A long while ago, I read an article about a female competitive eater. She, like many people who gorge themselves in eating contests, was quite thin. The article talked about how she was able to eat so much in those contests considering that she couldn't possibly have a large capacity stomach and remain so thin.
In regard to her eating habits, this young woman said that the truth was that she ate very little. In fact, she worked at Burger King and only ate one meal a day much of the time and that was generally just a hamburger. Occasionally, she would also have fries, but it didn't put weight on her because she didn't eat very much. The secret to her slender physique and success at competitive eating was in what she drank, not what she ate. She said that she drank huge amounts of soda in order to keep her stomach size large without eating a lot of food. She said that fat people actually couldn't eat as much as her because the fat around their bellies made it harder for their stomachs to stretch.
Today, for some reason, I was thinking about the fact that I drink 16 oz. of diet soda with lunch sometimes to make me feel fuller. I was wondering if this may end up being counterproductive in the end. Am I filling my stomach, or just continuing to stretch it so I don't feel fuller in the future? I was also thinking about the fact that people who lose weight are told to drink tons of water and that all of that may be keeping their stomachs stretched as well.
It would seem that drinking smaller amounts of liquid throughout the day would be a better approach than putting away large amounts. Your stomach does naturally expand and contract through time based on how much you are eating and this will affect how full you feel (this is why gastric bypass surgery works). If you want to naturally and slowly shrink your stomach, it would seem to be beneficial to watch the quantity and frequency of the consumption of liquids as well as that of solids.
