Just how large is my stomach?

[Malagal 6]

I'm about 19 days post-op and I'm surprised by the amount of food I can eat. I did the "cottage cheese test" (from "Success Habits of Weight Loss Surgery Patients" by Colleen Cook) and according to the test, my stomach can comfortably hold 10 ounces (3/4 cup), which shocked me. I thought it would be half that. I plan to ask my surgeon more about this on my next visit, but is this unusual? I lost quite a bit of weight before surgery on the liquid diet (one week), but loss has been slower than I expected after that. I've decided to weigh weekly instead of every day, so I don't get discouraged by the inevitable up-and-down of daily weights. I know the surgery isn't a magic bullet and it's up to me to make this work, but the sluggish weight loss is a little discouraging. I'm still learning how much I can and should eat, and I'm tracking my intake on myfitnesspal to make sure my calorie counts are reasonable. I'm taking in between 800-1,000 calories on most days, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.

[Bufflehead 6,358]

Your stomach is still healing after surgery. Your nerves can't properly relay signals involving fullness, pain, etc. to your brain at this point. Over-eating might not result in pain or a full feeling but it could damage your stomach. DId your surgeon give you guidelines about how much to eat, presumably less than 3 ounces? If so, you definitely want to follow those guidelines. I was on full liquids at 19 days, not allowed to eat anything -- and when I was allowed to move to purees such as cottage cheese at four weeks, not permitted more than 3 T. per meal, total.

Anyway, most cottage cheese is 8 ounces per cup anyway, so if you ate 3/4 cup, that would be 6 ounces rather than 10 I believe.

[Malagal 6]

Thanks Bufflehead... I am so confused. Math is not my forte. You're right, and six ounces sounds a lot better than ten. Phew!!

Believe me, I'm not overeating in one sitting. I DEFINITELY know when I've had too much. I'm trying to eat only meals, and not snack or graze.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Malagal