Pouch test question/concern?

Hi All, I thought of doing the pouch test. First thought about it a couple weeks back when I saw it listed on another board. My main concern about doing it, though, is that it will flip on the 'diet' switch that I have been working so hard to eradicate from my life completely. As some of you are doing it, do you have this concern? Do you feel that you are dieting? Are you beating yourself up if you 'cheat?' What's going on inside your heads as you do this? What's your internal dialogue like? Lisa

Hi Lisa, Yesterday, I got so hungry I ate 3 crackers and felt like I had blown the whole test! I was just as hungry when I got home and ate some chicken....the one thing I did notice was that I didn't "graze" on anything after dinner....Going to try again today..... Holly

Dear Lisa: You have hit the nail on the head once again. I HAVE decided to to this, but with GREAT reservations. On the one hand, I have the same concerns about "dieting" and "gimmicks" when it comes to doing this. One of the reasons that I had surgery was to get off of the diet train and get out of the diet thinking mode. Diets never worked in the past, so why should they work now. Half of me is kicking myself for even considering another gimmick. On the other hand (you have five different fingers.....), I feel like the slowest loser on the planet, I actually had a gain recently and will do just about anything to get back to losing. (Same old "diet" mentality, huh?) I am doing this because it is "back to basics" and it will remind me of where it started, and how to eat correctly. I have not found it difficult at all (nor did I find the liquid diet before surgery). I am pretty sure that all the liquid will flush out anything that is hanging around inside of me and all the protein will cause ketosis and I will lose a few pounds. My hope is that by returning to the basics, I will then progress slowly to appropriate portions. I figure that 5 days can not really hurt anything, and may just give me the boost that I need. But to answer your question honestly, YES, I have reservations about the whole thing. Isn't this disease awful? Thank you for asking a question that allows me to get my thoughts out here in the open! Have a lovely day! Dawn

Good Morning Lisa! I think of it more as a shake up to my routine. It seems when you can eat as lil as we do, we tend to eat the same things. Therefore we go into stalls. Our body compensates and there we are! I lost some on the first go round and I hope to do so again. I do not really enjoy the liquid, although I do 1 protein shake a day anyway. But I know my diet is boring and I also know I was not as careful before it, I have become much more carb conscience again. No I didn't do breads and pasta and rice. BUt I did get carbs(too many from other sources) I think this is a great tool to raise your own personal awareness of what you are eatting. Definitely not a lifestyle!!! As far as cheating! We kinda already have that mentality by not eatting the things we shouldn't aka bread and pasta and the like. This is just reinforcing those rules of the pouch! Kinda like a refresher course in how you are suppose to eat! We all tend to sometimes make bad choices for ourselves. No point in beating ourselves up though!!! Just pick ourselves off! Dust ourselves off! Keep going! I'm good only 3 more days! Tomorrow is food! I only can eat soft food pretty much so I'm almost home! Dai

You stated exactly why I am not doing the "pouch test" (aka: diet). I had WLS so I wouldn't have to diet ever again. Eat healthy and work out? Yes but never a "diet". Yes I consider it a "diet". Why you ask? Because if you can "fall off" then its a diet. You cant fall off of a life style only make changes and choices. But in just the first day I saw at least 2 posts about how people had "fallen off" or "cheated" and it just saddened me to think they were back on the roller coaster. Our pouches will never be the way they were when we started this no matter how much we "test" them out. The fact is by design they have changed. They are no longer as sensitive. They are no longer as small. Really all you are doing is changing your mind and I guess I don't feel I need a "test" (again aka: diet) to do that for me. It didn't work before anyways... "I" have to make choices daily. Some good, some bad. I am not perfect. And its ok. Why not a "5 day work out" test? Or a "5 day getting back on the plan that was working for you" test? or a "5 day getting back to protein firs****er second, carbs 3rd" test? What happens on day 6? I admire the ones that are doing it and I wish them the very very best! I hope you all get out of it what you are searching for. As for me there is just no way I am stepping back onto that roller coaster ever again. My 2 cents of course. *huggles* Felicia =0)

I agree with you in that I don't want the roller coaster effect in my life. But the problem is life is truly kinda a ride anyway! We just happen to have the hand brake in our hands. At least regarding what we eat! I don't think there is anyone on this board that can honestly say that we are still not on a diet. There are things that we shouldn't eat. Hence diet! My dr thought this was a great idea when I approached him with it. Since it is not a long term thing, but a back to basics kinda thing. In reality if you read the 5 day pouch test it tells you can also skip the first 2 and double up on 3, 4 & 5. All it is, is really making you aware of where we have fallen off the wagon on our journey of good intentions! On day 5 you should truly be almost back to where you should be in the first place. Kinda like when I do spring and fall cleaning in my bedroom. I clean it all out start with bare bone basics and only reintroduce back in it the things I really need or want in there. Cause over the course of the previous months I brought into it things I shouldn't have. Same thing with our diets we tend to allow ourselves things that we know our nut would say NO to! On day 6 I will be doing the same as on day 5, at least I did after I tried this the first time. It shook up my system and made me more aware. I have also added an extra 20 mins to my exercise regimen starting today. Also took up bowling again. Muscles are sore, but the rewards will be great. I want to be a winner and whatever I have to do to get there I will. You are right our pouches are bigger and they won't just shrink because we go on liquids, but like I said it's an awareness tool, if nothing else! Just my thoughts! Your friend Dai

