How much food can you eat with sleeve?

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

Thanks. I was beginning to think my reading comprehension was slipping!

[DgotSleeved 103]

I went out for the first time yesterday for a friends bday. they got pizza and beer..I got an appetizer of crab stuffed mushrooms. there was only 4 and it took me about an hour lol but I was able to get them all in without a problem. you'll be able to eat again, just slowly and a lot less! presurgery I would have had all the chicken wings, pizza and the cannoli dessert everyone else was enjoying.

[McButterpants 2,846]

I will add - I feel "normal" with what I eat. It's my new normal.

We had a pot luck at work the other day and someone said, "You eat like bird! You need to eat more food." My reply was, "Oh this is my first plate, I'm going back for more!" I didn't, but no one knew.

When I eat out, I usually order off the appetizer menu or I split with my husband - usually 70% for him and 30% for me. We've never run across an establishment that said "no".

I just returned from a trip to France - I ate wonderful food, just not a lot of it. I ate wonderful French pastry every morning for Breakfast. I was on a Quest to find the best cafe au lait (coffee with milk) that I could. I ate REAL French Toast for dessert and it was wonderful - I savored every bite. I didn't eat it all, but I enjoyed every bit I took. I even managed to lose a couple of pounds because we walked every where - logging 20+ miles in two days.

My point with all this is...you're going to feel normal after surgery. Not right after surgery, but you will feel normal again. It took me to about 7 or 8 months to start feeling like something other than a weight loss surgery patient and more like me - a new and improved me.

[emp409 5]

@@emp409 - My BMI was 59 when I decided I had to make a change. Most of what I have lost was before surgery. I finally decided to have the sleeve to help get me to my goal and not regain the weight. If you are interested you can read about it in this post I made a couple months ago:

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/324809-my-story-so-far/

Thanks for sharing this! I have some of the same fears you did prior to surgery. Nice to know you've come out on the other side and are happy with your choice. Best of luck to you!

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

@@emp409 ...

For sleevers, how much you can eat depends on two things -- well, three things actually:

1. How long ago you had VSG surgery --
The longer you are post-op, the more you can eat, up to a point. And not everyone has the same point. Some are never able to eat more than 3-4 ounces. Some can eat 8 ounces. A few can eat more than that.

2. WHAT you are eating --
If you always eat Protein first (and we are told to do that to avoid regaining weight), that really kicks in your new, smaller tummy's restriction and always will. But if instead you eat what's called "slider foods" -- high-carb, highly processed foods that have less nutritional value (think crackers, Cookies, ice cream, other Desserts, pastas) and drinks with lots of calories (think sodas, sweet tea, sweet cocktails, lots of juices, etc.) you'll experience a lot less restriction and the food / drink will just slide right on down, leaving more room for more food.

3. Whether you violate the Rx to "Never drink with your meals" --
By drinking with your meals, you speed up the food's movement down out of the stomach into the intestine -- leaving more room in your smaller tummy for more food. (See #2 above.)

By not eating Protein first, Indulging in lots of slider foods and drinking with your meals you can eat more. These behaviors will also enable you to regain the weight you've lost.

Best wishes to you.

[heynowkc 329]

This is a good topic. I have just had surgery on December 17th and am on purees right now and was wondering the same thing. I am only able to eat about 2-3 tablespoons comfortably. With Soups (mostly broth based, almost entirely strained) I can eat about a cup. But that's just because it's just like drinking, haha. I haven't tried chunky soups at all yet.

Edited January 5, 2015 by heynowkc

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

My BMI was at my highest 55; I started my sleeve journey at a BMI of 51 3 years ago. I have lost in the ballpark of 160# and been maintaining since Feb 2013.

i think high BMI people have some unique challenges and as someone who was banded before sleeve - I agree with your surgeon that the band is not the right tool.

I will be honest, i would consider the DS if I was over 60 BMI. That is a scary procedure in the sense of it being riskier and more prone to nutrient deficiencies but I think it is worth at least investigating check out website called dsfacts (google it). One downsode to the DS, is when I did plastics consults i was told by surgeons that those are the patients they feel are higher risk due to nutrient deficiencies (you MUST supplement consistently).

Back to the sleeve.. it has been great for me however, it is possible to overeat with it. Actually, i think it is possible to over eat with any of the procedures (although DS is most malabsorptive) over the long haul. Most people have very good restriction in the first 6-18 months of the sleeve and then it gets harder. At 3 years post op, I am not sure how much I can eat, but it is enough that people guess I am a light eater (watching my weight!) but not that I had WLS. I can eat like a shrimp skewer and a small side salad for example.

So, my perspective is this, the sleeve is a tremendous tool and can really make getting out of super morbid obesity a reality - BUT - you really need to be "over" using and abusing food. That does not happen in an instant and almost nobody is really fully there pre-op (or maybe ever!). Even after all this time, I make a very conscious effort to manage a healthy relationship with food, fitness, activity etc.

Someone once said on these very forums "none of us got over 300# without having some kind of food issue" and it does not magically disappear so getting your head around being comfortable with eating small portions, with making a permanent committment to this new way of relating to food etc. is really important.

Good luck to you - my life is so much better and I have so many wonderful experiences and opportunities that eluded me when I was morbidly obese.

check out my before and after pictures on my profile if you want to see how far I have come! it is still a wonder to me!

[par1959 470]

As usual, I agree with CGJ. I am 7 months out and can eat more than at even 5 months out. However, even though the holiday season is tough with all the food around, I still lost 7.5 lbs in the last month. In between meal Snacks are the toughest thing to deal with. All of us must stay aware of this and make the changes nessesary to deal with it. I find honestly logging everything I digest the best tool. It tells me that I must concentrate on not snacking and too make good food choices.

