Not sure pouch is working. Gaining weight
It is possible to stretch the stoma so that food goes right through the pouch and into the stomach, leaving you hungry soon after. The only way to know is to have a scope done.
If it isn't stretched then you may be eating too many refined carbs. Try detoxing from all sugar, bread, soda and things like that. There is a 5 day pouch test but you can do pretty much the same thing. Just go back to the way you ate right after surgery except you get to go through the stages faster.
Clear liquids, full liquids, soft food and regular food. Stick with protein shakes for a few days and gradual add in more protein. It may take a while but once you have the carbs out of your system it makes it much easier to stay away from them.
And if you are drinking with your meals, stop. Don't drin****il at least 30 minutes after you eat. I heard that is one way to stretch your stoma by forcing food through.
If it isn't stretched then you may be eating too many refined carbs. Try detoxing from all sugar, bread, soda and things like that. There is a 5 day pouch test but you can do pretty much the same thing. Just go back to the way you ate right after surgery except you get to go through the stages faster.
Clear liquids, full liquids, soft food and regular food. Stick with protein shakes for a few days and gradual add in more protein. It may take a while but once you have the carbs out of your system it makes it much easier to stay away from them.
And if you are drinking with your meals, stop. Don't drin****il at least 30 minutes after you eat. I heard that is one way to stretch your stoma by forcing food through.
WLS 10/28/2002 Revision 7/23/2010
High Weight (2002) 240 Revision Weight (2010) 220 Current Weight 115.
I'm not in a "coddling" mood today, so forgive me if this sounds overly harsh... I am not trying to be mean, but I think it is important.
First you say that you have gone back to some of your old ways.... then you say that you are not sure if your pouch is working. To be blunt, your pouch is almost certainly still doing the ONLY thing it was designed to do... which is limit the amount of food you can eat at one time. It is rare to stretch the pouch beyond what is expected unless you routinely overeat.... and if you do, that is not the failure of your pouch. Yes, stomas do stretch, and if it has, you can still eat FAR less trhan you could pre-op... so the pouch is still doing what it is supposed to do... perhaps just not limiting intake as much as you would like.
That leaves the "old ways" to account for the weight gain. The surgery is not magic and if we go back to eating the way we did pre-op, we will get the same results that we did pre-op... weight gain. Plain and simple. You clearly already know the problem... whatever the "old ways" are. So go back to basics: controlling your food portions, eating protein first and limiting simple carbs, drinking lots of water (but never with meals), exercising/moving, and limit snacking. The same approach that got the weight off in the first place will get the 20 pounds off. Not as quickly as after surgery, of course, since your malabsorption is gone, but eventually.
Lora
(edited for vicodin-induced typos)
First you say that you have gone back to some of your old ways.... then you say that you are not sure if your pouch is working. To be blunt, your pouch is almost certainly still doing the ONLY thing it was designed to do... which is limit the amount of food you can eat at one time. It is rare to stretch the pouch beyond what is expected unless you routinely overeat.... and if you do, that is not the failure of your pouch. Yes, stomas do stretch, and if it has, you can still eat FAR less trhan you could pre-op... so the pouch is still doing what it is supposed to do... perhaps just not limiting intake as much as you would like.
That leaves the "old ways" to account for the weight gain. The surgery is not magic and if we go back to eating the way we did pre-op, we will get the same results that we did pre-op... weight gain. Plain and simple. You clearly already know the problem... whatever the "old ways" are. So go back to basics: controlling your food portions, eating protein first and limiting simple carbs, drinking lots of water (but never with meals), exercising/moving, and limit snacking. The same approach that got the weight off in the first place will get the 20 pounds off. Not as quickly as after surgery, of course, since your malabsorption is gone, but eventually.
Lora
(edited for vicodin-induced typos)
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
Well said. 
Sounds like you need some motivation so I am going to give you my "falling off the wagon" speech:
Sit down in a quiet room, close your eyes, and throw your mind back to the day you went to your first surgeon seminar and how you felt. Remember the stresses of the first appointment, getting all of the testing done, the uncertainty of filing with the insurance company. Remember the joy and fear when you got approved. Remember the nervousness of when you got your date, and how you felt on the BIG DAY.
Remember how you felt when you woke up after surgery knowing that you had thrown yourself off a cliff and that there was no turning back. Remember the enthusiasm with which you tackled the challenge. Figuring out how to eat while still getting over the pains of the surgery. And watching the pounds melt off. Doing your tracking and exercising. And watching the pounds melt away. Buying new clothes because all of a sudden the old clothes looked like they came from Omar the tentmaker. And watching the pounds melt off.
Remember it all, every inch of the way to where you are now. And now think about how you will feel if 3 years from now you are back to where you started with all of that going for nothing. Are the things you are doing now really worth that feeling of anger and hopelessness you will have if you let it get away from you? I don't think so and I don't think you think so. Use that to motivate yourself. You have done if for a long time and you can still do it. You KNOW that you can do this and that it is important to you.
Now go do it.
Sit down in a quiet room, close your eyes, and throw your mind back to the day you went to your first surgeon seminar and how you felt. Remember the stresses of the first appointment, getting all of the testing done, the uncertainty of filing with the insurance company. Remember the joy and fear when you got approved. Remember the nervousness of when you got your date, and how you felt on the BIG DAY.
Remember how you felt when you woke up after surgery knowing that you had thrown yourself off a cliff and that there was no turning back. Remember the enthusiasm with which you tackled the challenge. Figuring out how to eat while still getting over the pains of the surgery. And watching the pounds melt off. Doing your tracking and exercising. And watching the pounds melt away. Buying new clothes because all of a sudden the old clothes looked like they came from Omar the tentmaker. And watching the pounds melt off.
Remember it all, every inch of the way to where you are now. And now think about how you will feel if 3 years from now you are back to where you started with all of that going for nothing. Are the things you are doing now really worth that feeling of anger and hopelessness you will have if you let it get away from you? I don't think so and I don't think you think so. Use that to motivate yourself. You have done if for a long time and you can still do it. You KNOW that you can do this and that it is important to you.
Now go do it.
Highest ever: 390 Weight at 1st appt.: 365 Weight at surgery: 346
" I have gone back to some of my old ways. Not sure if pouch is working. "
I drove 20 mph over the speed limit and I got pulled over and got a ticket. Is my spedometer working?
Ok, so you know you were 20 mph over the speed limit, and you still question if your spedometer is working?
Think about it, you can't eat trash and not gain weight, even with a smaller (yours is probably stretched by now...) stomach and less intestine.
Go back to only eating good quality foods, stop making excuses, and do the right thing.
No one here is gonna tell you those Snickers or Cookies are ok to eat.
I drove 20 mph over the speed limit and I got pulled over and got a ticket. Is my spedometer working?
Ok, so you know you were 20 mph over the speed limit, and you still question if your spedometer is working?
Think about it, you can't eat trash and not gain weight, even with a smaller (yours is probably stretched by now...) stomach and less intestine.
Go back to only eating good quality foods, stop making excuses, and do the right thing.
No one here is gonna tell you those Snickers or Cookies are ok to eat.
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