Question:
Has anyone heard of anyway to shrink your pouch?

I'm 12 mos. post and losng nothing. I had seen something about like a plan of food you can try to shrink your pouch??    — Pam K. (posted on January 2, 2002)

January 2, 2002
Pam, I just went away for 11 days, and the food was so different, I found eating very difficult. I'm not quite 4 months post-op, but now that I'm home, I've found my pouch is definitely smaller. So it seems that going to smaller portions for a few weeks will definitely cause some shrinkage. HTH
   — Julia M.

January 2, 2002
I am Pre-op, so please take my opinions at the value they deserve, but I have heard that one can re-set things a bit by going back on liquids for a day or two. It doesn't shrink one's pouch, but it does seem to make getting back on track annd eating the right amounts of the right things easier.
   — jomu

January 2, 2002
I am pre-op, but I have been seeing a registered dietician for about 7 months, and he told me that the stomach in general will shrink in size when smaller portions are taken in, so I'm pretty sure that for a WLS it would have to be the same thing. I hope that helps a llittle, I know it's not the exact same thing, but I just thought you might like to know that.
   — tjmoore

January 2, 2002
I'm four years post-op and I've never heard of any nutritional way of shrinking your pouch. It just doesn't work that way. Every pouch naturally stretches over time. That's why we can eat more food at two years post-op than we could at 6 months post-op. I do think that after a period of over consumming carbs and/or falling back to unhealthy and fattening eating patters. we can retrain ourselves and get back to proper pouch management. Reducing carbs and water loading makes us feel fuller longer and eliminates the desire to snack. But, that isn't shrinking the pouch.
   — [Anonymous]

January 2, 2002
I have heard that people have gone on clear liquid diets (similar to immediately postop) for 4-5 days and then go to pureed, then soft etc that you can get the old feeling back but I haven't tried it. I do know when I referee at soccer tournaments I tend to drink fluids all day and eat little, if anything, solid and after 2 days doing that, I can't seem to eat much for a few days. Good Luck!
   — M B.