Alright, so...

It seems that I rather suck at eating. I was fortunate enough to have my appetite and hunger return a mere 6 weeks after surgery, so getting appropriate nourishment hadn't been much of a struggle from that time until recently. Somewhere around 4-6 weeks ago, my appetite and most of my physical hunger (barring perhaps the middle of the night or first thing in the morning) seem to have just switched off. Since then, hitting my goals has become quite the battle. This morning I poured over my MFP entries to average out my calories and Protein for the past month, and it came out to 687 calories (current goal range is 900-1100) and 68g protein (surgeon's goal range is 75-113g, my personal minimum is 90g). And if I'm being entirely honest with myself, several of those days were 'padded' a little. Not deliberately - just things like recording a Protein Bar but only finishing half, recording a snack I intend to eat at work but forgetting, things like that.

I know that I shouldn't be consuming so few calories at this stage, and that getting my protein in should be my top priority. I know that I need to suck it up and eat whether I like it or not. I know that eating when you don't want to is no walk in the park for anyone. But I feel that I am having a particularly difficult time with it. I've no problem with the timing - its not that I'm just getting busy and forgetting that its time to eat (okay maybe a few times, but its not the main issue), so setting an alarm won't help much. The problem is that if I don't feel like eating, then not only do I flat out not WANT to, but I am physically averse to doing so. The thought of it turns my stomach. Having food in my mouth can trigger my gag reflex. Swallowing becomes very difficult. I instantly feel 'full' and like I'm stuffing every bite. Now there is nothing physically wrong with me, as I can eat just fine when I actually want to.

I really don't know what the problem is. Full disclosure: I do have a notable history with eating disorders (nothing threat-of-hospital-worthy since my late teens, however I've had more minor relapses as recently as 2010), but I truly don't believe that's what's going here. An eating disorder involves a certain mentality that simply isn't present right now...not to mention that I've grown too old for that sh*t. I don't know if its the summer heat, the upset of my recent move, working for the first time in a decade, having to share a house...whatever. I don't want to make excuses. I've been considering returning to a liquid diet for a week or so to see if the absence of solid food will re-trigger my hunger/desire for it. Does anyone think that might work? I'm quite certain I'm not the only one in the history of WLS who has struggled with this. If you are one of them, what has worked for you? How have you been able to get passed this? Does anyone have any suggestions? Harsh words are as welcome as supportive ones here - I know that I'm totally f*cking myself over right now.

I'm going to end with a few stats and tidbits so no one is forced to dig around in my profile or past posts for relevant information if they don't want to:

• Gastric bypass on 25 Jan 2016 (5.5 months post-op)
• Pre-op loss = 86 lbs, Post-op loss = 64 lbs (month 1: 26 lbs, month 2: 13 lbs, month 3: 9.5 lbs, month 4: 10 lbs, month 5: 3.5 lbs, month 6: 2 lbs so far)
• Age 35, 5'7", 205 lbs, goal 170 lbs
• I currently have NO medical team due to my recent move to Canada, so consulting my surgeon/nut/psych is not an option. I must fulfill a 3 month residency requirement to qualify for insurance here, then I can get a referral to a new team for further care (paying out of pocket is not possible for me at this time).
• The vast majority of days still include adequte Fluid intake and Vitamin supplementation

Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to read my novelette and reply to it.

Okay this is taking too long. I'm going to start multi-quoting...

Maybe you could shift your mental focus toward the "getting healthy" goal for a while. You've lost weight like a house afire. You know you can lose weight. Don't misunderstand -- I'm not saying you should stop doing that. I'm just suggesting that you focus on the nutrition you're getting in and how it will support your body's health.

Does that even make any sense?

That makes perfect sense. And for the most part, I feel that this has largely been my attitude. I've not been terribly worried about my weight loss - I know it will come as long as I don't let myself slip back into old eating patterns or start eating around my pouch. I don't even really think about my stalls until I've had them for over 2 weeks (yes I know - 2 week stalls - honeymoon phase problems...). I do need to focus more on my nutrition though and just suck. It. Up.

I hope you find a solution soon! You have done a phenomenal job so far ...Protein can be such a struggle some days

Thanks Thecloude1!

@@CHM - may I suggest you start evaluating yours self weekly and not daily? We (and you know who you are) can be too hard on ourselves in our daily self talk. Weekly goals and targets seems to work better for me. There are those days. And look this week, I have been off in la-la land thanks to a virus. And I know I'm sick, but I was still beating myself up for not getting enough Protein. ;-/ Life and events happen, sometimes you need to do forest management instead of inspecting trees.

