Breaking lifetime habits

I am coming to the realization that breaking life long habits is beyond difficult. I find myself one month post surgery and throwing up when I eat more than I can or simply eating too fast the few bites I do eat. Ridding myself of old portion sizes and the need to clean my plate.  This may be the hardest part of this life change for me. Anyone agree? Suggestions?

I measure everything to 3 oz. I do not eyeball it even at 12 months out. I use an appetizer fork to take smaller bites.  I set the fork down between mouthfuls. This has helped me. 

If you are throwing up, then you need to work on fixing that right away.  Are you getting foamies or just throwing up?  

Great advice K.W.   I measure and track everything I eat at almost 10 months out. The times I don't I end up with issues.  

I too am having this problem.  I used to inhale my food and taking the time to chew properly has caused issues. Just tonight I didn't realize my dinner had not processed out of my pouch and I tried drinking a protein shake two hours later and I got that "stuck" feeling. I only know this because dinner came back up along with the shake.  Still sitting up, hoping to feel better soon, meanwhile berating myself for eating too much and not chewing properly.  

This what helped me:  Learn on your mistakes.  Start a journal.  Record things like that. How horrible you felt. Be graphic in the description...  Highlight what you need to do, i.e measure your portions.. Make a point to read- scan your personal journal once a week.  I still have some of my writting from my firts year...

It takes practice.  You had how many years of practice eating the old way?  So it will take a while to get used to doing it differently.

Measure your food.  Put your portion on a small plate and put away the rest of the food.  Like, put leftovers in the fridge so in order to eat more you have to get them out and reheat them first.

Eat your portion.  Remind yourself that you can have more later if you are still hungry.  If you think you are still hungry or want more when it's gone, wait for 20 minutes.  If you are still hungry after 20 minutes, serve yourself a little bit  more.  Most of the time, when I wait 20 minutes,  I find I am not hungry anymore.   Especially if I get busy doing something during that 20 minutes.

Before you start eating, remind yourself that your plan is to eat slowly.  Remind yourself that you don't have to eat fast, the food isn't going anywhere.

I am 5 months post op and it is hard to learn! I learned to be part of the "clean plate club" and practiced that for a lifetime. Changes don't happen overnight.  I used a baby spoon in the beginning to eat to remind myself of little bites. I still measure everything and use a desert sized plates or custard cups. I also put all the food away after I prepare what I am going to eat. I keep a food diary and plan the night before what I am going to eat the next day. I am still learning to pay attention to those little twinges I feel when eating. If I am not "done" when I get those twinges, I will get up, put my plate in the kitchen and set my timer on my phone for 15 minutes so I can ensure I am being patient and waiting until whatever I am eating has processed. However, when the timer goes off, I re-evaluate  how I am feeling before deciding to continue eating. Last night I had the foamies so I don't get it right all the time but it has gotten easier with practice and it will for you to. It is all about learning new habits and I think we are too quick to berate ourselves when we don't do something perfectly. You will get this. Also, I worry less now than I did in the beginning about complying with what the docs are recommending in terms of intake. They have said I should be able to eat a meal within 30 minutes. it takes me about an hour. My priorities are a protein shake for breakfas****er throughout the day, vitamins and exercise then, food. Obviously, food is crucial and I work at getting it in but their recommendations are based on the average and everyone is different. You will get there! Hang in there!

Keep telling yourself that you are not a human trash can.It is okay to throw away food.Measuring is a good way to. I bought small plates. 

I even bought a children's plate that has small portions on it.It is a princess one.

I agree with you change is hard.Over the holidays I had an incident were I ate to fast shoveling it in to get out shopping.Well I ended up in bed.

You are not alone in this. I am struggling still and I am starting my eighth week this coming week.  I think that is one of the hardest things to correct.  I am a single mother so I have always been a fast eater to ensure I can clean up after the girls or do something around the house that needs to be done.  SO I am always on speed mode.  It is very hard to eat slow for me but I am learning to adapt.  Now I just take a bite work on something like school work in between bites so I am not eating too fast.

I still get sick some even if I don't eat fast or too much.  Yesterday I ate a chicken apple link and I only had three bites.  It just didn't set well in my stomach at all for an hour and then I threw it up.  I don't do well with meat so that is a hard part for me. 

I hope it will all get easier.  I know everyone says measure but honestly I am not to a point I am eating enough to measure.  Two or three small bites isn't much and that is all my body can take at them moment. 

Hopefully as I get farther out I can tolerate meat a little better and be able to eat a little more but for now I am just trying to adapt and drink my protein shakes when I need them.

I have little ones at home, so I serve all of my food in their little toddler bowls and eat with a child's size spoon or fork.  Take tiny bites, chew slowly and try to listen to your body.  I'm also very new to this and find it hard to learn those new signals that I'm full.  I have started getting hiccups after eating, so I think that must be one of my signs.  But, the hiccups usually start AFTER I have decided to stop eating. 

I also am one that has to get up and put my plate away.  If I leave those last few bites in front of me, I'll subconciously reach over and grab another bite even when I know that I'm not hungry anymore.