Mid Week With Pete

Limits.

Part of what brought Pete to think about the banding surgery is that he can't always stick to his own limits.  He will readily admit that he has no stop button when it comes to food.  Whether it's a learned behavior or something that is lacking in his brain, his ability to stop when it comes to food is gone.

Shortly after surgery he wasn't as focused on his stop button, or lack there of.  He was eating soups and puddings and loose mashed potatoes.  Then he started eating "normal" food again.  His stop button was still gone and the band wasn't taking it's place.  He began to eat as he had in the past, which is really overeating.  And while he sees himself doing it, it's almost as though he is powerless to stop.  It's only afterwards when he feels his full stomach, does he realize what he did.  Then he regrets.

In the short time since the fills have occurred he's continued somewhat of the same pattern.  The doctor warned him that this is a time of learning limits.  What he can eat and how much he can eat are things that are different to every person.  They can only tell him what others have experienced.  Pete's noted that there were a couple of times that he's stopped eating and about 20 minutes later he feels really full.  I mean REALLY full.  He's noted this and when it happens.

Sunday we had been walking for about 45 minutes and got home to change and head to a movie.  Both of us were hungry.  I chose 2 slices of low sodium deli ham and about 2 ounces of cheese.  Pete chose 2 slices of the same ham, but on 2 hotdog buns with BBQ sauce.  I ate mine and went upstairs to change.  Pete carried his 'sandwich' up to the bedroom, while eating, to change.  Mid sandwich he stopped eating and went into the bathroom.  I didn't really notice anything different.  When we got in the car to leave he told me that he didn't finish his sandwich because he was overfull.  So overfull that the last bite had to be spit out.  He said that no matter how much he chewed, it wouldn't go down. 

We talked about him learning his limits.  He smiled and said that he was trying.  He thought that it was the overly soft bread that did it, along with the fact that his body was heated up from exercising.  Ultimately we talked about him learning his cues to the limits PRIOR to experiencing pain or uncomfortableness from them.  It's something that he is going to have to learn, but it appears that it's not a quick learn.