Now that Im on somewhat normal food I constantly worry about stretching my tube. I pay close attention to my portions and how fast I eat. I stop when I feel that feeling of fullness. Is this needless worry?

Youll be able to eat some and take some home too

Will we ever be able to eat a slice or 2 of pizza? Or a full dinner at a restaurant?? I love shrimp parmagiana over linguini... That alone makes me have second thoughts. I go in next wed 8/21 for surgery.

Well, That's a loaded question...

In the beginning? Nope. Bread and Pasta can be really hard on people's sleeve in the first few months they ( bread pasta tortillas) tend to expand making for a really uncomfortable full.

Some people even throw up.

BUT.... At some point yes you will be able to eat those things... A lot of us chose not to because of the limited space we now have and Protein first, veg second is rule number one and two..

I have had a piece of wood fired pizza (very thin crust) while on vacation. I am nine months out.

As for a full dinner?? If that dinner was large portions? No, but that's what we signed up for right? I love food but I hated being morbidly obese so I wanted the ability to eat large plates of food to be taken away.

I wil,say that for me this new feeling of fullness is not like my old feeling of fullness. Its kinda hard to identify when its there before its too late

Before surgery, I would over eat, a lot (hence the need for surgery) and get this feeling of intense satiety, a whole belly full feeling.

Now it's a different feeling, not fullness but almost like there is no more room. I try to avoid that feeling because it's not pleasant and I fear it a bit.

I miss the happy pat my belly kind of fullness. I miss those stretch receptors in my stomach that would signal to my brain that I wouldn't need to eat for many many hours.

Now I eat my 4 oz and hope I didn't eat too fast or too much. My new fullness is this feeling of eating a rock, just sitting there waiting for 30 min to pass so I can go back to drinking tea or Water.

Will we ever be able to eat a slice or 2 of pizza? Or a full dinner at a restaurant?? I love shrimp parmagiana over linguini... That alone makes me have second thoughts. I go in next wed 8/21 for surgery.

I say, yes to the slice of pizza and highly unlikely to the "full restaurant dinner"... But, I honestly have not felt deprived one iota...I've eaten out at restaurants and the significantly smaller portions I can consume is totally sufficient ...I have truly been able to have "just a taste" and be fine (the other day I had a bite...just one... of chocolate cake and was quite content.

Yes ^

Here is a good explanation...

The Pyloric Valve function and how it pertains to your VSG.

The function of your Pyloric valve is the single most not talked about important part of understanding how and when you should eat and drink.

The Pyloric Valve is just that....It is a valve that is located at the bottom of your stomach/sleeve. This valve is in between your sleeve and the lower intestine. The basic definition of a valve is an apparatus that opens and closes.

When open this valve it is about the diameter of a dime. When closed it’s opening is closed down to the diameter of the head of a ballpoint pen.

Dense Proteins and harder to digest foods will cause the Pyloric valve to close to hold the food in your stomach for pre-digestion...... stomach acids breaking down this “Rough” food.

That’s why we are told to eat dense proteins first.....To close the Pyloric Valve so food stays in your stomach/sleeve longer so we have a sense of satisfaction.

It takes about 30-60 minutes for the food to clear the Pyloric Valve...... Than it’s OK to drink.

That is also where the term slider food comes into play. A slider food does not close the Pyloric Valve and as the term is intended.....food slides right past an open Pyloric Valve.

There is a video that gets posted every so often that is supposed to explain food going past the Pyloric Valve. The guy uses a funnel and has apple sauce or something in it....and it shows the apple sauce dripping out the end of the funnel very slow. Than he pours Water on top of the apple sauce to dilute it' date=' illustrating drinking after eating.....and the diluted apple sauce runs through the funnel end faster. Than he concludes that this is how your pyloric valve works.

Well, it is a great video that only tells half the story.....remember it’s a valve...and he is only showing it in the open position....

So now the other half of the Pyloric Valve function..... You eat a dense Protein like chicken that causes your Pyloric Valve to close. Say for example your sleeve has a 4oz. capacity.....and you eat 4oz. of chicken.....your sleeve is full and holding all 4 oz. of chicken for pre-digestion because your Pyloric Valve is closed.

So now try and drink something....where is it gonna go? Up.....Up until it hits another valve of sorts..... the Esophageal Sphincter (valve) and above that is a flapper valve. The function of these two valves is to hold food, bile and stomach acids in your stomach and not backing up into your air way. This is a very high pressure system. Thats why when you eat to much or drink after eating a hard to digest food and your Pyloric is closed.....It hurts cause you pressurized your intake track. Vomiting would be a natural pressure release.

So you can see how learning and understanding how the Pyloric Valve works is important as it pertains to eating and drinking with a Gastric Sleeve.

From frisco

[/quote']

Excellent!

Will we ever be able to eat a slice or 2 of pizza? Or a full dinner at a restaurant?? I love shrimp parmagiana over linguini... That alone makes me have second thoughts. I go in next wed 8/21 for surgery.

I am 1 year 2 months post-op.. I will sometimes get an individual pizza and I can eat 1 whole slice without the crust and 1/2 slice of just the toppings... it is yummy. . But afterwards im full for about 4-5 hours.