Can (former) volume eaters share your experience post op - inspired by Kairks tortilla chip...

I'm a volume eater, meaning I didn't graze or snack, and rarely ate a 'normal' size portion. At a restaurant I'd pick out the largest meal (no dessert). I loved going Mexican, aside from the flavor I could always fill up on chips and salsa. I loved picking up some bbq - a pound of brisket sounded great, if I wasn't full maybe I'd eat a side. 

One of my first thoughts during WLS orientation meeting was I could eat the same, just less. If I went Tex-Mex, and ate 1/2 a basket of chips instead of three, I would lose weight and be able to live at a normal weight. (the couple of changes I would make - for example my hamburger would be homemade instead of picking one up at fast food, and I would not drink with meal/30-45 min after). 

But, internally I wanted to do more, to cut out junk food, to cook more, eat fresh, cut carbs, etc..

Where is the line?

Did I want to give up cake (I might have eaten a piece a month and that was not what made me obese)? Would I skip the annual (literally once a year) Dairy Queen stop during our family reunion. Do I want to abstain from alcohol (no reason to drink calories if not a protein shake).

So my musings, should they start a discussion, is I'm having a hard time figuring out where I'm going to draw the line in the proverbial sand with my eating (once healed from surgery).

I didn't go through WLS to keep eating junk food.

I didn't get a sleeve so I would give up all 'unhealthy food and beverage" for the rest of my life (or worse consider it a mistake and beat myself up when I'm not perfect).

What have your struggles been finding this balance? It has to be more complicated than 3 yrs from now getting full on a slice of meat loaded pizza vs having my personal (16") pizza for a meal pre-op?

I am about a month ahead of you and I consider myself a former volume eater myself.  Brazilian steak houses were my dream restaurant.

My surgeon said, eat three meals a day, no in between snacks of any caloric count, and you will lose weight.  

Now, to get your nutrition, you will have to eat to plan.  Get your protein in first.  I have had bbq.  I ordered 4 oz of brisket and a cup of pinto beans.  I could only finish half of the brisket and about 1/3 of the beans.  I am pretty sensitive to carbs so I have cut them out.  I order a fajita taco and just eat the meat.  Tortilla's of any type are out.  

What does carb sensitive mean for you? That you become hungry and end up eating between meals?

Do the tortillas  cause you to fill up so you can't get in your protein?Or cause you to get in to many calories?

The simple carbs trigger more hunger.  I am also trying to stay in ketosis.   Complex carbs like pinto beans are ok for me.  Today I am having lean ground beef and black beans seasoned with chili powder and some bloody mary mix for moisture.  (note to non Texans, this is not chili since it has beans.  If I left out the black beans, then it would be chili.  )

Okay, so it's actually incredible I didn't weigh a lot more than I did because not only am I a grazer I am also a volume eater. I liked to eat until full and I mean full. I liked Thanksgiving full. That's how I liked to feel after lunch and after dinner. I grazed in between lunch and dinner and then often later in the evening. So....

My struggle with volume eating came at about 10 or 11 months out. I was at goal and doing well. I was back east for an event and I was feeling angry because I wasn't able to enjoy all the food. I mean really kind of angry deep down inside. Maybe resentful is a better way to look at it. Anyway I got rebellious that Saturday night and over ordered. And I ordered a dessert type of thing as a side "to share". Well, I ate my bit of steak and a few bites of potatoes and then a little more steak and a bite of the dessert thingamajig etc.... That was the 2nd time I got the foamies. It was awful. I got nauseous, was salivating like a drooling dog and barely made it to the bathroom to spit in the lavatory. I didn't throw up, but I wish I had. I regurgitated my dinner for hours after that. I maybe got 3 hours of sleep that night. I had to keep a cup at my bedside so that each time food ended up back in my mouth I had somewhere to put it. JUST F'ing GROSS! Needless to say, I fasted the next day until dinner. Just liquids, thank you very much.

When I got home I had to do some serious thinking about what happened. And I got to the root of the problem. I missed feeling full. I was pissed that I was never going to feel full in the same way that I had felt full pre surgery. No one told me that full would be a completely different feeling. I missed my old friend FULL! I had to have a little funeral and get over it and deal with the fact that I had a new feeling of full.

Next up was the issue of wanting to EAT IT ALL! Well, I just can't. I'm not physically capable any longer to eat more than about 3 oz of protein and 1/3 cup of vegetable and a bite or two of a starch. Anything more than that and I become uncomfortable. So I developed a plan on how to eat out. I find the one thing that I really want to eat. That is the thing I order. Then, if I'm out to dinner with my partner or friends who know about my VSG, I am allowed to sample the flavors of their dishes. It is a system that works out very well for me.

