Question:
Stretched pouch

I am positive my pouch has stretched!!! I am only 5 months post op and in the last month only lost 3 pounds. However today I was so hungry I totally pigged out. I ate a half orfer of cheese sticks. Ya know the big ones. It was not what I ordered but what they sent me, since I have to eat my lunch at a certain time I went ahead and ate it. I feel like such crap. Is there anything i can do to get my pouch to shrink or did I just blow everything?    — kchurchwell (posted on March 1, 2006)

March 1, 2006
Karen, relax hon, I doubt your pouch is stretched out, it can happen but according to my surgeon it isn't easy. Remember cheese sticks are mushy and break down to nothing. Try eating meat or chicken and see how full you get quickly. Best wishes, Dana
   — cajungirl

March 1, 2006
Karen, I am 7 months post op and I myself have thought that I have over-stretched my pouch already! I too think that it's not as easy to do as we may think it is, but we should stay away from foods we KNOW are not good for us, regardless.
   — tscianca

March 1, 2006
Karen, I am 5 months out also (Sept29th) I have lost 71 lbs the scale hasn't moved in a couple of months but I certianly can tell it in my clothes ,I was told it is you body regrouping after a large ,fast weightloss. One thing is, to stay off the scale thats what I have to do otherwise I would go crazy. You are doing great keep up the great work it will happen maybe not as fast as you want but it will happen , when is the last time you lost 75 lbs in 5 months ? As for me? Never. Pam
   — sunnie

March 1, 2006
Karen, I am 5 yrs. Pos-op. I went through the same scares that you are going through now. you have just hit your firs plataue is all. My surgeon told me that it is almost next to impossible to stretch your pouch out. I would take a lot of force feeding, throwing up and pain. Unless you have done any of those I would have no worry. But if you are still concerned my dieticial also told me of a way to measure how much you pouch can hold. Once you are completely healed your pouch should beable to hold anywhere from 1c. to 1c 1/2. It is called the cottage cheese test. What you do is get some small curd cottage cheese. Has to be small curd because it is more solid and tightly packed. Take note of where the cottage cheese comes up to in the container. Then start eating. As SOON as you feel full STOP. Get a measuring cup and fill it with water. Pour that water into the container and fill it back up to the original spot where the cottage cheese was when you stared eating. Dump Remaining water in Measuring cup out, then dump whats in the cottage cheese container back into the measuring cup and that should give you about how much your pouch is holding. Hope this helpps your WLS Friend Jo Michalko
   — Jo_Michalko

March 2, 2006
your pouch has probably healed/relaxed and now your able to eat more comfortable. We all go thru it, probably more of a plateau.....your body has to catch up to the weight loss. I lost the bulk of my weight the first 8-9 months, then it really slowed up.....it'll pass. Good luck!
   — SJWendy

March 3, 2006
I assure you your pouch did not stretched. It takes a few years for the pouch to stretche. What I think you are experiencing is "head hunger". Physically spinking your body cannot be hungry because your pouch is able to handle 1 cup of food at a time. What I think you are going through are some emotional challenges it could be some old feelings/incidents from your childhood and it could be some disconfort in your life today. Morbidly obese people feel their emotion with extreme hunger and numb the disconfortable emotions/feelings with food. I think you are using the food as a distraction from what is really bothering you. Ask yourself what is wrong? Are you emotionally where you want to be? What happen to you as a child? If you start working on the feelings and the emotions, the hunger you are experiencing will eventually go away and it will be easier to stay on tract. remember you are only 5 month post-op. I am sharing with you from my heart and my experiences. I had my Open GBP in 1996. If you woulkd like to speak to me in private this is my email address [email protected]
   — Dani96