eating is such a chore!!

I'm only on my 2nd day at home and I am already tired of eating.  I'm not at your stage obviously, but when I am, I plan of trying losts of diff things with my crock pot to make sure I have moist meats and veggies.

Good luck
Julie

Think of it a different way:this is the empowerment of surgery.
Food no longer controls you. you control it.

You are now eating to live, no longer living to eat. This to me was the whole beauty of surgery! The feeling of hunger is gone. It will come back though. For now, rejoice in the fact that you are completely in control. It's a wonderful thing!!!

And the eating will get easier over time.

Dawn

that's what i was trying to say, Dawn!! you're so eloquent.

thanks Dawn

I guess I dont really have that feeling of being on control yet. It feels like food is even more in control of me now than it ever was.

I think maybe I just havent had time to adjust properly. I had my mother's death 3 days after surgery, then the funeral, the will and problems with the mortgage she held on my house, selling the house, and now moving this week...all that since my surgery 3 1/2 weeks ago!!!  I am hoping that once we're finally mved in and I get back into the work routine next week and back to the gym, that will help me establish that feeling of control.

I know exactly what you mean.  I feel the same way.  I have NO interest in food, although I can eat anything I try - no dumping, foamies, puking etc.  I have no hunger, just an empty feeling when I've let myself go too long. I can cook really interesting or tasty food, but it doesn't make me want to eat it (truthfully, I like that part of it because I used to eat multiple helpings of something just because I liked the taste).

I found I have to be careful, because I was starting to look for foods that would make me want them, just so it would be easier to eat - sort of treats to bribe myself to eat.  Those choices started to look like foods that I don't necessarily want in my life - like sweet things, even though I didn't have a big sweet tooth before surgery and I have no interest in sweets now.

It is so ironic that I used to be able to eat all day without even thinking about it.  Now I have to put so much effort into eating that it is exhausting.  Between eating and drinking, I have days where I can just scream from having to put something in my mouth all day, except of course it is not polite to scream with your mouth full.

The only thing I have found that helps so far is to have a huge variety of preportioned options available to me so that I don't have to add the extra effort of making food to the effort of eating it.  For days that are really bothersome (once or twice a week) I end up using a protein bar or some other high protein hit -  I went out for liver the other night because if I was only going to get one protein source down, I might as well maximize it.

Most times my food choices (from a pool of good choices) are dictated not by wanting a particular taste or food, it is about what texture I want or what temperature.  For lunch, I want something warm and I want something crunchy, so the cheese, turkey pepperettes and tomato in my bag will stay in the fridge and I'm going for chili and a couple of celery stalks at the deli.

Would you ever have imagined that this would be the struggle?  Hang in there...it is bothersome, but I would rather struggle to eat than to not eat.

oooooohhh  celery!!!!! How I have missed you so!!!!

It seems like everyone has mentioned one thing that I just have not been able to do, and thats pre-plan with pre-portioned meals.

I will try to work really hard on that over the next while and hopefully things will improve....

btw: when were you able to tolerate raw veggies and salad etc???

I think that one good side of this whole "eating is a chore" thing, breaks the cycle for us, where eating used to be one of our pleasures and comforts. Eating is such a pain in the arse that it is no longer pleasurable (kind of) and so we need to seek out other things to get that pleasure back. So look at it as sort of your "break up" with a lover. lol ( a lover that took us for a huge ride, and didnt do us any good at all, and we're better off without him)

LOL!!

well....historically speaking, the last time I broke up with a lover, it was my ex-husband and then I had a bit of a mental breakdown so hopefully this one will go much better!! lol

Thanks Monica. I appreciate your input, being such a success story of your own.

I would say enjoy it and take advantage of it while you can, because quite likely the hunger will come back!    Think of food as medicine needed to survive and take it from there.

All the best!

I must admit, I'm a bit jealous.  I've never experienced the "eating is a chore" phase, as my hunger came back 3 weeks out.  So I'm learning to deal with being hungry sometimes; not a big deal considering all that I've gained in the 7 short months since surgery!