12 days post RNY

I feel fine, no pain, no discomfort

I can drink water easily, 2-4 regular sips in a row. I can eat 1/2 cup or 4 oz of food in one meal without any discomfort. I think I could actually eat more, but I don't plate more food. I finish what I plate though. Ex: 1/2 cup of blended chili with 1 oz ff greek yogurt, 2oz grilled cod with 2 oz cottage cheese and slice of grilled tomato, 1 egg mashed and 2oz of mashed cauliflower, etc. These seem like big meals. They are all in my NUT's sample menu but at the upper limit of allowed portions.

I called NUT and she just said to chew slowly and stop after 30 min. I do chew slow and still finish within 30 min.

The thing is I do not feel full or satisfied. I also don't feel hungry. I sort of feel nothing at all. I find this very weird and frustrating.

Overall I get about 80 g of protein and 500-650 calories.

I'm down 10 lbs in 12 days and I feel that its low. Not sure what to do or how to proceed. I feel that without feeling full or satisfied I'll get off track really fast.

It's only been 12 days. 10 pounds in 12 days is GREAT! What were you expecting? You're not feeling hungry, and that was the whole point, so that's a good thing. Give yourself time to adjust.

10 pounds in 12 days is stupendous! Your poor body can't shed weight much faster than that, it's almost a pound per day. You're doing great. ? I'm not sure about the "neither hungry nor satisfied" feeling, I didn't experience that. I had no hunger or desire to eat for the first two weeks and I slowly regained my appetite after that. But you are off to a super good start. I only lost 15 pounds in my whole first month!

Edited January 3, 20215 yr by Jaelzion

You need to reset your expectations,, 10lbs in 12 days is not low at all, its great.

I imagine at this stage your stomach is still healing, there is lots of imflammation, you are eating a lot of soft mushy foods, you won't likely be feeling real restriction until you are on solid foods.

You don't want to be feeling full, feeling full means that you have likely eaten too much. Feeling satisfied is possibly a different thing, for me satisfaction is almost an emotional/in the head feeling, for others it may be a physical thing.

I am just over a year out and even now I rarely feel physical hunger or get full. I eat 3 meals a day (and sometimes a snack but that's more a head hunger at night thing). I measure out most of my meals and stop at around 6 oz. I can get full if I eat more --- but I generally stop at the 6 oz.

59 minutes ago, Hop_Scotch said:

You don't want to be feeling full, feeling full means that you have likely eaten too much.

This is a REALLY good point. "Full" felt different for me after surgery. It's more subtle than the solid full feeling I used to have when I had eaten enough. So much so, that the first real meal I ate, I didn't recognize when I was full. I ate a couple of bites too many and paid the price for it. After that, I learned to pay attention to the subtle cues that my tummy has had enough. Don't expect the old "full" feeling you had pre-surgery, it might have changed.

a lot of us loss our sense of hunger for up to a year after surgery. Mine came back at five months out. Take full advantage of this because it's never going to be easier to lose weight than it will be the next few months, when you're almost never hungry. And 10 lbs in 12 days is a lot!

Thank you all for responding.
I feel so confused with everything that's going on with my body and my brain. I think it will take a while to reset my brain where my thoughts are not constantly revolve around food in one way or another.

Cat woman is spot on. My hunger came back at six months so enjoy your honeymoon phase and you are doing great so far!

On 1/2/2021 at 9:34 PM, catwoman7 said:

a lot of us loss our sense of hunger for up to a year after surgery. Mine came back at five months out. Take full advantage of this because it's never going to be easier to lose weight than it will be the next few months, when you're almost never hungry.

Can I ask, did your hunger come back full force? I ask because I'm trying to figure out whether the level of appetite I have now is likely to be what I'm working with permanently or does it keep increasing? My appetite has certainly rebounded from the early days after surgery but it's still much lower than pre-surgery days. Am I gonna wake up one day with my old appetite or am I likely to continue where I am? I'm just moving into maintenance and trying to figure things out, LOL. ?

