1SuperBonBon

Hello All: I found this information today while cruising the internet at work (I know I know, but it is my first day back and I am trying to stay awake). I pasted the hyperlink at the end so you can figure out the source, but the information seems reasonable and accurate. One of the first questions patients ask about food. The surgery has a nice benefit of reducing the hunger inducing hormone reglin. But ultimately, its the restrictive nature of a smaller stomach that leads to weight loss. So its normal and smart to ask, “What happens if my stomach stretches and I gain weight back?” Your Stomach Can and Will Stretch After Surgery Our stomachs have the amazing ability to stretch and expand as a result of our food intake. The walls of our stomach are made up of folds of tissue called ‘Rugae.’ These are folds in the stomach wall that expand and contract as a direct response to food entering and flowing through your stomach. Hunger and How Food Flows Through Our Stomach When we eat food it enters through our mouths, gets chewed and swallowed. It then flows through our esophagus into our stomach where acid starts the process of breaking the food down. As we continue to eat, more food enters the stomach and joins the rest of the food – all of which is waiting to be broken down by stomach acid. Our stomachs expand to accommodate all of this food. When our stomachs expand far enough a signal is sent to our brains telling us, ‘That is enough food, I’m full now.’ After you’re done eating, the food is slowly broken down by your stomach acid and then the folds in your stomach contract to push the food into your intestines where digestive juices further digest your food. The Problem The reason many people are overweight is not because they like food more than the rest of us. Its because their hunger and full signals are broken. Once you continue to stretch out your stomach by overeating on a regular basis the signals your stomach sends to your brain indicating fullness and hunger start to get skewed. After a while your stomach only says, ‘I’m full,’ after its severely stretched out. And it may start saying ‘Feed me,’ when its still half-full. This is why losing weight is so difficult. When Overeating Leads to Stomach Stretching After gastric sleeve surgery its important to keep your stomach away from the overeating cycle that can lead to a stretched stomach. If you ate too much on Thanksgiving your stomach will stretch. If you binged one night on KFC, your stomach will stretch. Your stomach is just doing its job. The good news is that it will contract. However, if after a large meal, your next meal is a large meal and you continue this on a regular basis you risk permanently stretching your stomach. The danger is not in the size of your stomach. The danger is that you will skew the triggers for hunger and fullness. This will lead to a continued cycle of overeating, which will then lead to weight gain. How to Prevent the Stretch After Gastric Sleeve Surgery Eating one or two large meals will not lead to a permanently stretched stomach or issues with your hunger and fullness triggers. However, doing this multiple times can lead to issues. The list below hi-lights key points to reduce the risk of stretching your stomach after gastric sleeve surgery. Limit volume not sweets. Instead of totally limiting every aspect of your diet, give yourself a reward once a week with a special treat limited in size. But do not go out and eat a large meal – regardless of the type of food. Reduce the amount of fluids that you drink when you eat. Its not a bad idea to drink before you eat so that you feel full faster. But its better to drink your fluids an hour or two before eating and/or an hour or two after. This lets the fluids digest and they won’t increase the amount of gas that can build If you do have a bigger than normal meal, make your next meal small and make sure you don’t make larger meals a habit. If you are always feeling hungry, then eat small amounts of healthy Snacks in between meals. Almonds are a delicious and healthy way to feel satisfied in between meals. Get a good book with healthy recipes that are geared for people who have gone through gastric sleeve surgery. We’ve got a list of ourbooks here. DO NOT get discouraged. If you fell off the wagon and binged one or two meals or even the entire previous week. The stomach and the mind is an amazingly resilient thing. Start over and start eating normal meals again. Call your surgeon and ask for help before it gets too far out of hand. Get on the online forums and ask others for help. Don’t be embarrassed to ask for help. Here is a list of our favorite forums. So stretching your stomach after gastric sleeve surgery is not a myth. It can happen and it does happen. Be aware of it and prevent it. Remember how hard the surgery and recovery was? Remember what a big decision you made? Its never too late to change your habits and get back on the right track. http://216.70.100.66/weight-loss-surgeries/gastric-sleeve/gastric-sleeve-will-my-stomach-stretch

LOL its far. A little south of San Francisco 35 miles and 15 miles north of San Jose. I would not have chimed in if I didnt think he was all that and a bag of chips. I have personally seen results on several of my friends and one of his specialties is WLS patients.

