Question:
I was just able to eat 1 cup of food!!!

Okay, it is lunch time here at my office. I just ate a frozen meal that was 8 ounces. It was chilimac from Michellina's. I am totally stressing that I am able to eat that much food. Does that mean that my pouch is now 8oz??? I have noticed that I am able to eat a little more lately. Could there be a problem?? I thought my pouch would stay 4 oz. forever. Did I stretch it?? This morning I ate 3/4 of an egg/sausage/cheese sandwich. I am 9 months post op and down 121 pounds. I will be getting my period next week and don't know if that is a factor. However, I have noticed that even without my period being due, I am able to eat a little more. I am very worried about this. Any thoughts??    — enjo4 (posted on July 24, 2001)

July 24, 2001
I feel the same way! I'm 5 months post op and down 96 pounds. My surgeon told me that I would be able to eat up to 8oz...but it seems like so much more than that sometimes. Although I was having lunch with friends the other day and had ordered a pasta salad..I thought I had eaten way to much when one of my friends said "How can you survive by eating so little!?" I guess alot of the problem comes from a screwy perception of things...we're going to be able to eat more than we did right after surgery but no where near what we ate before. I am going to have a talk with my surgeon when I see her next month, and ask to be scoped just to make sure there is no staple line disruption, but I'm sure she's going to tell me I'm over reacting! BTW while I was writing this post I just finished my 7 1/2 oz Chef-boy-ardee Lazagna lunchable...I think like Barb said..it had alot of sauce and when you chew it really not that much! Good luck!
   — DolcezzaVT

July 24, 2001
I'm three years post op and I can relate. Some days I can eat more than I can eat on other days. For me, if I eat too many carbs, I tend to get hungery and eat more. When I keep my carbs around 50 grams a day, I eat very little. I don't even get hungery between meals. You pouch does stretch a little after the first year, so it's perfectly normal that you can hold more food than you could right after your surgery. As for stretching your pouch. My surgeon says that it isn't all that easy to do. You would have to eat to the point of nausea three times a day for several months to stretch your pouch.
   — [Anonymous]

July 24, 2001
Erin, Are you sure the measurement on the frozen dinner isn't a weight measurment and not a volume measurement? Your pouch probably still is a 4oz pouch (volume) or pretty close, but 8oz (weight) of food, depending on what it is, could easily chew down to less than 8oz of volume. Heck, if it was real heavy, it could even up less volume than that before it was chewed.
   — Sharyle L.