PLEASE TAKE MY POLL: How much food do you eat per meal?

Gosh, I wish I had the restriction of many of you.  I've lost 120 pounds or so and am 1 1/2 yrs post op.  I weight, measure, and track food online.  I can eat 3 oz meat with 1/2 cup of something else...1 cup cottage cheese w/1 cup straw and 1/4 cup fiber one...1/2 cup beans w/low carb tortilla and 1/2 cup ff chz...1 cup greek yogurt w/1/2 cup strawberries, and 1/3 cup fiber one...

Just some examples.  And I dont' use the word "can" as if I try to eat that much....it's just what my day allows for in my planning and I am able to eat it physically.

I worry because it does seem like I eat more than others and I feel like I can eat too fast too.  I've got four small children and sometimes my meals are rushed just because of the chaos in the home.

I don't go over 1200 a day. 

Wow, that is a hell of  alot of food for 1 month out.  I was only allowed 1-2 ounces at a time, and had to eat 6 -8 times per day.  I am 20 months out and can't eat 3/4 of a cup of food.  The most I can eat now is 4 ounces.  The other day I had 2 hard boiled eggs - the whites only and I was full.

You were only "allowed" 1-2 ounces at a time when you were a month out?!?  See, that seems crazy to me because my surgeon's approach was to get us eating our protein (as opposed to drinking  shakes) as quickly as possible so that we would have to rely on drinking to get enough calories for as short a time period as possible and to be able to maximize the opportunity to learn new eating habits while the hunger is absent.  If we could only eat 1-2 ounces before we were full, that was fine, but if we could eat 3 ounces that was fine, too.

Lora

I had no problems getting my protein in eating 2 ounces at a time.  I ate 6 to 8 times per day - every 2 hours. This optimizes your metabolism and keeps your blood sugar stable.  I only had one protein shake back then.  There was no way I could have eaten 3 ounces at that point.  Now at 20 months, I can only eat 3-4 ounces at a time.

You don't get the feeling of fullness at the one point, so you have to measure you food and just eat the small portions.  Your vagus nerve was severed during surgery, so for the first couple of months, you don't feel fullness.

No, some of us have the feeling of fullness from the very beginning after surgery.  Some of that may be just the sensation of pulling on the tender area where the pouch was separated, but there is still a distinct physical indication that the pouch is full.

Lora

 My Surgeon has his patients limit ourselves to 3 meals per day, and that surprised me a little. Many diet plans prescribe 5 - 6 small meals per day.  But now that I'm thinking about it, maybe it's because he knows that it would be very hard to live forever with a pouch that can only tolerate 3-4 oz. at each meal. I don't know.... just a guess.  These Docs are so different.  And that seems strange to me too, because you would think that the empirical evidence is pretty clear cut about what works and what doesn't.  Who knows.  

Yes, it IS frustrating that surgeons vary so much on their post-op eating recommendations... and you WOULD think that there would be one "best practice" eating plan (3 meals vs. 5 or 6, is the pureed stage necessary), but in the end, it all comes down to what you put in your mouth (and the nuritional content of said food). 

I understand that the surgeons who say 3 meals only are afraid patients will overeat if they do 5 or 6 meals, but I also understand that more frequent, smaller meals assists your metabolism.  (That's why I think that my surgeon's approach of 3 meals and 2 or 3 protein-only snacks (after RNY, a snack is pretty small!) is sort of the "best of both worlds".)

Regardless of what your surgeon's instructions are, however, down the road, you will have to find out what works for YOU based on your pouch size, eating habits, psychological factors.  For someone who is supposed to eat 6 meals a day but finds herself/himself eating too much at thsoe meals (and has unsuiccessfully treid to limit the food portions in each meal), it might make sense to limit to 3 meals in order to not regain.  For someone whose surgeon said only 3 meals per day but who has reactive hypoglycemia (even a mild case) or a really bad metabolism, 6 small meals makes more sense.

That';s one of ther eassons I think this board is so helpful... because people need to educate themselves to fill in what their surgeons/nutritionists do not tell them (or when what they have been told (e.g., Tums as acceptable calcium) is flat out wrong) and to find out what the other options are that migth make them more successful long term (since NOTHING is a one-size-fits all).

Lora