I am a year out of being sleeved... I finally was able to fit a whole sandwich (cutting edges off/reg bread slices -not the big ones with oats and stuff)... how did I go from only being able to chow down 1/2 a sandwich to a whole one over night? It worries me that I stretched my tummy out? oh no!!! how do I shrink it back! I wouldn't mind eating this little forever!! I am freaking out... is this normal to finally be able to eat "normal"?

I think normal is the key!!!!

I agree - its okay to be "normal".

That scares me, too. The nurse said that it's normal to wake up one day and be able to eat 1 1/2 cups of food. I DON'T want that to happen. I'm TERRIFIED it will.

As we get further out from surgery, our sleeves do normally allow us to eat more food. That's why we have to be diligent about changing our eating habits before we get to that mark.

oh yes, I'm out 3 years now and can eat what I call "normal". . . not like before, with hords of food, just normal. . . for example i can eat a whole egg or two (thats pushing it though) I can eat a whole sandwich, about 1 1/2 slices of pizza, whole piece of cake. But not the whole thing! And that, to me, is the most important. I'm not able to pig out like i used to 3 years ago. . . i'm "normal"

yea I freaked out today... before last week, I was only able to eat 1 hard boiled egg... for lunch I had a hard boiled egg and half a grilled cheese I don't want to starve myself.. but I don't want to just allow me one egg just because I am afraid...

I go up and down with my capacity as my time of the month nears, too. I swear that darn sleeve relaxes when I have PMS!!

Look - half a sandwich and a hard boiled egg is NOTHING compared to what you would have eaten a year ago. I'm going to say something you might not like but I really want to help you. I think you're scared that you don't have the self control to eat "normally" and that you want the sleeve to do it all for you. On one hand, you're in luck. That sleeve might expand enough to fit a whole sandwich (sans crust, of course) but it's not going to fit a whole pizza or a value meal from McDonald's again. It's unlikely you're going to expand much at all from this point onward.

Part of this process is learning to eat normally. We need to view food as vital, as nourishing and as energy instead of as a source of comfort or something to feel guilty about. Around 18 months out I noticed an increased capacity (FINALLY!) and did the same thing - I freaked a little bit. But what was I freaked about? I was finally able to eat TWO eggs scrambled with cheese instead of only one. Big whoop!

You are not losing control. You are in control. There will come a point when you need to eat more in order to maintain your energy and your goal weight. Slowly learning how to do it without scaring yourself, losing control or seeing a gain on the scale is an important part of the process. This is what nobody talks about when they talk about surgery! Dealing with the mental aspect of the surgery is the most important thing you can do for yourself. Your stomach didn't make you overweight - something in your head did. Figure it out. Limiting yourself too severely because you're afraid eating will cause a gain is an eating disorder just as surely as overeating in the past was a disorder.

If you aren't already, track your calories. Sometimes I get a lot of comfort from seeing numbers in the same ballpark each day and knowing that I'm eating the right amount of food even when I feel like I'm overdoing things.

Good luck,

~Cheri

It scares me that I can eat way more at 3 years than I could at a year. I try to just eat the amount I always ate before I hit the 3 year mark, even though I could eat more.

I am lucky that I love my Protein shakes, and I am never really hungry. If I end up eating too much and I gain back some weight, I go right back to Protein Shakes. Losing weight was easy. Maintenance is much harder.

Just want to say that it is nice to have all you experienced slevers here!

@~Cheri .... I am only 9 days post-op but your comment was/is very moving....if you don't mind, i am going to print it and pin to my inspiration wall.... thank you for words of wisdom...

tjmom/sandy

Ughhh I am so experiencing the panic from this. I started going to therapy on my own months before surgery and have kept up with it all year (I am 5 days away from the 1 year mark). But it seems like overnight I can eat so much more, and it's really putting all these things I've worked on to the test. It's a lot easier to think about overeating behavior objectively when you have NO ABILITY to do it.

Once you hit the point where you can eat the whole piece of cake (although yes, it is a relief not to ever have to worry about eating a WHOLE CAKE ever again) or a whole sandwich, or both if you wait a bit in between...you really have to buckle down and think about why you don't want to do that. Which is hard, because sometimes you really do! I think ultimately the fear of failure and real desire to uphold the change will keep us on the straight and narrow, but it is a battle that cannot be taken lightly for sure. For people who are just starting out, please BELIEVE that you need to work on the issues, because even though you can only eat 2 bites right now, the day will come when that's not the case, and you'll want to be ready to stand up to old demons.

I am happy to say that apparently, you can shrink your stomach back too. I was really worrying because I could eat way more than I used to be able to eat. For the last 2 weeks, I have been concentrating on eating tiny portions again, the way I used to when I was first sleeved. Now I am getting full really fast again, and not able to eat as much as I could a month ago.

OK,

After almost a year out, I will tell you that:

My sleeve is tight in the morning and it's tight after a nap. Relaxing relaxes my sleeve.

My sleeve is sneeky because some days it allows me to eat tons, and tons of food (usually bullshit carbs) and then it slams shut and will only allow me to eat maybe 3 ounces of dense Protein.

some days, I am able to drink 6 ounces of Water in the span of 30 secs. and other days it's a struggle.

The lead up to my period my sleeve opens up once again and allows me to eat more dense protein and bullshit carbs . Then when my period is about to end it slams shut. But here's the catch, I've gotten used to eating the increased volume and so now I'm sick and I need to throw up. Any of this sound familiar to you?

How do you figure out if you have stretched your sleeve. You go back to basics. Start from the beginning and go back on a liquid diet. Do the pouch test. Mark my words, do a liquid diet for 3 days and you will see just how well your sleeve is working.

The truth is that as time goes on you can eat more than you could in the beginning. However and this is really important...it never goes back to what it used to be. I used to think that if my sleeve is letting me eat more as time goes on...then it will continue to do that. Mine does not. I am about one year out and I can eat at times more than I could BUT like someone above said...never the amount i once could. It's good that it opens up a bit, right? I mean you can't only eat 2 bites forever? BUT what it allows you is still very reasonable and that's the brilliance. Now having said that I will say that the more I eat...the more I can eat. The less I eat...the less I can eat. I don't know why but it's true. If I find myself wanting to eat more and pushing the limits...the sleeve seems to let me get a bit more in. But if I go back to liquids for a week I find that the sleeve suddenly refuses to let me eat the same portions as it did before. This is a wonder to me. And I love it. So don't panic. You will have victory!