I'm a year behind you all but I have a question/concern

Hi guys! I had my gastric bypass on October 13, 2005. Since you all have one year on me, I thought maybe I would see if what I'm experiencing is normal. This past few weeks, it seems as though I can eat way more than what I could from last month. It scared me because last night I was able to eat one small chicken breast at one sitting. I'm trying hard but it's like my body is signaling to me that it's hungry and can have more. My surgeon is wanting me to eat more too, he says that I need to be eating between 1200 to 1500 calories. I am sooooo frightened that I'm going to gain weight and eventually eat the normal sized portions of food instead of small ones. I swear the rumblings that I get from my stomach is hunger and not something else. Did any of you experience this at 8 months out or am I being paranoid?? Any comments that you have will help. Thanks so much!

Not sure how much this will help you but.................... I can only eat 1 small chicken breast at one meal too, I am 20months out. The more dense/grainy the meat the less I can eat. That is how you can tell the size of your pouch. Now if you give me pasta, I can eat 10-12oz as it is soft and can push right on thru my pouch. BUT, I am also starving an hour later and hear the hunger grumbling in my stomach. My doc says I can start drinking again 30minutes after my meal. I try to wait closer to 1hr to help my hunger. If you are only eating a chicken breast at a meal, you need to be adding in snacks of fruits and veggies throughout the day. Just make sure your day doesn't turn into one loooonnnggg meal. Hope this helps you out a little.

Ever since the surgery I have been able to eat more and more and now I have to watch myself closely. About a year out I started to weigh my food just to get a general idea on how much I should be eating. The main thing is to follow the rules, protein first, don't drink with your meals or at least 30 min after. It is a large advantage if you are able to exercise as well. Some of my fat friends think that I have chosen the easy way out but this certainly isn't easy. Still it beats lugging around 180 extra pounds It's definately worth the battle! Good luck Kolla Lap RNY 18/10/2004 323 lbs vs 143 lbs - It's a new leash on life http://www.pjus.is/kolla/images/147_65.jpg

Greeleygirl, That's right in line with my experience. Around 8 months to 12 months there was an increase in the amount I could eat and wanted to eat. I was probably getting around 1200 calories then. Now at 19 months post op I eat about 1800-2000 a day and I'm maintaining. I need to drop my calories and lose a few more pounds, but it's a matter of will for me. Just remember that you won't eat 2 oz of food forever. When you do eat, make sure you eat your protein and healthy veggies and fruits first. Whatever you do, avoid the snacking and grazing. Those are bad habits that are quickly reclaimed and so hard to break. It might not be a problem for you now, but it will be a problem for you in the future if you let it sneak back into your diet. And to help your fears, I'm almost 20 months out and I can't eat "normal" portions and I feel like I eat alot. For example, yesterday we went to ChickFilA and I had a grilled chicken sandwich and fries. I only ate half of the sandwich and half of the fries and it was too much because I was stuffed and miserable. Basically, it's not what you can eat at once (you can't eat that much) it's how much you eat over the course of a day. Hope that helps, Lily