5 minutes ago, Jaelzion said:

Can I ask, did your hunger come back full force? I ask because I'm trying to figure out whether the level of appetite I have now is likely to be what I'm working with permanently or does it keep increasing? My appetite has certainly rebounded from the early days after surgery but it's still much lower than pre-surgery days. Am I gonna wake up one day with my old appetite or am I likely to continue where I am? I'm just moving into maintenance and trying to figure things out, LOL. ?

not right away. In fact, I wasn't sure for awhile if that's what it was. But yes - at some point I did start getting hunger pangs again.

I'm honestly not sure how it compares to pre-surgery, because I used to graze off and on all day and overeat at meals and really didn't listen for hunger cues. I just....ate. Just because. I do know a lot of people claim their pangs are not as strong as they were pre-surgery, though...

1 minute ago, catwoman7 said:

not right away. In fact, I wasn't sure for awhile if that's what it was. But yes - at some point I did start getting hunger pangs again.

I'm honestly not sure how it compares to pre-surgery, because I used to graze off and on all day and overeat at meals and really didn't listen for hunger cues. I just....ate. Just because. I do know a lot of people claim their pangs are not as strong as they were pre-surgery, though...

Thanks - as I get further out from surgery I'm trying to understand how post-op life will be in the long run. I'm coming up on two years in March and transitioning out of the weight loss phase. I appreciate your insight.

I too was so shocked by the lack of signal recognition from my brain.

(3 weeks post-op gastric bypass)

I still do not know when I am hungry. I have had to read "symptoms", like feeling more easily agitated, or suddenly wanting to sit down and rest, sometimes more "pain" in stomach...nothing severe just discomfort like gas..but not.

It is so odd to not have ones brain recognize something that it has been doing for 45 years hahaha.

For me it is enjoyable to get some reprieve from fighting hunger pangs, and just looking at getting my protein and nutrients as a function...not an addiction to eat or graze.

The full signal doesn't really make sense to me yet either...so I just eat super slow, and keep it between a 1/4 and 1/2 cup at max depending on what it is. Found that the longer I wait and distract myself between bites/drinks I can actually forget about that I was eating or drinking. I will suddenly realize oh yeah I was eating...but at that point I wrap it up and weight until the next meal...probably wasn't "hungry" for it anyway.

On 1/3/2021 at 4:34 PM, catwoman7 said:

a lot of us loss our sense of hunger for up to a year after surgery. Mine came back at five months out. Take full advantage of this because it's never going to be easier to lose weight than it will be the next few months, when you're almost never hungry.

Yep--completely agree! (I find myself agreeing with so many things Catwoman says.)

I wasn't hungry at all for months, which was wonderful. I started "wanting" to eat again at about the six-month mark. Even after nearly two years, I'm still not sure whether it's head hunger or real hunger I'm feeling. However, it doesn't take much food at all to make that feeling go away--and I keep lots of low carb, low fat snacks on hand for those occasions.

One confession: I NEVER ate as slowly as I was supposed to--not at the beginning, and not now. I definitely try to eat more slowly than prior to surgery and to chew everything carefully (and I succeed 95% of the time), but I honestly can't imagine how people can spend an hour eating the tiny portions of food we are allowed in the early phase of weight loss.

1 hour ago, Recidivist said:

Yep--completely agree! (I find myself agreeing with so many things Catwoman says.)

I wasn't hungry at all for months, which was wonderful. I started "wanting" to eat again at about the six-month mark. Even after nearly two years, I'm still not sure whether it's head hunger or real hunger I'm feeling. However, it doesn't take much food at all to make that feeling go away--and I keep lots of low carb, low fat Snacks on hand for those occasions.

One confession: I NEVER ate as slowly as I was supposed to--not at the beginning, and not now. I definitely try to eat more slowly than prior to surgery and to chew everything carefully (and I succeed 95% of the time), but I honestly can't imagine how people can spend an hour eating the tiny portions of food we are allowed in the early phase of weight loss.

I don't either. I'm not pushing my pouch or anything, and it's going waaaay slower than before, but like, I can kinda eat with my loved ones at a normal pace, just much tinier portions of better food.

I naturally tend to gravitate towards a 16:8 IF pattern, too, without really wanting it. I eat my first meal at noon, and my last meal around 7 or 8. Sometimes a snack later to hit my targets, but it works pretty well.

Edited January 28, 20215 yr by Guest
Edit reason: still not friends with English grammar.