hi fellow sleevers

My Nut told me the only way to stretch your sleeve is to graze constantly, what are your thoughts. thanx

Please tell me your opinions, what your NUT or Dr. said.

thanx

kathy

im not sure but please keep me updated

Why would grazing constantly enlarge your stomach?

Overrating constantly is the ONLY way to stretch ya stomach after the surgery. This will be very discomforting in the beginning tho. I don't advise it.

You would have to eat to the point of sickness and discomfort REPEATEDLY to stretch the stomach even the small amount it has to stretch.

That said, a sleeve doesn't need to stretch if the person chooses to graze all day, eat slider foods and not adhere to a healthier diet. For the most part unhealthy foods go down easily so you can eat more of them.

~Cheri

Here is a study that agrees with a another study I can't find.

"The early postoperative gastric volume was 108 +/- 25 ml (80-120 ml) and 116.2 +/- 78.24 assessed with barium sulfate and CAT scan, respectively. The gastric capacity at the late control increased to 250 +/- 85 and 254 +/- 56.8 assessed with the same techniques. However, patients remained stable with a BMI close to 25 without regain of weight at least at the time of observation."

So in other words it went from about 4 oz to 8 oz. Big fat hairy deal right? Some will call this significant, but even at 50% you still are left with 1 cup or 8 fl. oz. or so. Just don't overeat or eat around your sleeve (slider foods, alcohol, drink with meals, etc.) get your eating habits under control during the first year and make sure you are eating healthy.

Oops, forgot the link:

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/19533260

Here is another interesting study. I can believe that dilation would not lead to weight regain because there is still plenty of restriction

http://www.weightlos...astrectomy.html

Carbonation can possibly stretch it a bit too. The gases that are produced can cause the stomach to swell, thus leading to stretching.

Carbonation can possibly stretch it a bit too. The gases that are produced can cause the stomach to swell, thus leading to stretching.

It's going to stretch some no matter what you do. Stuffing it constantly is probably not a good idea as it weakens the esophageal sphincter. This is probably what many of us have done already to our old stomachs. This lets acid and food up the esophagus and causes the reflux.

Always continue to measure your food.

As for carbonation -- well that's what a burp is for :-)

So based on logical reasoning from what I have heard, it would appear that carbonation could only stretch it if you are constantly drinking carbonated beverages. Right? Like if you constantly overstuff yourself. If you do it once, or twice, it shouldn't stretch it.

It is important for people to remember that stretching is natural and seems to always happen BUT that there is no way it could ever go back to how it was pre-op.

So, I look at it a little differently... what can you do to preserve that feeling of good restriction/low hunger the longest?

To me, it is just following the rules. Don't graze. Eat to the point of lack of hunger, not to the point of being full. Seperate liquids from meals by AT LEAST 30 minutes. Eat Proteins first. Avoid "slider" type foods for the most part - dense Protein makes you feel satiated faster and for longer then a cookie does. Eat SLOW! It gives you a chance to realize you are no longer hungery before you have eaten too much.

it is just following the rules.

CowgirlJane

most of the rules above I do follow, the drinking of H20, i do have problems sometimes getting all my Water in, working on that continuously

my other problem sometimes is eating slowly. like all i just don't want to stretch my sleeve, but i've been told, by everyone, me included, that its very hard to stretch the sleeve without over eating , overeating, over overeating and overeating all the time always.

i don't remember how sliders effect you - don't remember exactly what thy are.

thanx

kathy