This is a good idea. I think I will indeed shift my focus to my weekly averages rather than daily numbers. Except for Water of course. That sh*t NEEDS to be checked daily, if only to keep the headaches at bay!

I would suggest you really try your best to get your calories up.

By having low calories for an extended period of time it will damage your metabolism... and once it is damaged.. as soon as you go above your new RMR you will gain weight... and you already have had the bypass...conversion to other surgeries is limited.

Pleased try your best to increase your calories... can you add a healthier Protein rich semi slider food.. just to reach your protein and calorie goals?

What are your macros like? Are you having small amounts of complex carbs?... reason being is that you might still be in ketosis if you are limiting your carbs.. which when in ketosis it reduces your appetite.. so that could also be contributing.

I am all too familiar with the metabolic effects of extended malnourishment. The damage I did in my teens took over a decade to remedy, and I'm still not 100% sure that it's 'undone'.

What would be an example of a protein-rich semi-slider food? I'm honestly drawing a blank.

As for carbs, I typically avoid starches, save for maybe a bite or two if I'm really wanting it. My daily average for the same 4 week time period is 37g (net carbs round down to 23g, though my Protein Bars already track net carbs), and that is mostly dairy, with a bit from veggies and the occasional fruit. I do my very best to keep that number under 50g even on days when my calories actually hit 4-digits. I guess I don't really do 'complex' carbs. I don't know how low they have to be for ketosis though.

@@CHM

As Christinamo7 mentioned, stress could be the cause. You had lot of major changes in your life recently, and no bariatric support in your new area...

...Just lost my appetite, and major stress does that to me...

I wish you well, good luck with your new life, and keep well girl!

Lots of great support here.

Hugs to you xxxx

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time right now krakow57.

Again though, unless I'm just completely lying to myself (not likely), I'm not sure that I'm all that stressed. I'll admit I don't like the medical end of things. I hate that I can't call my former medical team to ask about pouch pain when drinking, and that I'm self-treating a suspected Vitamin D deficiency (which I've had before and am familiar with the symptoms of) because I can't get my levels checked to know for sure.

I know I definitely don't eat well on days that I'm sad or upset. Boredom aside, emotions and food don't mix well for me. Never have really.

Thank you for the well wishes. And you're right, this IS a great place for support. Sounds like you may need to take advantage as well...

Starting a thread was indeed a good idea, aye?

What wonderful support you have gotten! Sometimes I know it seems like we are the only person in the world to feel some particular way or to hit some private wall. Just knowing that others have hit the same bumps in the road that you have sometimes helps...

It WAS a good idea, and I have indeed received wonderful support. I never imagined I was alone, however. I know from perusing these forums that eating without appetite is not an uncommon struggle around here.

This also seems like an appropriate place to ask another question...

@@KindaFamiliar and I were talking a bit ago trying to come up with some Protein dense foods that are also calorie dense, so we can hit our protein goals without having to stuff ourselves all day to hit our calorie goals. We couldn't really come up with anything that wasn't also unreasonably heavy in the fat department.

Anyone? Anyone?

Well anything below 50g will keep you in ketosis if you are avoiding sugars.... maybe try going slightly above that for 3 days and see what happens to your appetite.

Semi sliders.... lentil chips, roasted chickpeas, hummus dip with high Protein crackers.. slices of turkey, thinnly sliced salmon..

You understand the importance of your metabolism and how important it is and how long it takes to recover from a damaged one, i think health is the priority here, not weight loss... cause you have done an awesome job!

Edited July 12, 201610 yr by AussieGirl81

This also seems like an appropriate place to ask another question...

@@KindaFamiliar and I were talking a bit ago trying to come up with some Protein dense foods that are also calorie dense, so we can hit our protein goals without having to stuff ourselves all day to hit our calorie goals. We couldn't really come up with anything that wasn't also unreasonably heavy in the fat department.

Anyone? Anyone?

Good fats can be ok.

Peanut Butter.

Try adding Protein powder and PB2 to oatmeal.

Add a half an avocado to your meal.

Add a half a banana to your meal, Protein shake, or similar.

Add melted cheese to mashed potatoes.

Bake a small sweet potato.

You can eat good fats and complex carbs. It sounds like that you would really benefit from increasing your protein, healthy fats, and complex carbs.

Chobani greek yoghurt, 1/2 cup (120g) has 12g Protein

Add Premium whey Iso Burst Protein Powder: 1 scoop (30g) has 24g Protein

The 2 below are dense Proteins and dense calories, but are more fatty:

Fresh Salmon poached, 1/2 cup has 24g Protein

Lamb mince, 1/2 cup has 18g Protein

cheese sauce with my vegetables.

