I saw my dr. yesterday for my 4 week check and he went on and on about the importance of "protecting my sleeve." He said the sleeve can stretch back out quickly and then there is a need for my surgery and that can be high risk. He said I should eat no more than a 1/4 cup of food at a time for as long as possible (months) then up to 1/2 a cup for as long as possible (more months) to "protect my sleeve" from stretching. What do you all hear from your doctors? Do you think he was just trying to scare me? He did!

If he removed the fundus(stretchy part of the stomach), the remaining tissue will have some stretch, BUT there is NOT enough tissue to ever stretch out to pre-op size. It's just not physically possible. I'm 22 months out, and I can eat 1 cup of chili, and that's if I eat slow, chew it to mush, and stretch my meal out about 30-40 minutes. I can just now eat a single packet of instant oatmeal and it took me 35-40 minutes to eat it. So, while my sleeve has relaxed from what it was at 2-3 months out, I'm eating the same amounts that I was eating a year ago.

The sleeve does mature over time, residual swelling subsides, and your capacity will change and that's completely normal and expected. 1/2 cup of food is what I eat if I just eat dense Protein. 1/2 cup is 4oz, 1/4 cup is 2oz so those measurements are on par to what I was eating. I was nearly 4 months out before I get in more than 2 ounces of dense protein per meal. It depends on what type of food you eat.

I agree that you need to eat measured portions, and be diligent with your intake. But, the focus should be on the type of food your putting in there to give you longest satiety, and most protein per meal. At least that was my focus during my losing stage.

To stretch the sleeve to any extent early out, you would have to be shoveling huge amounts of food in there, and that would more than likely lead to vomiting and discomfort.

Sniff, sniff, smells a little like BS here. Yes, I suppose it is technically true but perhaps the truth is something a little different. YES, the stomach, even the little bit that's left with the sleeve can stretch, it IS made out of stretchy stuff for just that reason. In eons past man only ate once a day or several times a week perhaps, certainly not "3 squares a day" like we do now. The stomach would stretch and people would gorge themselves to carry them through. The sleeve will stretch but even if it did so 100% it will only go from a capacity of 4 oz to 8oz, not the old full stomach capacity of 30 oz to a whopping 50-60 oz. The amazing thing is that this stretchy stomach can retract back to its original shape pretty rapidly too.

Yes, I suppose you should be careful and take the doctors word, but eating a few more forkfuls of food is not going to permanently stretch your sleeve back out to its original proportions. BTW, if your the average sleever eating that 1 or 2 forkfuls of food is going to make you wish you hadn't, your going to be miserable and feel like it's going to come back up - and it just might!

We always advise caution here in this forum. You CAN fail the sleeve, by eating too much, too often and effectively "ruin" the benefit the sleeve provides. Because after all it's not the SLEEVE that loses the weight, it's YOU and your ability to restrict your diet with reduced caloric intake that's going to lose the weight. Sit around all day drinking sugary pop, eating ice cream and small candies, stuff that slides right through the sleeve and you might just GAIN weight. Just take it easy - like your doc said.

I saw my dr. yesterday for my 4 week check and he went on and on about the importance of "protecting my sleeve." He said the sleeve can stretch back out quickly and then there is a need for my surgery and that can be high risk. He said I should eat no more than a 1/4 cup of food at a time for as long as possible (months) then up to 1/2 a cup for as long as possible (more months) to "protect my sleeve" from stretching. What do you all hear from your doctors? Do you think he was just trying to scare me? He did!

I think over time your stomach can stretch a little bit. But your stomach used to be an organ that could stretch like a snakebelly to take in *enormous* amounts of food at one sitting story and there is * no way* it can go back to being that way again. There is just not enough material there for it to go back to its original size.

I also have never heard of an emergency high risk surgery needed for a restretched sleeve. I hope misunderstood him and he wasn't just lying to you. There are enough myths about weight loss surgery as it is.

I think he was trying to scare you a bit and make sure you don't do damage. Just because your stomach can hold more, doesn't mean you to have eat to capacity.

There are some days that I want more. Some days I do eat more ... But, I'm really trying to be "in tune". Have I had enough to be satisfied? Do I really want that extra bite or two that will take me from satisfied to "just ate Thanksgiving meal" stuffed feeling?

Make sense?

I asked that question to my doctor and he said that in the past, when doctors were still leaving a larger pouch, it was common for the stomach to stretch quite a bit. However, now, with the 32-38fr bougies they do not leave much of the stretching tissue so the stomach will not be able to stretch much.

Agreed with everything said above. I asked my doc point blank and he said "NO we remove the part that stretches, you won't be able to eat like you did before so it won't happen." I believe him b/c I eat about 1/4 to 1/2 cup at meals and "JUST ONE MORE BITE" always finds it's way back out of my belly into the toilet. So, a bit of advice, stop the second your body tells you your full, you really can't just get one more bite in.

This is great to hear. I am due to have my surgery soon and I needed to hear this!

Thanks,

Kelly

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It almost sound like he was talking about RNY. You can stretch out your stoma, (where the stomach pouch is attached to the intestine) and food just slides out and into the intestine letting you eat more and more.

I think when he said "more surgery" - sorry I wrote MY when I ment MORE - he was talking about another weight loss surgery like the bypass to accomplish the weight loss. Basically he was saying that if I ate too much at one time my stomach could stretch way out and it then would not do all that this surgery was intended to do then I would end up with another surgery to accomplish what this one was supposed to. At least that's what I think he meant. I think he was telling me all this because, although I told him I only 1/4 cup of food at a time now - which was fine with him - when he asked me if it took me 20 - 30 minutes to eat it, I admitted that it didn't. He was reinforcing the "eating slowly and chewing, chewing, chewing" by warning me about all these scary pouch changes that could occur if I didn't.

My docs told me that I need to take 10 minutes between each bite of food, and to chew chew chew. I asked if anyone had ever had their staples come out and the doc told me that it had never happen since she's been doing surgery. However, I have researched about the stomach stretching and numerous doctors had written that the stomach that's left can stretch out. The stomach does not have the capacity to stretch out as far as it did pre op. That it is possible to put the weight back on if we are continuously snacking. I am in agreement with this and know that I need to be aware of how much I'm eating, not eating sugar and high fat food. I want to eat healthier and feel better too. Hope this helps. Remember to always "eat small amounts" and savor what we do eat. I also started taking prilosec and found out that I am no longer hungry all the time and feel alot more comfortable. Thanks

Good to know. I was 100% going for the Lapband until I attended my first sleeve support group earlier this week. Got a few months to go but this forum has been excellent. I don't have anyone that I can talk to about my decision so I look forward to reading these postings throughout the day.