5 day pouch test ?
I believe it's a fad diet for those who have had WLS.
I tried it once post op hoping it would help curb my carb cravings and help me get back on track. I think this is what most people use it for.
I didn't make it past day 2, maybe it was even day 1, not sure. It put me back into the mindset of deprivation. Then when I 'quit' the "I'm a failure" feeling came back.
My pouch wasn't broken and I didn't need to test it. I just needed to stick to my guidelines and eat less carbs.
Oh no not at all. I was looking for more negative clinical aspects of this 'diet'. Many have spoken of the difficulty but I assumed that would be expected considering the restrictive nature of the diet. I was looking for long term, psych, physical reasoning or anything to the contrary of my research. Just learning and wanted all aspects but has been difficult to find. So any feedback from experience is helpful.
If it worked, people would only do it once. Most who promote it and use it, do so regularly which may contribute to a deprivation/binge lifestyle. As this is what got most of us fat in the first place, why have surgery? We could all just go on a protein shake diet for a while and then go back to our normal choices and continue in that lifestyle.
RNY is a tool that gives you an opportunity to lose a lot of weight in a relatively short amount of time. It is recommended during that time that you learn good eating habits and a lifestyle change. Those that do this, do well and maintain their weightloss for an extended period. Those that don't, often don't lose to their arbitrary goal and most likely regain after a couple of years.
Once the pouch is stretched, (as it should over time) NOTHING will shrink it back. Protein shakes are not miracle food that alter physiology, they are a mixture of proteins and chemicals in a liquid.
ETA: I don't believe there are any studies that show this diet works for RNY'ers or non-WLS'ers
Proud Feminist, Atheist, LGBT friend, and Democratic Socialist
Well, there's no evidence it actually tightens the pouch and I don't see how it could. It's a short term fad diet for WLS patients that typically results in a few pounds of weight loss, like any extremely restrictive fad diet does, but it seems people often gain those few pounds right back when they go back to eating normally. The fact that some OH members post that they've done the pouch test multiple times seems to me proof that it doesn't work, at least not more than temporarily.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
I am not a physician, but as a Psychologist (in 45 days), a Professional Counselor for 8 years, and someone who will be 6 years post-op next month (and maintaining a 190 pound loss), I am very anti-5DPT for a number of reasons.
First of all, the whole idea of "testing" the pouch is silly. The pouch is not broken, and the problem with regain is not the pouch, the problem is what we put in the pouch. Some people claim that they only use the 5DPT to "feel" their pouch restriction again. Will it do that? Yes, for most people, it apparently does. They can accomplish the same thing by just eating smaller portions of a normal, nutritious, balanced diet, though! (If they go back to measuring food portions and limit themselves to 4 ounces of food per meal again, they will find the same thing will happen... they will be able to feel how small the pouch is (even though it is likely much bigger than when they were a couple of months post-op.)
Second, it makes me so sad to see people resort to things like Medifast and the 5 Day Pouch Test when they have already had WLS. They already have one of the most powerful weight loss tools that exists. They just need to make full use of it. By giving in to dieting again, they are giving up on the tool they have been given and going back to a life of yo-yo dieting (almost everyone I have encountered who is a proponent of the 5DPT has used it repeatedly as a means of controlling their weight).
Third, I consider the 5DPT a "fad" diet for WLSers. Fad diets put physical stress on your body and for some people inflict a fair amount of psychological stress in trying to adhere to the diet and in worrying about what they will do if it doesn't create the results they expect. Fad diets also clearly 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.
Finally, my biggest 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 work get the weight off (just not nearly as fast as when people first had surgery, of course), but will also reinforce the HEALTHY eating program that will help people keep the weight off long term (and make the fad/liquid diets unnecessary).
Ultimately, everyone has to choose. They can choose to go back to the past "diet-deprivation-regain" failure mode or they can choose the "back-to-basics"plan that has been proven to be successful.
I would be interested in seeing what research you have found on the 5DPT (if it is more than just observational, anecdotal things).
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.
My personal research was purely from observation, statements , books written about the diet (self-serving I presume) Could NOT find any clinical research or science endorsement and wanted experienced negative factors since all I could find was jaded and I did not feel the whole picture was given. Thank you for the response.
