Can (former) volume eaters share your experience post op - inspired by Kairks tortilla chip...

Reading the posts of those who have been most successful, and from my own experience, generally during the weight loss phase your food should be pretty close to 100% on-plan.  Weigh and measure.  Track on My Fitness Pal or Sparkpeople.  The whole nine yards.  The weight will probably come off with a less "clean" approach, but slower, and you may not get to your goal. 

Once in maintenance - there's the rub, haha.  As everyone has said, you have to find what works for you, and for most people maintenance is about finding out what "triggers" us and avoiding those things.  You may or may not need to give up cake, or whatever it is that floats your boat.  I tend to avoid refined carbs and sugar in the form of baked goods (both sweet and breads**** cream, along with crackers, chips, fries, rice.  I have had most of those things in maintenance, once or twice, here or there.  But I eat on-plan about 95% of the time.  And you know what?  I think normies do the same, probably naturally.

I will say this about that full feeling.  Capacity increased for me right about three years out.  I would say my meals are on the small end of the normal spectrum now.  And the "full" feeling is much closer to the old normal, and not so much that icky gross food-backing-up foamy thing.  I used to like that full feeling too, and these days I tend to eat more veggies to help feel more full, so that I can keep calories in balance.  Kind of like the old dieting mentality, only now I'm fighting to maintain my current weight and not to lose 100 lbs.  (Actually fighting to lose 7 lbs, which used to just make me roll my eyes when some skinny ***** would say such a thing, haha!)