I have one in northern CA Mountain View. He does beautiful work and his scars are amazing! Let me know.

Hi When I was 18 i had managed to get up to 206 pounds at 5'7". I was shocked when I went over the 200 mark. I immediately started counting calories and exercising. I lost 60 pounds 206 to 146. I had no skin issues at all and wore a bikini for years. Everyone is different but age is definitely on your side. Good luck!

I have had a TT and breast lift and reduction at the same time. It wasnt too bad. But my mom helped me for the first 5-7 days. I was able to get up to the bathroom okay and all but it was nice to have the support and drive me to follow up appt. I am all for doing as much as possible at one time. Once you go under make the most of it. Good luck

Hello All, I have been following you all closing, but haven't posted much lately. I am now 10 weeks and a day post-op and down a total of 69.1 pounds. I have finally gotten around to posting my progress pictures. Picture on the left is last Christmas 2012 Picture on the right is this Christmas 2013 I have actually lost 7 more pounds since the current picture was taken. I can't wait to bring in the New Year with this New Body. Happy New Year Everyone! (I hope I uploaded the picture correctly - fingers crossed) Bonnie

Thank you all for the positive feedback and compliments. Let me see if I can answer your questions. In all fairness, I have to say that about 10 years ago when I once was thin after having my daughter (it only took 10 years of trying to get the "baby" weight off) I had a tummy tuck and a breast lift. With that said, my tummy tuck is bouncing back nicely and no loose skin yet. My stomach is very flat and tight. My breasts are hanging in there like real champs. Time will tell if I will perk them up again later. The two areas that I can see might need some help are my upper arms and inner thighs. Right now they are not bad enough to do anything with, but I still have 59(?) pounds to go. So far I have no really noticed any hair loss, but my hair is super-duper thick. Again, thank you all for your kind support and taking time to check out my progress. I know 2014 is gonna be awesome! Let the Parties begin (but be safe and no drinking and driving). Bonnie

I am not familiar with the pouch test. Sorry. But I can relate to feeling hungry all the time. Some days it is worse than others. This week seems to be especially bad. I have always been a night time grazer/snacker/munchies. I have been working hard to overcome that bad habit. I try to eat dinner between 6 and 7 and make sure it is a dense Protein. Then I only allow myself to drink flavor infused Water until I go to sleep. I also track everything I eat on MFP. It is the only way I can be held accountable because I have a tendenancy to graze and would lose track of calories very easily. I am sorry I can't be more help, but I am sure someone else will chime in with some pearls of wisdom. Bonnie

Hi Marfar Here is something I posted about stomach stretching back on November 4th. I hope this helps. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/286386-will-my-stomach-stretch-interesting-information/ Bonnie

Things are very difficult to find. I used to be able to just pop in and see the trending topics on the right and then hit View All and scan most recent topics. Now it seems as though I have to go into each subtopic group and scan through the posts in there. I don't like this. I like to read post from all different subgroups. For example I am post op but like to read pre op and give advice if possible. You get the idea.

Oh this was the best! I really laughed hard. I thought I only did some of these things. I holding on to my 5th amendment rights and not disclosing which ones I thought I was the only one. Thanks for sharing.

I totally want in but don't think I can make the new year I have 37 pounds and only 6 weeks. That would be 6.1 per week and I am averaging 4 per week. I will track along with you all and see how well I can do. If nothing else I will be your cheerleader!!

My insurance didn't require me to lose any weight or go on a supervised diet. My surgeon did require me to lose 10-15 pounds prior to my pre-op appt. I am thinking this is similiar to the other posters 10% of excess weight, because I needed to lose 128 pounds. In addition to the 10-15 pounds I did a 10 day liquid Protein shake diet. None of this was about discipline or diet. It was to help shrink my liver. Just my experience. Bonnie

