Question:
Can your stomach shrink again and can you get your dumping syndrome back?

Almost immediately after my surgery in Aug 2002, my husband and I lost our jobs, and have been living on 20% of our usual income. That included a very starchy diet, because that diet is less expensive than a high protein diet. Thankfully, I have found a fabulous job and our lives are back on track. My diet isn't. In the meantime, I experienced the rapid weight loss, almost without having to think about it. I lost 85 pounds of the 105 I had to lose. However, I have regained about 30 lbs, and am able to eat a whole sandwich at one time (just one, thank goodness!) I have also lost the dumping syndrome that kept me in line (it took a lot of perseverance to lose it!) I want it back! Is this possible? I know the Atkins diet is quite a bit like the diet we are supposed to follow, and I can now afford it, but will those two tools come back? I would be grateful for any info. Thanks, Stephanie in Utah    — sgaiwalker (posted on March 21, 2004)

March 20, 2004
Go back to basics! Eat protein first, VERY low carbs, get TONS of exercise, and admit your going to be hungry sometimes:( For me that works! See my profile although it needs updated. Avoiding sugar for awhile definetely resets my dump o meter. I dumped a few days ago on a chocolatre covered strawberry. For exercise I got a part time job as a stock person at a local grocery store and volunteer to do the heavy work. Hey that skid needs moved? I will do it! Put out display the other night 4 skids of pepsi. That weighs a ton:) All moved by me! I couldnt of done any of this pre op. NOTHING tastes as good as being thin! Now every day is a struggle. Sure that yummy whatever will taste good. But is it worth getting fat and ill again??? NO WAY!! BTW in just a few short weeks at the grocery store I lost about 7 pounds! 26 hours a week was too many with everything else I HAVE to accomplish. So I cut back to 2 nights a week.
   — bob-haller

March 20, 2004
I can tell you first hand IT CAN! I have been on a strict Atkin's diet for 2.5 wks now with NO SUGAR and very little carbs. Last night I ate at IHOP and had about 3 bites of that stuffed french toast w/apples on top. OMG!!!!!!! I can tell you that it was just like right after surgery with the dumping. I was SOOO sick and am so scared to ever eat sugar again. I am 4 years out in April and could tolerate sugar in the last couple years.
   — ZZ S.

March 21, 2004
Absolutely! If you go back to drinking the shakes and eating very little, in about three days you return to filling up easier and requiring very little to eat. The secret is to stay in that mode. If I even eat two or three m & m's, the carb monster is woke up. I have lost 20 lbs in the last 8 wks since panniculelctomy. And I had been "stuck" for almost a year. It can be done with a little help from your tool. No, let me change that, the tool (pouch) is available whenever YOU decide to use it. It is up to you.
   — Mylou52

March 21, 2004
I had a period a couple of weeks ago when I was getting sick several days in a row, so I went back to soft foods for a week. When I resumed eating more dense foods (meats, tuna, etc) I noticed I ate less. I was at first eating about 1/2 to 3/4 of the serving size I had eaten just 2 weeks prior. So it surely shrunk up for me.
   — Patricia T.