My weight went 25 beyond my goal and I just enjoyed observing the process, let it melt off, and didn't worry. It was wonderful and I just had a ball the whole time! When my body was happy with where it ended up, I just kept doing what I had been doing to get there. Your body will find it's own new set point if you let it and stay on your program. I see that it hasn't even been a year for you so I doubt you could even eat enough to stretch your pouch out without getting sick. How do you know if you are eating too much? When your shedding stops, you start gaining, or if you keep making yourself sick. How do you know if you stretched your pouch out? When you end up in the hospital with complications. Just don't push it. How do you cope mentally? It depends on what it is. Counseling, reading topic relative books, journaling, coming here to read and participate, and using all my personal growth tools work for me. I'm also a positive person, so I am always looking for the blessings in every day. It helps me to see that I don't simply need to cope, but that I can thrive and embrace my life!

I had what I think of as "pauses" occasionally during my meltdown. It's normal because your body is going through some big changes and it occasionally needs to adjust to them. At least, I think that is what happens during pauses.

If you aren't keeping a food diary, start doing so right away because that is how you know how much you are eating. For me, I had to eat no more than 1,000 calories a day for weight to come off. To do that, I cut carbs without increasing calories. It's what I still do when I need to drop a couple of pounds to maintain.

I lost too much weight initially, and found I was having several episodes of low blood sugar a day. That was really scary. My surgeon told me to gain 10 - 12 pounds, which put me at the weight he had initially told me was my goal weight. Sigh. He was right, shooting for my high school weight was not realistic or healthy for me.

As to quantity. I find that the bulk contained in a one cup measuring cup is the MOST I can handle. I'm really more comfortable at a smaller bulk as far as solid foods go. The important thing is to become aware of the "soft cues" your body gives you to indicate that it is full. You need to learn this new body awareness, because after GBS, you no longer get traditional "full" signals.

So, some soft cues are:

a gurgle in your gut on the lower left side where your pouch empties into the intestine.

a sign

a runny nose

a sneeze

a hiccup

a burp

I'm sure there are more because we all seem to have our own unique soft cues. Maybe I'll start a discussion thread.... that will give you a good list.

Hope this helps. :)

Again Lcat is right on. I know lots of people keep track of what they eat. It helps me, I'm on Myfitnesspal.com which keeps track of everything. At the end of my day if I have met my intakes even a little over, it tells me if I keep eating that way everyday in five weeks I will weigh 219 pounds. That keeps me focus and excited. Good luck. Lcat has another site she tracks on. I can't keep track by hand.

I use the Lose it app which syncs across all devices.