I think I stretched my pouch! - ThinnerTimes

offstringgirl · 08-02-2008, 11:04 PM

I know I've read a tun of posts about all this, but it seems to be completely different when it's happening to you! I got a small Wendy's chili for "dinner" tonight, and ate half...HALF!

That seems like way too much to me! The other day I could only eat 1/3! Is this an okay amount or have I done something wrong? I was told that water stretches your pouch and I've been drinking a lot lately, so now I'm worried!

Even after all of the info and research I have done over the past year, at times I still feel like such a newbie!

mistymee · 08-03-2008, 04:44 AM

sweets.. you ARE a 'newbie' in that you're having all these new things happening to YOU!

It isn't unusual to be able to eat a bit more once the swelling has subsided a bit.. also.. you'll have to take into consideration how long it took you to eat that 1/2 of chili and that is is fairly soft and easy to go down so you can eat more of that than you could something more dense like chicken or steak for instance.

As for water being able to stretch your pouch... I think you'd really need to drink a ton of that fairly quickly for it to stretch out the pouch.. they now make that from the rigid, less flexible part of your stomach that what they used to use.

MiladyB · 08-03-2008, 07:57 AM

Laura, Kel did an excellent job of explaining things. She is 'right on' with her answer too.

You are doing fine, sweetie. Please try not to worry too much about stretching out your pouch. Like Kel explained it really is pretty hard to do.

When I started eating Wendy's chili I could do ALL of a small serving. I could eat 1/2 c cottage cheese, drink down a 12 oz bottle of water over 30 min or so, drink down a 6-8 oz protein drink in about 15-20 min. I was recently scoped at 2+ years postop. Afterward I asked my surgeon about the size of my pouch and my connection between my pouch and small intestines. He didn't give me an actual number but stated "It all looked excellent. And it all is still a good size."

Anyway, my point is I actually was able to eat more than you and my pouch is fine even more than 2 years later. The key is to listen to your pouch. Don't eat past the point of being full. You don't want to constantly over-fill your stomach.

sherry7 · 08-03-2008, 10:27 AM

Kel and Beth gave you excellent info already, but here's another thought: chili is a "slider" food. Meaning that it has liquid in it, and that is going to make it "slide" though your pouch faster. When I eat chili, I drain almost all of the liquid off it and throw it out. In a sense, all soups are considered "slider" foods, because of the large amount of liquid they contain.