one at target for $30..

Weight is not the same as volume. Does your scale measure volume? I'm confused because something small could weigh more than a bigger portion of something else. What about bread, which I don't eat anymore because it is too much volume? But a bread slice is about 1 ounce so, theoretically, you could eat three slices of bread, but I know that I couldn't, but I could eat three ounces of steak. I'm just trying to clarify here if it is the weight that is important or the volume.

Weight is not the same as volume. Does your scale measure volume? I'm confused because something small could weigh more than a bigger portion of something else. What about bread' date=' which I don't eat anymore because it is too much volume? But a bread slice is about 1 ounce so, theoretically, you could eat three slices of bread, but I know that I couldn't, but I could eat three ounces of steak. I'm just trying to clarify here if it is the weight that is important or the volume.[/quote']

I use the weight as a guide. Then I sit down, eat slow, and let my sleeve tell me when I am full. I rarely finish a 3 oz. plate of food. But then at least I am not wasting as much.

Weight is not the same as volume. Does your scale measure volume? I'm confused because something small could weigh more than a bigger portion of something else. What about bread' date=' which I don't eat anymore because it is too much volume? But a bread slice is about 1 ounce so, theoretically, you could eat three slices of bread, but I know that I couldn't, but I could eat three ounces of steak. I'm just trying to clarify here if it is the weight that is important or the volume.[/quote']

You need the weight and volume of food to calculate calories, but you are right that you maynot be able to fit 3oz of bread in your sleeve, so you may have to make choices when you decide what you should eat.

Thought once I had the surgery that I wouldn't be hungry but seems that I am still hungry. But not able to eat like I use too end up purchasing too much food and not able to eat half of it and I usually start hurting because too full. Is there something that I can do so that I don't over eat because unable to eat everything that I am buying and end up throwing a lot of food away.

I put my food in a dixie cup but im on pureeds, thats probably harder with real food.....

I stop when I feel that pressure which is about 3 oz. it depends on what it is. I hate to slime or puke so make sure I don't get past that pressure feeling : )

The bread example was just an attempt to illustrate my question, but it was a poor choice, and I don't eat bread anyway.

I think (and I could be wrong) that volume is more important than weight. Say you could eat one ounce of gold or one ounce of feathers. Even though we wouldn't eat gold or feathers, you can see that the weight is the same but the volume is going to be much different.

Volume is how much space an object occupies or, in this case, food. I think three ounces on a scale isn't going to be the same as three ounces in a measuring cup or three ounces in our stomachs. If our stomachs have an eight-ounce capacity, then we wouldn't want to eat more than eight ounces of food.

I'm just wondering how the scale and the measuring cup really compare, I guess. My NUT didn't recommend a scale but talked about not eating more than a half a cup at a sitting at least at first. I may try measuring and weighing a few things just to see what I can learn from it.

What you say makes sense, but i would be careful about weight too, just so not to add extra pressure on the staples. You do make a good point though

I stop when I feel that pressure which is about 3 oz. it depends on what it is. I hate to slime or puke so make sure I don't get past that pressure feeling : )

I find that I still haven't learned to eat as slowly as I should. It takes time for the brain to register "full". In the past, the stretch receptors in your stomach would signal the brain "full" once they started to stretch. It would take some time for this to translate to the brain and then tell you "hey, getting full down here....please stop eating". In the meanwhile, you have still eaten more, but it was okay because you still had stretch capacity and could eat a few more bites without too many side effects (pain, nausea, vomiting).

Now, the greater curvature of the stomach (where all our stretch capacity and most of our stretch receptors were located) is gone. Therefore, by the time your brain figures out you're full and you stop eating, you're probably already past capacity and end up feeling overfull and perhaps ill.

The best way to combat this is to measure food (and weights are based primarily on dense foods such as dense Proteins, etc. not food that expands in your stomach, such as breads, etc.). As well, the second best approach is to eat slowly enough to give your brain time to catch up with what is happening with your stomach and signal you in time to stop, not after you're already full.

Again, as I said, this is a very difficult skill to master! I'm still not chewing each bite enough (it's gets boring to have the same thing in your mouth for so long...mashed to a pulp!) and I still eat too fast (years of eating "on the go" and wanting to get my food in quick!).