Pouch too big, too soon?

I'm exactly a week out today and feel like I'm able to drink/eat much more than I should be.  I bought a 600ml of water today and found myself drinking more than half of it in 30 minutes.  That's about 1.2 cups worth of water.  They told me postop liquid diet that I would be only able to eat a 1/2 cup of liquid food. Could it be that I'm just healing really fast and my swelling is going down faster than expected?  Should I be worried about this?  Am I pushing it too fast? I've done a lot of walking these past 2 days, maybe more than I should have been doing. The other situation is that I feel like moving to purees and just skipping the 2nd week of liquids.  I obviously won't and will follow the instructions given to me, but I really am feeling that good.  I know it sounds strange, but feeling this well this soon is kind of worrying me.  

Yeah, it's bigger, but not the way you imagine. Surgical swelling has abated a bit. About a month out the swelling will be gone altogether, and you'll think you're able to eat a cow. In actuality, you'll be able to manage a McD's Quarter Pounder if you eat/drink nothing else (mentioned because of size, not a dietary recommendation). Your pouch will stretch; it's supposed to. This is a long-term process, and at two years, I can manage a couple of bites more that the referenced burger.

Hey bman, don't get too excited. I asked my surgeons asst. this very same thing post-op and he told me that liquids will just pass on through, he said they tell you to take small sips early on so you don't stress your pouch while it is healing. You don't want to be chugging any thing. I compare it to a funnel, if you pour more liquid into a funnel than it can handle it will back up, if you do this to your pouch it will put pressure on it and you don't want to do that while you are healing. I am ten and a half months out and I can drink normally. When you move on to the thicher liquids you will notice that you do get full or feel full. One thing I will say is that you will have to relearn what full feels like. They have rearranged and sliced and diced your insides so things won't feel the same. I would progress slowly. Normally I don't necessarily follow instructions well, but with this I have done what my surgeon and nut told me to do and in less than a year I am below my goal. I would have never thought I would be this sucessfull. After being married for 25 years you would think I would be use to being told what to do? Hang in there and it will all be good. pan head

Let me echo Panhead. *STICK TO THE POST-OP DIET YOUR SURGEON GAVE YOU*. You can't stretch the pouch, but you sure as hell can pop the ligatures s/he put in to stick you back together, should you go off the plan and stress everything. Two weeks of liquids only sucks. So does 2 weeks of baby food (the diet prescribed for me). You have to retrain you G-I tract to work, and this is what does it.  In summary: 1) Do not worry about "stretching". It's mostly a myth borne of anxiety, and what you do see is a natural physiological response to surgical trauma. 2) Stick to your prescribed diet.

Bman, Liquid does tend to ‘run right through.’ Once you move to solids, It’ll be a different ball game all together. Stick to the Doc’s Recommendations religiously, And use these first few months to establish Totally new eating habits. Once new habits are established, The long haul will be so much easier. *see post above about "Pouch-Stretching" …. Best Wishes- Dx