8 months out & longer...do you still eat slowly & chew to mush?

Susan M.
on 9/23/11 1:47 am
I have to admit that I am not taking thirty minutes to eat, and I'm not chewing to mush. Sometimes I wonder if I'm chewing at all!

Even though I'm still losing, albeit more slowly, I wonder if my eating habits are what is slowing me down, or if it is just that the "honeymoon" phase is over. 

I seem to get full quickly after a few bites, with protein.  But I feel I could eat again a half hour or so later.  It makes me think maybe my bites are too big and getting stuck...(although I don't feel pain), and when they pass I am hungry again. 

Also, I could feel like I need to stop while eating protein, after just a few bites.  HOWEVER, if I were to eat a bite of mashed potato, or other slider, it doesn't hurt....even after the "full" feeling with protein. 

I am thinking I need to do the five day pouch test. 


    
sleevegirl
on 9/23/11 1:50 am - Austin, TX
I'm only 3 months out, but I don't chew chew chew. I eat pretty normally as far as bite size. I do try to make an effort to slow down and it is slower than it used to be, but I don't seem to have a problem.

I don't think the size you swallow should matter, to be honest. It still has to be digested... hmm... interesting thought though!

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inkslingerdiva
on 9/23/11 2:03 am - Dumfries, VA
VSG on 01/22/11 with
I'm 8 months out and I still try to chew thoroughly. It helps me slow down because all my fat life I was an "inhale the food" sort of eatter. I find it a ritual of sorts that helps be mindful. At this point I still don't get what I would call "hungry" (no pangs) but I can tell when I haven't eatten by a sort of empty feeling - though quite different than before WLS.

I try to eat the right thing at the right time. I try to follow every recommendation but weight loss has slowed dramatically. I only lost 3.7 pounds between month 7 and 8. Some days I am just plain better than others. I do food journal and that helps keep me on track along with always, always, always eatting breakfast which is sort of a  first for me in this life.

I can get pain if I eat too fast, too much but I try to be good
SW: 228Lbs. GW: 125Lbs. Goal in 14.5 Months CW: 122.7Lbs Down 105.3Lbs
                                           
(deactivated member)
on 9/23/11 2:04 am, edited 9/23/11 2:05 am
Aw... please don't subject yourself to the pouch test.. First, it's nothing more than a crash diet IMO, and it was made for folks who feel like they don't have restriction.. that's not your problem from what you've described.. If you were suffering from carb-overload and cravings, I'd just suggest going on a strict meat & veg diet for a week.. that would get rid of that problem.. but taking it back to liquids.. blech, no.

I'm 6mo out, I take smaller bites than I did pre-op, but not nearly as small as early post op, I also chew well, but not always to mush.. Pre-op, I inhaled. So, big difference to me! I do eat slower, it takes me 20-30 mins sometimes to finish my 2oz portion. I cannot fit more than that in right now (meat, cot cheese I can get 1/2C).. but if I swallowed a hunk of chicken, yep- I'd be less than that even as my stomach would feel tight and wouldn't let much more down.. So for now, I'm still chewing well in order to get more in with my feedings..

I too "could" eat an hour later, but I don't until the next meal. Try chewing a little more to see if that helps get your fill the first time. Most times I am not hungry for at least a couple hours, but on hungry days I get nibbly after about 2 and by 3 or 4 I want to eat again. If you get nibbly, try veggie snacks? Sliced cuke salad, etc? My loss has gotten erratic (lose one week, nothing the next) and has slowed a bit, but that's to be expected.. and I was a slow loser from the beginning.. just stay on plan and log everything but don't fret about a slow-down, it's still heading down after all!

edited as crab overload sounds good to me, but it was supposed to be carb!

emelar
on 9/23/11 2:05 am - TX
I've never chewed to mush or taken 30 minutes to eat - 10-15 minutes tops.  I probably chew more than I did pre-op, but nothing noticeable.

I can tell you that I stay full longer if I hold off drinking after meals as long as possible.  The minute I start drinking, I can feel my stomach empty.  Since I can drink a fair volume of liquid pretty quickly, I hold off until shortly before my next meal, then drink like a camel!

Another thing you might want to try is to schdule your meals or mini-meals for every 3 hours, so that you're never that far away from eating that you feel deprived.  One of my new mantras is "Hunger is not an emergency."  And it's not.  Knowing that you have another feeding coming up will help avoid the between meal grazing.
BuckeyeGirl
on 9/23/11 2:06 am - TN
I'm almost 10 months out and I haven't been chewing to mush for awhile now. I eat pretty normally and it doesn't take me near 30 minutes to eat. I can be done eating in like 5-10 minutes sometimes.

I think if I was chewing to mush and spreading my meal out over 30 minutes that I would be able to put more in my sleeve, so I don't try to do that.

Best of luck,
Lindsey

  

    
LabMomma
on 9/23/11 2:11 am
VSG on 09/27/10 with
Your experience sounds perfectly normal to me... just like my own. I do take much smaller bites than before surgery, but I don't think I chew a lot more now. I do PAY ATTENTION to what I am eating & try not to just eat without thinking about it.

I also find that my stomach grumbles for more food in a few hours. I think that it is still the tummy producing too much acid, looking for more food... BAD TUMMY!   I will drink something (flavored water) to dilute the acid or pop a couple of Tums to get rid of it Usually works for me. Good luck!
                    

anninva
on 9/23/11 2:26 am - Arlington, VA
VSG on 01/10/11 with
hi!  i had surgery just 2 weeks before you did, so we're pretty much at the same stage.

this is what i have found:  i eat 3 meals, usually just at the time when i would have before the sleeve.  i do get hungry (not one of those "never fee like eating" people) but not crazy hungry unless i've waited too long and i'm working on making the "snacks" i have healthy ones.  sometimes i do and sometimes i have a complete crap week and i fail at it, pure and simple.

i'm eating small amounts at meals (generally 1/4 cut each of whatever is on my plate, eat protein first, etc.  i am eating pretty much the same as i used to in terms of chewing.  i do follow the drinking rule very closely since i don't want to empty out my tummy too fast.

don't know if this helps.  just how i'm functioning right now.  totally not perfect, but i'm inching along!

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atomic_bettie
on 9/23/11 3:11 am - OK
Really glad someone else out there is going through the same thing that I am.  I was seriously worrying whether my pouch was too big or not.  I don't chew like I need to, but I don't inhale either.  A meal, except for the first couple, has never taken 20-30 minutes to get down.  I wish I was one of those people that don't feel like eating, but alas, I'm not.  I find that if I drink my water an hour after, I'm hungry soon afterwards, so I try to drink my fluids about 30 minutes before my next meal.
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edelu
on 9/23/11 5:41 am, edited 9/23/11 5:49 am - los angeles, CA
I don't eat slowly i never did.  I was one of those people who was getting in 120 ozs of liquids 3 days after surgery AND MUSHIES SLID DOWN.  I seem to inhale food even more than before surgery but I'm thinking it seems faster to me because I'm eating so little that I'm done before people eating more. i never had any discomfort of the throat.  i know when I'm done very easily though.  i do have hunger and i eat every 4 hours so when that time comes around I'm very hungry because I've been waiting for it.  I'm afraid i have nothing worthwhile to relate in whether weight loss is consistant regardless of pace but I can't imagine it matters much when food is weighed.
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