I have a question for the long-termers: I see "eat to satisfaction" mentioned a lot, as in "you won't need to eat much, you'll be satisfied much faster" but I'm two months out and wondering if that term means the same I thought it meant?

When I used to eat to satisfaction, I would feel pleasantly full. Not overstuffed, just right on that verge of eating lots at Thanksgiving and it was all delicious and now I'm going to take a nap - that kind of satisfaction. But now I kind of eat to the point of restriction. I certainly don't WANT any more food, that's for sure, but I can't quite say that I'm "satisfied". More like I'm "done". I can't eat any more, I feel a little uncomfortably full, and while I guess I'm not technically hungry it's not the same feeling at all as finishing a good meal used to be.

To be clear, I don't mind this and have no regrets. But going in I think I got the impression that I would happily stop eating after 1/2 cup of food because my stomach would be satiated, like that sensation would just be moved up the timeline and now I'd get it five bites in, and that's not what I got. What I got was a stomach that feels either maxed out or right on the edge of maxed. There's very little space between "okay to keep eating" and "STOP EATING!" signals. So when people are saying "you'll be satisfied", is there some sensation further down the road where I'll hit that same sense of happy fullness, or is this just another way to say "you'll stop eating because there won't be any more room"?

Edited May 9, 20188 yr by sideeye

I'm 3 months post op, and my satisfied feeling just changed this last week.

Up until this week, I would eat until I felt the restriction. I would not be hungry, but I didn't feel satisfied like I did pre op. I wasn't wanting to go back for more, or anything, it just was a different sensation. Also food never tasted as good as I had anticipated it would, so I didn't desire to keep eating for taste.

This week three things changed. I'm starting to feel physical hunger again, which has been absent since surgery. (Head hunger has been with me since day 3!). Second, when I would eat, it was less about feeling the restriction, and more about feeling that familiar feeling of being full (but after only a couple of ounces). I felt that good, satisfying full sensation for the first time post op. Finally, food started tasting as good as I expected it to.