I'm 15 months out. I dropped 80lbs as a result of surgery. This week, I've gained 4 lbs. I'm terrified. Suddenly, I am able to eat much more than I have previously (e.g. A small chicken breast, green Beans, and a bite or two of potatoes). I have no idea what to attribute this to other than sharing a small Sprite with my husband last week. I never drink carbonation, and only did because it was the only thing in the car. Foolish, I know. Painful, too. I will just do without next time. Back to unsweetened tea, Water, and coffee!

Question: Have I stretched my stomach out permanently? I'm very worried this is the beginning of a huge regain. I'm starting a liquid fast today to try to circumvent what's happening. Advice, please!!!

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You will retain Water periodically for all kinds of reasons. Weigh again in a couple of days and see if the weight stayed, or if it dropped - and make sure you're always weighing under the same conditions, at the same time of day.

If you're REALLY worried about it, start tracking your intake with something like MyFitnessPal.

A pound of fat is 3,500 calories. In order to gain four pounds of genuine fat weight in one week, you would have had to exceed your daily TDEE (the amount of calories needed to maintain your weight) by 2,000 calories a day. You weren't going to do that by sharing a small Sprite.

The liquid fast is unnecessary. Track your trend, not single points in time. If the scale freaks you out this much, don't weigh every week...do it every other week. The body doesn't lose weight on a 7 day schedule and it does it the way it wants to do it. What you care about is the trend...as long as it's downward, you're golden. But start tracking your intake, start looking at how your macros break down (are you still protein-heavy and carb/fat-light, or has that changed) and adjust if necessary. But honestly, you were just retaining water.

Edited November 2, 20169 yr by PorkChopExpress

Thank you. Your response is very sensible, and specific. I weigh daily, same place, same time, same conditions. It was a sudden spike (which has remained for days) but I had not considered how many calories I would have had to ingest to actually gain that much weight. I will give it time while being more mindful of what I am eating.

I knew carbonated drinks were off limits. That really isn't a struggle for me. I don't care for them. But I read a post that talked about carbonation irrevocably stretching the tummy. It worried me.

I appreciate your response.

Thank you!

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Carbonation will not stretch a sleeve. Carbonation is simply air and the stomach that is remaining after the surgeon performs sleeve surgery is mostly muscle. Your stomach will relax a bit as it heals but you should reach full capacity at about a year out.

Excessive over eating could stretch the remaining fundus (if your doctor left much -- a properly done sleeve won't stretch), but it would have to be constant and habitual. It certainly won't happen from the air of one soda.

Relax. You're going to be fine.