Does your stomach shrink when you eat less?

DaniellaB1995

I know from experience that when I go like 2 weeks eating very little (due to things like illness, not a crazy diet!) that when I do start to try to eat normally again I often can't manage the portion sizes I could before.
Is this because the stomach shrinks or is there another reason?

KhaoticSoul

I dont know exactly the cause in your case, but I do know that the stomach can shrink due to a friend of mine's recent experience. She is over weight by a couple of stone, but has had a bad year so her eating habits have become shocking even though she is still fairly active and always doing something. However after going to her doctors as she was feeling off colour and not hungry even more than usual, she has been told, even though she is over weight she is technically anorexic. Her stomach has shrunk by over 10%, and she is now under the guidance of a nutrionalist as if she continues in this way she will be causing herself major issues in her future (shes only 23.)

runnergrlfl

http://eiu.edu/dining/files/25 Common Food Myths.pdf

Myth 1: Your stomach will shrink if you eat less.
FACT: The only way to physically shrink your stomach is through surgical procedures. Your stomach expands to accommodate the amount of food that you eat and goes back to its original size once the food passes on to the intestines. The only effect cutting down on the amount of food will have on your stomach is your appetite but not the size of the stomach itself.

grimendale

When someone says "their stomach shrank", what they usually mean (unless surgery is involved) is that there metabolic setpoint for fullness has changed. Your body releases certain chemicals when you reach a certain fullness level, and eating patterns can affect what fullness level triggers that reaction. When you drastically undereat for an extended period, most people stop experiencing severe hunger as the setpoint has drastically shifted as part of the starvation adaption response (see adaptive thermogenesis).