I am glad you are finding something that works for you. I have to totally disagree about the comment that "I don't think there is anyone on this board that can honestly say that we are still not on a diet. There are things that we shouldn't eat. Hence diet! " I for one am not on a "diet". We all have a diet in the sense that we eat food. But we are not all ON a "diet" in the sense of "allowed and not allowed" foods. I eat what I want to eat. I have very few "not allowed" foods and the only reason they are on the "not allowed" type list is that they cause my pouch to be pissy. This way of thinking (should not have) may work for you but it didn't work for me. I don't allow food to have that kind of power over me anymore. "not allowed" and "shouldn't have" are the comments that helped me gain over 277lbs. If I choose to walk by a certain food at a certain time that doesn't mean I feel I "shouldn't have them" it means "I" am in control of the food and when I eat it and not the other way around. If I want to eat candy I eat candy. If I want to have pasta I eat pasta. I make choices every day on what I eat or don't eat. But no "diet" tells me what I "should or should not eat". Thats again why I "personally" chose not to do the 5 day "test/diet". I don't need to "retrain" myself to do better as I can't "fall off" in the first place. I didn't have WLS so I would be punished and never allowed to eat yummy food. I had it so I could make better choices. I don't graze all day long. Not because I don't want to but because I choose not to. And trust me there are plenty of things in this house to munch on. I walk by 90% of them that would be on your "not allowed list" every time I move around my house as my kitchen is in the middle of my house. I could eat them.. but I don't. But when I want to eat them I do. There is a difference. Grazing instead of meals. Eating mindlessly instead of purposefully. This doesn't make me better then anyone else or stronger then anyone else. It makes me better then the person I was before and stronger then the person I was before because I have a tool in my corner now and all I have to do is work it. If its all for awareness then why not just go back to eating right in the first place? Why the "diet" to get back to the right place? 90% of what has been written so far has been all about "breaking the carb habit" and "fighting the grazing". Why not just cut the carbs out or stop grazing? And lets not forget the excitement of "losing 5-6lbs in a week" part. Again isn't that the "glory goal" we used to shoot for when we were "dieting?" We are not even a year out yet and it just seems that this is just getting back on the "if I could just lose 5lbs" con. No matter what, at the end of those 5 days you are still going to have to make the same choice you could have made on the first.. not do to what you are not wanting to do. Doesn't matter if it is on day 5 or day 1.. its the same choice and it is just as hard on day 5 to make it as it would have been on day 1. Like I said before.. if this is something that works for you then I am all for it. I support everyone on the board, always have always will, no matter the choices or direction they take. *huggles* Felicia =0)

Ok, so maybe some of you don't have to worry about your food choices. Because of all my problems at the beginning and ongoing from the surgery. I have had to be very careful what I eat and don't eat. Since most things of substance get stuck, due to the stricture issue. I don't really graze in fact my problem is just the opposite, I have to plan my meals carefully so I WILL eat! I think the breaking the carb habit is truly the first part of it. I didn't truly realize, because of my limited ability to eat how much carbs I had added to my meals until I started and became aware of the cravings for them. The first time I did this a couple of weeks ago I realize how much they had become a part of my daily routine. I had a hard time getting them back out of my life, also why the first time my surgeon put me on the South Beach Diet. It was to break the carb cycle. That thing is vicious to say the least. I have not had real bread in over a year. Don't miss it, no pasta(was my fav) either. I have had some popcorn. But most of my carbs come from fruits and veg. Tortillas have been my thing. Also tortilla chips! I am also a big cottage cheese fan. These are things I can keep in my diet, but I will bring them back in definite moderation. This pouch test has also reminded me I need to get back on a schedule for eatting. For the longest time I actually measured out and prepared my food the night before, so I would be assured of eatting properly. I am now back at that. It is important for me because I have 3 teens living in my house as well as a brother in my office that like to eat junk. My office is about 150 ft from my house. So by preparing my meal plan the night before, I am more assured of following through. That's why this is working for me, getting me back on track before I jump the train. Not that I think it is going to do anything to the size of my pouch. Just make me more aware of what I put in it! I am aware this is a personal decision, but I did involve my nut and my dr in it also. He calls it breaking unhealthy cycles. I tend to do the same thing to my kids when I think they are watching too much tv or computer. We have electronic fasts in our house. Ususally they last about 5-7 days and then we slowly intergrate back those that mean the most to us. At 1 point the tv seemed to be on 24/7 now it is on about 1-2 hrs a day. That is the purpose of this for me. Thanks for your support. I always appreciate what you have to say. We are all on this road together. Your friend, Dai

Thanks, Felicia, and everyone, for responding to this. I've also been disturbed and concerned the past couple days seeing people talk about how they 'fell off' the 'pouch test.' I know that's a place I never want to go again. I will also say in all honesty that I am NOT on a diet. I am determined that that part of my life is behind me. I can eat anything I choose. I am very aware of what I put into my body now and most of the time I choose to eat foods that are good for me. WLS allowed me to regain control of my body and to gain control, for the first time in my life, of how my mind deals with the whole weight loss and diet thing. The pay-offs are amazing...one of the big ones is simply being able to enjoy life and all it has to offer. Diet, by any name, doesn't fit in with my new life. Lisa

Exactly. *huggles* Felicia =0)