Ok you guys...tell me -

[Seahawkgirl 129]

Can you, or can you not stretch out your sleeve? I have read a ton of stuff on this site and have seen a variety of answers. It seems to me that the stretchy bit is removed with surgery so I am inclined to think no. Maybe people mistake the natural increase in eating ability that would come as swelling diminishes with stretching?

Discuss,,,

[GeekMomChanging 48]

My surgeon says that there can be some "stretching" but mostly there is an increase in the opening from the stomach to the intestines allowing food to pass through quickly. He claims most weight gain is because people learn to eat around their stomachs by consuming liquids and sliders.

[Miss Mac 6,262]

I agree. At 16 months, Miss Tummy has a comfortable capacity of about one cup. It is more like 3/4 for something dense like beef stew, one cup for regular foods like scrambled eggs or steamed veggies, and two cups for something that is mostly liquid like Soup or salad greens that break down into nothing.

I can't really overfill without stacking the excess in my esopagus, but if I eat real slow or just nibble away at something, it would be easy to just eat all day.

So, I have to discipline myself for 1/2 hour meals times and quick small Protein Snacks and then have Water available to sip all day. That helps me get 80-100 ounces of fluids by defining specific meals times.

An ounce of peanuts has 168 calories and 8 grams of Protein, but if I mindlessly graze on 1/2 cup, that is 32 grams of protein but 672 calories. Losing control is easy to do. Even at this far post-op, I still weigh and measure when I am at home. It keeps me out of touble.

[jane13 2,256]

@@Miss Mac - That what my surgeon was telling me yesterday that most people don't think about those peanuts (almonds, was his example) and how many calories are in them He told me to try to eat 2 meals a day and I could have fresh fruit or raw veggies all day long (chew them well).