How can you tell if your pouch has stretched?
I am two years and a couple months out from surgery. However, even with getting a chicken breast flat bread sandwich with veggies on it (spinach, tomato and cucumber usually) I can only eat 3 inches of the dang thing before I am uncomfortably full. My doc says that rules apply in the context of things....and you are the context. For example, last night in support, one lady was very upset at her NUT because the NUT chewed her out for only eating soft proteins still. The nut was referring to rules of the pouch and thinking that solid food stays in the pouch longer. However, for this lady, solid food just wasnt working and she was throwing it all up. So for her, for now, the rules are to baby step back into solids and get her protein where she can until it comes from mostly food sources. I think you run into things like that a lot. My doctor likes to see us get used to eating 3 meals and 1 snack. I still cant do that. I eat 6 small meals per day because I cant get the volume of food in. So one meal may be low fat cottage cheese or a piece of cheese with jerky (which is 15 grams of protien 1 g Fat and 3 gram carbs). One might be some chicken breast meat. that type of thing. But i am usually careful to make sure it adds up to my goal of 70 grams of protein per day. and stays under 25 grams of fat. Now those numbers will change as my body does with exercise increases and decreases, etc. but those are my magic numbers. I am not suggesting anyone else do that.
What i guess i am trying to say is that maybe instead of worrying if my pouch is too small or this pouch stretched...etc. We could focus on nutrition numbers. Like am i getting in all my protein today? or how much fat do I need or need to avoid today? or whats my carb count? I think that helps me focus more on food as fuel rather than on the tool. If that makes sense. anyway...just a suggestion.
Your eating habits are far more important to long term success than your pouch size (and the only way to know pouch size is an EGD). I don't think you are eating an unusually large portion, and, as others have pointed out, your pouch is SUPPOSED to enlarge a bit. We could not continue to survive on just a few ounces at a time once our fat is gone (or we would have to eat every hour).
I have never tried the flatbread, so don't know the size of it, but I think one thing that people sometimes are not told is that you do not need to eat until you are completely full... you just need to eat until you have taken in enough protein and are satisfied. What people often say in regard to food choices also applies to food amount: just because you CAN eat it doesn't mean you SHOULD eat it.
My approach to any kind of sandwich is that I eat a couple of bites with the bread or whatever, and then I eat just the meat, cheese, and veggies. I am physically satisfied (without feeling completely full), have taken in enough protein, but have not overfilled myself. Personally, I try (although I am not always successful, of course... and occasionally I consciously choose to eat more) to stop eating before I feel full. It is hard to describe, but I have a point where -- if I am paying attention -- I can tell that I have had enough before I actually feel "full". I can tell how many more bites I can take before "full" and "overly full" will hit. I realize that some of that is because I have lived with this surgery for 5 years, but some of it is because I make it a point to be AWARE of how my pouch feels as I eat.
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
