How do I know I'm full?

[effemm]

My bypass is now 7 days old and I'm on the puree diet. I am very careful to eat small quantities at any time but wonder if I should be eating more. I'm worried about eating too much in case I put pressure on the pouch so I haven't really got to the point of being full. I'm wondering how I will know I am full. I don't seem to experience hunger at the moment and can't feel a lot when food goes in. I don't want to overeat.

 

[chrisa]

Well you have to make sure you drink between meals and leave half an hour at least before and after a meal. If you eat too much beleive me you will know you will feel atightness or pressure or some feel like something is stuck usually in the middle of the chest or breast bone not nice and you will get it if you have too much. Also it makes some sick xx

 

[carebear1]

I never feel full(just over 4 wks post op) Since having my bypass it kinda feels like I have no stomach but when I eat I can feel it so that is my "full" sign,no pain and its not uncomfy. I'm wondering if I did have a bypass. I don't get sick after food like others say or a stuck feeling etc. I also measure everything I eat and most meals I eat 1-3oz

I can now eat most of 1 of them big petit filous 100g pots and that takes me till lunch time with my water.

 

[chrisa]

Yes I think for the 1st couple of months I was very aware of measuring amounts till I get used to guaging it by eye. Yes if you have no pain n not sickly then you are eating the right amount well done you xx

 

[effemm]

Carebear, I'm glad someone else is experiencing the same. I was starting to worry that maybe something had gone wrong and I wasn't retaining the food. I'm still on purees, so I suppose they could move through the stomack quicker but thought I'd feel more restriction than I do.

 

[lyzzyanne]

You don't feel restriction properly until on normal food, puree and liquid go through easily. I think we have all felt that it wasn't working, but when you eat properly you will feel restriction.

 

[Yvessa]

The full feeling doesn't work until about 6 weeks out as you are still healing.

 

[Benrese]

Yes, what the others have shared-you won't necessarily feel full and certainly not at this point. Part of the reason is to do with the nerves which were cut in your stomach. This is exactly why the surgeons and nutritionists are so serious regarding the measuring of your food.

People have hurt themselves by overeating, because they didn't feel full. Your poor body is still healing and can be very much "Numb" so to speak.

Hang in there and do not trust your eyes, trust your measuring cups and food scales. x

Cheers,

 

[emma-louise]

I don't think you know 'when full'
Until your on solids,that's what I was like anyway.

 

[EJFez]

Thanks for this post. I'm 3 weeks post op and it seems to be that you will never experience the full feeling until normal food ?!!

 

[Yvessa]

This is a bit of a misconception - you will eventually feel full even on liquids, but at the moment your nerves are still healing so you won't feel fullness. Around about the six week mark (which is when most of us move to solids) is when the nerves are healed enough that you feel fullness - and so the misconception continues. Hope that makes sense. Don't expect to feel fullness this early - I used to stop when either the food got cold or I got bored. Now I stop at full. When I feel full, my stomach feels like it sinks a little and is heavier.

 

[carebear1]

Its really confusing because my diet info for each stage says eat until you feel "full" and stop immediately but if we don't feel full why do they advise that? I must admit I've never tried to eat or drink the 125g they advise in one sitting.

My dietitian did tell me not to weigh my food or watch cals at this point because she says after a few mouthfuls I will feel full so wont be getting much in.

 

[Yvessa]

Because we will each get sensation back at different rates. So its about getting used to listening to your body.

 

[effemm]

Thank you for all the advice. I think there is some variation in what patients are told before these ops. I was told that I would "only be able to eat" about a ramekin sized dish of food, but I wasn't advised that any nerves are damaged or that I wouldn't feel much sensation. Have been a bit sick today. I think I had a drink too soon after eating and I now have a bit of back pain, which I assume is the pouch. There wasn't however any indication before I was sick that the pouch was getting overfull. I shall be much more careful now.

 

[Yvessa]

There is a lot of difference and I queried this with my dietician. She did say a lot of it was because they simply couldn't agree. A lot of it is based on our individual surgeons and dieticians opinions and experiences. So if you consider someone new to the job and someone who's done it for five years their advice is going to be more reliable and more widely reasearched. One thing my dietician did say was the science doesn't always seem to add up because all too often things don't happen the way they expect. So some of the advice I give is based on what I've heard, read or been told and can see logically that it makes sense. You will be sick if you eat too much, but stick to your ramekin in the liquid stage and move onto a teaplate when you feel ready.

 

[Paul-H]

Hi

All I can add is what I was told by my team

To start with after 4 weeks of Purée food and then 4 weeks of mashed food all in a dish no bigger than a ramekin, then onto solids but still in a Ramekin, then slowly over the next six months build it up to no more than a tea plate.

I am now almost a year out still eating no more than a tea plate so nothing is getting too stretched, I still don't ever feel hungry and my pouch is still able to tell me when its full.

In the first stages the food is too fluid to stay in the pouch too long so you could probably eat more than recommended but only in the Purée stage, once the food gets thicker it will or should stay in the pouch long enough to tell you when its full, and that will probably be pain, so learn to stop as soon as it tells you to stop, because just one more spoonful could be very painful or you could bring the lot up, and vomiting with a bypass is a very odd thing.

Hope this has been of help

Paul

 

[Lawstudent]

I was given virtually no post op advice and now im four months on I think I stretched my pouch in the first six weeks. For my evening 'meal' tonight I had 1.5 fish cakes and about three table spoons of veg. I managed about 3/4 of that then ate the rest half hour later. That does seen a lot to me. I see the surgeon next week but I have no idea that they can do a thing if it has stretched as I didn't know about the nerves during the first 6-8 weeks. It is quite worrying and I do get upset, maybe I'm wrong but that does seem a lot to eat.

 

[Yvessa]

Can I ask why you ate the rest half an hour later?

 

[Lawstudent]

Can I ask why you ate the rest half an hour later?

Yes, I often do that as some meals seem to 'fill' me very quickly, I will finish off (usually the veg) half an hour letter, usually a tablespoon full. Do you think that I should just bin anything that doesn't get eaten ?

 

[Yvessa]

Personally I would. Although it may seem like its not enough, you need to avoid that as it may lead to snacking later. Just eat what you can in the sitting and anything you can't shove in the bin.