I actually live on Salmon these days, both fresh and tinned.

I also cook chicken mince, and have lamb mince at times.

Beef does not agree with me at this stage.

Good luck

@

I supercharge my lamb mince by adding chickpeas and then serving with a big dollop of greek yoghurt (Mediterranean style).. so yummy

I make turkey mince "tacos" wrapped in lettuce - thats my fave right now

Also lamb mince with hummus..... link below... super duper Protein rich

Link http://www.recipetineats.com/hummus-lamb/

Edited July 12, 201610 yr by AussieGirl81

Hmmm ... good, "slider" Protein ... cheese, wonderful cheese!

Below are a few ideas, with a caveat: I think you could consider combining a delicious cheese protein with complex, tasty carbs, to meet both of your goals: (1) hit your protein targets and (2) increase your physical and mental energy (which has to come from carbs).

* Slices of full-fat cheese on seed crackers (those crackers are higher Fiber, higher protein than crap crackers) are lovely. I put sugar-free strawberry jam on the cracker before adding the cheese. Love it!

* Grilled ham / cheese sandwiches (using whole grain, low-cal, high-fiber, high protein bread - Aldi's Fit & Active whole wheat whole grain bread is only 35 calories/slice). You don't actually have to "grill" the sandwiches -- you can just toast the bread, put on the ham and cheese, and nuke the sandwich for 20-30 seconds, which warms up the ham and melts the cheese a little without uncrisping the bread.

* Chili with cheese - I make my chili with lean ground beef, black Beans, diced tomatoes and chili seasoning. Very simple. Put your portion of chili in a cup, nuke some cheese on the top and add a dollop of sour cream.

* Cheese with sliced apple - Not sure you're able to eat apple slices yet, but if so this is a nice snack between meals.

For me, the trick is finding great tasting cheese: Aged cheddars, bleu cheeses, goat cheeses, Edams, Goudas, etc. And that's not hard at all.

Good luck!

@@VSGAnn2014

You rule! You just reminded me of something we can have..

Pate!... we can have pate with cheese... pate is around 15g Protein... high in Iron, B12, Vitamin A...

i didn't even think of that before i saw your post on cheeses!...

I don't think I saw it mentioned, but one way I know for sure to increase your appetite is to increase your activity. I don't mean going for walks or bicycling though. Go to the gym and do some weights. Strength training too, not feather weights with the false belief of "toning". Many times women worry the they will bulk up if the lift heavy things. The only way that will happen is if you start supplementing. However, if you start doing heavy weight training, you body will be screaming for sustenance. The key here though is to find those Protein dense foods. Whole milk and cheese of course being a great choice.

Best of luck to you!

I've been struggling with meeting my Protein goals too - it seems that after surgery, I am having a harder time tolerating the protien shakes that I could before.

I took up Viffer's idea of baking them, I was probably doing something wrong when baking it! I could eat it, if I remembered to take really small bites, but if I took a big one - gah! only way to get it down was to drink Water while eating it. Im still working on perfecting that though - eating it is a lot easer for me then drinking.

Finally figured out I can put it in my cream of wheat and be fine eating it that way. Water goals I have no problems with... just gettingmy protein in. Friday is payday, so I'm going to buy some shakes for work, and try a different protein powder with MORE protein in it - so hopefully I won't have to eat/drink as much of it to meet goal.

Edited July 12, 201610 yr by Raenh

BTW - what is Pate??

and @@BigViffer is aboslutely right about the working out bit - I remember before surgery when I'd go to the gym - I'd do 30 mins on treadmill then go workout on the machines (i'm not brave enough to do free weights yet - roommate hangs out there) I'd be RAVENOUS afterwards...

just a few more weeks til I can return to doing weights... I started back at the gym last night - did 30 mins... and it felt so good to be back there, can't wait until tonight - I have my first Water aerobics class in years

@@CHM

I think I've found your appetite. Do you want it back? I think I'm done with it.

@

Pate is duck/chicken livers that are made into a paste, and they add herbs and spices... its actually really yum... its french and goes really well with cheese.

@

Pate is duck/chicken livers that are made into a paste, and they add herbs and spices... its actually really yum... its french and goes really well with cheese.

well - I tried potted meat because it had high Protein... AND high sodium (less then half a teaspoon and I decided waaaaaaay to salty) I'll look around for pate and try it too *nods* I'm willing to try anything once! and that goes for almost everything!