The Claim: Your Stomach Shrinks When You Eat Less
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
THE FACTS
Curbing your food intake might lead over time to a shrunken appetite. But whether dieting actually shrinks your stomach, as many people believe, is not so clear-cut, partly because the stomach’s actual size is difficult to measure with precision before and after a diet.
Still, studies have shown that significantly reducing caloric intake does produce measurable reductions in a person’s stomach capacity.
In one study, for example, scientists recruited a small group of obese men and women and split them into two groups: one that ate freely, and another that was put on a highly restricted diet that included small meals totaling less than 1,000 calories a day. The scientists used latex balloons to measure stomach capacity at the start of the study, and then four weeks later.
Among the dieters, gastric capacity was reduced 27 percent to 36 percent, on average, depending on how it was measured. There was no significant change in the control group.
This effect goes both ways: repeated intake of large meals, and bingeing in particular, increases stomach capacity. In some studies, including one in 2001, scientists found that normal-weight binge eaters tended to develop greater stomach capacities than obese subjects of comparable age and sex. And when groups of obese subjects are split into binge eaters and others, the binge groups show larger stomach capacities as well.
THE BOTTOM LINE Reducing food intake does seem to reduce stomach capacity.
I think of it as not really your stomach shrinking but just reducing capacity like the article says above. Your stomach is an expandable organ therefore as you eat it expands to be able to hold everything you've ate...and then as the stomach empties into the digestive track it shrinks back down. If you're always over-eating the stomach just gets used to being full so when it does empty it takes more for it to be full. This compared to if you eat small portions and it gets used to only being filled so far and then you decide to overeat the stomach "overexpands" because it has more than its used to which makes you feel fuller than you're used to.
Its just a completely adjustable organ and expands and contracts constantly and gets adjusted to certain limits placed on it and "trained" to an extent.
I hope I didnt confuse you! haha Its just my theory.
I believe it because I certainly can't eat like I used to!
I have not had a lot of off-plan food since my restart, but every once in a while I work it in, and these are the times it's easiest to see a difference in how much I can eat.
Here are 2 of the examples:
Waffles - I used to eat 3 fairly large homemade waffles. The last time I had waffles? I just barely made it through one then felt really full and sick.
Arby's - In the past, I would have eaten a french dip sandwich, 5 potato bites, then had either a turnover or a ham & swiss, depending on whether I was in a sweet or savory mood. I have had Arby's once this year, I ate half a french dip and 3 potato bites. I was stuffed, like couldn't take another bite stuffed!!
It's really nice; it helps me from going too crazy even when I'm being more lenient and I feel more satisfied for longer. This is also beneficial when it comes to leaving food on my plate, something I have a terrible time with. As soon as I feel that full feeling, I get the food away from me. I either throw it away, give it away, or store it for later... If it were to just sit there, I'd be eating on it again after a few minutes.
I read something once that said that when you consistently overeat, the nerve receptors in the stomach that are supposed to tell you you're full become less sensitive--or maybe it's that the receptors become fewer in number. Once you stop overeating for a period of time, the receptors become active again (or increase in number) and then you feel full after eating less food.
I have no idea whether this is true or just someone's dream, however. Maybe google...
I have noticed that too. I used to eat a 12" sub at subway all the time.The last time I went I was really hungry and decided to get a 12" club for dinner. I ate half and a bit of the other half but I just couldn't eat another bite. I have been eating 12" subs since I was 10 years old! I am glad though. I know when to stop eating to avoid that uncomfortable stuffed feeling now. I think what verndern said makes sense
Well, not for me, unfortunately. I do think that in general my appetite has been slightly reduced, but I can still eat like a horse. I hate it! I wish I was a dainty eater, but I'm just not! I can still wolf down chips, pizza, ice cream, etc with the best of 'em! On days when I allowed myself to overindulge (like on vacation), I could easily eat more than my fair share of food. There was no feeling of "that's too much" or "I couldn't possibly eat all that". Instead, those old habits came back right away. I have a large appetite or maybe just no sensor that tells me "enough already!". I am longing to have a shrunken stomach, but it honestly has not happened for me, and I've been on this plan for over a year. Still having a large appetite is a challenge I face every day!
I'm with the above posters. I used to eat A LOT of food and thought it was maybe above average. Now that I'm controlling portions and watching the types of food I eat, I get full with less food. I can't go back to eating the way I used to 6 months ago.
Sample menu this time last year:
Breffix: Probably 2-3 slices of bread and 1 egg omelet, 1 cup skim milk, 1 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 banana
Snack: Cheetos from the vending machine
Lunch: 2 oranges, 2 bananas
Snack: Cookies from the vending machine (600 calories in one little bag!)
Dinner: 2 cups white rice, 1/2 cup plain NF yogurt, 2-3 veggies
After-dinner snack: 2-3 chakulis (fried dough), 1/2 bag of veggie chips and some other snack foods that were totally unhealthy
Lunch: 1/2 homemade pizza (500 cals) with homemade pesto sauce, black olives and 2 tbsp shredded cheese
Snack: 1 slice of homemade banana bread
Dinner: Fettucine with spicy alfredo sauce (skim milk + cornstarch), peas, beans and fake crab
I'm full with each meal. I get hungry if I stay up too late but I think it's out of boredom versus actual hunger. The hunger pangs also disappear when I drink water, so it could be thirst as well. Anyway, point is, I couldn't eat as much as I was eating before, so I do think there is some truth in the "shrinking stomach" concept. And, as a science nerd, I find JayEll's suggestion really cool!
Last edited by Sunnigummi; 03-23-2010 at 03:51 PM.
I used to be a bottomless pit. I was able to eat an ENORMOUS amount of food.
Now. A complete one-eighty. My stomach's capacity has dwindled in a big way. I can't believe just how quickly I get uncomfortably full now. When I go off plan, I am "saved" by the fact that I just can't do it anymore. I just can't eat all that much at one sitting.
And it's funny, because when I've gone off plan and have gotten to the discomfort stage (which again, doesn't take all that much overeating to accomplish), I am always so afraid that I will stretch it back out again and my "normal" on plan will no longer satisfy me. But nope. I get just as full just as quickly. This is a wonderful thing!
Last edited by rockinrobin; 03-23-2010 at 04:02 PM.
In the past after I've been dieting for awhile, sometimes after 2 or 3 bites I start feeling so full I get sick. I always wondered why that is, especially since I know my stomach can hold more than 3 bites of food!
Sunnigummi...i need the recipes for half your meal plan STAT! lol. Sooo interested in that homemade pizza,banana bread, and alfredo sauce..yum
As for the main theme of the post...lol. My appetite abates when I adjust to a certain eating schedule (dieting or fasting)...sometimes when i come off of fasts my mind and my stomach have two entirely different ideas of what is feasible for me to eat! LOL....my eyes bite off more than my stomach can handle...this was an interesting thread!
Does your stomach really "shrink"?
