When I take phentermine I have to make myself eat. Food is not attractive to me because I simply don't feel hunger for it. So how can diet pills control "head" hunger but people say that the band does not? And it's not like I'm one that doesn't have head hunger. I can gorge then 30 minutes later I feel like I "need" something else to eat. But diet pills take all that away. But I can't stay on diet pills forever which is why I'm looking at the band.

I am really surprised your therapist didn't have any ideas on how to deal with head hunger! I assume she is helping you with the issues that led to being overweight in the first place. If she isn't, then I would suggest you consider finding a therapist who specializes in eating disorders and nutrition (not that you have an eating disorder - they just seem to know more and understand more about food issues). I have a therapist too that I can't imaging leaving for someone else, but I really feel that she should have several ideas on how to work on this issue with you. Sorry if I come off as judging her, I'm not - I just feel that my food issues are so central to my life that therapy would be worthless for me if my therapist couldn't help me with head hunger vs. physical hunger.

There are hundreds of books on amazon about emotional eating. I wonder if the reviews of those books might be helpful to you.

I wish you all the best - and sorry if I come off harsh about your therapist. I really don't mean to be.

well, we explored the reasons why i overeat when i'm stressed or depressed but beyond that it didn't really help much. i have bought 3 books on amazon about emotional overeating (they had good reviews) but one said that i should eat whatever i want and then i would eventually get tired of it. haha! yeah, right. the other one told me i needed to go for a walk and distract myself. thanks. since being banded last week though, i am definitely aware of the differences between head hunger and real hunger. so that helps. my hope is that it will just get easier with time.

For me, after being banded for a period of time, the band does take away my head hunger. Most of the time food just doesn't appeal to me anymore. The bad things, like fried food, I used to eat all the time before being banded just don't even sound good now.

Yeah, I agree. Most of the time just satisfying true hunger is enough. I've passed up cheesecake in the fridge for a week now...and I LOVE cheesecake. I probably need to throw it away now.....Now bandsters tell me...before banded, did your favorite desert EVER sit in the fridge until it was too old, just to be thrown away???

For me, after being banded for a period of time, the band does take away my head hunger. Most of the time food just doesn't appeal to me anymore. The bad things, like fried food, I used to eat all the time before being banded just don't even sound good now.

You know that "sick" full feeling you get.....like how you mentioned the first meal, then 30 min later eating again....after that, where you are simply stuffed, and even though you walk past a donut place, or an ice cream place (my evils) you just dont want it because you are so full you are gonna pop? I think that is supposed to be the concept of the band when it is working properly, and you have the correct amout of fills. I dont have mine yet, im still waiting on my psych eval. But that is how t the nutritionist described it to me. When you eat something high in Protein and it gets "stuck" in your pouch, you will have that full feeling and instead of wanting or "needing" to eat again 30 min later because of head hunger, you wont want to because you will still feel stuffed. Thats how it was explained to me, and I sincerely hope that that is how it works.

The band did work for me like that for about the first year and then that sort of fadcd away and my appetite returned to much more like normal, only I was satisfied by small amounts of food. i had to learn to deal with the head hunger and constant grazing. For me personally, the ONE thing that keeps my appetite in check and stops me grazing all day is to have an absolutely unbreakable rule that I DO NOT SNACK. Not even a little bit, not even a chip when the bag is passed around. Once I start, I have enormous difficulty stopping and then I get that "oh, well, I've blown it now, may as well really enjoy it". I never ever ever snack. So it worked for me to have less fill to eat slightly bigger meals to get me through.

Overall, though, I've been unfilled totally now for five months and havent greatly increased what I eat. I think I've learned a lot of new habits, and whilst I do eat more at a time, its not enough to cause weight gain at all.

I think the thing is, the band's effectiveness does wane a bit over time, and you'd better be sure to take an active part in learning a new lifestyle, or weight gain can creep on over time. Who knows though, perhaps if I do decide to get refilled, I'll find the band a lot more effective again? Diet pills are just not the answer though, so risky for your health and they dont work long term anyway. I decided to just accept that I was cursed with this damned appetite and it was my lot in life to have to work to control it. And over time, I really have become a lot different, its not so hard anymore.

From what I've learned at my support groups, with sleeve and bypass it is only temporary that the hunger hormone is reduced. The hormone itself is called ghrelin. Eventually your body will begin to produce it again and with that the hunger will come back as well. Just passing along what I've been told by the hospital's nurses/nutritionists.

You are correct. I had to have my band removed due to complications and was thinking of a sleeve revision. During my reading, I discovered that many bypass and sleeve patients are going back to get bands to control the hunger...which comes back after their 'honeymoon' period.

When I spoke to my surgeon about this, he said that the band is considered a tool for getting rid of hunger. The sleeve is considered a tool for restriction only.

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Some people might get tired of me repeating this on various forums, but c'est la vie. The band never did help with my hunger or even with my cravings. Oh there were times I thought it did, but it was never consistent enough for me to ever say the band was really helping. Due to complications, I finally had my band out last week *BUT* have known since last November this was a possibility so I was trying a lot of things to find some way of controlling my eating because I really didn't want to do a sleeve revision.

I inadvertently discovered that both my cravings and hunger were caused by certain carbs. I've always done low carb and never got that appetite suppression or lack of cravings that people talk about...until I eliminated grains, fruit and starchy vegetables from my diet. Within a week, I noticed I was happier with less. I was eating 900 calories a day whereas before I struggled to stay within my 1200 range. The best part is that I've lost the desire to eat.

Just a thought for people still struggling with cravings. It may be that, like me, your body is particularly sensitive to certain carbs because they have a more immediate and drastic reaction on your body's insulin production (very likely if you are hypoglycemic or diabetic) which causes physical cravings.

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elfiepoo: How do you get your fiber? Do you have problems getting enough?

well, we explored the reasons why i overeat when i'm stressed or depressed but beyond that it didn't really help much. i have bought 3 books on amazon about emotional overeating (they had good reviews) but one said that i should eat whatever i want and then i would eventually get tired of it. haha! yeah, right. the other one told me i needed to go for a walk and distract myself. thanks. since being banded last week though, i am definitely aware of the differences between head hunger and real hunger. so that helps. my hope is that it will just get easier with time.

I hope so too. Have you considered attending a food addicts anonymous meeting? Check out foodaddictsanonymous.org for local meetings. I feel for you because I know how hard therapy is and to have it not help in a way you really need and want it to is very disappointing. I went to Food Addicts Anonymous for a while and it really helped me back then. You get a sponsor to report to who is also a food addict with some time under their belt.

Best wishes,

Pills control Hunger threw chemicals, and protein shakes basically do the same thing. So when you are banded, that is one of the reasons that they tell you to drink protein shakes.

It cuts hunger. Yes it has other uses like helping to prevent hair loss. But it is a chemically made shake, so it is either natural that protein helps cut hunger, or it is do to the chemicals.