1. How do you know that you ate enough
2. How do you plan your day to make sure you eat?
3. How does a day at work look like for you when you know you have to eat every few hours?

Any other tips? Would be appropriate!! (1 month 27 days till surgery for me ?)

Eat really slow. Measure your food. If you think you’re full, you probably are.
I just started soft food this week and it is like a full time job eating all day and waiting to drink and drinking enough and taking pills at the right time.
Pack things that are quick and easy. I eat a lot of string cheese right now, yogurt, cottage cheese. I have been eating the crockpot shredded chicken I made earlier this week for several days. Boring maybe but so much better than all liquids I don’t really mind at all?

1 hour ago, Bianca S. said:

1. How do you know that you ate enough
2. How do you plan your day to make sure you eat?
3. How does a day at work look like for you when you know you have to eat every few hours?

Any other tips? Would be appropriate!! (1 month 27 days till surgery for me ?)

1. Weigh and measure all of your food.

2. Food plan three meals and one snack each day.

3. can't help you with this one; I'm retired, but you could keep almonds or protein bars in your drawer at work

1) I measure and weigh all my food. I eat slow and I can usually feel that it's my limited with my measured food.

2) So I use to do three meals a day BUT I wasn't hitting my calories because my pouch doesn't tolerate as much as it is suppose to and it was giving my some kidney issues. So I do breakfast.. 2 hours later a snack, then 2 hours later lunch, then 2 hours later a snack then 2 hours later dinner. My snacks in between are protein. Sometimes it'll be a protein bar or something.

3) I'm an assistant manager so if i'm in the mornings I'm by myself so I try to run back for a snack when no one is in the store. (I work in a small store) My team members are also aware of my need to eat often so they usually can cover the floor while I run in the back and get food.

22 hours ago, Bianca S. said:

1. How do you know that you ate enough
2. How do you plan your day to make sure you eat?
3. How does a day at work look like for you when you know you have to eat every few hours?

Any other tips? Would be appropriate!! (1 month 27 days till surgery for me ?)

1. I eat slowly and pay attention after each bite. I may even put my fork down in between just to force myself to slow down. I can feel when I'm full regardless of whether I've eaten my measured out portion. From paying attention and experience I know that there's a point where if I eat 1 more bite, I'll be really sorry.

2. At first, I had to sort of stick to a schedule. For those first few months, I had no appetite. So, sticking to my schedule was important to meet my nutritional goals. These days I have an appetite, but not such a voracious monster as I had before. Regardless, I still sort of stick to the schedule I had before.

3. For me, I work in an office environment that allows a lot of flexibility. I eat breakfast 7a-8a with lunch 1pm-2pm. I usually allow for a mid-morning snack and always carry a snack in my bag, just in case I find myself in a situation where I am faced with temptation or hunger that just makes it hard to work. *this was especially helpful in those early days when I was eating less than 1/2 cup at a time. I have dinner around 6 and I try to never eat after 7.

Tips:

#1-take it slow and pay attention. There's no one specific path or schedule that works for everyone. You may start with a strict schedule, but be willing to adjust your schedule to suit your needs. For me, my doctor gave me a schedule for those first few weeks. It became a little stressful to adhere to and made me feel like I was constantly watching the clock while trying to coordinate my food vs fluid intake. Once I settled into my own schedule, it all seemed quite natural.

#2-Have portable protein snacks, just in case. In the first couple of months after surgery, I packed little 2-4 ounce containers of items I could eat. Protein bars are also very portable, but use caution and make sure you're getting ones that aren't high sugar content.