I like life. I like drinking and eating with friends. I never had eating issues. Not obese. I gained 70lbs in 6 month (medical) and did the surgery to drop that weight and 'get on with life' I don't obsess about food or plot ways to cheat. I follow the rules . I think my excess weight will be gone by march. Then I want to stretch the sleeve and eat and drink (wine) as always. My weight was stable for 20 years before my medical condition caused the gain and that's been fixed. Anyone done this? If yes when?

Paralyzed /Canadian/Mexican Sleeve

no mental issues... with food. I don't see how removing stomach helps to lose weight that was not caused by overeating, even if prompted by a medical condition.

Why do people believe they can stretch their sleeve?

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I thinks it bc you can eat more and those limitation ease.

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I am asking - when can I have a normal intake of food?

Paralyzed /Canadian/Mexican Sleeve

Never. The answer is never.

Your stomach doesn't just grow back.

I am asking - when can I have a normal intake of food?

Paralyzed /Canadian/Mexican Sleeve

Never. You will never again have a normal intake of food at one meal. That's why we're all aghast that you had a VSG to lose weight when you don't have weight issues or food issues. Did you have any pre-op teaching at all?

So you just popped off to Mexico to have 85% of your stomach cut out and when you hit your goal weight you want instructions on how to stretch it back out?

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Absolutely. Why not?

Paralyzed /Canadian/Mexican Sleeve

Absolutely. Why not?

Paralyzed /Canadian/Mexican Sleeve

I'm sorry, I can't. All I can say is good luck to you.

You should get a lap band. They suck for some people, but if you don't have food issues just lost the weight and then have it loosened then you can eat whatever.

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I mean at a year I basically eat normally. Just normal portions. The further you get from surgery the more you can eat.

I worried that I would always be weird and stand out but I go out and eat and go on dates and no one is the wiser. I eat like a lady. And people that are around me extended periods of time realize I eat all day (since I eat small amounts) and it doesn't raise any red flags. So just give it time.

That's great to hear thank you for sharing your experience.

Paralyzed /Canadian/Mexican Sleeve

I don't understand the comments saying "Never" on being able to eat normal portions. If that were so true, then why would people start to gain weight again after reaching their goal weight? You read countless studies and they will tell you that eventually you will "eat through" your sleeve, meaning you start to stretch your stomach out again, slowly but surely it can happen. If that were the case, you would only be able to consume 1-2 ounces of liquids/food for the rest of your life, as you did directly after surgery. Your stomach will become bigger ever so slightly as time goes by, which to those of us crazy people who had issues with food and had the surgery for some ridiculous reason other than medical conditions, that's a problem. Thank God for the pouch reset trick that will help you shrink it down again... anyways... if you so desire to eat yourself through the sleeve and have an outstretched stomach again, you certainly may. It's your body, do what you will to it.

But if you start to stretch your stomach too much too fast, don't be surprised when you suffer some of those potentially life threatening side effects and have to be rushed to the hospital.

Trolly troll

I don't understand the comments saying "Never" on being able to eat normal portions. If that were so true, then why would people start to gain weight again after reaching their goal weight? You read countless studies and they will tell you that eventually you will "eat through" your sleeve, meaning you start to stretch your stomach out again, slowly but surely it can happen. If that were the case, you would only be able to consume 1-2 ounces of liquids/food for the rest of your life, as you did directly after surgery. Your stomach will become bigger ever so slightly as time goes by, which to those of us crazy people who had issues with food and had the surgery for some ridiculous reason other than medical conditions, that's a problem. Thank God for the pouch reset trick that will help you shrink it down again... anyways... if you so desire to eat yourself through the sleeve and have an outstretched stomach again, you certainly may. It's your body, do what you will to it.

But if you start to stretch your stomach too much too fast, don't be surprised when you suffer some of those potentially life threatening side effects and have to be rushed to the hospital.

The part of the stomach left doesn't have the stretch capability of the part that's removed. There will be a modest increase in capacity for most people, but it will never reach the capacity of a pre-surgical sleeve. Most accounts and research I've found indicate that about a cup total food at a time is about as much capacity as most sleevers will ever have. That's a far cry from the 8-16 cups that a human can potentially eat at a sitting with a "normal" stomach.

You "eat around" the sleeve by eating high calorie foods and by eating more frequently than you should. I'm 3 months out, and can only eat a little more than 1/4 cup at a time. If I'm eating my standard 5-6 small meals a day, that's not a huge amount of food. But if I wait about 20-30 minutes I've got room again, and if I were to just continually snack all day, I could put away a large amount of food.

I'm 2+ years post op, and my absolute max is a cup of food, and that only depends on what it is. Most of the time it's 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup. I know someone who is over 3 years out who's max is 1/4 cup.

If those are considered "normal" portions, then okay.

@@Dysruption

People eat around their sleeve by eating get sliders and trash food. Also by grazing.

Almost no one is regaining by pounding down steak or grilled chicken breasts. They start eating carbs and go full bender on them. Then add in drinking calories and yeah it's easy to slide right into regain.

I'll probably never have a 12 or 16 ounces steak again but no one should be eating that much steak at one sitting so the fact I can eat a normal portion is fine.