Mgrouse

This too shall pass! Promise!

Here’s a good rule of thumb to help determine if it’s head hunger or true hunger... head hunger is “I am hungry and want to eat X” (x of course is anything from that burger I saw in a commercial to the Cheetos I am feeding my kids... side note kids don’t need Cheetos and will benefit from diet changes too.). If you want X and a Protein Shake or whatever is in plan won’t satisfy then it’s usually head hunger. True hunger hunger is satisfied by eating, period. Eating ANYTHING.

One other thing to note... for many of us the gnawing empty “hunger” feeling is stomach acid. It can mimic hunger pains. I had awful gnawing feelings that food made go away. It was acid from the healing process. My doctor doubled my PPI medication (proton pump inhibitor, in my case it was pantaprozole but there are many of them) and the feeling went away.

I don’t have a ton to offer other than that I TOTALLY FEEL YOU!

I’m lucky in that my sister had her surgery one year before I did and so she gives me some good advice. She pointed out that, for at least a decade, my stomach had been the same size. My brain has thought about feeding something that size. Now, it is so much smaller, and my brain just hasn’t caught up. She assured me the first month is the hardest because you just crave things!

Hang in there!