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Hi Everyone, I have a question for all marchers. How are you feeling in regards to your pouch? I am really scared because I almost feel like I haven't even had surgery. I can eat whatever I want now and alot. I feel like my pouch doesnt fill up! I (of course) am going to address this with my surgeon. Its almost like the food is going right through...just right past the pouch. Im wondering if my stoma is too big! I have been eating quickly so not to have it drain and still it doesnt feel full really...its very odd. I would have to eat something like...steak or something extremely tough for it to stay in my pouch. I know that we go through changes and our honeymoon period is over and we have to restrain ourselves more and of course the holidays are hard BUT aside from that I am just curious to how everyone else is feeling. Do you still have POUCH FEELINGS? If that makes any sense. I miss the feeling of nausea and the feeling that my little pouch is full... wheres my little pouch??? Does anyone else feel this way??? Thanks Elizabeth M

Elizabeth, It's funny that you wrote this. I just did a little update on my profile a few minutes ago and was just talking about how I felt that way yesterday at a Christmas party at work. I suppose we'll have to work harder to make certain we don't over do it. This has been a life changing opportunity, so I'm willing! Have a great Christmas, CP

Hi Elizabeth; You are not alone!!! I have been nervous about the amount that I can eat for several months now. I still get full, but not as quickly as I would like. Are you drinking enough in the time before you eat? Are you drinking too soon after you eat? Are you getting enough protein and eating it first? Are you eating food that is too soft or has too much liquid content? These are some of the questions that you need to ask yourself. You must remember that you have already achieved great things!! Don't let your worries sabotage your success. If you have a bad food day, remember that one bad day doesn't ruin everything. Just vow to make the next day a good food day. Just remember where this journey started and enjoy what you have achieved!! Mike

Yeah we definitely have to be more strict with our choices as its getting so easy to eat the wrong foods. Yeah soft stuff goes right through of course. I drink before and wait after. My hunger is crazy right now with holiday cookies being in me. I have tried hard not to go there but alas...the holiday season is having its effect. Its hard to "diet" or not choose that cookie!!! I am still working on it though. I am just worried about when I eat my protein that has substance ... chicken and such that it doesnt seem like it stays in my pouch. I dont drink right afterwards so not to "wa**** out" of my pouch. I guess its just getting harder and thats what I have to deal with. I really miss the feeling I had a few months ago with being satisfied when I eat and having that full feeling. I dont have that anymore and never ever feel satisfied. Just hungry. but I am attributing that to the sugar in my system. I am really waiting until after Christmas to really ween myself from the sugar. I dont want to set myself up to fail by trying to avoid cookies and christmas dinner and such. YOu are right tomorrow is another day and I have to be ready to tackle it Elizabeth M

My doctor says NO SUGAR, and no sugar it is. I would not DARE eat a cookie or piece of candy. The smell even makes me nauseous. I am not going to waste my calories on food that has no redeeming qualities. I'm sorry, but a holiday is no excuse to eat things that aren't healthy. Perosnally, I've been through too much to get where I am and I'm NOT going to screw it up. This kind of thinking is what made me fat to begin with. We have to remember that the surgery is a tool, not the be-all and end all. We have to work with it. This is not a diet. Its a way of life. At work, we were given plenty of cakes, cookies and candy. I refuse to touch it, and I don't feel deprived. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm being difficult, but I just feel so strongly about this. Yes, I can eat more now than I did at the beginning. But if I do eat more, it's healthy food and not anything else. Sometimes maybe we need to go back and rethink old habits and adjust our way of thinking. How does everyone else feel about that?

Elizabeth, I still feel full, and have to admit I am rarely hungry, I dont get real hunger pains like I use to prior to surgery, but I do notice that if I have a day where I eat sugar or junk food it takes me two good days to get back on track to feeling like I am in control of my eating. I have only recently come to that conclusion, maybe it will be the same way for you. And the longer out I go from surgery if I pu**** and eat too much sugar I dont get diarehha but I get an awful run down feeling and hot flashes and I just feel miserable. Just the other day I was out Xmas shopping with my Mom, I hadnt eaten anything all day other than my protein drink in the am and had been drinking crystal ligh****er, and diet coke and it was 2 p.m., we decided to stop for a small ice cream cone, usually I get sugar free, well they didnt have any so I got some regular mint. About 1/3 of the way through it I just started to feel yucky and said, "this is not worth it" and threw it out the window. I am glad that happens to me it helps me keep things in perspective. I would bet once you get on track after the Holidays you will notice your pouch is working for you again. Maybe we will have to do a marchers challenge, to get everyone who wants to, to agree to no sugar for a week, maybe if we do it together we will have greater success helping each other along. I did not do any Xmas baking this year and I dont work outside of the home so that makes it much easier for me to avoid all those goodies. Funny thing is as I am typing this I realized our two dogs have gotten int oa bag of peppermint candies and suckers and are chomping them down, and here I sit letting them eat them. Prior to surgery I would have hurried over and took them from them and saved them for myself! Now I say "eat away dogs, you need it worse than me" Good luck thru the Holidays, you will soon be back to fighting full force in this game! Janelle

