How can people re-gain weight when they can't eat a lot of food?

Hi. I'm trying to read up and get as much information as possible before my surgery (in 3 days!!). I just found a forum with posts from people that are 5+ yrs out who have gained their weight back even though they still can't eat a lot of food. How can this happen and more importantly how do I make sure it doesn't happen to me?

Needless to say this worries me but I want to go in with eyes wide open. 

Thanks

What I've been told is that our new stomach can stretch.  

It's easier than it sounds. Yes, the new stomach can stretch.

But it's easier to develop problems with grazing, eating the wrong foods, drinking your calories, et**** cream goes down real easy, no matter what surgery you have. And all those trigger issues - bad marriage, bad job, bad boss, whatever - don't go away and if you always ate to deal with those issues, you have to find a new coping mechanism or you fall right back into the same eating patterns. 

There are several ways people learn to eat around their tool.  #1 - drinking empty calories, i.e. full fat lattes, alcohol, etc.  I know some people who went back to real soda and milkshakes, but a lot of us who dump wouldn't even THINK about that!  #2 - grazing.  While we cannot eat a lot in one sitting, we find that we can eat little bits at short intervals.  Rather than eating 6 small meals a day, some people graze even more frequently than that.  #3 - testing the waters.  I know that I can eat a cookie now, and have another one in 1/2 an hour without dumping.  Of course, then I want more cookies (or anything with sugar).  Just to be clear, I now abstain from all added sugar, but there was a time...  #4 - eating past your full point -- You will find that you have a full point or full signal (some people sneeze or sigh or belch).  It is completely possible to eat a few more bites, which turn into a few more next time, etc. etc.  #5 - making less healthy choices, i.e. full fat milk over skim milk; hamburger vs. turkey burger. 

So, you see there are many ways to eat around the tool.  I tried them all and gained back 45 pounds.  With the help of a dietician, wonderful bariatric support group, and the 12-step program of Overeaters Anonymous, I managed to re-lose the weight plus some more. 

WLS is NOT the easy way out.  It does not cure food addiction or compulsive overeating.  We hear it time after time after time -- it is a tool.  Honestly?  It is the strongest tool in my toolbox in the fight against obesity, but it still only works when I use it properly! 

There are as many (or more really, I think) success stores as there are "failing" stories out there, but each individual is responsible for his/her own journey.

I would tend to say that it is mostly WHAT you are eating.  Even at small amounts, if you are eating foods that are high in fat, sugar, calories, carbs, etc....things that got us here in the first place, you will sabatoge your weight loss.  The second - pouches can be stretched.  Right now, I am worried that when my band comes out next month, the surgeon might tell me my pouch has stretched too much to revise.  That scares the hell out of me!  But I will have only myself to blame for regaining.

How do you prevent it?  Read the paragraph above and don't misbehave. Stick with your post op plan and you should be fine.

I am technically a "newbie" -- only six months out -- so don't have first hand experience.  However, I really pay attention to what the long term successes say.  I figure that they have gained the wisdom and experience that I hope to have.  They universally express that it's easy to get lured into the idea that we are "cured" during the honeymoon period (about 12 to max 18 months after surgery) while we are losing relatively easily.  What is difficult is long-term maintenance.  Apparently, in the second year, it isn't too hard if you are sticking to plan, but come the third year, you may have to make quite a few adjustments.  Depending on the surgery, in my case the RNY, many of them explain that once we lose our malabsorption and are able to eat more things, it is quite easy to start putting on weight. 

My advice is to stick to your plan, be prepared to change your relationship with food and look to those who've done the hard work before you for mentoring. Good luck to you!

Just curious, I keep hearing that RNY patients lose malabsorption over time.  Is there an article or something that helps describe this phenomenon? I can wrap my head around adaptive processes that the body can undergo, but I can't find information on the loss of malabsorption.  

Just to clarify, it's only the malabsorption of calories that the body can overcome, by growing more villi in the small intestine. The malabsorption of certain vitamins and minerals is forever, because the part of the small intestine best suited to absorbing them never comes in contact with food.

Thanks, MsBatt, do you have a reference, study or review article from the bariatric or nutrition literature for your statement?  Understand that the geek in me wants to learn as much as I can about the physiologic changes that occur after RNY.  

People with the mindset you are describing will gain weight. "I could never possibly overeat. I had surgery". Nope. It does not work that way. No matter what surgery you have, regain IS possible. You need to know that or you will gain it all back.