Stressing about eating too much

[starryskies 4]

Gastric bypass on January 20th, I’m a great over worrier in general but I feel recently I’ve been eating a lot more than usual not in terms of size but frequency. Feeling full is still a sensation I’m getting used to so I’m settling for feeling not hungry instead but sometimes it tips into feeling uncomfortable. How would I know if I have stretched my pouch?

[bahuber5477 96]

I am not to goal yet but I can tell you that as long as I keep my Protein high i seem to lose weight independent of actual calorie goal. I am 6 months out and am shooting for 130 grams of protein and somewhere around 1500 calories. Continuing to lose a couple lbs a week even though it’s not terribly linear lol.

[SpartanMaker 1,465]

So this idea that you can stretch your pouch somehow and make it permanently bigger is mostly myth.

• First, right after surgery your stomach is swollen. Over time, the swelling goes down, thus you can accommodate more food. This is normal and to be expected.
• Second, your stomach is designed to stretch. This too is normal. Think of it like a balloon. With nothing in it, it's small. Fill it up and it gets bigger. Let out what you put in it and it goes back to its original shape.
• Third, while you can't really make your stomach any bigger, you can train it over time to handle more food. If anything, this is what's happening to people that think they "stretched out" their stomach after surgery. It's not really any bigger, but you have trained it to not "complain" as much when it is over full. There's certainly a limit here though to how much you can stuff in and I promise it's always going to be less than it was pre-surgery.

I would caution you to be careful about frequent eating. If you're eating multiple times a day just to put something in your stomach, it is possible to outeat your smaller stomach. It's best at first to eat on a regular schedule because as you alluded to, it's hard to understand both hunger and fullness queues.

[Arabesque 7,623]

Did your team give you portion size recommendations and guidance around number of meals & Snacks if any a day? If not ask for some as you will find them helpful. The next advice is to stick to those recommendations.

Are you eating slowly? It takes at least 20 minutes for the message to get through that you’ve had enough. If you eat too quickly you will get over full & be uncomfortable & you’ll really know it when your restriction kicks in! Take small bites, use small cutlery (teaspoons, cocktail forks, baby cutlery, etc.), put the cutlery down between bites, sit back from the table & wait a couple of minutes. Then ask yourself do you need the next bite or just want it. If you just want it put the cutlery down again. Personally I aimed not to feel full but to feel like I had enough & didn’t need more.

As @SpartanMaker said it takes time to learn the difference between your real hunger and your full cues. Before eating take a moment to think about why you’re eating? Are you bored, emotional (sad, angry, frustrated, stressed, anxious, etc.)? Are you eating out of habit (like because you’re watching tv, a movie, it’s an old snack time,…)?

Sneezing, hiccups, runny nose can be full cues for many. If you’re craving a specific food, flavour or texture that’s not real hunger. I get restless with real hunger as if something is wrong. It usually takes time to realise I’m actually hungry and then I can logically understand why I would really be hungry - missed a meal, didn’t eat much at a previous meal, etc.

It takes time to understand all this, what your signals are, and what strategies to manage it all works for you. Give yourself grace while you’re working it out.

[starryskies 4]

Some great advice here thank you 🙂