You CAN stretch your Sleeve!!!

It begs the question of whether the patient's sleeve was done 'correctly' in the first place.  Overeating is to an extent a function of being able to overeat. On the few occasions where I've eaten too quickly or 'up to capacity', the consequences have not been pleasant.  I have a small, tight sleeve, and there's not much room for 'error' when it comes to the volume I eat. I'm not a masochist, and riding the 'vomit comet' is not high on my list of fun times. That in itself is a strong incentive to not overeat.  Can i eat 'around' my sleeeve? Not so much.  It's not as easy for me, anyway, as it sounds.

If I see a big 'capacity' increase at 2 or 3 years as some seem to experience, it might be a different story, but for now, I physically couldn't 'gorge' if I tried. 

THIS.

This VERBATIM ! ! ! 

At over 2.5 years out, I still max out.

Surgeon technique and trusting his skills is essential to lessen this issue of "stretching". I see a lot of "new" surgeons and a lot of those patients can eat as much at 3 months post-op that it took me a good 18 months to consume.

It's not a standardized procedure. Not all sleeves are created equally. And, there's not enough left behind to stretch out if the surgery is performed properly.

I still can't gorge, binge or overeat without consequence and I'm approaching the 3 year mark.

The question that I have is whether this is "stretching" which implies a constant or frequent mechanical stress on flexible tissue, or simple growth as the body's response to the changes that were made, possibly stimulated by over consumption, but possibly an extreme case of individuality. With the DS, it is not unheard of for the common channel (active part of the remaining intestine) to not only thicken but also lengthen - sometimes doubling in length or more - in the body's attempt to "correct" or adapt to the alteration that was made - that certainly is not a case of over-stuffing it. That's not the normal case, but neither is it unprecedented. Some of our bodies will go to extraordinary lengths to return to their original state. If that is the case, then this may be possible in some individuals despite all best efforts to under-eat the sleeve. Curious people would like know.

I dunno.... I do know that I have unintentionally eaten around my sleeve a couple times....and found out that I have really weird sliders....for me ice cream is NOT a slider. I get filled up on half a cup ! Something that thrills me no end ! But inadvertently ate a HUGE amount of popcorn not realizing that I had while watching a move ! And NEVER FELT ANY RESISTANCE, nor did I feel full. WTF !!

But does that mean that I've stretched my sleeve out ? I don't think so. After a year, my sleeve IS much bigger than it was early out, but I was told that this would happen. Yes, I can eat just under 3oz of dense protein. But that isn't a bad thing. It has remainded constant for the past few months, and I would expect it to do that.

But if you asked me to judge the size of my sleeve by popcorn, or by chips....I would have to say that I never had surgery. So I remember that I CANNOT eat these items unless I portion out a serving, and am concious of eating. No more large popcorn sharing for me. 100 calorie microwave popcorn is my new carb treat and friend....

 I am 3 1/2 years post op from having the sleeve.  Even though I can eat more than I could right after surgery, I still to this day cannot eat alot.  At a meal, I eat 4-5 bites of protein, 3-4 bites of vegetables and have very little room left for anything else.  On a regular day, I eat a boiled egg for breakfast, a string of cheese mid-morning, lunch which consist of protein and vegetables, a mid-afternoon snack of protein and dinner which consist of protein, vegetables and a small fruit.  In between meals and snacks I drink water.  I am also walking about a hour a day 3-4 days a week.  This is what works for me and I have been maintaining my 95 lb. weight loss for 3 years.  I lost my weight in the first 6 months.  My husband had the sleeve 4 years ago, lost 130 pounds, he has gained about 10 pounds back which I think is good, he really got a little too thin.  But I don't think there is any way he can gain back 120 pounds!  This is the beauty of this surgery -- if the surgery is done correctly, it is a tool for a lifetime!  We still have to make wise food choices and be complient but living like this is soooo much better than living as a fat person with aches and pains and being unhealthy.  

I find this hard to believe - if a properly done sleeve stretched out to the normal size, the tissue would be severely compromised and would seem to pose a serious risk to someone's health.


But yeah - I dont know how someone could eat enough to stretch it out that much - it seems like vomiting would occur before the sleeve allowed that much food in to stretch it...

This made me think about how we lose weight, have plastic surgery and get all of the skin cut off but can still grow back to be the same size and bigger and really only suffer the same ugly stretch marks we suffered the first time around (as far as skin goes). Would that be the same thing? Maybe not since the stretchy part of the stomach is supposed to be gone and the stomach is a muscle. I'm just thinking out loud.

I wonder how large her sleeve was to begin with?

If she was a chronic over eater before surgery she learned tricks to over eat. It can be done.

I can't lie. I have wondered if I was stretching my stomach when I went on a sushi binge for some days (no rice) and I could eat 900 pounds of it. Sometimes I could only eat 2 pieces with some lobster on the top and other times I could eat 4 pieces with lobster on the top (no rice, mind you)... but once I think I had even more. I never weighed it so I don't really know how much I was eating but it looked like a lot. I used to feel totally satisfied/full with 2 oz of dense protein and now I don't, but other than my few days of sushi, I won't pu**** past 2.5 oz.

Side note: Is sushi a slider for anyone or is it mostly airy? The imitation crab/avocado stuff? We can't get the real crab around here!!