Question about "undere eating" my sleeve

I am still pre- op but am taking sooooo many notes on everything. I have read many posts on here where people under eat their sleeve to keep from eating too much and getting sick and all that bad stuff. My question is, how do I know how much to "under eat"? I know people that do that eat a pre measured amount of food, but are ya'll all eating the same amount of pre measured food or is everyone different? I'm scared to think I will be doing something right by pre measuring it only to find out it was too much and then getting sick from it. Trying to have this down to a science by the time my turn rolls around :)

Thanks!!!

The under-eating your sleeve is really for a little ways out.  In the first few weeks/months your stomach will be swollen and you will only be able to get a few tablespoons in.  I can remember eating a few tiny spoon fulls and wondering how the heck I could be full - babies could eat more than that!  But as everything heals and the swelling goes down you can fit more - thats when you should measure and not eat to capacity.  

Eating SLOWLY is also critical.  You can miss the signals that you are done if you go too quickly and thats when you will get sick.  When you eat, focus on eating and not other things or you can easily fall into old speed eating habits!

Good luck! 

Dittoing Lucy.. Eating slow, very slow will save you lots of troubles. 

I had a couple weeks of liquids, then mushies.. my first few "meals" were less than 2oz of things like Greek yogurt or cottage cheese.. It took me 40 mins to eat my couple little blobs. My first "protein" was a whizzed up deviled egg- blenderized to baby food consistency with some water.. I ate maybe a third of it. You will quickly find your capacity IF you eat slow. Your nose may run, you may hiccup, you may sneeze.. or you may feel it in your chest/throat. I have only eaten to real discomfort once- and that was just recently! Sleeve restriction still fully in force! I now feel "full" like I used to, and I regularly eat slightly under it.. but early ou****ch for other signs like the hiccups/runny nose (these are side effects of your vagus nerve being stimulated, the nerve runs through your body, and stomach obviously..)

You will not finish your first few foods but you will be able to dial it in pretty quick if you pay attention and be cautious with your new and very raw stomach. Good luck, and keep reading everything you can!

It's a mental thing!!!...Or it just seemed to be a click in my body by the time solids started. You will understand once you get to that point!!

Hugs and good luck!!

Donna

 I am religious about measuring my 2 oz of protein and sticking to that. At this stage (3months) it can still be too much. With that I will add a bit of vegetable. Literally it turns out to be a tbsp or two. Becoming mindful when eating is the biggest thing. I'm still learning myself. Good luck!!

You can still measure 2ozs out...But, if you minds says that's it before the two are up...Ya listen!..Well, you should!!

Hugs

Donna

Hijack-

OMG you look great. I don't check the boards often enough and had been wondering about you. I am glad you look so good!


As far as portion size- I can eyeball it know but at the beginning I had to measure. Now I know how many Baby Bel cheese I can eat- how many ounces of yogurt- how many slices of turkey- how much sushi- how much soup

If you start a eating habit and plan and follow it it makes life easier

Please don't worry.  There are some things you just won't be able to "get" until you're there.  Then you'll get it.  This is my advice.

Go slowly in all ways.  Don't eat too fast, don't try to progress through the stages of food too quickly, and only eat as much as it takes for you to be satisfied.  Sooner than you'll believe, you'll feel "normal" again and you'll think back wistfully to the days where only a tablespoon or two satisfy you. 

Your capacity and appetite will increase with time.  This is a promise.  You won't believe it's possible right after surgery, but it's the good and bad thing about this surgery.  Use the period of time when you don't want so much to your best advantage. 

You will have the rest of your life to eat whatever foods you want.  You have a limited period of time when the weight will come off almost effortlessly. 

You may find you have a harder time than you imagine giving up excess food.  Don't worry about it, but keep an eye out and be prepared to pounce on the problem if it arises. 

Good luck!!

I am going to second and third everyone who said go-slowly.

basic answer - under eating your sleeve means not eating until you are stuffed and feeling nauseous or the foamies.  THe principal tool for undereating your sleeve is a planned portion and no more.  The more complicated part, at least early on, is learning to tell when you are satiated and should stop.

A huge part of this journey -in weight loss, in maintenance - is learning to listen to our bodies.

When you are immediately post-op the nerves in your stomach have been cut.  Your stomach is VERY displeased with you - you just had a big part of it cut off and removed.  You and your stomach WILL NOT be on speaking terms.  You are going to have to treat it kindly for quite a while.

As it heals and the swelling goes down you will have to learn to read what it is trying to tell you all over again.  For me one of the first tasks was learning to tell when I was satiated versus full versus completely over ate.  Before surgery I was always a "fast eater".  I am not sure I actually chewed or tasted my food on some occasions.

When you get to mushies and solids after surgery - eat VERY slowly.  Chew your food until it is almost liquid and then swallow. This is the time to weight everything.  Plan your portions.  During this time before I could finish my planned portions I would weigh before I ate and then weigh what was left after so I knew exactly how much to put in my food journal.  

For me, I knew it was time to step away when I started burping (you will burp when eating too fast as well - its a multifaceted warning).  I also will feel my nose start to running when  I am getting full.  Everyone has their own little signs.  Eating slowly will give you a chance to learn those signs.

Paying attention to how you feel physically will also help you learn to separate physical hunger from head hunger.  When yo can hear your stomach and feel it - thats physical hunger.  Tummy's bored and wants something to do.  Physical hunger can sometimes be hard to distinguish from acid problems - especially if you never had acid problems before surgery - and from other physical issues.  

Head hunger is a really intense craving, usually emotionally driven.  I applied a 15 minute rule at first - IF I wanted food and wasn't sure if it was physical hunger or head hunger I would not eat for at least 15 minutes.  During that time I would listen to my body and my mind to try and figure out what was going on.  A craving will usually pass in 15 minutes if not acted on.  If it is physical hunger - my stomach would let me know more urgently and I would eat.  I also minimized these bouts by setting up a schedule and staying very close to that schedule.  I got myself used to eating meals at certain times.  I eventually settled on a schedule of 3 meals and 2 snacks during the day.  The snacks would be typically a low fat mozzarella cheese stick - or some other protein rich low calorie snack.

 

Hope this answers some of your questions and helps.

I don't feel hunger very often and when I do it's usually at the end of the day when it's been a long time since lunch time and I'm starving. Bad for me but sometimes it happens.  When I know I'm REALLY hungry it's really important to measure out my food because the one time I didn't I ate way too fast and too much and basically threw up 30 seconds later.

So I measure out 3 oz but in 3 portions and I eat the first oz and wait 10 min. Then if I'm still hungry I eat the second portion. Then wait 10 min. Very rarely will I actually make it to the 3rd portion because usually by then I'm satisfied and so I put the rest back and save it for another meal. I really think this is what is meant by under eating the sleeve.

There have been a few times I ate more but then I got a really heavy feeling in my chest and it wasn't a nice feeling and I don't like it. So now I make sure to just eat enough to not be hungry. And I definitely do not clean my plate unless I need to. I think that is ingrained in us as kids to clean our plates but I find that when I'm done that's it. Not going to eat that last bite because I know it will be just too much.


Of course I'm still new, just a month and a 2 weeks out from surgery but I'm on full foods and add in new stuff here and there. I have to say I never had the swelling restriction that so many others had. I could drink fluids just fine from day one after surgery. When I moved to mushies then I felt the restriction where I could eat 4 bites and that was it. Now I can eat 3 oz of food depending on what it is. If it's a dense protein like steak or chicken it's more like 2oz.