I will be banded Nov19. I wrote a list of my fears/anxieties and one of them is that I will feel hungry and starved for the rest of my life. (hey, was a note to myself...I can be a drama queen when writing to me!) Then I wrote a list answering the first list with actions for me to get done in the next 2.5wks.

I think I understand the biology of how the band works. Smaller stomach pouch, takes longer to empty thus hunger is satisfied longer, along with eating more Protein and Fiber to feed my hunger as opposed to french fries and chocolate bars.

My question is does it truly help with feeling hungry? Or will I still be fighting myself with willpower? Obviously, overcoming cravings and recognizing my hunger is the main reason I am 100lb overweight. I haven't been successful at fighting cravings in the past.

I appreciate the honest, informed replies I read here.

I don't have any problems with the physical part of hunger - I can honestly say that I don't get "hungry" unless I go for long periods of time between meals.

I struggle with the head hunger part - the food/eating cravings - I guess that was my problem all along - it is all mental for me. For me the band does help a bit with this - I can not eat the volume of food I used to otherwise it is very painful and I get sick. I am a quick learner - it only took one bad painful "stuck" episode for me to get this.

Thanks for the reply, Maggie. I too have "head" hunger. Its gotten much, much better since I've begun this journey back in January 2010. I also have told everyone near and dear to me so I have a lot of support everywhere I turn. The house is not filled with junk, we eat so much better now. I am pretty confident that the physical side effect of overeating with the band will prevent me from doing that. I have not thrown up in probably 3-4yrs so I don't want to break my streak. The "stuck" thing has me very frightened, hopefully it will not happen often and I will learn from it if it does. Today is day one of my pre-surgery diet. I'm doing protein shakes 2x and sensible dinner.

In 15 months I have hardly ever felt hunger. Sometimes if I am busy I can go all day and not eat. But I do not reccomend that ... we all need our protien. I do not know if everyone has that or not. I was hungry before my first fill but after that none. I only have 3.8 ccs in a 10cc band. It is so nice not to have hunger . . . but the head hunger or emotional hunger is a different story

I was banded in March, and I also get very little actual hunger. When I do, it's not the overwhelming kind that is hard to resist. It's more of "oh, yeah, it's time to eat", but I can easily wait until later if it's inconvenient. I'm loving it, since I have way more control than I ever did before.

This happened after my first fill, before that I was crazy-hungry!

Good luck, Sharon

I agree with what mostly everyone has said. As far as physical hunger, sometimes I forget to eat until dinner time (but I try not to, especially because we work out everyday and its SO not good to workout without having eaten something...and you can't workout as hard, also if you have an empty stomach).

But the head hunger and old habits are still a struggle for me. Usually at night is when its the worst (I was always a late night binger). I almost get panicked when I realize I can't eat anything else for the day (like when I've expended my calories for the day). However, I would imagine that if someone had told me that I had to stop eating at a certain number of calories everyday (even if it was 2500 calories) before I got the band I would have FREAKED out. So some of my head issues are getting better (since I don't completely lose it when I don't have any calories left) but I still am addicted to food and its hard breaking away from the emotional part of an addiction. Especially a food addiction because its not like we can abstain from eating food. When I do get panicky, I try to remind myself that I'll be able to eat again tomorrow, so instead of being sad that I can't eat anymore today, I can understand that I'll be able to eat tomorrow and the next day and the next day, etc.

Here is the experience I have been having. I recently had an endoscopy for stomach pain (not band related) so I had my band doc's remove all of my fluid. I had 8cc in a 9cc band. Although I thought that I did not have that "sweet spot" even at 8cc I am REALLY able to tell the difference with the fluid out! I eat faster, more, and bigger bites. My 2nd big bite is in my mouth before my first bite has been chewed a few times! Before I would measure out my 5oz's of food and be satisfied with that amount. Now, even though I have not been able to eat until the last week, I feel out of control. Especially with CANDY in the house. It has got to go! I get hungrier quicker and even though I may not have noticed it as much before, I DID not get as hungry between meals before but never to the point to where I forgot to eat. THANK GOODNESS I go this Thursday to have them start putting the fluid back in! It does make a difference. I will have to use will power (something I am obviously not good at) until I get back on track with the band.

I'll take it a step further.

As someone who was overweight for almost all my life, I can tell you that I never knew what the feeling of being full was until I had my band. I was either starving hungry or stuffed so full that I couldn't eat another thing.

The idea of eating and being satiated from that food was something totally foreign to me. I did not even realize this about myself until after I had the surgery.

I will be banded Nov19. I wrote a list of my fears/anxieties and one of them is that I will feel hungry and starved for the rest of my life. (hey, was a note to myself...I can be a drama queen when writing to me!) Then I wrote a list answering the first list with actions for me to get done in the next 2.5wks.

I think I understand the biology of how the band works. Smaller stomach pouch, takes longer to empty thus hunger is satisfied longer, along with eating more Protein and fiber to feed my hunger as opposed to french fries and chocolate bars.

My question is does it truly help with feeling hungry? Or will I still be fighting myself with willpower? Obviously, overcoming cravings and recognizing my hunger is the main reason I am 100lb overweight. I haven't been successful at fighting cravings in the past.

I appreciate the honest, informed replies I read here.

Hi - good luck with Surgery! I have been banded for a year now. I will warn you, you will struggle with hunger until your band is filled to the point that is right for you. It is very important to stay on the diet and recommendations that they give you for the first 6 weeks. I won't lie - you will be hungry probably every 2 hours. But.... once you start getting fills it will get better. If you follow the doctors guidelines, you will still lose weight. That is why they call it Bandster Hell the first 6-8weeks. I now get hungry every 4 hours - which is normal. My band is at 4.5cc and it took 3 fills to get it right.

You wont be hungry for the rest of your life, but do not expect it to be easy in the beginning since the band is not filled yet.

Good luck and you will not regret this decision

You will have to come up with your own motivations to beat the head hunger. For instance, when I want to eat food when I am not really hungry I just tell myself "Okay, you have spent the last 20 years eating what you want, how much you want, and when you want. It's not gonna hurt you to spend the next few hours until meal time doing the opposite". I try to remind myself also that I am just really tired of being fat! I am sick of it! Uggggg!

I really have had a good experience, in terms of having the band extinguis both physical and head hunger. The former was really key, for me. Getting rid of the genuine hunger made it possible for me to learn new behaviors and coping techniques that have supplanted the head hunger.

Besides, it's just so much easier to say no when you're not hungry. (It's not that you won't get hungry; but you'll find that smaller amounts of food satisfy you. Because space is at a premium, you also might find yourself choosing foods that don't trigger hunger as much as some of your choices now might. Lean Protein and nonstarchy veggies don't cause the same kind of blood sugar fluctuations as the typical diet.)

At the beginning, however, it was an exercise in sheer willpower. Until you achieve restriction, you will indeed be hungry. I got through by telling myself it would be the last time I would be hungry in the name of weight loss and, in fact, it was