Hi everyone,

I'm a newby here -just sleeved 3/24. I'm working on introducing soft foods now and am stunned by how very little I can consume. And trying the wrong thing or too much of something has given me the slimes to a rotten degree.

Right now, I can easily eat 1 scrambled egg, or a quarter cup of refried Beans, or something of a similar volume. I have slightly too much, and I'm coughing up slime for the next 20 minutes. From what I read this does get better, but I'm still worried that it will always be like this or very similar. It all sounded just fine in theory before WLS, but the life realities of eating out with others is harder than I expected. Does there come a point (and when is it) where I can eat out with family and friends and just look like I'm eating small portions and not like I can only eat a few bites and am quite full?

I've kept my surgery a secret from all but my husband, and I don't want to have to discuss my choice, so that is a factor in play here also.

Many thanks for your thoughts and experience-

Jill

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it won't always be like that. as the swelling goes down, this will decrease. Hang in there and learn the signs your body will give you right before you've had too much. sometimes they are subtle. I get a drippy nose.

Your insides are still swollen so your pouch is still teeny. 6/7 months post op all the swelling should be down and you wil see that you can eat a little more. For me it depends on thw food. Steak i can have a few bites of. Chicken a little more. Sashimi i can eat the most of, just over half of a typical sashimi plate at a restaurant

Your insides are still swollen so your pouch is still teeny. 6/7 months post op all the swelling should be down and you wil see that you can eat a little more. For me it depends on thw food. Steak i can have a few bites of. Chicken a little more. Sashimi i can eat the most of, just over half of a typical sashimi plate at a restaurant

Your insides are still swollen so your pouch is still teeny. 6/7 months post op all the swelling should be down and you wil see that you can eat a little more. For me it depends on thw food. Steak i can have a few bites of. Chicken a little more. Sashimi i can eat the most of, just over half of a typical sashimi plate at a restaurant

I was sleeved on 3/2 and it is slowly getting better. As stated above your insides are still swollen but you will eventually get to a better place. I have found that eating softer foods when going out also helps like pulled meats - they are easy to chew and cut to small pieces without being obvious. When I get close to my full mark I get the hiccups...just 3 or 4 hiccups and that tells me I am done . You are doing great!

Obviously the amount you can eat immediately post op is MUCH less than it will be once you are fully healed. You still won't be able to eat anything like a "normal" portion though. You will adapt. I eat out all the time. I occasionally get the worried looks from the servers and asking if I didn't like my food when leaving half of it on the plate, but if I really wanted to avoid that, I could ask for a to-go box and put the extra food in there at the beginning of the meal, which I have done before. Now I really just don't care what people think. If a server is worried, I just reassure him/her that everything was great.

I'm 19 months post-op and I can eat maybe 3/4 of a cup of chili.... 1/2 to 3/4 of a hamburger or chicken sandwich without the bun.... 3-4 chicken tenders with the breading peeled off... a whole shrimp appetizer... a scrambled egg with some cheese melted in and 2 Breakfast sausage links... most of the fajita skillet (meat, peppers, onions) they bring you without the tortillas and toppings... the cheese and toppings off of 3 slices of pizza...

Those are some examples of the things I might eat when I eat out now.

I go out often also and I'll usually just order an appetiser or some restaurants have a small plates menu. In my experience people don't notice how little you're eating just as long as you order something.

Of course if someone does notice you can say that you're trying to eat less which is not a lie

Thank you guys for your reassurances and ideas for eating out. This is a huge adjustment!!!

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Yup, it's really weird at first. Because you can eat so very little and such a limited variety of things. Protip: The first few months post-op, I wouldn't plan a lot of double-date dinner parties.

But I bet that a year from now you'll feel almost normal in the amount you can eat. No, you won't ever be able to eat as much in one sitting as you used to eat -- not even close to anything you ate at a big meal.

But here's what I can eat now at nearly 20 months post-op:

* Most of a Stouffer's Fit Kitchen meal (380 calories - chicken, rice, corn, beans)

* A small ham and cheese sandwich with sliced tomatoes and half a cup of raw carrots on the side

* A cup to a cup and a half of various foods, including some Protein

Having said that ^^^, there simply are some times / days when my stomach's restriction is stronger than other days.

Here's another protip: A year from now, you can *kill* your stomach's restriction by eating highly processed carb foods and no protein. On the other hand, eating protein and eating it first at each meal will fill your stomach, which digests the protein so slowly that it won't accept a lot more food. And that's how you stay slim.

Post-op, I started at 1/3 cup.

By one year, I was up to3/4 cup of dense food like chili or beef stew.

By year two, I was eating a cup of dense food or two cups of a green salad.

At two years and three months, now, I am pretty much maintaining at at that level.

If you go out to eat, just get something that is on your plan, eat a bit, and take the rest home to nosh on the rest of the week.

Your new tummy will communicate to you with foamies, belching, burping, hiccups, yawning, sneezing etc.

Just as we can discern what a dog, cat, or infant needs by the sounds it makes, you will learn what your stomach is trying to tell you. You are finding out that your new tummy is the boss of you. You may as well give it a name, because it is going to take on a personality of its own.

About the slimes, I'm almost one year out and I still get them, especially if I get too excited about eating or if I eat too much.

About volume, if it's salad I can eat a ton of it. Like a huge bowl full. If meat or denser items then I can only eat a small amount, say maybe 2-3 ounces, before I feel my restriction kick in.

You will definitely be able to eat more as time goes by. You will also be able to eat more variety. I couldn't eat steak for the first year and I love steak so I was a little sad. But no problems now. You will still have to be careful how much you eat but you get used to it. I eat about a cup of food at 1.5 years out. Even now once in a while I over do it and then I am mad at myself. But I just try to order something that makes good left overs. It is nice that a meal from the restaurant is going to give you 3-4 now

~LA

I just love hearing about everyone's signs of being full! Like the drippy nose or hiccup. I wonder what mine will be! Congrats to you all!!

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I'm a year and 5 months out and still struggle to eat a whole veggie burger patty (the frozen kind). 3 slices of uncured turkey bacon, or one patty of turkey sausage is my Breakfast, and I can't finish a whole cup of light & fit Greek yogurt. Sandwiches get 3 or 4 bites, I can handle maybe 5 or 6 bites of chicken. 4 pieces of sushi (maki roll). I eat very little, but I'm fine with it and I don't push my restriction. I eat every 2 or 3 hours, get all my Protein in, and eat about 800 calories per day.

My "full signal" is a bit different than most people's, I guess. I don't sneeze or hiccup or anything like that, but right after my last bite, I feel my stomach start to "shift," as if it's settling and making room for everything. That's when I know it's time to stop.