Quantities

I am one week out from surgery and concerned I am eating too much.  (I know - sounds strange) But they told me that I should be eating 3-4oz. of food per meal, 4-6 meals a day.  I can eat 6-7 oz. of greek yogurt (although it takes over 30 minutes) and a protein shake/yogurt combo which is close to 16 oz. and take 60-90 minutes to drink it.  At the same time, a 4 oz. container of cottage cheese fills me up or a packet of plain oatmeal.  I am SO petrified of stretching out my stomach...  It's almost impossible to get the 75 grams of protein unless you spend the day eating 

  Anybody have any advice ?? 

I had the same fears early on. First of all greek yoghurt and protein shakes are 'slider' foods. Means they just slide through. You are still healing so you are not going to have an accurate sensation yet of feeling full. You should be eating the quantities they are telling you, wether or not you can eat more. It will change once you get to more solid food.

Thanks - I got 2 different responses from the bariatric team and was confused.  I will be sure to follow the oz. limits even on the slider foods.

Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD.  You need to eat ONLY the amount recommended by your surgeon and NOTHING more.  There is a reason your doctor tells you how many ounce you should be eating.  Your stomach has been cut and the nerves are not sending the proper signals to your brain telling it when you are full.  Eating more that your surgeon recommends could cause serious issues.  Overfilling your new stomach can cause stress at the suture line and a possible rupture. You need to give your new stomach time to heal.  

Are you drinking protein shakes?  There are many low carb shakes that have 30 grams of protein per serving.  Two shakes per day gets you almost to your protein goal of 75 grams.  

At a week out you should be concentrating on fluids to prevent dehydration.  Your protein consumption will improve with time.  In the beginning it seems like you spend your whole day eating and counting protein grams.  After awhile it becomes second nature to you and not so overwhelming.  Just keep following your surgeon's plan and you will do great.

Thanks  for the info - I plan on being much tighter on the oz. (I am with the cottage cheese and oatmeal).  I do sip on water bottles all day so I think I'm doing okay on the hydration piece.  I have found shakes that are 25 grams and actually pretty good -

There is that sense that you spend the whole day trying to get everything in without over doing it.  Thanks for the reply

You should be measuring, not eating as much as you can.

I am not eating as much as I can - I have been trying to get all the protien in.  This is new and an adjustment. Got it - measuring.

Pretty sure you are suppose to eventually get to 75 grams of protein per day and not expected to get that much protein to start.  As far as quantity of food....my instructions said no more than one-half cup of food to start and never more than a cup of food at one time for life. Early out, I used a 4-ounce container to eat food out of.  For life, I will be using a six-inch plate or a sauce bowl to keep amounts in check. A healthy dose of worry about stretching your stoma or regain should help you make this surgery work for you. It must, right! 

That's exactly what my program said:  there's no way you're going to get all your protein at first, so just do as much as you can, and work up to it.  At each stage, it gets easier.  I wasn't consistently getting all of my protein until week 4 or 5.  Now, I'm supposed to get 80-100 grams a day, and I'm consistently over 100.

Especially for lunch I bring to work, I use the 4oz Gladware containers.  They're the perfect size, and make it easy to pack.