Stomach Stretching is a Myth

[dashofsunshine 875]

I'll be 3 years post op I'm November, 170 lbs lost.

I still can *barely* eat 4 oz of food. Most of my meals are 3 oz and I'm stuffed. This is of anything - Protein, veggies, salad...anything.

In the early days before my swelling fully went down, I could eat maybe 2-3 bites of anything at a time. Now it's more like 5-6 bites - and it has been 5-6 bites for over 2 years now. Call that "stretching," if ya want? Lol

I never push it. I made this a lifestyle. I've experienced zero regain and have been maintaining under goal since 16 months post op.

[reallyrosy 161]

Hope it remains this way for you! Good luck

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[ProfessorSlim 115]

On 8/26/2017 at 7:03 PM, HDScarlett said:

My surgery was yesterday, my surgeon told me time and time again the the pouch can stretch - no more carbonated drinks (I held a ceremony for my last diet coke LOL). After what I have gone through to get here, the money spent, AND seeing people who have failed, I am following what my doctor has ordered!! I'm not going back. Thankfully, his office has a weekly support group too.

I too, am going to need a moment to say good bye to my last diet cok. It is an addiction, and makes you want to eat junky carbs....But I love it. I know I will be saying goodbye to my garbage-diet-cokes!

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

Stretching is a myth unless you had a bad surgeon, which from a lot of the posts I read here is seems very possible for a lot of people.

RNY pouches can definitely stretch though. and they can make extended stomachs at the top of the intestine. A properly formed sleeve does not stretch. Healing is not stretching.

My capacity at over 2 years is exactly the same as it was at 6 months. 4 ounces of dense Protein, is the max I can eat comfortably.

That is if I follow my post-op eating instructions which are to eat protein FIRST. If I eat protein alone/first. I can eat 4 ounces maybe 5 if it has more fat, but honestly 5 is uncomfortable. If I eat it alternating bites with veggies I can eat 6 maybe even 8 ounces of protein. Which is why post-op instructions are to eat protein first. If I eat meat with veggies and take sips of Water, I can eat as much as anyone else (because I am turning dense protein into a slider).

If I eat something that is not dense protein, like a burger, I can easily eat a 6 ounce burger with cheese.

If I eat something that breaks down easy like a crispy thin crust pizza, its a slider. I could eat a whole large thin crust pizza in an hour. That is grazing though, so that doesn't count. Eating sliders and grazing are breaking the rules but I could.

What people call stretching is really just bad food choices and poor eating habits. I have never seen anyone say they pounded down a 16 ounce ribeye, except that one dude that claimed he ate like a 20 ounce steak at 6 weeks or something.

Dr Wiener tries to educate people on proper eating habits for life. If you are not eating correctly all the sleeve tightening, and revisions will not save you. People can eat around any surgery. The best thing is to eat properly, in the correct order.

Prior to surgery I would go to Steak N shake and eat a double, a triple and 2 orders of fries. I used to be able to consume massive amounts of food. I really just can't eat like that all, IF I FOLLOW THE RULES. If I don't follow the rules I can totally eat a ton of food. I could easily eat 1/2 a double layer cake if I wanted to, in 30 minutes to an hour, nothing will stop me, it is just mush.

This is why following your post-op eating instructions for the first 6 months are really important. Not only are they a prescription diet to prevent complications but those instructions also re-train you on eating like you are a baby so you can learn new habits. With your surgery restriction, metabolic reset and rapid weight loss as tools and motivators to help you learn and stick to them. When people are a week or two out, sneaking food and talking about their body knows it needs and all that other drama, they are just cheating themselves out of their chance for an easy reset.

And yes it is easy, losing weight immediately after weight loss surgery is the fastest and easy weight loss you are ever going to have in your life and you only get one real chance at it, revisions don't lost as fast as first timers. So don't blow it.

[FluffyChix 17,415]

@OutsideMatchInside Beautiful post and So. Much. Important. Perspective!!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!

[jess9395 5,449]

@outsidematchinside speaks the truth!!!

Remember that 20 oz steak guy? Oh my!

