Learning to stop........

[seawaves]

I am 2 wks post op, & i've just eaten half of a weight watchers shepherds pie, i tell ya it never tasted this good before (then again it wasn't pureed food!), my problem is when your a big person i use to find that even when full i would continue to eat until everything was gone, i know that half of the shepherds pie was more than enough but to stop me going back to eat the other half i've jumped on here, so my question is how do you teach yourself to STOP!!

 

[slimmerkay]

Oh I SOOOO know what you mean. And if it tastes good you want to eat more of it anyway!

You do learn what your limit is and the way it worked for me? I over stepped my limit and over-ate. I felt soooooo ill. Really really bad. It put me off doing it again.

When you've taken your portion out put the rest in a freezer tub to cool ready for the freezer and pretend like hell it isn't there

 

[J-Mo]

I'm only 4 days post op so don't know. But I too am eager to find the answer to this one. I know I'm only few days post op but I have no restriction whatsoever. Although I have been told this isn't unusual.

Take care

 

[slimmerkay]

It isn't unusual J-Mo this early on. As your food gets thicker or stodgier you feel the restriction.

 

[J-Mo]

Thanks Karen

 

[zns]

Im still not feeling restriction and really could eat a pint of soup if I didnt stop lol Although I probably would feel sick. Even with thicker purees I havent found a feelings of fullness yet. Hoping it will come on the next stage. Its difficult to stop when you havent felt full.

 

[simplylucy]

Believe me when you get onto thicker foods you'll know when to stop and if you don't you'll have this awful pain and vomit. Next time you'll stop sooner!

I really wouldn't worry about quantities at this stage, the restriction with be felt as you go up the stages in foods.

 

[phatmomma]

Firstly ladies you do have restriction already. You've just not tried it out yet! Your stomach is like an egg timer when you put fluids in it pours through, because you are eating slowly and fluids/purees only they travel through so much quicker. Wait till you have some good solid protein, my god you'll feel it then

Emma it's not easy for us to stop eating! If you only put half the meal in the microwave to heat through this will help you. Really it's down to self control, which is something i personally don't have much of, just tell yourself if you're hungry in a few hours you can warm it up later...

It really is a trial and error. Today at work i had tuna, lettuce, cucumber and tomato for lunch. As i was putting the tomato on i knew no way i was eating all that lunch, but i put it on anyway and it ended up in the bin.

It's not that i didn't know i couldn't eat it, the mind still is unaccepting of the fact that it won't all fit in the tum! However you soon learn that if you eat too much you will suffer for it later xxx

 

[ditzeeblonde]

I know what you mean Emma... I was managing half a meal at yr stage too, what I'm finding now tho as I move onto more solid foods is that I eat less in one sitting but have to eat more often iykwim?? The restriction does happen & I felt like it hadn't worked in my first couple of weeks. x

 

[zns]

Im glad to yeah that phatmomma! x

 

[Grace]

Great post Julie, I totally agree. I feel restriction so much more now, as a discomfort or outright pain in my pouch.

Em, get some little bowls to measure your portion size and then stick to that. Eat slowly with a tiny fork or a teaspoon.

Put the rest in the fridge, or even better in the freezer.

And make sure you're drinking enough still in between meals, because that will help and is terribly important for hydration and weight loss.

 

[gaelic girl]

Julie has said it all very well! I found it takes time to build up the confidence to eat to restriction in fear of what might happen if you do! I never felt much restriction in the liquid/puree stages for fear of eating too much. As Lucy says once you go onto "solid" foods you will get the restriction feeling( which is what you should aim for) You will either get a tightness where your pouch sits or a blocked feeling in your throat. In my case my nose starts to run( apparently there is a scientific reason for this and it is connected to surgery) so i know when i'm full! As for stopping i'm a bit like Julie recently i seem to be eating a lot more and i just have to tell myself to STOP which sometimes is easier said than done xx

 

[seawaves]

oh i think i might have felt this full feeling, some days i feel like a tablet is stuck in my throat after eating so maybe i have experienced my version of full!!

 

[emma-louise]

hello all,

Im glad emma has posted this,as I too wondered really about restriction,its very hard at the minute to know what full is when your on liquids,the closest I think i have felt restriction is when..I had too much soup and I felt sick as a dog,oh! and a full muller lite yogurt?? I wondered should I have been able to eat that full pot with a pouch the size of a egg.
Can you really get full on just 3 spoons of pureed food(my next stage next week)
Ive always wondered this...thanks x

 

[Grace]

Yes you can! I can't manage 3 tablespoons now!

 

[emma-louise]

thanks charis..

I was getting worried that I shouldnt be able to manage a full yogurt!

 

[Grace]

But you said you felt lousy after your Muller light? I usually put a portion size into my little bowl rather than risk eating a full yoghurt. I probably could manage one, but I would feel a bit sick. But because it's quite liquid, like Julie says, it slips straight through the pouch and into the intestinal limb.
Muller light (non lumpy) was the first thing I ate post-surgery.

Yesterday I had some chicken tikka with natural yoghurt dip for lunch. It was a bad food choice because it was too spicy and not soft enough.
I managed 4 chunks of chicken (pre-op I'd have eaten one chunk per mouthful) cut up into tiny, pencil rubber size bites and chewed to death. After 4 chunks I was in pain!..then felt sick and had pain for the rest of the day! 4 chunks was too much!
Trust me, when you go onto solid food, you'll feel restriction!

 

[emma-louise]

lol..thanks charis,

yes I felt yuk after the whole muller,i certaintly have learned my lesson as now I only have half and being a good girl I put marvel powder into it.
can I ask you when your on puree foods,have you ever been out and wondered what to eat?
Im going out for a couple of trips soon as Ive wondered what Im going to eat when Im away from home..any ideas?

 

[gaelic girl]

Firstly Em that tablet stuck in your throat feeling definatly sounds like restriction so thats good that you have a sign. I have to say at two weeks post op i could eat a full muller lite yoghart with no ill effects in fact i almost lived on them lol. Emma-louise when i went out in early stages i stuck either to soup, the inside of a baked potato with some cheese, shepards pie or a fish dish with mash and a sauce. You will only be able to eat a wee bit so be prepared for that but if you stick to that type of food you should be fine. Charis i too found chicken chunks hard to deal with in the early stages as i found it awful dry, i shreded mine in gravy and mash and digested it fairly easily that way xxx

 

[emma-louise]

Firstly Em that tablet stuck in your throat feeling definatly sounds like restriction so thats good that you have a sign. I have to say at two weeks post op i could eat a full muller lite yoghart with no ill effects in fact i almost lived on them lol. Emma-louise when i went out in early stages i stuck either to soup, the inside of a baked potato with some cheese, shepards pie or a fish dish with mash and a sauce. You will only be able to eat a wee bit so be prepared for that but if you stick to that type of food you should be fine. Charis i too found chicken chunks hard to deal with in the early stages as i found it awful dry, i shreded mine in gravy and mash and digested it fairly easily that way xxx

thanks for that,didnt think of baked potato in pureed stage!