So I went to my Nutritionist today and she was telling us that we won't have the same hunger pain feelings for a while after surgery because that part of the stomach will be gone. She said that our body will tell us another way. My question to all that have been sleeved how do you know? She said it might be a pain behind the shoulder or some people sneeze when they get full. This just sound different to me. Just wondered what others have experienced.

Each person is different, but I get hunger pains if I go too long without eating. It feels the same as it did before.

I try not to get to that point tho and eat every two to three hours. Hard sometimes when you get into a project.

I get hiccups when I am full. My stomach growls when I am really hungry. I still get hunger pains too.

I get hunger pains, but for me, they are not as strong as they were pre-op. It's kind of like the first rumblings of hunger when I had a bigger stomach, but instead of intensifying to the point of getting irritated and all shaky and feeling weak, it stops at the rumblings. On a scale of 1-10, the strongest it gets for me is about a 3.

It is definitely different but I wouldn't say that it is the way she described. I never feel ravenous like I often felt pre-op but I do feel "hungry" sometimes.

The part of your stomach that is removed is also the part that produces the hunger-inducing hormone ghrelin which is why many post-op sleevers will say they never feel true hunger. After a few weeks/months, that hormone is virtually gone and the hunger we felt pre-op is completely different.

I eat when it is time for a meal and I have scheduled Snacks basically. If I didn't think about it, I could go all day without eating and not feel less energized or starved. It's hard to describe until you're post-op and I am sure it is different for everyone. I remind myself of a naturally thin person who only eats when she needs to. Eat to live, not live to eat. It sure is a nice switch from my pre-op mentality.

Best wishes to you as your surgery approaches.

I'm over 16 months out, and still never experience true hunger. I've gone an entire 16 hours without eating anything, and just drinking tea or sugar free gatorade or water. I simply forget to eat. If I'm out running around, running errands, expending energy, then yes I feel this empty, weird kind of hunger, but my stomach never growls, never rumbles, I never get weak or feel like I'm going to pass out. My full signal is the hiccups, one more bite after I hiccup, and that one more bite is coming back up and out.

You'll know it when you experience it.

I don't ever get hungry. The only time my stomach growls is when I forget to take my acid reducer two days in a row! What I do get is a sort of empty feeling - I'll realize my middle feels hollow and then notice I haven't eaten all day long. I'm like Tiffy - I can go all day on liquids alone and completely forget to eat. I'm a Type 2 diabetic, and if I went a long while without eating before surgery I would get shaky, irritable and nauseated. Nowadays my blood sugar is pretty constant and those issues are completely gone.

My full signal is also the hiccups. If I push past and eat another bite it will come right back up. I can stop before I feel hiccups, because my chest gets a little tight when I've eaten enough. You'll know what your signal is before too long. Eating too much (or too fast) will cause discomfort or will bring the food right back up. You'll pick up your signal very quickly because you'll want to avoid the uncomfortable feelings when you overeat.

~Cheri