I had to quit too to have my surgery. I wanted this surgery more than anything. I have been desiring to quit for years but never really put much effort into. I had to go cold turkey. No nicotine replacement or Rx's. I couldn't take Chantix b/c my Psychiatrist strongly discouraged it do to my mental health conditions. I couldn't use many of the nicotine replacements b/c several of them contain gluten. Anyhooo it was cold turkey for me. Here is my experience. I hope this helps encourage you to do it too. First of all I quit on a Saturday so I wouldn't have to be at work. Day 1 was not too bad. I tried to sleep in and sleep as much as I could to get through the day. Day 2 the withdrawals started to kick in but it was still a lot of mind over matter. Day 3 Oh lordy this was the worst day. The withdrawals were really bad. I will not tell a lie. I had anxiety, Hot flashes, Trouble concentrating, it goes on and on. But I was 3 days into this I was not giving up at this point. So I pushed through. Day 4 was a tiny bit better than day 3, but still pretty bad Day 5 okay the withdrawals are lightening up and I am starting to feel there is some hope. Day 6 I started to know I was gonna make it. Day 7 I started believing and thinking like a non-smoker. Here are a few things that I have noticed and relished about quitting smoking. My voice has changed and sounds much clearer and not as raspy. My resting breathing has improved. My skin color is much healthier looking. And I attribute quitting smoking and losing weight to NO MORE SNORING I feel really great now and have no desire to go back. It was so hard to quit and I never want to have to go through that again. I smoked for 23 years at least 2 packs a day. It is not easy but never give up trying. You just need to find something you want more than smoking. Good Luck to you! You can do this! Bonnie

I guess I am lucky. Most of the people I told said something to the effect of..... Wow, how exciting! Are you excited or nervous about it? I haven't told EVERYONE, but I am not gonna lie either if asked. It is kinda on a need to know case-by-case basis.

These are all very normal thoughts. I agree with loveelaura too. Take this time to start practicing and getting in the right mindset.

Thanks Gamergirl. Just what I needed as my scale doesn't want to cooperate with me. I am 32.5% to goal. Not too shabby. I will take that to the bank!

Oh mine started in my pre-op diet after about 5 days, and has not let up (15 days post op) You will know when it hits. Trust me.

Bariatric surgery patients may see benefits to their sex lives If I can find anyone who wants to get that close to me with this dragon breath :ph34r: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57610955/bariatric-surgery-patients-may-see-benefits-to-their-sex-lives/

Miralx It is powder and no taste mix with gatorade an viola. I take it about 7 at night so it will work by the next morning. You might have to do it 2 nights in a row.

I can relate. <-----Stinky Breath here. On Monday night my ex BF came over to wath movies and informed me my breath was like drangon breath, and I had just brushed my teeth right before he came over. The only saving grace is that he is a personal trainer and know about ketosis. At least he understands. But it makes me very self conscience at work. My ex told me not to worry it will eventual go away, but then he added, "like in six months" How am I ever going to date with breath like this? Bonnie

about 4 ounces. It takes me 60-75 minutes to drink a 16.9 ounce water bottle. And I feel like I am a good drinker. No problems, pain, or vomiting.

Those are some good ideas Thank goodness I have never indulged in the gluten-free replacement foods. I have just tried to eat naturally gluten-free, which is pretty close to the post-op plan now. I believe it has been easier for me after surgery, because I already had all my food funerals last year when I was diagnosed.

Myth or Fact: If you cut down on your food intake, you'll eventually shrink your stomach so you won't be as hungry. Answer: Myth. Once you are an adult, your stomach pretty much remains the same size -- unless you have surgery to intentionally make it smaller. Eating less won't shrink your stomach, says Moyad, but it can help to reset your "appetite thermostat" so you won't feel as hungry, and it may be easier to stick with your eating plan. http://women.webmd.com/pharmacist-11/stomach-problems There you go. I think you are safe

How far a long are you? I am only 15 days post op. I have celiac disease and must eat COMPLETELY gluten free. I am in the same boat as you trying to figure out Snacks. So far I have come up with low-fat string cheese. I love my Dannon Light and Fit Greek Yogurt. I have looked into gluten-free Protein bars. So far I have found Quest, but haven't treid them. I need to go to GNC and read the label, because many gluten-free Protein Bars will say on the package that they are produced on equipment that produces wheat products. I just can not have that!!!!! I can't wait to see what other people might come up with, because I need ideas too. Bonnie