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 Portion Control... How many times in our pre-op lives did we hear someone say to an overweight person, "You could lose some weight if you better controlled your portion size!" If only it were that easy for some of us! For the first few months after surgery, portion control is no biggie... Our pouch/tummy tells us loud and clear when it has had enough. If we continue to eat beyond that point, sometimes our pouch sends the offending food right back up! But, as we get farther out, we have to learn to recognize our body's signals telling us that we are getting full. We don't have to eat till we're so full we can't eat one more bite. That is sometimes what got us to the point where we needed WLS! Instead, we eat till we are satisfied/satiated. Eating till we're "full" often means being painfully overfull--sometimes for hours afterwards. Many surgeons tell a new post-op WLS patient that they can eat just a couple of tablespoons of food at a time. As time passes, they are able to eat 1/4 cup, then 1/2 cup. By the time a person's pouch/tummy has fully healed and relaxed, most people report being able to eat about one cup of food at a meal. Others can eat as much as a cup and a half. Does this mean their pouch is "stretched?" No, not necessarily. Our surgeons make our pouch out of the most muscular and least stretchy portion of our old stomach. For this reason, the only way to "stretch" your pouch is to eat to the point of painful overfullness on a regular basis. You simply cannot do this "accidentally!" This is why we must learn to recognize when enough is enough without eating till we're "full." All of these reasons are why it is very important to actually measure your food (with measuring spoons or measuring cups or by weight on a scale) until such time as you can realistically portion your food without doing so. Over time, you will learn to gauge your portions better without using measuring tools. And you will learn to recognize your own body's signals of fullness. Some of these signals are funny! Some people get a slightly runny nose as their pouch approaches fullness, which is supposedly due to the cutting of a nerve during surgery. Some start to burp, which is probably a result of the fullness of the pouch pushing any air that is trapped out of the way. Some people begin to cough. Everyone's signal is different! We just have to pay close attention those first few months to determine what our own system does to communicate with us.... Another element of post-WLS portion control is that when you are snacking (between meal snacks, if your doctor or nutritionist allows snacks), you must remember that it IS a snack! Don't eat so much at a snack that you must push back a meal or are not able to eat a proper meal when it is time. And, even though it is a snack, you still need to try and get some protein in! |
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