Stretching your Pouch
I have heard that your pouch will stretch some, but it is not possible to stretch it back out to the way it was prior to surgery. I have gained back a lot of weight and want to try the 5 day pouch diet to get me back in gear. I just feel like I can almost eat as much as I did before surgery. Any recommendations to get my tool working for me again. I know most of it is up to me, but I was hoping the pouch test would help get my pouch a little smaller. Has this worked for anybody else who has gained back a significant amount of weight?
i had my surgery in 2004. I lost a total of about 103 lbs over the following two years. I did not feel comfortable at that weight. I could not get used to the 'new me'. Anyway my weight has creeped back up over the years but i am still down 40lbs. I now want to get back and use my pouch. I had an ulcer two years ago due to taking asprin. (which i should never have taken.) I had an endoscopy done and to my surprise the dr said my pouch was still the same small size. I do not know when people say their pouch stretches if that is the correct word. I think over the years you get to learn how to 'cheat' with the pouch. Even now after all these years if i swallow a mouth full of food and then take a gulp of water, i will bring it back up. Now want to start working with my pouch again, no easy way back to the original pouch rules.
i must mention that this web site really helped me. I used to be on it anytime i got the chance.
Pouches don't really stretch, but the stoma can. If you think that's the case, get an appointment with your surgeon to get scoped. They'll know for sure that way.
Some days I THINK I can eat as much as pre-op. I can't. What I CAN do is eat slider foods endlessly and drink with my meals to wash the food out of my pouch. If I eat a grilled chicken breast, I can eat about 6oz and I'm full.
I remember back to pre-op when I'd go out for dinner, I'd get a 20oz steak, yes TWENTY ounce, a house salad, mashed postatoes and another side dish and a dessert and be hungry an hour later. That is still and entire day's worth of food, maybe a day and half even. I also remember cooking the entire 16oz pack of spaghetti noodles and making 2lbs of meat sauce with it and eating half the whole thing. Not a snowball's chance in HELL of that now.
I bet if you really get down to it, it's the same for you. We can eat normal servings now, and eat the way the we see other people eat and so after eating 3oz of food for a couple of years, we think we're the same as pre-op. I don't know about you, but I NEVER ate only one serving of ANYTHING pre-op. But then, I didn't think I was overeating pre-op either. I could eat "a little more" than others, but I didn't realize I was probably eating 5x as much and only scaling back while in the company of others so I didn't look like miss piggy. Check your perception before assuming it's the same as pre-op.
Measure an 8oz chunk of meat -- chicken, steak, pork, whatever just not fi**** has to be dense. Then eat it. No drinking 30 minutes before or 1 hour after. See what happens. I can't eat the full 8oz and I've broken all the pouch rules and for long periods of time.
The 5 Day Pouch Test is a good tool. I refuse to do the 2 liquid days though. So I just go back to eating protein first, then veggies, then a good carb. Which is what we're supposed to be doing for life.
