strategies to help me "undereat my sleeve"

I am 8 days post-op and already struggling with portion control. I am at the soft/pureed stage.

I get "too much" pleasure from food, so I am trying to put food back in it proper place in my life - enjoyable, nourishment, but NOT the sole focus of pleasure (or stress relief) in my life.

I know one of the main success strategies that the veterans say is to 'consistently undereat the sleeve' ... and I know I am going to need help with that. The only things I can think of now are things like immediately brushing my teeth or rinsing with mouthwash after a meal. Also I may need someone to eat with ... I eat most of my meals alone and it's easy to ... well ... just keep eating.

Any others (mental, physical, whatever) that have worked for you that you want to share? Thanks in advance.

I find it much easier to undereat my sleeve when I am home and often eating alone.  I bought a new set of bowls, plates and silverware.  My bowls now range from 1/2 cup to 1 cup -- this is much MUCH smaller than normal bowls which can easily hold over 2 cups.  I also use salad plates and miniature silverware (I bought on amazon) that was made for appetizers.  

When I serve myself food on these smaller plates it is much easier to just serve myself the correct portion.  I put away the food before I even start to eat.  You will feel satisfied with much less, so it is just getting into the practice of serving that to yourself and then moving on from the meal.  

 

I find it much harder when I am at a restaurant and I am served too much.  that requires much more discipline IMO.  

 

Good luck - you can do it.

I know my capacity is 2 oz or less.  I weigh out 1 oz of food and put it on my plate.  I eat it and evaluate how I feel.  If I'm not quite satisfied I will weigh out the second ounce and eat it vverrrrrrry slowly.  I hiccup when I'm finished.  If I eat beyond the hiccup I've gone too far.  I've never eaten to too full.

Oh, and PUT THE FOOD AWAY after you measure it out.  Make sure it's going to take effort to weigh out more, heat it up, etc...if it's right there, it's too easy to keep going.

Pay very close attention to your body.  I've noticed that I now consistently need almost 2 oz to stop feeling tired or sluggish between meals.  If I eat too little, I also notice a lot more cravings.  Not hunger, but cravings that don't happen when my body has been fueled well enough.  It's such a fine balance and takes a lot of diligent attention.  I will probably start weighing out the 2 oz, now, and see how that works for me.  

These are great tips - thanks!

I forgot that I wanted to buy new, smaller dishes. I have eaten most of my meals out of 1/2 cup bowls this week. Well, they were all dirty yesterday so I got a normal size bowl ...... and overate!! So smaller dishes are going to be a key strategy.

I try and eat off of appetizer plates if at all possible. If you have a World Market they have a lot of different size small plates and small silverware and they are very reasonable.

Yes we have a World Market here and I would not have thought to check there - thanks!

1) Small plates

2) Measure your food and put the right amount on your plate

3) Put the rest of the food away and don't go for seconds

4) Don't eat until you are full, stop when you are satisfied and no longer hungry

5) When in a restaurant (early out especially), measure out the portion of food you are going to eat.  Remember that your palm or a deck of cards is about three ounces, you need much less early on.  Put the food on your bread plate and have the rest boxed up for you.  Do this before you eat a single bite.

6) Don't forget to drink like a fish between meals after you weight the needed hour.

7) Have a designated number of times that you eat a day, no snacking (unplanned) or grazing, not even tasting. 

8) Set yourself a new game, how little not how much can you eat and be satisfied?  Find out, you might be surprised. 

Thanks for these!

I have to admit that #4 makes me nervous! But it is great advice. #7 too. I have not had set mealtimes - that is a very good discipline for me to start.

#8! wow that is great. That is so the OPPOSITE of how I think about food. Which of course is part of my problem! #8 sounds like a really controlled, mindful, powerful approach. Thanks!

I am about where you are--Day 14, and started purees yesterday with mixed success. I am trying to eat as much of my 60-70g protein/day with real food, but find I need to supplement with at least one shake a day to make the calorie/protein ratio work.

Yesterday for breakfast, I had a shake at 30g protein plus a half a stick of string cheese at 4g.

Lunch was 1/4c refried beans and an ounce of cheddar for a combined 11g protein.

Dinner was 1/4c Shelly's Ricotta Bake and a stick of string cheese for a combined 18g protein

So the total was about 63g protein for the day. Sadly, I think I over baked the ricotta dish, and that was a little tougher on my stomach than it was happy with, so I had very mild heartburn well into the night. Plus I may have eaten it too quickly (I brought dinner with me to Starbucks where I was meeting with a friend for several hours, but didn't want to eat too late), OR it could have been the marinara sauce which I've never really been fond of. So I'll try it again for dinner tonight, but this time remove the marinara and try to add some moisture to the ricotta before I eat it.

Live and learn.

As far as the overeating struggle that you're experiencing goes, the suggestions of others above are really good: measure out your portion beforehand, put everything away before sitting down to eat, eat slowly and mindfully, put down your fork in between small bites. I would also suggest that you think about WHY you entered into surgery to begin with before each meal--try to find your bottom line reason, what was going through your mind at that moment of clarity when you realized nothing else was working and you needed to take the very risky and costly step to surgery.

If you aren't already, perhaps consider enlisting the help of a therapist in your struggle. It was only when I realized that I needed help, and that everyone needs help with certain things in their life, that I was able to accept the surgical alternative. Accepting the help of a therapist is very similar, and it works.

Good luck with your journey. I know it's hard. I'm right there with you.

"I would also suggest that you think about WHY you entered into surgery to begin with before each meal--try to find your bottom line reason, what was going through your mind at that moment of clarity when you realized nothing else was working and you needed to take the very risky and costly step to surgery."

Excellent! Thanks for that. Yes it seems vital to consider what you said, and my relationship with food, every time I sit down to eat (at least in the beginning) as I am re-defining the role of food in my life and changing how I relate to it.

And yes I have a therapist who I'll see later this month and I will be asking her to help me. It also took therapy for me to take this step instead of beating my head against the wall for 5 years (which is when I first began researching WLS)