Feeling Confused - Any one else experience this??
Ok so Food has ALWAYS been my comfort! Every since I was like 12 when I was sad or happy or whatever - I consumed food and all was right with the world! Ok so I am 3 weeks + out and I drink my protein shake in the morning no problem and I LOVE water so I drink that like it's going out of style so no problem with the water...but.......Food is like not interesting to me right now. I want to say this is just a faze but I don't know becuase I have not ever felt like this before. But I don't want to eat, I mean I think about eating something good like a nice healthy piece of grilled chicken breast (2-3 oz) but then I think about how slowly I have to eat, how I have to chew it until it's pulverized and then wait a few moments to make sure that bite wasn't going to put me over the relm of full into the world of painfully full for the next hour. Then I wan****ER cause I love it and I have to watch the clock so that I can finally take a sip, sip, sip of delicious water and all of a sudden eating food just doesn't sound all that appealing to me and that scares the crap out of me cause food has always been there for me and now I feel like am turning my back on food but only cause it is so hard to eat. I will be honest, I don't get in my protein most days cause I just can't take on another shake after the one in the morning and I have tried to puree my food and it just wasn't appealing to me staring at a baby bowl full of baby food looking puree....uh no thank you please. Is this normal or do I totally need to see a therapist really fast? I fear I could be falling into the very scary world of anorexia or something...I mean who doesn't want to eat ever?........Uh before my surgery that was definitely not me but now, I can totally see it and it scares me a bit.....ok maybe more than a bit...help please? Oh sorry about the long post.
I can definitely see where you are coming from. I am only 11 days post op but I have to force myself to drink ANYTHING. I am SOOO sick of protein drinks. I see food and I think that looks good but I don't want anything and I haven't even started the pureed foods yet. I told someone the other day that im bored because food use to consume my life. "Whats for lunch?" "Where are we going to eat this weekend?" and now that I don't want anything to eat I don't seem to have anything to do. It is weird. I don't think that you are going to become anorexic or anything like that. I know that my husband and daughter both had gastric bypass years ago and it took a while but as long as they are moderately careful they don't have any problem eating so im sure that after a while you wont feel that way about chewing. Im sure we just have to let our stomachs heal and then it will feel a lot different. At least I hope so...
Thank you for the encouraging words, I really do appeciate them. People say that it gets better but I am having a hard time seeing it but maybe I will just have to batten down the hatches and wait it a little longer with the hopes that eating food becomes somewhat intersting to me again. ???!!! What......who just said that???? Surely it wasn't me??
My relationship with food has DEFINITELY done a complete turn around...
When i was right out of surgery, I could barely get in any liquid. It was hard to see how I would ever eat food again. Now when I eat, I am still getting used to the "full" feeling- as it is much different than I am used to, so does the "hungry feeling".
To heal you MUST have protein, as hard as it is. I'm a little over a month out and I still havea a very hard time with protein but it is VITAL... and once you heal more your appetite WILL come back. Mine was gone for awhile... a lot to do with not understanding the new "hunger" feeling. If you are worried about never wanting to eat again talk to your nutritionist and surgeon, they helped me SO much. Good luck!!
I've been where you are. I am 90 days out and while I want to eat now, it is not the same. Food was always there for me too, it understood me. Now it is something I eat to keep my body going. That is a GOOD thing. Now I am not thinking about food all the time. I have enjoyed getting on pintrist and planning healthy foods and dinners for my family (still a relationship with food but now a healthy relationship). As far as getting all the protein in i had the same problem, i physically could not drink another shake. The only thing I could eat on pureed diet was the tuna/starfish pre-made packs they have 18 grams of protein and do not look like baby food. It will get better you are relatively new into your new life. Good Luck!
Seeing a therapist would certainly be a wise course of action.
VSG with Dr. Salameh - 3/13/2014
Diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder and started Vyvanse - 7/22/2016
Reconstructive Surgeries with Dr. Michaels - 6/5/2017 (LBL & brachioplasty), 8/14/2017 (UBL & mastopexy), 11/6/2017 (medial leg lift)
Age 42 Height 5'4" HW 319 (1/3/2014) SW 293 (3/13/2014) CW 149 (7/16/2017)
Next Goal 145 - normal BMI | Total Weight Lost 170
TrendWeight | Food Blog (sort of functional) | Journal (down for maintenance)
I don't see it as any particular problem unless it continues after you've gotten into solid foods and just aren't interested. Right now the nerves in your stomach can't be trusted because they were cut. Once they heal you should feel a bit of hunger maybe, but if not then you need to make yourself eat and a therapist is never a bad idea. Just remember tho we tend to put great focus and energy into food normal, regular people don't feel that way food isn't a big deal to them. When they are hungry they eat and when satisfied (not stuffed full) are done eating. So you are really just seeing food thru a normal person's eyes, if that makes sense. Not sure I'm putting it correctly but hope you understand what I mean!
I'll be 6 months post op on Christmas day and I have the same tendency to want to skip meals and drink water instead. I crave water. Sometimes it seems food gets in the way of drinking water. I do eat regularly, however, because I know I need nutrition. I don't crave any type of food at all, I eat only for nutrition.