Tomorrow I will be three weeks out from bypass surgery. For the past six days my surgeon's diet program has had me eating soft, moist proteins, with a target of eventually getting to 3oz per meal before adding in non-starchy vegetables.

I'm really surprised at how sensitive my stomach is to food capacity. Sometimes I can eat 2.5 to 2.75 ounces of food and feel fine. The next day the same amount makes me feel awful as though I ate a pound of food. It's really something how sensitive my new stomach is as it heals and how even 1/4 ounce of extra food can create all kinds of discomfort.

I'm about 7 months out and I feel like this still happens on the regular. I just have learned that it is okay to leave food behind (a hard lesson when you were always told to clean your plate) and it's ok if I can eat more one day, and less another.

The gremlin (my stomach) is always the final decision maker in these matters!

I feel like what my dietician pushes for really encourages eating a fixed amount, instead of going by what my body is telling me. My surgeon has been very direct that he only wants me to eat when I'm hungry, stop as soon as I may be full (even if it's after 2 bites), and that it's okay to get nowhere close to what the dietician wants.

As long as I get enough water to not feel sick, and I take my vitamins, the amount of food I get is 100% up to my stomach, not a food schedule. Obviously his advice is different if I am never hungry or always feel sick, I do get hungry so this works for me.

I still struggle with this because I was raise on the clean plate club but when I do it, don't force feed myself to reach some arbitrary goals, and just go by what my body is telling me, I feel better!

Honestly I'm not sure why I'm still seeing the dietician who my surgeon tells me to ignore. ?‍♀️

I eat 3oz protein, 1oz veggies per meal or when my pouch says to stop, whichever comes first. There are days when it's 2 bites and the meal is done. I very rarely go over.

I learned long ago that in a battle of wills my pouch wins hands down.

Good luck,

Tek

My gastric bypass was revision surgery from a sleeve due to hiatal hernia and reflux. Since I had the sleeve first, most of the hunger hormone (ghrelin) producing cells were in the part of the stomach they removed. I rarely got really hungry with the sleeve, so perhaps that might carry over with the bypass as well. I know my remnant stomach is still there, but it's a sleeve, not a full stomach so it won't produce the hunger hormone like others.

That being said, I do hope after time I can end up eating more reasonable portions. After a year or so with the sleeve I was able to eat 3-4 oz of solid protein with 1/3 to 1/2 cup veggies and a little starch. I am hopeful for similar capacities with the bypass.

Your tummy is still healing & the sensitivity, intolerance to certain foods on certain days will continue for a while. Treat it gently. Eating a little less one day won’t harm. I still have days I can’t eat everything on my plate at a meal or something I eat regularly doesn’t seem to sit as well & I’m almost three years out. This morning I ate left over rolled oats from my breakfast yesterday (added some fresh to get to about my usual portion). It all balances out across the week. If I’m a bit low on my protein today, I’ll have a little more tomorrow. Same with fluids.

Listen to your body. It’s a good habit to start now about your eating. You’ll discover your real hunger signals, your I’ve had enough signals, what you need versus what you want, etc.

All the best.

51 minutes ago, Arabesque said:

Listen to your body. It’s a good habit to start now about your eating. You’ll discover your real hunger signals, your I’ve had enough signals, what you need versus what you want, etc.

This is good advice. I've experienced it a couple times already. The past two days at lunch I have had more than I should have, even by a couple bites, and the discomfort was intense. I realize I'm still healing but I'm also trying to learn the feelings and signals that go with this new pouch. They are different from the sleeve.

Today at dinner I was very mindful of my current capacity, and stopped eating at the first flash of a full feeling. It worked as I was comfortable after my meal.

yes - I still have "big pouch days" and "small pouch days" (wish I had more of the latter!). Listening to your body's signals is kind of the "thing" these days with dietitians ("intuitive eating"), so I'm a little surprised yours isn't into that. Of course, there's a minimum you do need to eat to stay healthy, but beyond that.. I tend to be really strict with counting calories, measuring things, etc because it's worked for me - but the dietitians at my clinic are into intuitive eating and don't like the fact I'm so obsessive about numbers (but again, it works for me - different strokes for different folks, I guess...)

For me it's also the time of day. Late in the day I can eat more. When I first wake up even water takes a while to drain through.

I had the sleeve and now revision to bypass and 3 wks PO. It is so different then the sleeve I’m trying to figure out if I’m full or ate or drank too fast idk.

I had the sleeve and now revision to bypass and 3 wks PO. It is so different then the sleeve I’m trying to figure out if I’m full or ate or drank too fast idk.

You will know very soon what full feels like after the bypass, once you get to solid foods. I had 3 ounces of sliced beef for lunch and I had to stop at 2 ounces. It always feels like my chest and/or stomach will explode if I continue. If I don't stop, i.e. I ignore the pressure... I would then get the foamies or a terrible runny nose and congestion.