There is no food that is "off limits" for me. However, I now look at food as having a price. When I'm planning to eat of plan I will choose ahead of time what foods I will eat. Today, for example, I had to go to an after school function with lots of bad food. I knew it wasn't going to be easy and that I would want to eat. Not knowing what would be served I decided I would look for appropriate foods once I was there. Upon arrival I scoped out what was available and saw there was cheese and also fruit. I allowed myself 4 small slices of cheese and a piece of cantaloupe and a few grapes. It worked.

I have issues with baked goods. (Lord, I wish I had known that going into this. Slow learner I suppose!) I'm at the point where I have made most baked goods completely off limits unless there is a very special occasion. Yes, I slip sometimes, but that does happen.

I personally don't think I need to draw a line. In reality I'm going eat crappy, fattening, unhealthy food from time to time. HOWEVER, if I'm eating appropriately 95% of the time, and I have the skill set to get back to clean eating after eating said bad food, I'll be okay.

There are foods, though, that will never be a part of my regular diet again (as far as I can tell). In the past 2+ years I have had pizza twice, have yet to actually have pasta on my own plate (though I have tasted it and joyfully have seemed to have lost all fondness for it!), I have not had a sandwich or burger or a taco or any bread wrapped item. I have not eaten a bagel. I do not eat chips, but I've been known to nibble a few fries from my partner's plate.

You have to make this work for you. What might be absolutely right for me, may not work best for you. You will have your own struggles and hopefully find your own truths. I believe I am in constant flux. The more I learn about food and how it effects me and my bio chemistry the more I develop what works for me. 5 years ago I would have laughed if you said I would be anti sugar, but here I am anti ADDED sugar in a very big way.

Good luck and thanks for a thought provoking post!

I've been feeling the resentment lately...pissed actually because I'd like to eat more than I physically can.  I've never had the foamies, but have been incredibly uncomfortable for hours because I chose to finish eating my dinner... Eat then wait...eat then wait.  Maybe you know the drill?  Also, because I'm eating so little (in my mind...lol) and had some regain and it's been so hard to get it back off!!! It's a f@&$)(; mind game for sure!!!  I'm going to do it!  

The good news is I'm in a much better place than I've ever been mentally and physically.  Forgive and move forward.  What else is there to do!!!

Hope you're enjoying the summer.  Love your posts!

I was never a volume eater but boy could I graze!  Never met a cookie I did not like.   I am still finding my way 11 months out. We had company visiting for an extended weekend- Bam!  3 lbs on that I am working to take off.  We walked endlessly.  I did not think I had eaten too off plan but my body did.  I rarely eat bread or potatoes.  I prefer salads because they sit the best. Foamies- ugh!  Just too fast or a bite too much- there I am.

The bottom line is that you will have to find your way.  Yes- occasionally I do miss being able to eat everything til full.  Devon is right - it is a different feeling now. You learn an avoidance response for foods that don't sit well. We don't always learn right away from past mistakes.  I do undereat my sleeve and feel better when I do that.

Good luck- the fact is you will never be able to eat the volume you did before.  It does not mean that you cannot regain weight.

Nancy

"The fact is you will never be able to eat the volume you did before.  It does not mean that you cannot regain weight."

^THIS^ I couldn't agree more.

To the OP: Listen to Nancy. She know's what's up.

All I can do is echo what Kairk has said. And perhaps add that I also get irrationally upset when my wife suggests splitting a meal when eating out. I don't why I am so damn possessive of food at times. Carbs are an issue for me, and I need to watch them and the alcohol. Not that I drink to excess, so much as they are just empty calories that offer me nothing and yet on the weekends I like to have a beer or glass of wine. And I try to rationalize my "treats" be they carbs or alcohol, with the thought that I exercised today. As I read the veterans stories, I know these behaviors will not help me maintain down the road further out in maintenance. Its certainly a journey. We need to learn from others' and our own mistakes or else we will be doomed to repeat our past. I for one will not allow that to happen. 

Great question and discussion - thanks. Like the OP, I think "I didn't do this to keep shoving crap in my face" ... and at the same time I flat-out miss food, and have not yet re-defined my relationship with it. It is weird, disorienting, to not eat the amounts I used to eat.

My hope - my PLAN is to find balance - to lose my issue with volume eating, and have nothing be off limits, but make good choices more often than not and use the restriction to guide my new relationship with food.

Really enjoying hearing about others' experiences in this area.