Random Poll o' the Week: Pouch Capacity

Keeping the following in mind:

1. We all have big/little pouch days and
2. Many of us choose not to eat as much as we COULD
3. That our pouch capacity changes over time so what/how much we eat now may be different than just a short while ago

Please answer the following:

How far out are you from surgery?

From your perspective, on MOST days, do you have:

a) severe restriction (can't eat very much at a sitting and can go long periods of time between meals, forget to eat, etc.)

b) moderate restrictrion (can eat as much as your plan prescribes to at a sitting and can eat several meals a day without many problems)

c) light restriction (can often eat more than what your plan prescribers per meal, find yourself wanting to/able to eat before your next meal)

d) OTHER (please explain)

These days I'd say I am squarely in C.

I can eat a lot. I can eat often. But I often do not choose to eat as much as I know I can eat. 

My daily plan wouldn't look that unlike a non-op who eats reasonably and I like that.

I'm right in the middle of B which is what I wanted out of this surgery as far as restriction goes.  I am 10 months out and can eat the 1 cup of food that my plan calls for.  I've not had any problems with eating and getting in my food, which is good.  Depending on what I am eating I find that I could easily eat more, but I am better able to mentally cut myself off and stop myself when I am satisfied rather than gorging, which is something I lacked the ability to do before surgery.

I am almost 1 year out (6/24)

I would say I have severe-moderate restriction. With most days being severe. I almost never get hungry. I still eat/ drink protein shakes to make sure I get all my protein in.

I am just about 1 year, 9 months out. 

At this point I am B.  Restriction seems to be pretty good.  I can follow my plan pretty accurately. 

I'm good with that. 

And I seem to have a pretty balanced number of big/small pouch days, I've noticed. 

I'm a dead c all the way. The only thug that puts me on lockdown is Chinese food or extreme fat or sugar. I'm just like a non-op.

A group of us ladies go to lunch sometimes and two of them were against me having WLS almost four years ago. They cannot believe I eat like I do. (nothing abnormal just they think it would still be baby spoons or something)

I celebrated my 6 month surgiversary on Friday and I am an a on most days and a c on others. I really don't understand it.

Im almost 5 months out, can eat pretty much anything other then sugar or high fat with out any problems. But at most in 1 sitting 1/3 to 1/2 cup before it is overstuffed. Soup, I can easy take in 1/2 a cup... but say something more solid like meat... 1/3rd cup before I am overfull and feel like it will come back out. But I can eat and hour later the same amount if I want to so easy for me to get everything in me in a day, just more smaller meals per sitting.

How far out are you from surgery? 3 years

From your perspective, on MOST days, do you have:

b) moderate restrictrion (can eat as much as your plan prescribes to at a sitting and can eat several meals a day without many problems)


I eat 6-7 mini meals each day.  And I CAN eat a good bit (probably 1.5 cups of food) but if I do, I'm miserable.  I can also eat anything I want; I do not dump.

Of course, I do limit myself on the extras, and I still do protein first....and I never drink with a meal, and try to wait up to an hour afterward. 

Some days, I'm so hungry I could eat non-stop.........other days I'm satisfied with very little.

 I'm 3 months out, and am for sure a D, Other! In the morning I have absolutely no appetite, and it takes very little to make myself feel full. I can eat half a kid's-sized yogurt or a few bites of fruit and no more than that. Then around 11:30-12:00,  I start to feel hunger and can eat what my plan allows...usually 2 thicker-cut slices of turkey breast, a handful of cheese, all melted into a small tortilla, with a few bites of fruit to quench my thirst. Then I am comfortably full until around 3:00, when I feel a little bit of hunger but mainly just eat because I need to, so I can eat 1 of the following for a snack : 1 oz of beef jerky, 1/4 cup of nuts, a whole kid-sized yogurt and 1/4 cup of fruit with 1 of the 3 protein snacks.. Then around 6:30 I feel hunger comparable to lunch-time hunger, but can eat only a small amount at 1 sitting, much less than at lunchtime..such as a few bites of chicken breast and a few bites of veggies. However, an hour or two later I will be hungry again and can ususally eat an entire nectarine or a piece of watermelon, with some cheese or more beef jerky, or nuts. I have noticed I am always much hungrier in the evening beginning around 7:30-on, than I am at any point throughout the day.  Pre-op, this was also when I was the most hungry, and usually over ate and snacked a ton on unhealthy foods. I don't think it's boredom-related because I usually am occupied in the evenings, and it feels like actual real hunger. Now though, I find I am able to control the amount of food I eat, and limit it to a protein snack and some fruit and that's all I need. I wonder though if I would be better off to have a protein snack around 6:30 but wait until 7:30-8:00 to actually eat my dinner meal. I'm not sure if it would matter, but maybe it would help train my body not to want some type of "evening snack." I guess I'm not sure if it's neccessarily a bad thing as long as it's a healthy snack and I'm not overeating. What is everyone else's opinon on this?