2 weeks post op - am I eating too much?

Hi

I am 4 weeks post op and at this point I have been encouraged to try any easily shredded meat (ie crockpot lamb, beef; very tender/moist chicken or fish; minced high quality meat ) and to slowly introduce something new each day. I have however been encouraged to really, really steam my veg like brocolli and to avoid steamed spinach or other stringy veg for the first 10 -12 weeks as these can be harder for your stomach to digest. It sounds to me you are doing fine volume wise but I would be careful not to have too much too soon (I was able to week 2 but with just a little too much chicken broth at one time it really caught up with me, trust me you will know when you have gone too far and you won't ever want to repeat it )

From what I see on OH each surgeon has completely different views on diet so I agree with all the other posts - the best things to do are to look at people that have been successful in losing and maintaining weight loss AND always measure your food. If you don't have scales develop discipline like a teaspoon full of something every 5 mins over 30 mins. For me once that's up I know it's time to stop - or before then if the dreaded burps start up then I know it's time to pack it up.

Hope that is helpful, just another perspective to add.

C

Very helpful.Thank you very much.

I agree with Grim that Surgeons offices don't always dole out the best advice.  I do think you should follow your own surgeons transition rules on consistency and amount in the beginning.  I did, but I got better advice on OH on the types of foods to eat and calories.  My NUT said not to "diet", and the leader at the suppport group said that 1700 calories was good post-surgery.  I probably would have gained at that many calories from the outset, but luckily I couldn't take that much in.  And by then I was reading on OH and learning from the Vets who have the best advice.

I felt the same way after surgery about the volume I could take in. It's only at about 8 weeks out that I really started to feel my stomach again and start to feel full again. When I talked to my surgeon about it they advised to keep measuring carefully until I was able to feel the sensations of fullness, and eat on a schedule to avoid overloading my pouch. Liquids definitely make it easier to take in more calories and protein and make you feel less full overall. You can drink your way past pretty much any of the WLS because it pushes the food through more quickly.

I use MyFitnessPal to track my food and find that as much as I feel some days like I'm eating a lot I always fall within 600-700 calories a day, which is less than half of what I ate before surgery. Your perspective shifts a lot in those first few weeks after surgery.

They told me to stick to high protein because your body needs it to heal, to keep your muscles from breaking down as you lose weight. It also keeps you full longer when you eat protein solids, rather than other foods. They also told me the fat limitation was a calorie-restraint to keep you from moving out of a calorie-deficit situation. It can also lead to gallbladder issues more easily after surgery.