Adjusting to smaller meal sizes

I'm 15 weeks post surgery and have adjusted pretty well to eating much smaller portion sizes. I measure and plan carefully and post on the menu thread daily to stay accountable for what I'm eating.

My issue is that my head isn't used to the smaller sizes yet. I always look at my meal portion and think, "that's not enough food." I convince myself to stick with it and I'm almost always satisfied in the end.

My question is, how do you adjust your mind to the smaller sizes? Does it just take time? Or is it just a matter of planning and measuring and sticking with it no matter what your mind says? I want to be successful and I know that that means just doing the right thing no matter what my head and stomach tell me sometimes. That said, if there are ways of learning better mealtime habits, I'm all for it.

Thanks for your thoughts!

We had a visualization exercise in our weight loss surgery group. The leader used a two-liter soda bottle. First she told us that the bottle would hold as much as our old stomachs would have.

Then she showed the bottlecap and said that represented our new stomach.

It helps to realize how small the stomach is that your are feeding. My surgeon creates extremely small mini pouches. Many make theirs more the size of an egg.

Visualize what size stomach you are actually filling up instead of what it used to take to fill up your stomach.

Remember that if you do not get in enough calories, your body will burn fat to make up the difference.

Thanks for the visual. That was very enlightening.

I eat out of small microwavable dishes. I weigh and measure everything. Last night my wife said - isn't that too much food on your plate (more out of curiosity because we regularly talk about my program and what I'm doing)? It did look like it was almost overflowing. It was exactly half cup (unpacked - about eight small leaves) lettuce, 3 cherry tomatoes and 3 ounces of Salmon. The little dishes have helped. I also have these tiny plates from IKEA that help when company comes over. They just hold my portions of food. Honestly, because I weigh everything I don't even think about "enough" food anymore. I know this works. Like you, early on I questioned the amount and took more - then I hit the restriction. Thankfully I don't test that limit any longer. Good luck.

Scott

I'm probably about a month behind you and I don't really eat "meals" per se. I just eat food. A lot of the times I just eat 1 type of protein rich food. I know my pouch has grown and I can certainly tell by the amount of water I can drink in one shot. But nothing reminds me of the surgery better than just some old fashioned meat. I don't need too much of that before my stomach tells me "No mas! "

Now if I'm out eating with my wife the solution is even simpler. I just don't order anything. We always share 1 meal. Believe it or not there's usually a doggie bag too.

I am 9 years post op. I can drink a lot of liquids on empty pouch.

I know how much I should be eating. I almost always take enough. But when I am really hungry - I look at my portion - a and think that there is no way I have enough food. And almost always it is more that I can eat, as long as there are dense proteins on my plate.

I KNOW how much my pouch can handle - but I have days that I still can't believe that.

But - carbs and slider foods - I can eat that...

I feel the same. I still think I ought to be eating much more than I can, or do eat.

What's in our head matters. What we end up putting in our mouths is more important.

The struggle is real, and never ends.

I don't know if this will ever NOT be a struggle. I was weighing out my lunch today- goal was 5 oz of chicken.I looked at it thinking that's not enough- but it was 5 oz so I left it alone. I added some salsa & cheese to make it look a little more 'bulky'. I have this struggle daily with eggs too-- I feel like I should only eat 1, but my mind is soooo- used to having two, and I can eat 2 w/o issue (most days). Then I remind myself that the eggs were never the issue- its was the 3 waffles, or bagel, grits, etc that I was pairing with the eggs.

I also eat off of a desert plate or saucer to avoid the desire to fill a large dinner plate.

I used to religiously use my food scale, but at 3.5 years out, I rarely use it anymore. I still think "there is no way that will fill me up" but it does. In the losing phase, I think weighing food is SO important, and I also used and still use a small plate. My BF's kids laugh at me when everyone has a dinner plate and I have a side plate, but I do believe that seeing a ton of "white space" on a dinner plate gives me the idea that I don't have enough. I must say, maintenance is a ton harder than the first 1-2 years when the weight is falling off and your stomach is super small, and I do still struggle with portion size and carb creep and head hunger and all those fun things :( It's a lifelong struggle, that's for sure! I don't have any words of wisdom other than to remain vigilant and try to set yourself up for a lifetime of good habits now - which it seems you are doing, by eating high protein and exercising. You're doing great so far!

There are times that I'm very 'head' hungry... and I go to the table determined to 'just screw it and eat what I want'... of course, I still measure out my food, and I tell myself that I can go back 'this time' and just have more after this...

Only that "this time" never happens, because I find myself stuffed!

I have several small plates that I bought. I almost always eat off of those at home... I have these little 4 ounce glad containers that I use for work. I still use the scale to fill those up. If I think it's not enough at work, I pull out a few pork rinds to eat with it... then I feel like I'm having more, but it's protein... and often times, most of the pork rinds don't get eaten.

The head games we play with ourselves are the hardest things to overcome!