I'm just curious. I'm reading quite a few posts where people say they were instructed not to eat more than half a cup of food at a time (I'm not talking about the post-op period, I'm talking about after you are on full solids). My doctor never told me that, and even though I now have restriction, I need more than half a cup of food at each meal. I don't know how I could get all my nutrients in for the day with a total of 1-1/2 cups of food.

My doctor's instructions once I got onto solid food were to eat until I felt satisfied (not full), whatever that amount was. The goal was to eat about 4-6 oz. of Protein and 1/2 - 3/4 cup of vegetables per meal. When I go in for a fill, they show me these plastic plates with plastic food on them and ask me whether my portions look like that. Those plastic plates have more than half a cup of plastic food on them!

I've got the level of restriction I want now.... so far I can eat anything I want with no problems, but I'm satisfied after what I consider a healthy portion. I try to eat 1200 calories a day but usually it ends up being closer to 1,000 - 1,100. Here is a typical day's menu for me:

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs with 1 egg and 1/4 cup Egg Beaters. I'll add a little bit of cheese or tomato to that

2 turkey bacon slices

or

2 low fat waffles with 1/4 cup sugar free syrup

2 small Jennie-O turkey sausage links

Lunch:

Low carb wrap with 3 oz. of deli lunchmeat, a piece of low fat cheese, and low fat mayo or gaucamole. Sometimes add lettuce, diced cucumber, etc.

Dinner:

6 oz. salmon or a grilled chicken breast

1/2 - 3/4 cup veggies

I am usually able to eat everything on my plate and it seems to be a perfect amount -- I'm satisfied, but not "full". I don't get hungry for another 4-5 hours. No between-meal Snacks, nothing to drink except a cup of coffee in the morning, and Water.

I'm losing about 2 pounds a week and feeling great. But it sounds like I'm eating a lot more than some people. I'm just really curious now how this compares to the diet that some other doctors have their patients on? Will I maybe need a little more restriction to help me eat even less once I've lost more weight and it starts being more difficult to lose? But still, that doesn't seem healthy....

I was told to eat until I felt full also. That is one of the ways my doctor decides if I need a fill or not, by asking how much I'm eating at each meal. I believe they told me once I get to my "sweet spot" that I should only be eating 4-6 oz. per meal.

I have been told to eat no more than 1/2 cup 3x daily. Protein first and veggies and fruit if I can fit it into tht 1/2 cup meal. No Snacks. I am six weeks out from surgery and the hunger hit last week. I get a fill next Tuesday. I am going to talk to my surgeon about the portion size. I am now not getting anywhere close to feeling satisfied at this point. I was for five weeks so this has been difficult the last week. I find that I eat too fast when I am hungry.

I had asked the surgeon's nurse during my last visit if the portions get larger as we go along. Her answer was no. But, most of the people in my support group talk about their 1 cup servings per meal with not snacks. (They have the same surgeon as me).

I actually have had a lot of energy and feel great. I often worry that my body will go into starvation mode at some point and my motabolism will be even more screwed up than it was b/4 I started this journey.

Ok, so what am i eating in a typical day. First, i want to of course say that this is just what is working for me at this moment. It might not be right for everyone and who knows, it might not even be right for me as time goes by, but here goes!

To give you a fuller picture, up until 2.5 weeks ago i had been pretty much trusting my band to limit my portions. I had pretty good restriction and I was eating Protein first and eating light during my work day and then i got home and had a "much smaller than pre-band" protein first dinner but then i would start with the grazing. In a night i would typically have at least 2 WW Ice Cream Dixie Cups and then sometimes pudding, or some pretzels or some Cereal, just constantly getting up to go get something that went down easy with the band. Bad behavior, but i was still losing... until about a month and a half ago. I spent a whole month stuck at the same weight. It was not a hard month and i did maintain while still pretty much eating whatever i wanted as long as i chewed well. But i was also PBing a couple times and found myself definitely eating around the band using slider foods like low cal ICE CREAM! Bad behavior. :thumbdown: And you know what, lost 32 lbs during that time, but 20 of them were during the 2 weeks pre-op and 6 weeks post op. And after that most of my loss came during the return to liquids then mushies that followed each fill. (I would lose 3-4 lbs in that week and then stay the same or drop maybe 1 more pound for the rest of the month so i felt like i wasn't making much progress). But frankly, it was pretty easy, and i didn't count calories and i was losing ok.

But anyway, on to the real question. What am i eating now that busted my plateau. Here are the changes i made based on my conversation with my psych last week.

• Got a Fill - I hadn't had a fill in 6 weeks. I got 0.6 cc added bringing me to a total of 7.6 cc in my 10 cc APS band.
  