[emp409 5]

My BMI was at my highest 55; I started my sleeve journey at a BMI of 51 3 years ago. I have lost in the ballpark of 160# and been maintaining since Feb 2013.

i think high BMI people have some unique challenges and as someone who was banded before sleeve - I agree with your surgeon that the band is not the right tool.

I will be honest, i would consider the DS if I was over 60 BMI. That is a scary procedure in the sense of it being riskier and more prone to nutrient deficiencies but I think it is worth at least investigating check out website called dsfacts (google it). One downsode to the DS, is when I did plastics consults i was told by surgeons that those are the patients they feel are higher risk due to nutrient deficiencies (you MUST supplement consistently).

Back to the sleeve.. it has been great for me however, it is possible to overeat with it. Actually, i think it is possible to over eat with any of the procedures (although DS is most malabsorptive) over the long haul. Most people have very good restriction in the first 6-18 months of the sleeve and then it gets harder. At 3 years post op, I am not sure how much I can eat, but it is enough that people guess I am a light eater (watching my weight!) but not that I had WLS. I can eat like a shrimp skewer and a small side salad for example.

So, my perspective is this, the sleeve is a tremendous tool and can really make getting out of super morbid obesity a reality - BUT - you really need to be "over" using and abusing food. That does not happen in an instant and almost nobody is really fully there pre-op (or maybe ever!). Even after all this time, I make a very conscious effort to manage a healthy relationship with food, fitness, activity etc.

Someone once said on these very forums "none of us got over 300# without having some kind of food issue" and it does not magically disappear so getting your head around being comfortable with eating small portions, with making a permanent committment to this new way of relating to food etc. is really important.

Good luck to you - my life is so much better and I have so many wonderful experiences and opportunities that eluded me when I was morbidly obese.

check out my before and after pictures on my profile if you want to see how far I have come! it is still a wonder to me!

Cowgirl I can't see the before after pics on your profile but would love to see them! Congrats on your continued success!! Thanks for your post - makes a lot of sense to me and really resonates with what I am hoping to achieve with wls.

[Hawk7775 54]

Don't rush into this. Do your research first. I started out wanting the band. A small amount of research made me realize that the band was the worst choice for me. I chose the sleeve for a number of reasons including, you have a normal stomach not any re-routing. There are also fewer intolerances. I feel like I eat closer to a normal meal now than I did before surgery. I'd rather have most of a 6oz filet and a couple bites of potato and veggie when I go out to dinner than have to order an app., the biggest steak, seafood on the side, potato, veggie, Soup, and a half load of bread

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

It is a shame that profiles and signatures can't be seen on most mobile devices because when i was doing research and learning was helpful and often inspirational to be able to see all that. Now most people access via the phone app and really miss alot of useful content!

In the collage I attached, my before picture is obvious - I weighed in the 305-310 range in that photo. I was at one point much heavier than that but I stopped weighing (guessing I was about 350# at one point, highest recorded weight was 332).

The photo of me standing with my horse was me at goal in 2013, but preplastics and WITHOUT Shapewear. I chose that picture because although I could definately disguise it with clothes, I did have a bit of melted snowman look.

the photos on the left - the cocktail dress and bathing suit were post plastics - both taken in 2014

[MyssJones 84]

@@emp409 My doctor told me that people with BMIs over 40 should not even get the Band. He said the sleeve is very effective with minimal complications. My BMI was over 60 when I did my consult.

The goal of all these procedures is to NEVER eat like that person ever again. It is a change to your eating and lifestyle habits. While you will be able to enjoy food, you will be eating substantially less than what you are used to.

I am not familiar with the SIPS procedure. Sounds interestingly complex. lol

[KMendez325 31]

I am craving cheese. I don't understand why

[JamieLogical 8,684]

I am just over 4 months out and how much I can eat really seems to depend on what I'm eating and how fast I eat it. I still make myself miserable by eating too quickly sometimes. It doesn't make me throw up or anything, I just feel a lot of discomfort for a good hour after I overdo it.

Let's see if I can come up with a few examples of how much I can eat.... We went out to dinner the other night and I ordered a "cup" of chili as my meal. It was pretty standard chili with ground beef, kidney Beans, and some veggies in it and some melted cheddar cheese on top. I was able to eat about 2/3 of that over the course of the entire time were were there. I went out for lunch with my sister this past Friday and we ordered a buffalo chicken tenders meal to share. I ate maybe 1.5 tenders and an apple slice (we got apple slices as one of our sides). I don't usually eat much fruit, but it seemed better than eating any more of those fried, greasy tenders! On New Year's Eve I was able to eat 6 Turkey Lit'l Smokies with BBQ Sauce. I can eat about 2-3 oz. of chicken breast with some sort of sauce on it.

The thing you really need to wrap your head around is how little carbs you will eat. My surgeon doesn't have me on any kind of strict carb restriction, but the nutritionist wants me to get 85-100 grams of Protein per day. Eating that much Protein, there's just no ROOM for carbs. I can technically eat Cookies, or chips, or chocolate, or ice cream, but if I do that, then I won't meat my protein requirements for the day. And while I'm not nearly as obsessed with my surgery now as I was when I was researching and everything before I actually had it, I'm still very dedicated to meeting my protein and supplement requirements every day. I want to b healthy!

I got the sleeve because I didn't want to have to completely give up the foods that I love (like with RNY), but the truth is, I have cut WAY back on sweets and carbs anyway. Yes I can still eat and digest them properly, but I don't have room for them in my diet anymore. They are very rare treats now.