Mourning the Loss of Normal Eating

I am 16 weeks tomorrow - so twice as far out ... and man what a difference.

I can go out to eat and share a plate with my husband with no problems.  Tonight we had Chinese.  I ate the chicken out of the dish and had 2 florets of broccoli and a bite or two of rice. I was always a variety girl - so eating JUST protein is very hard. At 8 weeks I could not look at broccoli.  

The farther out I get, the less picky the pouch is - for me anyway.  So just because you cannot eat or do not like something NOW doesn't mean you can't tolerate or like it in the future.

The one thing you will learn though - is that everyone is different.  Some dump, most don't. Some can't tolerate sugar alcohol - and some can.  Some are lactose intolerant. I have heard that fruit upsets some pouches. Some cannot do chicken - it is one of my favorites.  Just depends, so you cannot count on anything really.  But I do feel like that MOST people would agree that the further along you get the easier it becomes.

Good luck, have fun and enjoy!!!

Thanks for responding.  Yes, I see that everyone is different.  Even though it's only been 8-1/2 weeks now, I can tolerate beef pretty well (chopped meat), soft pork, but still have trouble with regular chicken (too dry, I guess) and need chicken salad.  But I'm happy I can eat some salad and vegetables, which I enjoy as well.

Good luck with your progress.  It's amazing how many people are doing this now.  I guess we all got so frustrated by trying to control it just with diet. 

I'm 10 weeks out now, and a lot of things still get stuck! I tolerate mostly everything. But it gets stuck ;( Does anyone know when this will get better?

Nope never felt this way, food was/is the enemy that got me fat because I couldn't control myself.  Now I have too or I regain.  And that will NEVER happen.  So no I never felt bad about not being able to eat much, quite the opposite, I was thrilled to eat so little and still be satisfied.

I made a conscious decision during my pre-op diet to "break up" with food. I had been using food to squelch loneliness, unhappiness, insecurity -- and I finally realized that I was actually ABUSING food (and myself) by using it that way. Post-op, my taste buds are still a bit different, but that's okay. A lot of the things that I craved and was subsequently disappointed in weren't exactly healthy, so I didn't need to eat much of it anyway.

As you and the people around you adjust to your new eating habits, it will stop being a distraction. . . although I promise you that the people around you aren't paying nearly as much attention to what you're eating as you are.

It's hard right now because you are, in a very real sense, relearning how to eat. You're trying to master an entirely new set of rules both nutritionally and mechanically (small bites, no beverage with the meal. etc.). There have been times that all I wanted was to be able to flop down in a restaurant, pick up the menu, point to something random and tell the server, "I'll have that." Remembering "The Rules" was sometimes exhausting -- and on those days/nights, I'd have a protein shake and call it good instead of making a decision that I would probably regret later.

This will pass; it will get better. The reward of losing the weight that has held you down for so long will make up for having to be more conscious of what you eat.

Thank you for the thoughtful advice.  I DO want to change my relationship with food, I just didn't realize what a huge adjustment it would be.  I realized I need to be grateful that I can't eat the way I used to and just focus on being healthier and thinner.  I just feel out of control when something doesn't agree with me, but I'm sure I'll learn what works and what doesn't.   I get inspired when I see people maintaining their weight loss for long periods of time.

I am ten months out and have very little that I can't eat.  My taste buds have returned and I enjoy eating just not in the quantity as before.  I don't dump!  I rarely feel full on foods so know that the rest of my life will be weighing and measuring.  If you went out with me you wouldn't know that I had surgery, I just make choices and bring home lots of doggy bags.   I can still be the "foodie" but need to police myself.  I'm okay with this, a taste is better than none.  The one caveat to all this is I do avoid trigger foods.

lyn

 

Thanks for responding, Lyn.  I also seem to tolerate quite a bit early on - 8-1/2 weeks out - so I hope that my pouch will keep working and also hope to weigh and measure as I go along.  I'm with you, though, I'd like to make good choice, including some low-fat carbs, but plan on staying away from my trigger foods - cake, cookies, ice cream.