Stomach Stretch

[Rollo 7]

I don't see my Dr. for another couple of weeks. I haven't gotten a fill yet and was wondering if you mess up and eat too much and stretch the pouch out can you go back and start eating like you are suppose to and shrink you stomach back down? I'm kind of winging it right now on the portion size. It's hard when you have different foods on your plate to judge how much I'm eating. When I'm really full I feel like I'm stretching my pouch out. I'm still losing about 1-2 pounds a week, but want to make sure that continues.

[lisacaron 5,075]

@@Rollo So the key here is not to eat until you are "full". You want to stop eating when you are no longer hungry and satisfied. If you are eating until you feel stuffed and full then you are over eating and you don't want to stretch out your stomach. If you do that you can prolapse the band and cause some real problems for yourself.

A good rule of thumb is to take 20 minutes no more and no less to eat your meal, putting the fork/spoon/knife down between each bite, chewing and swallowing the bite before starting on the next one. When you plate food use a small plate and don't pile it high. Eat what's on the plate and time yourself so it takes you 20 minutes to eat it. Slow down if your finishing too quickly, and once your done with the plate of food in 20 minutes. Relax and access your hunger level again in an hour. Have a glass of Water, or beverage and then if still hungry have a small snack.

Do some research on portion sizes and you will get the hang of it.

[2muchfun 8,927]

It's OK to be concerned with pouch or esophageal dilation but it takes a lot of food over a long period of time to make this happen. Just a few meals and a few months won't be enough to cause dilation imo.

For me and I think most of us, to eat so much that we stretched our pouches would be very painful. You would have to experience daily stuck and slime episodes to cause dilation so soon.

Just follow Lisa's advice and all will work out.

[Jendkopp 62]

Unfortunately, i has slight pouch dilation, and before it occurred, i was getting stuck and felt general discomfort in my chest while eating. Be careful and stop eating when you are no longer hungry; do not eat until you feel full. Best of luck!

[Lady VS 1,147]

Actually it doesn't take that long to dilate your pouch. A few months after I was banded I can't remember exactly maybe three or four my stoma was sitting on the band. We saw this under floro so we had to take some Fluid out so I could have a nice tornado look. I was on liquids for a week. What caused it? Eating to fast and taking big bites of food. I did really well for a while and a year or so later, the same thing happened again. Same problem as before. Eating too fast and forgetting to take small bites. I haven't dilated my pouch since. Eating slowly and taking small bites really chewing your food until it's mush in your mouth will help you to not dilate your pouch. Good luck