Closet Eater....and I'm coming out!

[No game 14,436]

Unfortunately this is an urban myth For the first few months' date=' you won't be hungry at all. Then slowly but surely you do start to feel hungry. I'm not talking about head hunger, but you will really know when you need to eat.[/quote']

Thank you for this statement John.

Hunger is real. For that matter so is "head hunger" As you advance further out these things will come into play more. It's just a fact and something that needs to be looked at and addressed. As early as possible and it will be something that most of us will have to continue to work on in the months and years to come.

[No game 14,436]

I'm 4 months out' date=' and doing pretty well in general. But I just had a visit from the demon from hell......the closet eater inner self! I have the house to myself, and for some reason, as soon as I realized it, the thing that came to my mind was "I wonder what I can eat?" [/quote']

Ha! Don't I know this feeling I am an undercover eater too. At 5 months its rearing its ugly head a little more. I am trying not to eat by myself and also telling my husband when it does happen so I can feel like its more in the open and I am not hiding like I used too.

[Chas74 56]

Um your scaring me . I thought your not supposed to be hungry because they take out the part of the stomach that triggers the hunger But i havent had the surgery and am totally a novice . i am waiting for a date hopefuly in May. The only advice I can offer is look at how much weight you have lost in such a short time. I pray I can come close. Thats an awesome acomplishment!! You should be so proud of yourself. So when that demon shows his ugly head' date=' go look at yourself in the mirror . Look at what you did. Look at your hard work , and your looking good . Dont let it take that away from you. Good luck dont give your demon life , ignore him!!![/quote']

I had it a week ago and still feel hunger but you got to start realizing the differance between real hunger and head hunger. The surgery is just a tool and we got to learn how to use it

Sent from my iPhone using VST

[cerenatee 90]

Um your scaring me . I thought your not supposed to be hungry because they take out the part of the stomach that triggers the hunger But i havent had the surgery and am totally a novice . i am waiting for a date hopefuly in May. The only advice I can offer is look at how much weight you have lost in such a short time. I pray I can come close. Thats an awesome acomplishment!! You should be so proud of yourself. So when that demon shows his ugly head, go look at yourself in the mirror . Look at what you did. Look at your hard work , and your looking good . Dont let it take that away from you. Good luck dont give your demon life , ignore him!!!

They take out the part that creates most of the hunger. You'll still get hungry and have to deal with the old behaviors and head cravings. This board seems to be great for that though.

[mistysj 1,939]

I'm 4 months out' date=' and doing pretty well in general. But I just had a visit from the demon from hell......the closet eater inner self! I have the house to myself, and for some reason, as soon as I realized it, the thing that came to my mind was "I wonder what I can eat?" I even started to think about was might be available before I realized what was going on. I was a closet eating grazer before surgery. Must be why my kids couldn't figure out why I was so heavy - I was super effective at it. Anyway, I've been a model post VSG citizen, and I have not grazed at all, but I could. I knew this day would come, and I know it will again. I think grazing is more than just a habit, so changing my habits isn't going to fix this one. It's going to take a lot of will power to fight it. I'm interested in how others conquer this one?[/quote']

Thank you for sharing this. I'm pre-surgery and I also am triggered to eat when I'm alone. I don't get it but I'm in therapy for it. This just confirms what I suspected that surgery won't fix it. I will have to keep working hard. I feel where you're coming from.

[marfar7 1,528]

I've been banded (revision to sleeve soon due to a slip) for 3 1/2 yrs and can tell you this: They did surgery on my tummy, not on my brain. Oh how I wished they could take the part of the brain out that thinks about food constantly. Even after losing almost 100 lbs, I think about what I'm gunna eat my next meal, during that meal. My husband doesn't even think about food till he's hungry. We can be totally out of...say...eggs. He won't notice until he goes to make one and they're not there. I keep track of the food in my frig and cupboards constantly. Just to make sure theres enuf!

