I am struggling to eat healthy. Even scrambled egg seems to get stuck. I don’t seem to be able to detect my level of fullness until it’s too late and I have the stuck feeling with copious amounts of saliva. How have you successfully transitioned from liquids to solids? Any tips would be appreciated.

Just take it slowly. Tiny, tiny little bites of soft food. Take it slow and don't rush the solid foods. You'll get something called "the foamies" from time to time which is throwing up mucus and a stuck feeling if you eat something your stomach isn't ready for or if you eat too much or too fast. Your body will tell you what it wants and doesn't want. Keep drinking those protein shakes to get your protein in if you need to

Tiny bites and wait a little bit between bites. It's a hard stage, but you'll make it. Try to make every bite a mindful bite. Taste and enjoy the experience of each bite thoroughly. I remember feeling so confused because it could be different from day to day. One day I could only eat 3 bites at a time, and the next day, everything would go down fine. So strange. Almost 2 years out, and I will still get the foamies from time to time if I eat too quickly or too much at a time. It's so hard to break the habit of mindless gulping.

I easily transitioned with ground beef but everything else was/is a struggle.
The trick with not over eating is eating slow. I am terrible at it. But the times I do I notice a huge difference.
Really though everyone is different see what works for you and use it as a staple then slowly work in other things. I am 2.5 months post op and my diet is pretty much the same from 6 weeks post op. It works for me so I am sticking with it for now.
Yogurt, protein shake, ground beef with taco season or tomato sauce, protein shake, ground beef with tacon season or tomato sauce. Sounds boring but it fills me up, makes me feel like I am eating gives me my protein requirements and gives a lot of flavor.

refried beans, thinned with broth was a lifesaver for me.

Just over 6 weeks post op. Hardest thing for me is earing slowly i have been lucky so far and nothing i have tried has really bothered me, but i can definitely tell when i have eaten too fast. I just keep weighing my food out and i dont even usually finish that

Yep. This is my struggle as well. I'm full right now. One or two bites to many is all it takes. I have so much trouble eating slowly. Ugh...I'm afraid I'm stretching my sleeve sometimes.

Edited December 29, 20205 yr by bufbills

Many thanks for all the great ideas. At least I know it’s not just me. At first I thought the surgeon had made the sleeve too small! Now I know it’s just me eating too fast.

Right here with you! - Some foods go down easier than others. I have to constantly remind myself even if I'm extremely busy to CHEW and to SLOW down between bites and to enjoy - we gastric surgery people in the first few months can only eat a few bites during a sitting - might as well chew those bites and enjoy right?

^ ill be reminding myself this each and every time. If I go to fast *like i did today without realizing* it all comes back out as fast as it went in. When that happens I barely reach 400 calories for that day because it just ruins my appetite for the whole day. So eating slowly bite by bite and chewing is certainly the way to go!

On 12/27/2020 at 9:03 AM, Tannedhaggis2 said:

I am struggling to eat healthy. Even scrambled egg seems to get stuck. I don’t seem to be able to detect my level of fullness until it’s too late and I have the stuck feeling with copious amounts of saliva. How have you successfully transitioned from liquids to solids? Any tips would be appreciated.

I am right here with you. I want to eat, but I'm scared. It actually hurts sometimes. I try some many things and then I just can't seem to stomach another protein shake, at all. I do put protein in everything I drink and eat so I can get my protein. I don't know either. I'm sorry. I have the very same problem. I hope we both get through it soon.

I'm 5 weeks post op today and having similar issues..I tend to choose puree or liquid things because I know that I can eat them with relatively little problem. I went to Olive Garden with my sister and daughter yesterday and had soup and 1 meatball. I wish I could take home a pound of those meatballs! lol!! they were very soft and very easy to get down! I only ate half of the meatball and half of the soup and was full. I have found in the last week that chicken is still not good as it is too dry. Currently looking up recipes for soft meatballs, etc. Maybe focusing on different ground meats made into a soft meatball might be good?? I also make a protein shake in the morning that has around 35-40 gm of protein so that definitely helps me to get in a good amount of my protein for the day!!

1 hour ago, Moon2408 said:

I'm 5 weeks post op today and having similar issues..I tend to choose puree or liquid things because I know that I can eat them with relatively little problem. I went to Olive Garden with my sister and daughter yesterday and had Soup and 1 meatball. I wish I could take home a pound of those meatballs! lol!! they were very soft and very easy to get down! I only ate half of the meatball and half of the soup and was full. I have found in the last week that chicken is still not good as it is too dry. Currently looking up recipes for soft meatballs, etc. Maybe focusing on different ground meats made into a soft meatball might be good?? I also make a Protein Shake in the morning that has around 35-40 gm of Protein so that definitely helps me to get in a good amount of my protein for the day!!

Thank you so very much for the idea. I might just have to go to OLive Garden today. That sounds so good. I get so tired of eating the same things. Thanks again.

On 12/28/2020 at 7:30 PM, bufbills said:

Yep. This is my struggle as well. I'm full right now. One or two bites to many is all it takes. I have so much trouble eating slowly. Ugh...I'm afraid I'm stretching my sleeve sometimes.

Same here. I have your problem. I don't know why I feel like Im always in a hurry? I think it is from having kids and always trying to get too many things done at once. I sometimes wish I'd gotten the sleeve, because this bypass stomach is so small, I can hardly get anything into it,

I'm about 6-7 weeks post-op now and have same issues, but mine is with liquids too, even water. It's been improving.

I had severe esophageal spasms in the first few weeks, which the surgeon said was more severe than he had seen. So when things were getting 'stuck', I thought it was just a continuation of that. Turns out it's a common thing. I started worrying it was due to a stricture cause stuff wasn't staying down sometimes.

The surgeon/ dietician didn't really hear my concerns so I started reviewing this online and found that it's really common and expected this early on. And once I started taking super tiny bites and pausing way longer than it makes sense to in between bites, it seems to be getting better, and I can take in more volume of whatever I'm having.

Edited March 5, 20215 yr by kim0221