Increasing capacity of my stomach

Hi All,

I weigh and measure all my food, and I've only been putting 4 ounces on my plate for many weeks - 3 ounces of dense protein and one ounce of veggie.  This week, I had a little mashed cauliflower that was reaching the end of its life, so I put it all on my plate, figuring I'd eat what I could and throw away the rest.  I found I could eat all - 5 and 1/2 ounces. 

I am nearly 6 months out, and before this, I've always been limited by the capacity of my sleeve.  So this is quite a change for me.  I'll now start filling my plate with 3 ounces of dense protein and 3 ounces of veggies.  I think this is the point where the discipline needs to happen because if I eat more than my 3 ounces of protein, the calories would impact the weight loss. 

On the bright side,  I've learned to cook some pretty nice veggie dishes, and I'll be glad to be able to fit more in my tummy.

Did I mention, I love my sleeve! (smile)

Have a wonderful day, everyone.

Carol

Hey Carol! Just wondering why would you increase to six oz? Were you hungry with the 3+1 formula? Or is it because you now can "fit" more? Unsolicited advice here for what its worth, I would stick to the 3+1 formula for meals and just add your other 2 oz of veggies to snacks. Would that work for you? Seems to me that undereating your sleeve capacity will preserve it from expanding even more. Overall you would still get the extra veggies but not all in one sitting so volume would be smaller per meal/snack.

Hi Julia,

I guess I'd increase because I want to eat more veggies. With a diet so high in protein, I do miss a more balanced diet.    My plan discourages snacks, I think the idea is to establish the habit of only eating 3 times a day. They fear that snacking will become grazing.  I do add a protein drink on days when my protein is low, but I've avoided other snacking. 

thanks for your thoughts... I'll give it some thought.

best wishes,

Carol

Don't think of it that way. Different foods fit differently in your stomach. For example, dense protein, even chewed up is still pretty rigid so it doesn't compact, there is still space between pieces until it digests, where are softer food that are very water dense such as veggies you can eat much more. This is because as you chew and the veg releases water it compacts quite a bit, particularly something like cauliflower which is really quite a bit of water. It also settles down very compactly so you can actually fit more in. Remember liquids really go right through the pyloric valve. The reason we eat proteins first is to slow the process of our food going through the pyloric valve so we stay full longer. It has nothing to do with getting the protein in, it has much more to do with making sure we stay full longer. If we were to eat to make sure we got our nutrients, etc we would more likely eat our veg first wait 10 mins and then eat our proteins, but then we would be hungry 10 mins later and be tempted to eat. We are purposely slowing down the digestion process. 

What they said ... protein first, always, and then some veggie as space allows.  You don't want to expand your capacity any sooner than you necessary.

FWIW I still eat four small meals a day and avoid "snacks" like the plague.  On the rare days when I literally cannot divide my daily intake into four meals, I eat three normal-size meals and then sneak in some protein shake around those to meet my nutritional requirements.