5 Day Pouch Test

Has anyone done the 5 Day Pouch Test? If so, did it work for you? Did you feel put back on track? Did you jump start your weight loss again?

How far out are you?

I feel like a broken record but...

That is a fad diet. We had this surgery to not be on fad diets but to change our LIFESTYLES. Lifestyle changes don't happen all at once. You make mistakes, you learn, you keep going.

There is no resetting of the pouch. Your pouch is the size that it is. Like any stomach there is room for shrinkage but in the long run that can be undone if you have the will to do it and...

If you're not addressing WHY you are off track in the first place (in your head) then you WILL want to over-eat or eat the wrong things again.

Instead, focus on getting your protein in first and always. Before you put any treat in your mouth make sure you've had protein. Drink water. Eat complex carbs. Healthy fats. Move your body.

That's what works. Fad diets are just a distraction that makes us THINK we're being proactive when we are not.

I'm sorry.... What is the 5 Day Pouch Test?

Some people use it to help jump start their program.  Liquids for two days, mushy for 3 or something like that.  Basically, all you need to get back on track is to write everything down, focus on protein, measure servings and drink all your water.  Tracking your food can sometimes reveal a shortage in protein or water, or an excess in carbs or calories.

so what do you do the when you realize it is an excess in calories, but you know you are hungry still. you still get pains in ur stomach till you put something in it and liquid passes through to fast so in less then an hour you are right back to being hungry. do you just ride out the hunger pains and become that moody ***** cause you feel like you are starving?just  curious as to what you would do if this was you.

Then you need to examine WHAT you are eating. That only happens to me when I eat slider foods or an excess of starchy carbs. Meat? No go. Three bittes in I can FEEL it.

If you are feeling excessive hunger, you should talk to your NUT and surgeon to make sure nothing is wrong.

i was hoping you would respond nik, you gave me advice about soaking my meat in yougurt/cream sauce to help it soften up so digestion would be easy. well i took your advice on that and still i can only hold down chicken breast no other part of the chicken will stay down, nor will any other meat stay down.
i have spoken with my surgeon and he encourages me to eat  5 small meals a day, he said that some people need that because they experience hypoglycemia... i have symptoms, but  i am trying 2 get a glucose meter to prove it.
i been off of bread, crackers and  carbs like that for 2months cause i had weight gain of 10 lbs. i was able 2 lose that 10lbs and now i am a heavy veggie,fruit,whipped peanut butter,cheese eater and chicken breast 4 days a week. i supplement with protein shakes of course. still with the change off of the carbs i am always hungry...this is frustrating

Have you talked to your surgeon? There could be stoma problems. I would call and make an appointment to discuss it.

Ditto to what Nik said in her original reply!

First of all, the whole idea of "testing" your pouch is silly.  The problem is not the pouch, the problem is what you (and I... and everyone else...) put IN the pouch.

Second, I will just copy and paste a response that I posted this weekend regarding the 5DPT and liquid diets after WLS:

"As a Licensed Professional Counselor, this is one of my "soapbox" items... so you'll have to keep in mind that I have VERY strong personal (and professional) feelings about this one. 

{stepping up on soapbox and clearing throat...}

I despise things like Medifast and the 5 Day Pouch Test for people who have already had WLS.  You already have one of the most powerful weight loss tools that exists.  You just need to make full use of it.

First of all, those things are both nothing more than crash diets (and I consider the 5DPT a "fad" diet for WLSers).  They put stress on your body and do not work in the long run.  If fad diets or liquid diets DID work long term, none of us would have needed WLS in the first place.

Second, my bigger concern is that what these things do is reinforce the old (failed... repeatedly) "diet-deprivation-regain" cycle that kept most of us obese for years.  Going back to basics, on the other hand (protein FIRST ALWAYS, lots of water except right after meals, and limiting simple carbs), will not only STILL get the weight off (just not nearly as fast as when you first had surgery, of course), but it will reinforce the HEALTHY eating program that will help you keep the weight off long term (and make the fad/liquid diest unnecessary).

Some people claim that they only use the 5DPT to "feel" their pouch restriction again.  WIll ti do that?  Yes, for most people, it apparently does.  Here's a little "secret", though... you can accomplish the same thing by just eating somewhat smaller portions of a normal, nutritious, balanced diet.  (Go back to measuring your food portions and limit yourself to 4 ounces of food per meal again.  You will find the same thing will happen... you will be able to feel how small your pouch is (even though it is likely much bigger than when you were a coupld of months post-op.) 

Ultimately, everyone has to choose.  You can choose to go back to the past "diet-deprivation-regain" failure mode or you can choose the "back-to-basics"plan that has been proven to be successful.

{Ok, stepping of sopabox now.}"


Lora

thanxs. that 4 oz of food paragraph, im going to try that and see if it works 4me.