Can the stomach return to the size of a football?

Hi,nurses! I am an RN(21 yrs) in NICU 7pm-7am. Two of my friends at work have had the RNY. They are 4 and 8 months out. One has lost 100 pounds and the other 70. I am scheduled for 1st appointment in August- It took almost a year to get in. My PCP insists on this guy due to success rate and decreased mortality rate...I am ready now and I am sick of roller coaster blood sugars,yeast infections and hypertension. I am afraid of being hungry post op. After all, I would not have gotten this big if I did not love food. How am I going to mentally change over the long hall....? Will I be sad over the loss? I am normally a very positive person but people in my life say things like-I heard you can out eat that pouch and get big again- Is that really possible with the RNY? Can the stomach return to the size of a football? I really want this and I am smart enough to find support-esp. with fellow nurses...

Hi kConnie: I'm waiting on my surgery and my brother has had his for 2 years now. His doc told him t hat the stomach would stretch to the size of a small softball or a little bigger than a baseball. He's been 2 years now as I said and his typical meal is like 1/2 sandwich and 1/2 banana and one of those 6oz cans of regular coke. Yes I said regular coke. He doesn't drink a 6pak anymore but has one of those small ones about 2X a week. He can eat a child's burger instead of a regular one. AT the steakhouse, he and his wife will share a dinner and we all know how much food they put on those plates. Yes, you will grieve for a while over not eating the things you love in the amounts you love, but you'll be losing weight and that will make it worth while. He went from 367 to 185 in 10 months and now is a flight attendant for Southwest airlines. He is active and healthy and still has chocolate or ice cream or cokes, once in a while not everyday like before. He eats more vegetables and leans meats and he never really like fish before but has found that it sits on his stomach better. He says the most important thing to him while his pouch was stretching to it's new size was to chew chew chew. He also says as long as you concentrate on getting your protein first, then your green stuff, THEN your carbs you'll do fine. Hope this helps. If you'd like to email him, about specifics, email me at [email protected] and I'll give you his edress. Andrea

Hi, I am almost 6 weeks postop. I work in case mgt and do occ health/first response prn at a very large heavy manufacturing facility. I have lost 42 pounds so far. I am now off all blood pressure meds and glucophage. I have normal blood sugars. My knees which used to hurt from sunup to sundown, now are so much better. I just went up my steps today and am not so short of breath. I can not believe this new taste of life I have been given. I tried and tried to lose weight, because I knew it was the best thing to do, but could NOT do it. I have moments where I am sad as I watch others eat all this delicious food, but believe me the benefit of how I feel overwhelms the longing. I actually have to remind myself to eat and drink! I have a friend, another RN, who is planning the surgery in September and she says she just is tired of the food, and ready to feel like I feel, so that helps me put it in perspective too. I can not wait to eat normally forever! I look at portions differently, and can actually eat that 1/2 cup of Cheerios like they told us in Weigh****chers, and not laugh! I will NEVER go over 300 again, ever. Good luck! By the way I still LOVE food, and now appreciated the texture and flavor more than ever. My pouch just makes me keep it in control.

Hi Connie, I have not had my surgery yet, but have done all my required pre-op stuff. According to my surgical program...your stomach now holds 32 ounces. After the RNY it will hold 1 ounce (no that is not a typo), but will eventually stretch to hold 3 ounces. About 3 weeks post-op you go into something called "hibernation syndrome". That is where you may get depressed, mourn food and have a loss of energy. This is when your body is realizing it's not getting the amount of food it used to get so it "hibernates" to save energy. It usually lasts about 2 weeks and you start feeling better. Also, from all the people I have talked to that have had the surgery, they say your tastebuds change. Some don't even care if they eat or not. This doesn't last forever either. You will eventually begin to feel hungry again. My surgeon said the only way to out eat the pouch is to graze all day. Some surgeons recommend eating every couple of hours, mine does not. They say 3 meals a day and a snack. Hope this helps.

I'm 17 days post op (Open RNY). I had some of your same concerns, because I LOVE food, I love to cook, a lot of my "social" life centers around eating. I went to a Barix Clinic -and their approach of reintroducing food is very conservative - 1 week Clear Liquids, 3 weeks Full Liquids, 2 weeks pureed, then advance to soft diet. Also, they recommend some sort of supplementation every 2 hours or so to keep the blood sugar at a stable level. I realized I have an addiction for food, so PREOP I tried to prepare myself mentally and tried to think of my recovery period as my "drying out" from food -- rehab. Right now, physically -- it feels like a switch has been flicked -- I haven't had any sense of hunger, no cravings, nothing. Mentally, I haven't had any sense of being "deprived" of the foods I loved (so far anyway). I'm cooking supper again for my husband, going with him periodically to a resturant (taking my protein drink instead of eating from the menu). So right now -- the loss of eating food hasn't been a problem. For once in my life, I'm having a hard time getting in ENOUGH calories. My tastebuds changed dramatically. Artifically sweetened fluids taste bittersweet (pretty awful) and pre-salted foods taste TOO salty. My nutritionist says it will change. I tried a few different protein powders before surgery so that I'd have something I could tolerate post-op. Because the flavors changed post op, the protein drinks tasted bittersweet also. I found a compromise by using 1/2 scoop Optimum Nutrition "ON Whey" flavored protein powder and 1/2 scoop "Any Whey" unflavored protein powder with skim milk. I'm still on the full liquid stage. Because most things just don't taste good, I've stopped trying to be creative with variety and I'm sticking to the protein drinks. I'm also drinking decaf tea, 1/2 strength crystal light, 1/2 strength fruit juices to get fluids in and can tolerate sugar free pudding, s/f fudgesicles as snacks. It is weird because before my obsession with food was "what's for breakfast, what's for lunch, what's for supper" -- now I have to MAKE myself get in what I need. Before surgery, I could drink a "big gulp" down in 2 or 3 swigs, now getting in 64 oz of fluid in a day is not only a challenge, but a chore. As for stomachs stretching, from what I've read - most often post op it will hold 1/2 cup. After healing and swelling have subsided, it will normally stretch to the point of holding 1 1/2 cup at a time. Good luck, RK

Thank you nurses! We are nice people aren't we!!!!!

Hey there Connie, I am 8 weeks out, down 36lbs..woo hoo..lol. The scales are at a stand still at the moment, but I'm sure they'll wake up sooner or later and I'll be back on the weightloss cool wagon. Things are definitely difficult the first 3weeks. Every week, every day, every meal gets better. The first week, you feel as if you got hit by a bus or some huge truck! The pain is not the problem, is the notion of having to take protein, and drink this, and just be in bed. If you have a liquid diet, that also messes with you and it can be a bit frustrating. After the first month, I felt muuuuuch better. I am now back to work, eat whatever I need to eat to stay healthy, and really do not have any hunger fits or craving crazy drives. If i crave something enough, I have a bit or two...anything more than that and my tummy will tell me if it'll make me sick or if it'll give me an upset stomach. THe nausea is the hardest part. I am a fast eater, so that gets me in trouble most of the times. But, overall, I'm doing great and finally feeling normal! My regular meals are: some cheese or cottage cheese in the morning, a lean cuisine of some sort for lunch, and I share dinner with my boyfriend...he'll usually have sandwhiches, chicken, fast food stuff, etc...It's not so bad as soon as you start getting into a "cycle" and get used to the new you. My weightloss has been pretty normal (I have all my weigh-ins on my profile, check it out...at the end of all my babbling). Anywho, best regards and luck with everything! norma g.

I marked your profile as a "Favaorite" so I can see your great progress and be inspired! Keep it up!