I'm having trouble eating

[leebick 448]

And before I go any further, can I just say how hilarious that sounds, coming from ME... the original "I'll have the king cut of prime rib, thanks" girl!

OK... sleeved on 9/15. I had 2 week liquid diet pre-op and another 2 weeks of liquids post-op. Post-op went well the first week, then it became harder and harder to drink enough to meet Protein and Fluid requirements. I have been dehydrated since the beginning, but I try to drink as much as possible. At my 2 week follow-up, I was given approval to move to mushy foods. Except for the disappointment of scrambled eggs w/cheese (can't eat those at all), I was slowly finding my way. Cottage cheese was my friend, as well as finely mushed up meats moistened with broth- chicken and pork both went down well- or chicken salad or egg salad. That was great for about 5 days, and I'd worked up to about 1T mushed chicken, 1T mashed potato, and 1T soft mashed veggie per meal. I don't know what changed, but since then, it's been harder and harder to eat and drink. When eating, I start to feel uncomfortably full after about 2 teaspoons of food. Yesterday we took friends leaf-peeping (the foliage up here is GORGEOUS) and lunch was at Subway. My husband gave me one of the meatballs from his sub and I could only eat about half of it, well mushed up with a little of the Tomato sauce to help it go down. These are small meatballs, maybe the size of a walnut. I managed to drink about 18oz of Powerade Zero throughout the day. When we got home last evening, I had less than 2 tablespoons of chicken salad (made with no-fat mayo) and was just so uncomfortable. Today eating was even more difficult, so I've pretty much gone back to Protein shakes. Even then, I can't drink much at a time, but at least I'm getting fluid and protein in without filling my "tummy" with solids.

I guess I am feeling OK, although I tire easily. This morning I was exhausted from yesterday, which was just 6 hours of driving and 3 hours of walking around (yes I drove, and yes, I have been walking for over an hour daily so 3 hours of wandering, stop-go sightseeing didn't seem like much). My mouth is still dry, urine is dark, and my fingers wrinkly, but my doctor knew about that a week ago and didn't seem concerned. She just said "Keep drinking." My husband (who isn't a medical doctor) thinks I should just force myself to eat/drink as the diet plan recommends, but I KNOW there is no way I can get 4 tablespoons of food in me at one sitting.

Does anyone have any insight on why it's getting harder rather than easier to eat? Any suggestions on foods to try or an eating plan that might work? I hate to go back on Protein Shakes, just because it doesn't represent moving forward. I go for my six-week follow-up on 10/28 and am hoping that I'm over this eating hurdle by then.

[PorkChopExpress 826]

How big are your bites, and are you giving yourself 30 minutes with no drinking, before you start eating? I'm just over two weeks out (9/23 surgery) and I'm on mushy foods, I can eat meatballs, eggs, and chili with no problem...but my bites are very, very small and I make sure they are pureed consistency before I swallow them. Then I wait a minute or so before I take another bite. I'd say my bites are around the size of a pencil's eraser, or just a little bit bigger. You gotta remember, your stomach is now basically the size of an egg or so and it's still probably inflamed from the surgery, still healing. You can also cause it to swell by stressing the staple line, so you may have some more swelling that is causing it trouble. My surgeon suggests that if you have trouble like this when you haven't been before, to go back to a clear liquid diet for a day or two and see if that helps. It may allow the inflammation to subside. Grab some of the clear Protein drinks like Isopure (40g Protein per bottle) and drink two of those a day, plus another 25-30 oz of Water. You'll have met both your protein and your Water requirements on those days.

More important, don't FORCE anything. If you're not able to do three meals, do two meals and focus on Protein Drinks the rest of the time. It's just a process and you don't have to be perfect, but you DO want to make sure you get your protein and water needs met. If that means holding off on mushy foods a bit while you heal, then do that. It takes about six weeks for your stomach to heal up, so we are still in the middle of that. Right now, eating stuff is basically just to train your stomach and get it processing food again, it's not really for nutrition - you still have to get most of the Proteins from drinks. So if your stomach is just not dealing with it right now, don't try to make it. Give it a break.

Edited October 9, 2016 by PorkChopExpress

[suzzzzz 1,005]

Sometimes our stomachs are not ready for what the plan says. Success isn't continually moving forward, it is staying hydrated and getting your Protein in. Please focus on liquids asap and once you can get them down, add in some Protein Shakes, unless you can add protein to your fluids. Dehydration can land you in the hospital.

[pammyjo 4]

I too am having trouble eating. I was sleeved on 9/13 and I almost have to force myself to eat. I have to do my best to get Protein shakes as i am tired of them. I have unflavored Protein tried that. I have another type of Protein Drink tried that. I drink all day to keep from getting dehydrated but I have absolute no desire to eat at all. Scares me because I know I need to eat but do not want to. Also sometimes I do I feel worse. I want to feel good. I know I am just around 4 weeks out but for real doesn't seem normal to not want to eat at all. I've tried all kinds of things and nothing absolutely nothing tastes good at all.

Trying to stay positive and pray you do as well. We got this!!

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Edited October 10, 2016 by pammyjo