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Eating capacity for males



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I'm curious, from those that are a little further out, how much can everyone eat at a sitting and how you eat at a maintenance level a year or two out.

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Great question! My date is 11/6 and I've been thinking the same.

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I don't consider myself to be all that far along on this journey, sleeve 7 June, but I'm already eating what I consider normally... I can go to my favorite mexican restaurant and order an enchilada and eat a few chips and salsa, I can eat a BK double stacker burger at one sitting... When I have a sandwich I usually use a round loaf of bread and basically only eat half a sandwich... A Pork Chop is at least two meals... Small boneless chicken-breast at one sitting (large is two meals)... Drinking is still the hardest thing, I never have gotten the hang of sipping.

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Thanks. I am still stuck at about two ounces of food at a time probably for a little while longer. Seems like a ridiculously low amount of food.

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2 years here and I can definitely eat more than most sleevers and have been able to since about the 6-7 month post-op mark. But since then, it's stayed about the same.

Typical dinner at night......( I don't drink close to my meals, and still able to eat a good bit)

-whole grilled large chicken breast

-1/4 to 1/2 cup green Beans

-a bite or two of fruit or a bite or two of a bread

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2 years here and I can definitely eat more than most sleevers and have been able to since about the 6-7 month post-op mark. But since then' date=' it's stayed about the same.

Typical dinner at night......( I don't drink close to my meals, and still able to eat a good bit)

-whole grilled large chicken breast

-1/4 to 1/2 cup green Beans

-a bite or two of fruit or a bite or two of a bread[/quote']

I'm 17 months post op and I eat about the same at 1 sitting. I don't eat fast food or starches very often. Mostly lean Protein, veggies, nuts and some fruit..... I usually take in about 2000 calories per day eating clean.

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Butter...we do sound about the same. It worried me at first, because at 6-7 months out, it seemed like a lot for me to eat. So I was thinking holy crap, I'll be back to my old portion size at this rate within a year or two. But it has pretty much stayed the same since that 6-7 months out thankfully.

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I'm 17 months post op and I eat about the same at 1 sitting. I don't eat fast food or starches very often. Mostly lean Protein, veggies, nuts and some fruit..... I usually take in about 2000 calories per day eating clean.

Well, my capacity is about half of what you guys are able to eat. But, when I was exercising like you guys are, my capacity did seem higher ... wonder why that is ... Like Butter, I pretty much stay away from the starches and breads. Maybe a bite or two. I get about 1,400 calories a day, I would estimate. More now with Halloween candy all over my house ... (First Halloween party tonight for Scouts)

I am just over 2 years out.

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wow! good to know. i am three months out and i max at 2 oz of thinly sliced chix or ham, with a few kashi crackers. beef is harder. i am pushing hard to get up to 1500 calories a day and i am still losing weight. i exercise six days a week. I am scared of maintenance so when i increased my calories I increased my workouts--kind of self defeating, i know.

i went to a bod pod to get a handle of what weight i should aim for and it said i was at 13%--ludicrous. from other methods and comparing to the pictures of body fat i figure i am around 20%. of course there is a bunch of weight tied up in the loose skin-- so i have no idea where to go. I will have to take it a day at a time.

thanks for the post.

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14 months out here. I can eat about 5 ounces of lean Protein and 2 ounces of veggies at a time, it has pretty much stayed this way since month 7, Eating fast brings down the capacity a little. I stay away from starches, bread, sugar and dairy. Protein Bars do not fill me so I have to only eat them in emergencies or I might have 2 instead of planned 1. Generally eat when hungry which is about every 2-3 hours. Sometimes I get too wrapped up in work and I will delay eating by an hour. It is weird at how I do not have to eat as often as I do, but should in order to keep metabolism happy. Eating too few calories will reduce the efficiency of the ability for your body to process food. Each meal for me is 300-500 calories. Oh and I can chug the Water. It is easy to make 32 oz disappear in 20 seconds. I do not drink at meals (new habit from WLS), but do drink immediately before and about 20 m after. I go through a lot of water. I have a 32 ounce water bottle and a 20 ounce. I fill the 32 ounce about 8 times a day (flavored) while working or watching some tv. I fill the 20 oz 2x, once before and once after working out with bcaa drink. I did not think I would be able to drink like a horse, but hey, I do. Keep in mind, it took a year to work up to this. I was unable to drink anything day 1-4, then up to 60 ounces end of month 1, 90 ounces end of month 3 and then 120 by month 6. Then it shot up from there as my body needed more for working out.

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2 years here and I can definitely eat more than most sleevers and have been able to since about the 6-7 month post-op mark. But since then, it's stayed about the same.

Typical dinner at night......( I don't drink close to my meals, and still able to eat a good bit)

-whole grilled large chicken breast

-1/4 to 1/2 cup green Beans

-a bite or two of fruit or a bite or two of a bread

Ohhhh... I hope I can eat like that. That would be fantastic. Today Is 3 weeks and for lunch I ate 2 1/8 oz of smoked chicken without getting slimed. Eating is the most difficult thing there is.

What was your diet like early on? Did you push the limits?

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No, I didn't push it, or at least I don't feel that I did. I got full quickly early on and learned to stop a bite or two before I felt full. Then as the months went on, it took more food to get to that point and be satisfied. Then several months out the increase stopped, which is pretty much where I am now.....2 years post op and eating about the same as I did 6-8 months post op.

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I think I met my capacity at around 6 months out. I can eat up to about 2000 calories on a heavy lifting day, I usually keep it around 1600-1800 calories however, getting at least 150g Protein in every day. If I drop my calories down to about 1200 or so, I drop weight fast but that's always scared me, I don't want to lose weight that fast since I'm doing everything I can to keep my quality mass, which so far hasn't been an issue at all.

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I'm at 6'1 208 now and I want to slow, if not stop, the loss since I am losing muscle mass and think I'm thin enough even though my goal was initially 190. I'm drinking two Protein drinks a day but there is no way I can get much over 1000 calories right now and given that I am lifting and bicycling I cant help but lose weight at that low of a calorie level. What I would have given before to lose this easily but now its only frustrating me. I'm at 3 months so I get it that its another 3 months or so before I will increase capacity enough to get calories up in the 1700 - 2000 range but I am seriously concerned how thin I am going to be by the time I get to that point. At this same weight before I had much more upper body strength and I hate to think I am going to continue to lose more for a while. Very frustrating.

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If you're legitimately concerned with catabolic responses in your musculature system, why are you still doing cardio? If you can't up the intake, decrease your output. Focus on getting Protein and lifting. Don't over complicate things. Get good solid foods and Proteins, decrease cardio (which at low carb doing cardio is a slippery slope to being with) and lift heavy.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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