CAPACITY - 10 months

Ok...so I have a very specific question on this...I know I posted recently asking about others' capacities at around 10 months post op......

I knew that capacity shifted around this time, from other posts I'd read...HOWEVER, it is bothering me that this is so obvious - I guess I didn't expect it would be as obvious as it is at this point?  Not sure I'm making sense....but

for instance - I could "just" eat one egg previously....today I had two after not eating for many hours...and it scares me, annoys me, frustrates me...??

Maybe I wouldn't be able to eat two eggs every time, but have others had similar specific changes/experiences like this?  Also - at Swiss Chalet - I once had to separate my 1/4 chicken into 3 meals....now I'm about 1/2 of it at a time....grrrr

Any thoughts?

  P.S. I hate this maintenance journey - it's so uncertain to me - I'm trying, and getting some "help", but it is so surreal and, let's face it - NEVER been successful at it....

As the darling Frisco would say..

"even though you CAN eat more...doesn't mean you SHOULD eat more... Under eat your sleeve"

i can eat 2 eggs at almost 7 mts out but I don't...

 I Think when we realize we can eat more without repercussion  ie: nausea, foamies,  pain..thats were it gets tricky and you can easily back slide...don't let that happen...just chugg along doing what worked in the past and got you to goal...

you should still be well within your calories as long as you arent adding in high calorie junk.  in fact, you should be able to do away with shakes most days.  its a good thing.

yes, I am "within" my calories...though I'm not always certain where I should be with calories at this point either (my centre stinks to be honest).  In general, on my "best" days I am between 750-900 calories a day??  Is this about right?  I do still drink one protein shake a day though.

Look, I'm almost 2 years out. I can eat two eggs, but I choose not to. I know I can eat more than 3 oz of protein at a sitting, but I don't. I measure out 3 oz and that's what I eat. I want to be able to eat some veggies with my meal and if I eat too much meat, I won't (can't). 

I went through the same thing you're going through and yes, it was unsettling, sort of scary. But I listened to those successful people ahead of me. A big take away for me came from Frisco. It went something like this, " Just because you can eat more doesn't mean you have to."

Think about that and take it to heart.

Yes, I hear you - I didn't eat anything else with the eggs...and a couple days ago I had one egg with a veggie instead of 2 eggs. 

I do try to undereat the sleeve, and I do measure out and track everything still, but, oh my, it's getting harder and harder for sure!  I guess I'm not always certain how many calories "extra" I should be having at this point....

Here is a good rule of thumb to find your maintenance calorie level:

add 100 calories per day for one week. If you still lose (even 1/2 a pound) add another 100 calories per day. Do this until you find your maintenance level. It may take you several weeks - especially being careful.

I sincerely doubt that 900 calories per day will be your maintenance level, but you never know. We are all different. My calorie level is pretty low for a man of my size, but that's what I need to maintain.

Hi Starry, yes, at over a year out I am finding that eating has become really easy again. I am never hungry but that doesn't mean I can't eat... and the capacity thing really does increase. I can have a good 3-4 oz of dense protein per meal and vegetables and a small side salad for example. The challenge really is to stop before the full or over full feeling and to start to recognize satisfied as the point where it would be OK to stop. Undereating your capacity is a super way to keep the weight off. It's hard though now that everything is ... hate to say it.. but back to normal is what comes to my mind. There is restriction but nothing like the early days. With the restriction I have now I could so easily pack on the 80 lbs again... grazing doesn't help also. Your sleeve empties within an hour so you can just keep eating... the trick is not to. I can also manage two eggs fairly comfortably if I pace myself over about 30 minutes I guess.

I agree with other opinions you've received and suggest you not increase your capacity that much.  Instead, it appears that maintenance is a time to eat higher-calorie foods than we did in WL mode, such as perhaps adding in some healthy fats in measured, moderate amounts, or perhaps eating a regular cheese whereas in WL mode we ate reduced-fat cheese. 

What I learned in my preop classes really stuck with me:  once we hit maintenance, of course we need to increase our calories to find our maintenance levels, but there is sort of a ceiling as to how high we can go without regaining much if anything. 

When you say you've never been successful with maintenance, are you talking about pre-sleeve life versus sleeved life?  Sleeved life is a whole new ballgame, and you need to give yourself a chance to learn how to play it.  I'm guessing you haven't been in maintenance that long this time around.  Chin up, there, friend.  You can do this.   I'm almost there myself and will be learning right along with you.  :)

I am 13 months postop. I noticed an increase in capacity earlier than 10 months. I noticed the first difference at about 6 months and the second at about 10 months. It takes much less volume of even dense protein to cause that restricted feeling for me, therefore, I follow the great advice of successful vets here...Weigh and measure everything! And again, this is so true, just because you can doesn't mean you should. No truer words were ever spoken.