Five Words I'd NEVER have though I'd EVER hear ...

"You don't eat nearly enough."

Seriously? After my life-history? 

That's what the dietitian had to say to me yesterday when I went for my 3 month follow-up.  She had a plate set up with "sample" portions of rubber food to show me what I should be eating.  I couldn't believe how much was on it.  Maybe I've just been so overly paranoid about the risk of stretching out the pouch or I just locked onto the 2 - 3 oz. portion size but what she showed on the plate as what I should be eating 3 times a day WITH snacks in between seemed like a lot!  It could also be that I know portion size was always my downfall in the past.  It was rarely that I ate bad food, I just ate too much of the good stuff, way too much.

I don't know about anyone else but I still have very little to no appetite since surgery.  I looked at the plate and nearly fell off the chair.  I'm probably portioned out to about a 1/3 of what she showed there and I'm eating 3 times a day, at most, not 5-6.

How many calories to you try to get in?  How often to you eat?  Have you struggled with getting enough in?  How do you balance food intake and water intake.  What kinds of things to you keep on hand for snacks?

I would say this is the first challenge I've really faced post-op, pacing myself and fitting it all in.

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A few NSV at the 3 month mark:

Size 20 jeans (down from a 28/30)

2" heals (up ... 2" from just wearing sneakers all the time.)

Things are going well!

At 3 mo I too was not getting in enough calories and was told to add a protein shake as a 4th "meal". They told me I needed to be at 800 calories a day at 3 mo out. My doc's plan calls for 3 oz of protein 3x a day and I could have 1/2 cup of veggies once a day. No snacks. I know all surgeons plans are different but I struggle to get in the 3 oz still at 5 mo out. so I can't imagine a "plate" of food.

My typical day now at 5 mo is the same as it was at 3 mo. I wake up open a bottle of water drink 8 oz in the first hour. I then make my protein shake (I hate food in the morning) I drink that on my way to work and take the other half of bottle of water with me. I finish that bottle usually by 10 am. I fill it up with our water cooler at work and keep drinking. Somewhere between noon and 3 I get a half hour lunch. Then I have something like, a chicken thigh, or 2 wings, or beef jerky, or another meat 2-3 oz max is all i can get in. I wait an hour then start drinking water again and fill up my bottle just before I leave for the day at 5. I drink tha****er on my drive home (25 mins) I make dinner and again eat 2-3 oz of meat for dinner. wait an hour and get another water in before bed. If I can stomach it I have another protein drink an hour before bed. If I go to the gym right after work I drink an entire bottle there and then go home and do dinner etc. I feel overfull and bloated 99% of the days on just that amount of food I can't imagine eating more. I only eat that amount because I'm trying to reach protein and calorie goals.

Congrats on your NSVs and your weight loss!!!  

After I had surgery, I had no appetite for the first 4 months.  Eating was a chore!!!  I had never experienced it before because I had an insatiable appetite!  During that time, I made sure to get in all my protein, which for me was with shakes twice a day.  Then I started increasing the amount of food I added to my diet slowly to see what I would be able to tolerate.  Everyone is different with what works for them, and really its just trial and error.  Meat for me was tough, especially dense proteins like steak.  I ate a lot of dairy proteins (milk, yogurt, cheese) and a lot of beans too (refried beans heated in the micro with a bit of shredded cheddar and sour cream is still one of my favorite things to eat).  

Definately follow the dietician's suggestions but I wouldn't get too concerned if you can't eat it all.  I rarely still finish my plate.  I eat 5-8 times a day.

Again, congratulations and keep up the great work!!!

Mallisa

I am at 2.5 months from surgery and I get in only 4  40z protein drinks and food when everyone had dinner.  I was taking in 3 protein drinks and more food but I was very tired all the time.  I feel much better with the 4 but I need to start early to get them all in.

The first one I take as soon as I get up at 5:30 am then next one is around 8:00 am next one is around noon and the last one around 3:00 ish dinner is around 6:00 and water or other liquid around that.  I think I am about 700-800 cal. a day.

I notice also I starting losing more weight when I bumped up to the 2nd protein drink also.

That one amazed me, also.   It will get to the point where people will look at you and say one or more of the following:  you're so tiny,  you lost HOW much?,  you don't look like you were ever heavy, I'm sorry we don't have this in a smaller size. and the list goes on.

I had a friend hug me just last night and he said, "You're getting too skinny."  At which point I told him to shut-up, I still have 100lbs to go.  LOL.  And I though I had body dismorphia! 

When I saw the title to this thread, I knew.

At my six-month check-up, my surgeon said "Eat more meat."