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How much can you eat?



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Hi!!

As I posted before on April 25 I had a failed gastric sleeve that had to be converted in a MGB on May 13. Well, my question is: How much can you eat? Because it seems I can eat a lot of food for a WLS patient. If I eat slowly 30-45mns I can ingest maybe 12-14 ounces of healthy food, but when I compare it to my gastric sleeve I could only eat 3-4 ounces. I´m still losing weight, 2 to 3 pounds per week, but I eat very healthy and exercise daily. Certain food like baby carrots don´t seem to go down easily, 3 or 4 of them and I have to stop eating. I have not tried beef yet.

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I can't eat a half of cup of food, more like 3 bites is going over board. I am almost 2 weeks post sleeve.

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This is a great topic.

I am 8.5 months post op. In the beginning I was lucky if I could get 1/4 cup in. As the swelling in my tummy went down i noticed I could eat more depending on what I was eating. For example, if I eat Soup, yogurt or soft foods I can eat 3/4 to 1 cup at this point. If I eat meat like chicken, fish, beef, pork I can eat maybe a half a cup.

My nut actually cleared a lot of this up for me as well. She mentioned and continues to tell me this. You have to think about the amount of food you are ingesting after it is chewed up because that is actually how it enters your tummy. the volume of food you eat post chewing is actually more than if you just measured it.

which if you think about this it makes sense.

I no longer measure my food. I know what my stomach can tolerate and I have learned over time to eat slowly (no more than 30 minutes) and pay attention to whether or not I am satiated. If you do that, all the measuring stuff which I did religiously in the beginning won't be necessary.

I never take longer than 30 minutes because your pouch begins to empty at that point. If you continue to eat past that point you could in fact be over eating. This was one of the rules my Bariatric team drilled into my head and I follow religiously. You could literally eat all day and eat around the new tool you have.

I also steer clear of any fluids 30 minutes before and after eating so I don't flush my food before my body has a chance to absorb the nutrients.

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  • Djmohr

  • That it's a great answer, I won´t eat past the 30mn mark. I have also red about fluids before and after eating. I'll stick to your advice!!

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At 18 months out, the most I can eat of anything is one cup in about thirty minutes. But.....if I don't space myself out with Water in-between meals, it would be too easy to eat again in another thirty minutes, like djmohr just said.

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I'm a revision too and I can eat A LOT ! I can eat a 6" flat bread from subway and chips no problem, today I had an entire Cesar salad kit for lunch, I really don't notice that I can eat any less that I could with my sleeve which was already stretched out. It's crazy because Iv seen my xrays and I really don't even have a stomach at all, I have a very small pouch that empties into my intestines. Sometimes if I don't chew well I do get a terrible stuck feelings that brings back my PTSD from my lapband ! My bypass was almost 9' though so I lose weight because everything I eat goes right through me more less.

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I also have a 9' bypass. When I talked about it with my surgeon about this subject he asked me "What percentage of what you use to eat are you eating?" Yes, it's a lot less, but I feel if I didn't eat healthy I could easily gain weight.

Edited by manueljlg73

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    • LeighaTR

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      · 2 replies
      1. Selina333

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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. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • 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.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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