Sleeve Oct 2024. Band remove March 2024. Did all pre & post instructions,

After solid eat stage I can eat large amounts of food without feeling full. For example, 3 turkey wraps with cheese and lettuce, had a T Bone for Thanksgiving.

I'm stalled right now and don't know if drinking more water will help.

Dr said need to loss 15% the first 3 months which is 56lbs, I'm only at 10%.

With the band I could feel the restriction up high but now it's like relearning how to feel full, it's in my belly not my throat like before.

I wish doctor would have use a smaller bougie, he uses 40's

Last visit the nutritionist said "He does not do revisions" like to warn me.

383 start now 344

Need to be 325 by this month.

Do you track your food? That would help! I rarely feel "full" I just eat what I know I should be. 3-4oz of protein, veggies then carbs (if I even eat them). Lots of water. Snacks are meat sticks, cheese, PB balls, fruit and ect...Also moving is huge! Building up the exercise, example I started at walking 1/4 mile in 30 min to now I run 3.25miles in 30min, its been a huge success to my weight loss. Movement really will help!

So, you don't feel "full", but do you feel "hungry"? Or do you just keep eating because you can?

This early on, your body is still adjusting and relearning signals. Hopefully, you don't feel physical hunger pangs (most people don't but some do). Either way, you need to portion out your foods. A bariatric meal is generally 3-4oz of meat and around 1/2 cup vegetables. Even if you CAN eat more than that, you aren't supposed to and don't need to. It's pretty early to be adding in a grain, but that can also be part of your meal at some point.

The feeling of restriction is different between the sleeve and the bypass, so I can't speak to it from experience, but I've seen so many people here say the sleeve restriction doesn't truly kick in for a few months. Until then, it's your job to only eat what you're supposed to eat. It helped me to get very small plates. I ate off a saucer for the first 6 months. Half of it would be my meat and half was a non-starchy veg. I would weigh the meat (after cooking) and just fill the empty space with the veg.

If you are already truly feeling hunger, fill yourself with vegetables, fruit, and healthy whole grains as opposed to protein or simple carbs. After a certain point, let's say maybe 100g in a day, you really don't need the protein, so if you're truly hungry, a salad or steamed broccoli will do a lot more to fill you up with very few calories ounce per ounce. It can also really help to set specific meal times and not allow yourself to eat in between.

3 hours ago, NickelChip said:

So, you don't feel "full", but do you feel "hungry"?

Excellent Point!!!!

Lots of us who were/are obese seem to have the habit of chasing the "full" feeling. As @NickelChip alludes to, we would be waaaaaaay better served to think of the cue to stop eating as "no longer hungry" vs. "i'm stuffed and done now"

Edited December 6, 20241 yr by ms.sss

First: All because you can doesn’t mean you should. It takes around 8 weeks to fully heal. That includes all nerves that were severed or damaged to be back firing again & sending accurate messages to your brain around, hunger, satiety, damage and your restriction. It’s why sticking to the portion size recommendations you should have been given is so important during the healing stage. (If you didn’t get them ask your team for some guidance.) You don’t want to damage your healing tummy either (all those sutures and staples holding your tummy together).

Secondly: Do you need the next bite or just want it? There is a big difference between needing to eat and wanting to eat. Stopping to think about each bite you take is part of mindful eating and reflecting on your eating vs. mindlessly shovelling food into your mouth. If you just want the next bite (to make you feel better, out of habit, or other head hunger related desires) put your cutlery down & sit back from the table. Sometimes you may take another bite after a few minutes, other times you don’t have any more. The goal is not to eat until you are full but until you are satisfied and have had enough for your needs (for your body to function effectively). It takes at least 20 minutes for the message you’re are full to get through. If you are eating quickly when the message gets through, you’ve eaten more than you need and are over full. The goal also shouldn’t be to eat until you feel the restriction. If you feel your restriction you’ve eaten too much, or too fast or food that is too dense. The restriction fades in time so you can’t rely on it as a long term maintain e tool.

The two axioms have been very important to me and helped me stick to the plan I was given in the losing stage and then to maintain in the years after. I’ve often shared them & I hope you may find them helpful too.

I see were I'm getting off track and my mindset has changed since early recovery.

Thanks for reminding me of the basics of the "whole" reality of having this done.

A reset is in order and a mental one is most important.

Thank you!

Edited December 6, 20241 yr by Edward

Calories snd weight loss aside, I was warned that immediately post op that you may physically be able to eat more than you should and you really need to measure to avoid injuring yourself by eating too much until your insides are healed. Those portions they put in your book are not just a suggestion. They are really important. Once things heal you should start to feel your restriction better but you do still need to eat slowly and to pay attention to it or you will overfill yourself. The difference between okay and stuffed can be just one or two bites for most people. That being said, I could’ve eaten more than expected with every single stage post op and I could eat more than most when I was healed as well. I still can’t eat a lot but more than most sleevers. I still lost a pretty significant amount with the sleeve and then I revised to SADI recently in which my dr didn’t touch my sleeve and I have lost a pretty big chunk of weight again. If you choose healthy foods you won’t really be consuming that much more calorie wise with an extra quarter or half cup of food, honestly. I’m talking about like broccoli or salad greens. Stuff like that. If you do your protein first and do fruits and veggies after that you still probably wont have room for much else even with a slightly larger pouch. I know that I don’t. Sometimes when I’m exercising pretty intense I do add a third cup of brown rice but I have to cut the veggies to do so.