While it's true that your stomach doesn't actually shrink, your stomach is a muscular organ and, like any muscle, it expands and contracts according to usage.

Which means that if you don't exercise your stomach as much, it will get "weaker" (will hold less food). And if you exercise your stomach, it will get stronger (and will hold more food).

Competitive eaters (like tiny Natsuko “Gal” Sone, a japanese singer and eating contest champ) know this - they "train" for eating events by "stretching" (working out) their stomaches by repetitively overeating. I find it interesting that competition eaters in the USA are usually super morbildy obese men, while in Japan they're often tiny men and women.

So "exercising" your stomach by overeating, allows you to put more food in the stomach. However, letting your stomach be a "couch potato" never working it very hard, it becomes less strong, less resilient and can hold less food comfortably.

A lot of this is why I think my appetite DOESNT shrink. Because when I eat on plan I eat more leafy greens and veggies and soup and the volume of food is actually higher quite often. The one problem I have found with being a clean veggie intensive eater is that I am actually capable of eating MORE volume. So if there is a binge or a party or a situation with unhealthy fatty food, I am actually capable of putting away far more of it without discomfort than when I was fat.

Its one of the reasons I do better with more fat than most in my diet. if I eat fat regularly but am caloried counting then by default I have to shrink my portions. Which is terribly uncomfortable for about 3-4 weeks.

You see and I do eat an enormous volume of food - gigantic salads, really large pile of veggies at a time. But it just doesn't compare to what I USED to eat.

I am certain that my stomach capacity has shrunk.

Another thing. I used to eat to the point of discomfort, often EXTREME discomfort. Now that's not the case. I'll finish my morning yogurt and Fiber One cereal for instance and still want some MORE of it, even though I'm done. But I don't have any more. Because I'm not quite *full*. But I am also not hungry either. Within a few minutes, I am absolutely, positively *satisfied* and no longer feel the need to have some more. This was a new experience for me, which was totally dictated by my calorie allotment.

The only time where I feel (almost) as if I couldn't even get another bite down me is when I am eating those enormous salads (my lunch usually).

Doesn't mean that I'm still not wanting to eat more of it. But again, not because I'm hungry, just because it tastes darn good! So appetite and stomach capacity are two different things, in my book anyway.

I swear that's why I'll never be able to do the intuitive eating thing. For me, I need that FORCED PORTION CONTROL of calorie counting.

YEs, I will always have to be mindful. I will never *trust* myself enough to not have pre-determined amounts of food to eat.

my stomach has shrunk, my appetite is stronger than ever. i think i can pretty much eat whatever/whenever and i have to retrain myself over and over.

My appetite is about the same but I've learned to eat way healthier than I used to.....it's something I will always have to watch. Volume wise I think I eat more now lol

My appetite can be a monster sometimes. And I can still pack away the food - if I let myself.

I am one of those that really needs to practice measured portion control, and probably always will because I just love food! That's okay, though. Small price to pay to wear size 8 compared to 24W.

This is me as well. I experiment with days where I don't track my food. Not meaning a free day or anything like that, but just a day where I eat as I normally do without writing anything down, but I know the calorie counts of everything I eat so well that I know pretty much exactly what goes into my body those days.

That's probably as close to intuitive eating as I will get.

Like others, when I eat less volume on a regular basis for more than a few days, my stomach starts to register fullness with less volume.

But that's not enough to keep my from gaining weight without continual self-monitoring. Without calorie counting, if I really like the taste of something or I'm bored or stressed or in social situations or when there's free samples or... etc, I will eat even if I'm not truly hungry. Even if those foods are healthy foods -- what most folks would consider diet-friendly foods, I will gain weight on them.

I am another chiming in that I will still overeat if I don't control/monitor myself. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common reality that we share.
Fortunately I am waaaay better at controling/monitoring myself and thereby have continued to maintain.
thank you again 3fc chickadees for being there for me

Not to just pinpoint your post kitty, because I think we all feel this way, yours was just what got me to touch on this - but the truth is why IS it unfortunate that we will always have to control/monitor/track ourselves???

Why SHOULD be maintaining a healthy weight be something that comes without effort, without thought, without monitoring and an ever watchful eye? Why? Who ever told us that it WOULD/SHOULD be *easy* and that it's something that should just happen *on it's own*?

I have to work for my money. No one pays me for doing nothing. No one. And I've never thought that they should, I've never expected it.

One of my favorite, oft used expressions comes to mind - "if we would only recognize that life was hard, things would be much easier."

How true that is.

Rock solid true. I have copied this insight into my journal for future reading. RR thank you for posting. OP, thanks for the topic:-)

Well, I think I used the word unfortunate because many people (including myself) would love to believe that the action of getting thin means that we think and eat like "thin" people. I know there are many "naturally" thin people that do regularly monitor/control but there have been posted stories of those who "just eat when they are hungry" and exercise because it feels good (like that cater dude you wrote about robin) and don't seem to have the need for continual monitoring like many/all of us.

And as far as life being difficult, I know that I often remind myself that nobody promised it would be easy, but once again, wouldn't it be great if it was? There again, it sometimes seem that others have an easier time of things. I know many problems or upsetting issues can be present without being obvious to me, but doesn't it seem that some folks live charmed lives?

I will end this little soliliquy with the idea that I once heard, maybe on some talk show, who knows, but the suggestion that it is the stress of living that keeps us alive? (sorry for the tangent)