Confused about the pouch

How does a person regain weight if their pouch is so small?  I was told that it does not stretch out much if any.  If the pouch is small where is the food stored??  And how big is the pouch?  My doc said mine will be 30 ml.  Is that average?

Most often, people regain weight by eating too much, eating too often, and eating food high in calories.  It's true that you cannot eat as much at one time after surgery as pre-op.  But think about it.  At six years post-op I can eat about a cup of food at a time, which is pretty typical.  Let's say I ate a cup of Ben and Jerry's ice cream every night for a bedtime snack - that would be 600 calories right there.  And let's say I drank some soda, not diet but regular.  And let's say I ate a handful of potato chips every day with my lunch.  I could easily get 1000 calories with just those things.  Then add in breakfast, the rest of my lunch and my dinner.  Even if those were really healthy, I could easily be eating more than 2000 calories a day, even with my pouch.  And I would gain weight if I ate that much.

So the trick is to only eat your 3 meals a day with most of them being protein and veggies?  One question though, I thought eating sweets make a person dump?  And what about malabsorption? How do you retain those calories after fRNY?

The trick is to not eat more calories than you burn in a day.  I eat more than three meals.  I eat about six times a day.  But each of those meals/snacks is only about 100-300 calories.

Eating too much sugar makes some people dump.  Only about 30% of RNY folks dump.  I actually could not eat a whole cup of Ben and Jerry's, at least not all at once.  I would dump on that.  But I could have 1/4 cup in the morning and 1/4 cup in the afternoon and 1/4 cup in the evening and not dump.  Or I could eat no sugar added ice cream and eat a cup of that, easy.

Malabsorption of macronutrients only lasts about two years, give or take some.  I assume I imagine most, if not all, of the calories I eat by six years out.

And I'm assuming exercise even if only walking every day is part of the program.  Thank you for the info, I'm just starting out on this journey.  My doc told me to expect a 4 month wait period and I'm reading as much as I can.  Some things are confusing to me don't make sense.  But you cleared that up for me.  Thank you!

Exercise is definitely recommended.  All the exercise I've done in the past year or so is walking because I have back problems and fibromyalgia that make other forms of exercise difficult and painful.  But I walk a lot.

But at least your moving!  I think that's going to be what I will do too.  My daughter is getting on me to start now and not wait until after the surgery

I would start now.  Even if it is just a 10 minute walk a day to start with.  It would be establishing a good habit, and honestly, the better shape you're in when you have surgery, the safer your surgery is going to be.  Exercise helps you lose weight, sure, but it is also good for your heart and your lungs and you want your heart and lungs to be as healthy as possible when you're undergoing major surgery and anesthesia and everything.

I think for myself at least, when I was really overweight, it was easy to not exercise because I couldn't do much anyway and it seemed like what was the point of walking for 10 minutes?  But we all have to start somewhere.  And it is kind of cool to see yourself become able to do more.

In the summer, I was taking my dog for three mile hikes almost daily.  The first time we got a several inches of snow this winter, I took him for a hike and I was totally exhausted after a mile.  Apparently walking in a few inches of snow and while wearing heavy boots takes a lot more effort than walking in the summer does.  But today we did two miles in the snow and it was easy.  That's exciting to me.

A couple of the most common factors that lead to regain are grazing and lack of movement.  Blast away, but I'm not afraid to say I believe there is a certain percentage of predisposed people that will see regain despite their pouch size and despite their valiant efforts. For example, there is a gal at support group who has endured over twenty surgeries (including two comas) from complications related to her WLS and yet she has noticeable regain.  I see, hear, and believe she's worked as hard as other WLSers have done.  She states her doctor sees, hears, and believes her, too.  I think sometimes all the king's horses and all the king's men can't help everyone. 

What I've read and what I believe is that it will not work without exercise.  Some people have told me they have joined groups like weigh****chers to stay on track.  I think that's actually a good idea