Still not sure I could eat a whole thin crust pizza in an hour though. But your point is solid! A whole box of cheezits I could though!

[FluffyChix 17,415]

@jess9395 Cheeeeeeeeeezzzzeeeeeeeittttsssss!

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

11 hours ago, jess9395 said:

@outsidematchinside speaks the truth!!!

Remember that 20 oz steak guy? Oh my!

Still not sure I could eat a whole thin crust pizza in an hour though. But your point is solid! A whole box of cheezits I could though!

Well what counts as thin crust around the country/world varies. I'm a pizza snob, we have legit thin crust here and it is THIN, crackers are thicker than true thin crust. Then when you add sauce and cheese, slider city.

I'm pretty sure it was like a 24 ounce steak. I need to find that thread

Edit: Found it...

Edited September 6, 2017 by OutsideMatchInside

[AnA92212 577]

Stomachs stretch. That's how I was able to eat so much before. After surgery, it isn't quite the same. My surgeon said that the greatest likelihood of "stretching" is during the first year. This is people who force food. We know the stomach can accommodate more now than it did right after surgery. I could literally eat 1 bite of egg and be full. Now I can eat about a half cup of food to a cup (depending on what it is). We all know people who lost a ton of weight and then gained it all back plus more. It can happen to some degree.

[FluffyChix 17,415]

@AnA92212 In the early days, did you stop at that 1 bite of egg, or did you wait a few minutes and try to get down your 1-2ozs?

[jess9395 5,449]

Stomachs stretch. That's how I was able to eat so much before. After surgery, it isn't quite the same. My surgeon said that the greatest likelihood of "stretching" is during the first year. This is people who force food. We know the stomach can accommodate more now than it did right after surgery. I could literally eat 1 bite of egg and be full. Now I can eat about a half cup of food to a cup (depending on what it is). We all know people who lost a ton of weight and then gained it all back plus more. It can happen to some degree.

Not to beat a dead horse, but--

The fundus is the stretchy part. It is removed during vertical sleeve surgery.

Early out the sleeve is swollen. It take several months for the swelling to be completely gone. That's is the "stretching" that occurs.

The rest is eating habits and sliders.

[reallyrosy 161]

Ana92212...thats the crux of the matter there. It is my belief that we call back into old habits no matter how long out we are from the surgery . Between reading about the "myth" of stretching, the "moral failure " of the individual to retain new eating behaviors so as to maintain the loss, the statistics docs post about followup, the shame of being overweight that we carried all our lives, the microbiota [SIBO] and supplements ....we really don't have any definitive data that helps us resolve the main issue of why we get to a point where only surgery saves us. I've been the whole route. I don't have answers. All I know is that it is NOT a moral failing that makes us fat and there is nothing virtuous about going for the surgery. But knowing this and believing it are two different animals. We get to try and that should be enough. Ultimately life happens. Good luck to all those who are still in the planning stages, the honeymoon years, the horrible ouch i gained, I will restart it , etc. That's all we can hope for: good luck.

[reallyrosy 161]

Fall bsck...not call back....

[ProfessorSlim 115]

1 hour ago, jess9395 said:

Not to beat a dead horse, but--

The fundus is the stretchy part. It is removed during vertical sleeve surgery.

Early out the sleeve is swollen. It take several months for the swelling to be completely gone. That's is the "stretching" that occurs.

The rest is eating habits and sliders.

sorry if this was covered already...but what is a Slider?

[Introversion 1,876]

1 hour ago, ProfessorSlim said:

sorry if this was covered already...but what is a Slider?

Silders are foods, usually simple carbohydrate Snacks, that provide no fullness or satiety since they don't stay in the sleeved stomach that long before 'sliding' into the small intestine.

chips, crackers, pretzels, popcorn, Cookies, donuts, cupcakes, wafers, and similar foods are sliders, a.k.a. slurry foods.

A sleeved person can eat 25 cookies (1250 calories) and never feel full because a cookie is a slider. A sleeved person cannot eat 25 pork chops or 25 chicken breasts or 25 cucumbers because dense meats and veggies are not sliders.