Does the stomach get "smaller"?

Over43 · Post by **Over43** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:29 pm

Maybe a silly question, but "normal" sized plating make me feel comfortably "full". Just one plate now. Anything more than that (even on a s day) is uncomfortable. Is it possible, as the stomach becomes used to less food it will retract? I guess it can, since gastric bypass patients can "stretch out" their stomachs again.

marygrace · Post by **marygrace** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:34 pm

I've heard this more than once, though I don't have any information handy to back it up now. Many times, I've read that over time the stomach can shrink or expand depending on how much food it's used to getting. What's more, I think a lot of NoSers who have considerably cut back on portion sizes can attest to feeling uncomfortably full after eating a meal that maybe in the past only left them a little full or not completely full.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 8:23 pm

No, the stomach doesn't get smaller. Can't remember exactly where I read that, but it doesn't get smaller unless it's surgically made smaller.

marygrace · Post by **marygrace** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 9:13 pm

wosnes wrote:No, the stomach doesn't get smaller. Can't remember exactly where I read that, but it doesn't get smaller unless it's surgically made smaller.

Wosnes is right. I was thinking of something like this, from WebMD.com:

"2. Myth or Fact: If you cut down on your food intake, you'll eventually shrink your stomach so you won't be as hungry.

Answer: Myth. Once you are an adult, your stomach pretty much remains the same size -- unless you have surgery to intentionally make it smaller. Eating less won't shrink your stomach, says Moyad, but it can help to reset your "appetite thermostat" so you won't feel as hungry, and it may be easier to stick with your eating plan."

dmarie710 · Post by **dmarie710** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 9:37 pm

"Eating less won't shrink your stomach, says Moyad, but it can help to reset your "appetite thermostat" so you won't feel as hungry, and it may be easier to stick with your eating plan."

that is really interesting. thank you for sharing.

connorcream · Post by **connorcream** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 9:55 pm

shrinking stomach

Hope this helps.

BrightAngel · Post by **BrightAngel** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 1:16 pm

connorcream wrote:shrinking stomach

Hope this helps.

connorcream, Thanks for the link.

It seems to verify my understanding of this issue, which is:
There are "stretch receptors" in the stomach that help it achieve a balloon effect,
and the most helpful way of eating to limit hunger
is EVERY day to eat the SAME small food volume at the SAME times.
This will cause your "stretch receptors" to expect this same amount of food
at these particular times,
which is what people mean when they say their stomach has "shrunk".

The important thing is eating the same VOLUME of food at regular intervals.
Sounds a bit like the NoS recommendation - 1 plate, 3 meals.

cowfishpro · Post by **cowfishpro** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 3:28 pm

Very interesting. I've always thought stomachs can shrink as well. Anyway, I'm experiencing the same sensation. I am on Day 13, and I have trouble eating anything more than a plateful even on S days. What a great side effect of NoS.

Happy Cooker · Post by **Happy Cooker** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 2:04 pm

This is interesting, because I really feel like my stomach is smaller since starting No S; it's what helps me be moderate on weekends. Whatever causes the sensation, it feels very real to me. So I guess I don't care if my stomach is truly smaller or not as long as it's happier with a reasonable amount of food.

DaveMc · Post by **DaveMc** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 6:38 pm

That study is indeed interesting, though I'm very glad that I'm reading about it rather than being a subject: "Gastric capacity was determined before the study and 4 wk later by oral insertion of a latex gastric balloon after an overnight fast. The balloon was infused with water at a rate of 100 mL/min ..." Yikes! They starved these people on a thousand calories a day, then shoved balloons down their throat and inflated them with water. There are some things I wouldn't be willing to do for Science, and that's definitely one of them.

I've definitely noticed a reduction in my eating capacity, which I always assumed was just related to appetite -- but now it looks like the "shrinking your stomach" that my wife always refers to may actually have some evidence in its favour!

As an example of the reduced capacity: we went to an all-you-can-eat buffet recently on an S day (for me, nobody else in the family is on NoS), and "all I could eat" was definitely a lot less than it was a year ago. My standards of wild excess have gone way down. This is one of the cleverest things about NoS, to my mind: it provides a very sneaky way to train yourself to eat more reasonably. At first, you probably do go crazy on the "go ahead, go crazy" S days, but after a while your standards of "crazy" start to kick in a lot earlier, because you're just not used to eating so much, so often, or so many sweets. But if you ask people to do this right away, it'll be a lot harder than sneaking up on it by following a few simple rules, with the safety valve of S days there to keep you going if you feel like straying. It's a plan that leverages human psychology very neatly - hats off to Reinhard!

Over43 · Post by **Over43** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 8:02 pm

About 5 years ago my wife and I were at The Palms in Las Vegas. We went to the buffet (which usually doesn't pay for itself in our case), and were amazed at the amount of food people could put on one plate, and then head back for a second and third plate. I am definitely tempered the last few months about the size of my plating.