It is VERY VERY VERY hard to stretch out your pouch

I see a lot of posts from people fearing they've stretched out their pouches or from newbies that are scared they will stretch their pouch from eating too much.

I had RNY almost 6 years ago. Well, I did everything you SHOULD NOT do. I drank soda a lot (carbonation), ate as large of portions as I possibly could, drank with meals, ate the wrong types of foods, etc. I also ate my way through 3 pregnancies since my surgery.This all lead to a large re-gain. So I was almost positive I had stretched my pouch so far that it was ruined. I had a barium swallow test done last week and guess what?? My pouch is appropriate size and everything is intact. I was shocked!? And happy - my tool isn't ruined!

I am now back on track and even though I have far to go I am determined to get back down to my previous weight. Since I am back eating like I should Ihave noticed my pouch IS WORKING again. I made myself a chicken breast and small salad for lunch and couldn't eat any salad - the chicken stuffed me!

So my point is - if you are a newbie, don't worry about stretching your pouch.If you are following the rules, then you are doing fine. And if you are farther out and eating too much and/or gaining weight and blaming it on a stretched out pouch (like I was) - your pouch is most likely fine, but YOU need to re-evaluate how you are using your tool.

Thanks for the information.  This is good to know. 

It is my understanding that the notion of stretching the pouch is a misconception.
I've been told that the pouch does not stretch.
Gaining weight is based on caloric intake, drinking high calorie liquids, and not exercising.

Thank you for highlighting that the it is a tool :)

The doctor that does my post op support meetings said that most surgeons use as area of the stomach that is much harder to stretch out (possibly years and years ago they did not). She said the same thing as you. I put that up on a thread here awhile back, and man did I get burned for it. I totally agree with you Lilly and I'm so glad that you know that you still have your "tool" in tact. Just the idea that it might be stretched would lead me to give up and let my weight get out of control. I hope you weight loss is going well!

Yeah I kinda agree with you. I heard now the way they are performing the surgeries nowadays is they are using the upper most left portion of the stomach. The part that does not stretch, or stretches that much. I heard if anything stretches, it's the stoma which can be fixed.

ShoreToLose, that sounds like 100% of what she said, from what I remember. It was months ago that we had that leture. I came home and joked to my husband, that she probably shouldn't have told us that. That post-ops thinking they can stretch it out, might help more of us to not over eat.

I still tell myself it might happen and try to not let myself overeat. It's hard sometimes.

Lilly, thank you for posting this and it's rather brave of you to put it out there the way you did; open, honest and not holding anything back.   Like many folks here, I'm still on my journey, but at 2.5 years out I'm worried about re-gain in the future.   Hearing how hard you worked to break the tool and to still have it actually work for you years later is actually encouraging.

So again, thank you.  While I still track my food intake and do my best to work out consistently, there are week's the scale bounces up 1-2 pounds and then back down. I'm not as small as I'd like to be, but very happy with where I am.

Yes and no.

At about 2 years out, a pouch SHOULD be about 8-12oz in size.  So it *should* stretch somewhat -- but nowhere to the point in which it was pre-op.

So while yes, we still have restriction (or should), it's not the 1oz pouch that we have when we first have surgery.

I just wanted to put that out there.


And yes, I drink carbonation, drink with my meals, etc. as well.  And still have restriction as well.

So, with that said, I guess it's all about choices.  You can still have restriction but regain weight because of poor choices and not making lifestyle changes.  It was good for me to see this.  I can see that being successful long term is doable and we can still enjoy some things we like along the way without "ruining" our surgery. 

Just because one can, doesn't mean one should....
This can be dangerous info for newbies, and we read about weight gain all the time, ulcers, with the same "I don't understand why" post gets irritating. Yup, there are certain rules that shouldn't be broken.

I drink with a straw, don't buy into the carbonation deal, I don't drink caffeine but once in a while (hypoglycemia spikes from it) but drinking with meals is a big no go and bad advice to be giving out.... it washes the food out. Some people need that full feeling in their pouches, some don't, but 90% of the people that I know that have had this surgery and drink with meals have weight gain. See these things posted all the time by "respected" post-ops and I cringe every time. Sorry, but this is my opinion.