I want to ask my doctor this. I made the surgery happen and it was a mistake. Im 7/8 months postop and Im gaining weight. I was down to 267 at my lowest and I was 273 at my checkin in December, and 281 now, end of March.

Is there an easy way to see this? COULD my stomach stretch back to its full size?

I don't need a peptalk or anything. I KIND of want to go to a nutritionist and see if they can help me. I dont want to go to my followup appointment in a couple weeks because I swear to god all the doctor will say is "youre gaining weight, this is bad. you shouldnt be gaining weight. gaining weight is bad. your surgery is not a success." - please, I don't need to drive there for you to tell me that.

But how much of it was water weight...

Do you really believe you would not lose on 900 calories a day?

Well considering I've also dropped in body fat and bmi. It wasn't Water weight.

You would loose weight if you tried that diet even for like a week.

In the end it's up to you. Were just here for a sounding board. Something is obviously wrong in what your doing if you have gained weight and can eat that amount. That's not supposed to happen at all.

Just offering up my advice.

For sure you could lose fat, as well as water weight and muscle. Look, if I was to go on a 600-900 calorie diet, that would be a week before the appointment so I dont look like a complete failure, but lets be real, that diet would never stick. I would never go down from 283ish to 270 and just stay there. No, it would creep back up like it has

Some people do the cottage cheese test.

Eat as much cottage cheese as you possibly can in 5 min. Then measure the amount of the cottage cheese. At 5 years, I can eat 4 oz.

There is a huge difference in the amount of solid Protein I can eat, such as steak, or sliders such as yogurt.

I think if you can eat 2 slices of pizza, your surgeon made your sleeve a little bigger. Everyone does not have the same size sleeve.

Try eating only protein if you want to kick start things. .Look up the Boot Camp Diet posted on this board. There is a search bar in the right hand corner.

What's your goal? I don't mean a weight goal, but your overall goal? Do you want to lose weight? Get healthy? Lower obesity related health risks?

You created a throw away user name. You said you wanted no encouragement. You've said "I can't" to some very solid advice above. Most importantly, you don't want to go to the doctor who can answer your questions far better than anyone here and who can give you much better advice to get you to where you want to be.

To answer your initial question. The stretchy part of your stomach was cut out leaving the muscle. Your capacity will increase over time, but your max should be 8oz or so at a sitting. The cottage cheese test above will answer that.

liquids only for a few days will help you feel the restriction better as well as get you back into low carbs, high Protein. It's not meant to be forever, but a way to help you get back on track. I am going to do it once a month or so, just to keep my head in the game. It's not fun, but it's not impossible either.

It sounds as if you are grazing. Are you eating because you are hungry or because you can? If you are hungry, my guess is you aren't eating the right foods. If it's because you CAN, you are choosing to fail yourself. It's time for you to be honest with YOU for YOUR benefit.

Good luck to you!

Edited March 30, 201412 yr by LipstickLady

Solid advice from Lipstick as usual!

Sounds like you need to get back to basics. Grazing/snacking could be your issue as well as what you're eating. If you're eating pizza once or twice a week, that's probably too much pizza. Pizza is a treat, not a staple any more.

Get back to sitting down with a 3-4 ounce piece of chicken breast or steak and a side of vegetable. Eat slowly and chew. (It may help to use the Eat Slower app on your phone - set it at one minute and it will chime when it's time to take a bite. This will help slow you down and remind you to chew your food - again, getting back to basics.)

Also, perhaps eating a Breakfast, lunch and dinner along with two Protein supplements (shake or a protein bar) may help you feel more satisfied. But set times these meals and Snacks are eaten and do not eat anything other than what's on your plan.

I remember you from last November. You said you drank a bunch and ate boxes of cereal because you're in college and you don't cook and that you had f****d up your sleeve. You got a lot of really great advice back then. I'm glad you took the advice to see a counselor. It sounds like that's the only way to work through the issues you are experiencing. Stick with it.

It seems everyone's sleeve is a little different. I'm almost 15 months post op and I can certainly eat two pieces of pizza too. However, I can eat less than 4 ounces of lean dense pork loin. So for me, it's about the types of food.

You should stop eating junk!! Sorry and turn to protein ! Shakes ! And veg!! You can do it !!

I went back and read all your posts and there are some harsh realities that you need to face that are frowned upon in a support forum. We are supposed to try to support you and help you with any issues and guide you to achieve success.

But, you say you're an adult, so you need to face reality. By your own admission many times over, you already know what you're doing wrong. You aren't following anything closely. You did achieve some loss and then sorta gave up and accepted failure. I think you are just very young and immature and just wanted a quick easy fix. You wanted it done for you.....something where you didn't have to do anything. You keep saying the surgery failed. The surgery did exactly what it was supposed to do. You failed the process.

To use the tool parody, I can remember when I was a kid, my Dad would chew me out for ruining his tools while my use of them really didn't fix anything. I now have great respect for my own tools, most over 30 years old in perfect condition and can expertly fix just about anything. Analogy being...- I don't mistreat them and use them correctly for their intended function.

The surgery was never about doing for you....it is about helping you accomplish what you need to do. Restriction is the sleeve's only function. The rest is totally up to you. You must choose the proper foods and nutrients to consume and still remain within that restriction. It takes desire and discipline. Your posts sound like you have neither.

Everyone on here wants to help all those that run into fearful unknowns with WLS. They need someone to help them thru the rough spots, but that help can only be in the form of comments about what to expect and suggestions of what they might try. No one can do it for you.

The statistics quietly suggest that there is less than a 5% chance of long term success with weight loss surgery among most patients. Everyone can't be successful and still result in those type of numbers. I don't care about numbers. I'm only concerned about my effort and success. And unless you accept responsibility and make a devoted effort on your own, then you are destined to be among those that are unsuccessful. Good luck.

I found this article very helpful:

http://obesitycoverage.com/weight-loss-surgeries/gastric-sleeve/gastric-sleeve-will-my-stomach-stretch

I found this article very helpful:

http://obesitycoverage.com/weight-loss-surgeries/gastric-sleeve/gastric-sleeve-will-my-stomach-stretch

Thanks for that link, it's very informative!

I found this article very helpful:

http://obesitycoverage.com/weight-loss-surgeries/gastric-sleeve/gastric-sleeve-will-my-stomach-stretch

That article contradicts what three surgeons told me. I was advised our stomachs will not stretch significantly as the stretchy part was cut out and the muscle was left intact. It will relax, but not restretch.

I found this article very helpful:

http://obesitycoverage.com/weight-loss-surgeries/gastric-sleeve/gastric-sleeve-will-my-stomach-stretch

That article contradicts what three surgeons told me. I was advised our stomachs will not stretch significantly as the stretchy part was cut out and the muscle was left intact. It will relax, but not restretch.

I was told that the very bottom of your sleeve can expand. Also if pushed or abused you can form a pocket where the stomach connects to the sleeve. I was shown pictures and documentation of these facts myself. The muscle that is left after surgery will relax but does not stretch out. However abuse of the sleeve can cause a bulge at the base of your sleeve and it will stretch. Now what I was told is that pop or any carbonated beverage is the number one enemy of the sleeve. If you drink it it is a huge red flag. Diet or not.

Just like every surgeon has his own pre-op diet plan and things we can eat and not eat. Exercise now or later. Success is 60 lbs. off. while others are 80 lbs.The differences go on and on.......

Now for me, with all the difficulties I have been through and how my team stuck with me through thick and thin. I will believe them because they have been right in everything so far FOR ME!