Elizabeth, A couple of weeks ago, I was in a panic because it seemed like I could eat a ton of food and there was nothing I couldn't tolerate. I really scared myself when I ate a 6 inch sub minus one of the pieces of bread. Then I had a couple of days when I just didn't have time to eat much and I think my pouch returned to normal pouch size. For the last week, I haven't been able to eat more than a few bites at a time. Today at lunch I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with asparagus and swiss cheese. I threw out the bread and managed to eat three bites of chicken. Even the other three people at the table who have had wls thought I was eating too little. I brought it home for dinner and have only managed to eat another three bites of chicken. I've heard people say that if you go back to liquids for a day or two, your pouch will tighten up. I don't know how true this is, but I'm willing to spread any and all rumors. lol Hugs, Connie

I feel the same way. Even though I know I'm not eating what I used to before surgery I just dont feel like I should be able to eat what I can. The other day we went to Mcdonalds for dinner and I ordered the fish sandwich meal. I ate the sandwich and almost all the fries. Should I even be able to do that, it's a scary thought. I still dont eat cookies or anything like that(because I still dump bad) but I can eat one of the small bags of peanut M&M's no problems, so I said hmmm if I can eat those let me try a reese's peanut butter cup(which were my absoulte favorites before surgery) ate one cup and was violently ill(dumped so bad I wished for death). I havent exercised in so long it's not funny and I'm back up to 140 and when I saw that, after getting to 135 I said some things have to change!!! I made a promise to myself to get my water in, I found this really neat plastic jug that holds exactly the recommened 8 glasses of water we are supposed to drink a day for 2.99 and I make myself drink at least one of them a day. I am also going to start back to the gym after the new year. I want to be at my goal of 125 by March when I start to go to my PCP to get approved for my tummy tuck! ~Nicole

Hi Elizabeth, Yesterday was my 9 month anniversary and I also happened to have my 9 month follow up with Dr Mike. I am down well over 100 pounds from where I was a year ago, and about 91 pounds from where I was when I walked into his practice last January 29. He is very pleased with my progress, but also gave me the pep talk that this is when it gets TOUGH. That 100 pounds is a great loss, etc, and many patients begin to 'slack' at this point and get lazy with their choices etc. (I was just sitting there thinking about my Christmas season 'slips'). I've had a lot of problems the last few months with being able to eat period because of the ulcer and the stricture. The last two weeks have been up and down with the food, both choices and quantities. Dr Mike keeps stressing to us that it is not the quantity (calories, etc) of what we are eating but rather the quality of the choices. Once we get to our goal, the occasional cookie/sweet, etc is not going to have the effect that it can right now. I know for myself that I have gotten lazy with my choices, because of my problems. I tend to eat what will go down and stay down. I need to get back to concentrating on being sure they are the healthy good for me choices now, and get this last 50 or so pounds off me. As I have said before, Dr Mike really doesn't give us a goal weight but rather a body fat %, but yesterday he did say that he thinks I can be 150 pounds (which would only give me about 35 more to go). My personal goal is 130 because I don't ever remember weighing that. I told him that my goal is a 'size', no matter the weight. Right now I can walk into virtually any store and wear a size 16 slacks/jeans (assuming they are cut the right way .. and don't have a waist up under my boob line). He was funny, because he said his goal for me is to be in the single digits, that I should be an 8. At least that is something we both agree on! Now I just need to get there. Hugs, Mo

Thanks for the responses everyone, It always helps sooo much. I definitely have been slacking. I think that its true too that if we "fast" or do the liquid diet rather (not fasting) but fasting on the solid foods that we will shrink our pouches back. I think I need a sugar fast AND solid food fast for a few days. I think that probably will help alot. I just came across the most interesting read from a doctors office regarding surgery and what patients should expect and understand. Its on my profile its long but it really REALLY made me stop and remember the basic facts about this surgery and what it does and DOESNT do for us. if you all get a chance check it out i just titled it !!! REMEMBER !!! i need to remind myself I am nervous about how i am handling things. I think this is a good time to have therapy sessions. Should be an after requirement LOL> but honestly i do know what i need to do and thats go back to the basics. Im just surprised that if we do slack that we can really feel almost totally like we did before surgery. Albeit we can stuff the food down AS MUCH... but we can find ways to do it and have it not bother us much. ...scary... dont want to go there!!! well thanks again everyone and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! Elizabeth M