I have found..........

That I can eat more. It really scares me. I also have found that I can eat the fun size candy (only one) and not get sick.......that is really bad for me cuz I am a sweets person. Has anyone else found that they can eat more or eat sugar/sweets? If so what helps you not eat so much and stay away from sugar?

I undrstand!  It is horrible that one yea out we find that we can eat more!  It scares me to death.  Now is the big test!  have we learned that thin really IS better than food! Kepp on keepin on!
Martie

I hate that my appetite has returned, and that I can eat more.  I can eat sweets, though they don't taste good at all, but I have this sick need to keep testing.  I don't get sick from them, but I get a weird, bubbly feeling in my pouch when I do try to eat sweets.  my biggest struggle has been with wanting crunchy snack foods.  like granola bars and animal crackers.  mid-mornings I get a monster snack attack, some of it is real hunger, but once that is satiated, I still struggle to stop.  I don't have that problem in the afternoons, in fact, some days I have to force myself to take time to have supper. 

It is perfectly NORMAL to be able to eat more once we hit the 1 year mark.  Our pouches naturally grow over time (grow, not stretch) and we are able to eat more.  A year ago our pouches were about 1-2oz in size and only able to eat 2-3oz, but now it's about 4-6oz in size and we can eat about 8oz easily.  This is how it's suppose to work.

Here's a post I put on my blog about how the pouch works and explains a bit about the process of it growing and what size it gets when it's mature.  http://pamtremble.blogspot.com/2008/09/understanding-pouch.h tml

As for eating sweets.  Put down the candy bar and step away!  :-)  This is where we need to really work hard to get our relationship with food under control.  One tiny snack-size candy bar once in a while isn't going to kill us.  Remember before surgery when we'd eat the whole bag of mini bars?  But if candy is a trigger food for you, then you need to set some hard and strict rules for yourself to keep that craving under control. 

Sweets aren't a big deal for me.  I have a container of chocolate covered almonds sitting on my kitchen counter.  It's been there for about 3 months and its still not even opened.  I'm simply not tempted to pig out. 

For me, my trigger is salsa.  Yep... that healthy delicious side dish is my trigger food that I will NEVER allow myself to buy again.  Why?  Because salsa always comes with chips.  And when both are in the house I have no self control.  So my rule-for-life is no more salsa. 

Pam