Help--never full-really scared, PLEASE HELP ME!!

I am SOOOOOO scared! Has my surgery failed?

Please help me out. I am 8 weeks out and never feel full. Others say they take a couple of bites of food and can not eat the rest. Not me! I do make healthy choices that are high in protein, low in fat and sugar, veggies and fruits, But...I can eat a regular size meal. Why? I take my time and chew and never feel full much less stuffed. I can for example eat a skinless baked chicken breast, baked potato with ff sour cream and shreaded lf cheese, and spinach. Do I feel full? NO! I can eat a cup of light yogurt with 1/4 cup all bran for breakfast, a 3oz can of tuna with light mayo, spinich and a piece of fresh fruit for lunch. Is something wrong with me? Oh yea, when ever I drink ANYTHING-water, cl, protein, it hurts. Is that crazy or what???? I am soooo scared that someting is wrong with me. Please, please help me out.

Gerri

Hi Gerri  Yes it does sound like my story ,but I hope for your sake its not ! Have you contacted your surgeon about this ? It may be that since your newly operated that your pouch and outlet are still numb after surgery ,hence being able to eat ...  I do not get much in the way of restriction either never have really... and yet there are times  I can have a yoghurt and somehow feel full ? This op like so may things in life "works in mysterious ways "  and we have to take each day as it comes !! Keep your chin up ... easier said than done I know x Wishing you well my friend  Susie xxx

Dont be scared, be informed.  Go and talk with your surgeon, and your nutritionist.   I am amazed at what you can eat, and so I say, from my viewpoint you need to talk to a professional that can give you informed advice about YOU specifically.  I am three months out now, and still have such a testy pouch that some days I all day long.  I am still eating a lot of soft foods, and tho I would love to have some of the things you have mentioned, I cant eat them.  HOWEVER I know what you mean about the drinking thing causing pain.  I have had the same problem.  Sometimes I have tried different temperatures, but it never seems to matter, it always hurts to drink fluids.   Bummer.    Good luck and please let us know how things go Gerri.

Thank you for the kind words and sound advice. I have an appointment soon and will let everyone know what is ging on. thanks & God bless, Gerri

  Gerri, please keep in touch with me, you can message me thru obesity, and I will give you my email address.   In the meantime, hang in there, and it will work out.  

Wondering if you ever contacted your doctor, I have the same issues I never got full, still don't recently spoke with my surgeons nurse told her I can eat 3 tacos and she is having me come in and have an EGD , CTScan and Upper GI ...we are not supposed to be able to eat like we can...so prob. our stomas are too large and all the food passes thru to our intestines....call your doctor or PM me and let me know what yours said or did....good luck to us....

I had many issues. My pouch and old stomach grew together, had something go wrong with the lower connection, pouch also connected to my liver. My Dr. corrected what he could and now I have a hard time eating or drinking anything! Please let me know what comes of your situation. love & God bless, Gerri

I had my surgery a few weeks after you and I feel the same way. I sometimes wonder if my pouch or stoma are too large and that is why I don't generally get a full feeling. And, on the rare times I get that full feeling, it disappears very quickly and I feel like I want to eat again. I get so sad when I hear of all these people who can only eat two bites of food and have to force themselves to eat. I feel like I am always hungry (although I know a lot of it is head hunger). I just went for my 6 mos. post-op appt. and I was too embarassed to tell them how I've been feeling. I don't know if the surgery failed me or I am failing the surgery. Why do I have to be one of the unlucky ones?  Just out of curiosity, how much are you down? Has your weight loss been slow because of your issues. I am down 76 lbs. which I feel is slow even though my doctor seems very pleased.

Per OH magazine (and my surgeon prior to that), one of the most common misconceptions after any WLS is that you should feel "full".  This is NOT TRUE.  You should NEVER feel "full" after WLS.  (There is a difference between "full" and "no longer hungry" and/or "satisfied".)  If you are eating until you feel "full", you have eaten enough food to fill your pouch to capacity.  The problem with this is that, over time, it will take more and more to give you that "full" feeling.  This will lead to regain longterm and inadequate shortterm weight loss in some cases. People that measure their meals have a MUCH higher success rate than those that do not.  Measure EVERYTHING you eat.  At 6 months out, you should be eating around 6-8 tablespoons.  That doesn't sound like a lot, but 6 tablespoons is 18 teaspoons.  Be sure to measure by VOLUME (tablespoons) as opposed to WEIGHT (ounces).   Measure your meal ahead of time and know that when you are done - YOU ARE DONE.  Keep doing this FOREVER.  This will keep you from slowly increasing your portion sizes until they are out of control again.  Just because you CAN eat a regular sized meal does not mean you SHOULD eat a regular sized meal.  If you eat that much NOW, think of how much you will be eating in 2 years, or even 5 years from now.   Start measuring your food NOW before it is too late.  You are already forming so very bad habits that you can hopefully still correct.  Good luck. 

I agree with everyone! You should definitely talk to your surgeon about your concerns BUT in the while; try to make HEALTHY food choices, especially since you aren’t feeling restriction with your pouch. If something is wrong, at least you won’t undo all that you’ve taken off.