• Portion size - psych told me for my size (which she said is small in the world of bands - 5'2" and BMI around 30) that my portions size per meal should be 1/4 cup (or up to 1/2 cup) of food. I have started measuring my portions and am currently eating 1/4 cup.
  
• Meals vs. Grazing - the psych told me to eat 3 meals a day (with 2 Snacks if necessary). My snacks tend to be Protein Shakes. I drink either Profect protein shots (Protica Research - 25 g protein w/ 0 carbs in like 2.5 oz) or AdvantEdge Protein Drinks. But i wouldn't hesitate to have a cheese stick as a snack or something similar.
  
• Hunger Level - my hunger has really diminished with this fill. I don't get hungry in the morning until lunch time and i stay "unhungry" (not full, but not hungry) for about 4-6 hours. At the first sign of hunger i drink first. If the doesn't do the trick, then i'll eat something.
  
• Restriction Level - My restriction level is very good. I can eat solid protein but i feel full with my 1/4 cup of food and i have not PBed at all.
  
• Cooking & Planning Meals - I decided to start cooking & planning over the weekend so that i have meals available for the week and don't eat my fill portion just during the time i stand in front of the fridge deciding what i want to have for dinner. I have made a bunch of recipes out of the cookbook " Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery" by Patt Levine. It is very protein based.
  
• Behavior change - No more eating in the TV room. I was good all day then came home, plopped in front of the TV and grazed all night long. She told me to make a new rule that i do not eat in the TV room. This means if i want to eat i have to go sit in the dinning room. This makes me more conscious the act of eating. Before i was mindlessly grazing.
  
• Exercise - sadly i have still not started exercising. I know i should be doing it. I have no excuse.
  

So that really looks like a lot of changes, but in truth, the most important thing i've started doing is eating 1/4 cup meals 3 times a day. I eat until i am no longer hungry (which is definitely not the same as full). Sometimes that seems really extreme to me, but then i remind myself that my stomach is the size of an egg now. Having proper restriction is really important for making this doable for me because i don't get hungry until 4-6 hours after my meals. I do a lot of drinking in the morning before i eat lunch. I have also been sucking on sugar free hard candies (like 3 - 4 a day) just to get a little sweetness and to give myself something to have in my mouth (sugar free gum also works).

So that is the SERIOUSLY long version but honestly it really helped me that my psych point blank told me that for someone my size i should be eating 3 meals a day of 1/4 cup in size with 2 snacks if needed. I'm going to keep seeing the psych every now and then just to keep up the motivation i think. She really helped me focus on the task at hand. Oh yeah, and one last thing that helped me. I have been reading "The Success Habits of Weight Loss Surgery Patients" by Colleen Cook and i have really learned a lot about portion size and eating for satiety. And of course i am a professional lurker on LBT and it such an amazing resource!

Again, i'm still learning and tweeking and messing up and growing along this journey, so take the above as what it is... just another glimpse into a fellow bandster's journey.

American surgeons (and mexican ones too) seem to me to really like rules. They really like to tell people what they should be eating and how much. Not that that's a bad thing, by a long shot. But all this half cup, this much Protein, that much Water etc.

But its not so much like that here. My literature says "do not eat to the point where you induce discomfort or nausea".

Which to me makes perfect sense. The amount you can eat changes with fills. Some people can eat a cup, some people NEED more food than others. Why tell everyone they must eat 1000 calories a day when I lost perfectly well on 1500? If you are eating, then stay satisfied for a few hours and keep losing weight then whether that's 1/2 cup or 2 cups, its obviously not too much is it? When you stop losing that's when you need a fill so that you can decrease portion sizes again.

So yeah, the guidelines are quite liberal here, but rely a lot on people to use their common sense. We KNOW that we shouldnt base our meals on ice cream and we know that a 3 cup serve of ice cream is too much!

My doc says 1/2 cup portions, 3 times a day, with no Snacks in between. He says that the pouch is made to hold only 3-4 oz of food at a time, and more than that can slowly stretch it out. He says if we are truly hungry while eating the 1/2 cup portion three times a day, then we need a fill.

I guess all doctors are different. There is even some conflicting information from my doctor. I told you what he says about portions in the paragraph above, but in the binder full of paperwork that his office gave me right before the surgery, it says that after a year or a year and half, the pouch will have stretched to hold a cup to a cup and a half of food.

I have been trying to keep my food at 4 oz or half a cup, but yogurt usually comes in 6 oz servings. I can't stand to waste food, so I eat the whole thing. I'm hoping yogurt is a "slider" food so it's not stretching my pouch.

My booklet says 1/2c or 3-4oz 3x a day with 2 1-2oz snack (high protein) if necessary.