I am four weeks post op as of today! The first two weeks were pretty horrible. I had a lap band attempt that could not be completed and long story short, a week later I got the sleeve. They had to reopen three of the original wounds so healing took awhile and the pain was pretty bad. The third week was better and now I feel pretty good :-)

My concern is this. I passed the liquid stage and the pureed stage with no cheating! Now I'm onto the- for 2 weeks eat real food but take it easy stage- yaaaay! Problem..I find that I can eat almost everything without feeling badly. I think I can eat too much. In fact I know I'm eating too much..it's more than I expected and wanted :-( Has anyone else had this issue? I almost feel like my doctor didn't remove the proper amount of my stomach. I am also hungry often. It's not head hunger which I did go through badly weeks two and three. I feel like I'm sitting working only with my shaky self control..oh no :-(

I was sleeved April 30th..I'm 5'2" was 250. Between pre-op diet and these past four weeks I am now 230.

Did the urge to eat lessen for anyone? Did the ability to eat so much get any less?

Thx for your help. This forum has helped me a lot so far :-)

So sorry that you are feeling this way...I am only 5 days post op so I really cant say. But get back to basics...are you drinking before a meal? during? are you making sure most of your meal is protein? are you measuring or just eating?

"Problem..I find that I can eat almost everything without feeling badly."

Why do you think you SHOULD feel badly? I am a month out and I feel fine. I eat until I am full and that is that. When you write that you have no restriction are you saying that you have eaten around 1lb of food or more?

Try this bariatric test to determine what your capacity size is and to find out what your restriction size is. http://www.bsciresourcecenter.com/proddetail.php?prod=A4

Basically you measure the cottage cheese in weight. Eat until you are full. Weight the remaining amount left over. Subtract the original weight from the remaining weight and that is how much food your sleeve can hold.

How many ounces are you eating per meal? I could comfortably eat half a cup- 2/3 cup of food or 3-5 ounces without feeling overfull when I was 5 weeks out.. and now that I'm 11 weeks out I'm still eating the same amount. It's at the upper end of what people can eat during this time but it's not abnormal.. I just can't compare myself to the "two tablespoons and full" crowd.

:-) Thx for the cottage cheese test..i never saw that before and I'm going to try it asap! The problem is if I do feel full I can/need/want to eat shortly thereafter. I feel like I eat all day. I'm trying really hard to get the proper amount protein and water in every single day again since I'm pretty new at this..it's "hard". I have followed the 15 before and 30 minutes drinking water after eating rule steadily since I don't want to stretch out my new stomach :-) I figured out that I don't know enough about food..calories..nutritional value etc..thank goodness for Google..and forums like this!

This is off the subject, but you got me curious. Why was the lapband attempt unsuccessful? I think this is the first I've heard of that happening.

Try this bariatric test to determine what your capacity size is and to find out what your restriction size is. http://www.bsciresou...ail.php?prod=A4

Basically you measure the cottage cheese in weight. Eat until you are full. Weight the remaining amount left over. Subtract the original weight from the remaining weight and that is how much food your sleeve can hold.

Kulita, thank you for this! As a pre-opper, I'm going to bookmark this link for later use. I thought the footnote at the bottom was pretty important information for sleeved folks to know (underlines are mine):

Dr. Flanagan's research indicates that the average volume of the mature stomach pouch, measured by this method, is 5.5 ounces (163 ml). Additionally, he reached the conclusion that, "sizes ranging up to 9 ounces have NO IMPACT on the person's success in weight loss". This means that unless your pouch holds a greater volume than 9 ounces (267 ml), the exact size of your pouch is not a critical factor in whether or not you can lose excess weight and then manage your weight as time progresses.

Ms.antiband..apparently it happens..i followed my doctors guidelines to the letter including the two week pre-op diet. I went into surgery..all was well..awoke from anesthesia with some man in scrubs staring at me. I groggily asked if it all went well and he told me they had to abort the surgery because they couldn't get to the band area..wth?! They cut me open in the areas. It hurt bad.

I got approval for the sleeve and went for it! I was in very bad pain for three full weeks. Four weeks now..the pain is receding and I'm starting to feel hopeful :-)

Serendipity..I am eating that and then some! The 2 tablespoons and I'm full crowd really started me panicking..overthinking and doubting so thank you for sharing :-) its still really in the game..I'm goinrg to find my way and start losing some weight and get healthy!

So sorry to hear you've had a rough start. I understand where you're coming from and I'm sure you'll get lots of great advice!

I'm sorry you had to waste time and extra pain on so much, but glad you're healing now.

At first I minded the loss of time and extra pain points but now that I'm feeling less messed up im feeling more positive. I had an unfortunate mayonnaise incident during which I gained 6 pounds lol two weeks ago so I have to laugh! Sigh..live and learn. Right now I'm just concerned that some days I can sit and eat a meal that I could've eaten before the surgery! All healthy but so much! I plan to do the cottage cheese test Saturday morning for sure..I'm haven't lost a pound in two weeks :-(

I started feeling this way too. I decided to go back to basics. Protein shakes and liquid. I really think it is mind over matter. I want to eat and crave food but do I really need it....no. I am 2 months out and recently started snacking here and there and gained 2 lbs. So now for 2 days I am back to the beginning and I feel better today and am not hungry.

Hmm, why do I feel like there is more to the story ... what was your menu yesterday? And no "cleaning it up for the cameras". At only four weeks out, I'm surprised you are already into regular foods, I had only just begun the mushies at that point. Also, it sounds as though you aren't tracking your calories etc. with a tracker. Are you? MyPlate, livestrong, fatsecret, these are online trackers and honestly I don't think it's possible to redesign your relationship with food immediately post-op without using one.

Are you drinking protein shakes? Eating high protein foods? Drinking all your liquids?

You didn't answer if you are having liquids with your foods, or liquid food like soup. You won't stay full if you do either of those. Are you eating your protein first? Are you getting all your fluids in between meals? If not you may be feeling thirsty and think its hunger.