Since my band slipped and I've been unfilled, I will admit I've been eating much more than normal. And I will admit to doing something I hadn't done since getting proper restriciton (on my 3rd fill, 4 mths post op): Middle of the night snacking. I get up about every 90 minutes to pee at nite and once during the nite I'll creep out to the kitchen and grab a cookie that I've been hiding (my husband HATES carbs and can't stand looking at them, so I hide food. I know, a no-no) or an ice cream sandwich that I've managed to keep discreet at the back of the freezer.

If no one sees us eat it, then it doesn't count, right?

I've been a rule breaker from day 1 of having this band. Always pushing the limits. My first real food was a Burger King cheeseburger. not a good choice. Now that I'm having a revision, I'm gunna do things right this time. Especially cuz there's a chance of it leaking during the first months of healing. No more closet eating!!!

How come no one has a problem with closet eating carrots or broccoli?

[No game 14,436]

Since my band slipped and I've been unfilled' date=' I will admit I've been eating much more than normal. And I will admit to doing something I hadn't done since getting proper restriciton (on my 3rd fill, 4 mths post op): Middle of the night snacking. I get up about every 90 minutes to pee at nite and once during the nite I'll creep out to the kitchen and grab a cookie that I've been hiding (my husband HATES carbs and can't stand looking at them, so I hide food. I know, a no-no) or an ice cream sandwich that I've managed to keep discreet at the back of the freezer.

If no one sees us eat it, then it doesn't count, right?

I've been a rule breaker from day 1 of having this band. Always pushing the limits. My first real food was a Burger King cheeseburger.?[/quote']

How do you think your husband would react to you telling him this? About hiding food?

I ask because I am still struggling even after the sleeve, but I'm taking steps to bring it more out in the open so I can talk about it with him and not keep this "dirty" little secret to myself.

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

Gosh this is such hard work. I always thinking about food too. I just ate a Protein Bar and was full but still grabbed that Peanut Butter cookie. . I'm wondering if we have anyone Cheetos left from the trip I am so guilty and am going to go hide in my room. Time to get to the park and walk.

[No game 14,436]

Gosh this is such hard work. I always thinking about food too. I just ate a Protein bar and was full but still grabbed that Peanut Butter cookie. . I'm wondering if we have anyone Cheetos left from the trip I am so guilty and am going to go hide in my room. Time to get to the park and walk.

I think that's the weirdest part! I just ate dinner and I'm very full but my mouth wants more! I say mouth because although its head hunger my mouth is what wants to chew and taste 0_o

I think about how good something is and my mouth actually waters!!

[OneWritersSoul 353]

You're thinking of ghrelin hormone. It definitely helps' date=' but it doesn't eliminate "head hunger" which is even more powerful than physical hunger. It's our bad habits and food addiction at its worse.

"They're operating on your stomach, not your brain." I've read that phrase so many times on VST. It's true.

The hunger elimination is now an official "VSG Urban Legend".

Best of luck with your surgery and recovery.[/quote']

If they operated on our brains, OMGOODNESS! We'd all hit our goal weight overnight and it would be AWESOME!

In all seriousness though, I think this should be addressed by more surgeons and mental health professionals PRIOR to being sleeved. The head hunger issues are still going to exist from the time you're sent home (read the posts, folks!) to the time you hit the maintenance phase. So actual hunger is going to be an issue to work on, absolutely! As is ALL the mental garbage.

[OneWritersSoul 353]

I've been banded (revision to sleeve soon due to a slip) for 3 1/2 yrs and can tell you this: They did surgery on my tummy' date=' not on my brain. Oh how I wished they could take the part of the brain out that thinks about food constantly. Even after losing almost 100 lbs, I think about what I'm gunna eat my next meal, during that meal. My husband doesn't even think about food till he's hungry. We can be totally out of...say...eggs. He won't notice until he goes to make one and they're not there. I keep track of the food in my frig and cupboards constantly. Just to make sure theres enuf!

Since my band slipped and I've been unfilled, I will admit I've been eating much more than normal. And I will admit to doing something I hadn't done since getting proper restriciton (on my 3rd fill, 4 mths post op): Middle of the night snacking. I get up about every 90 minutes to pee at nite and once during the nite I'll creep out to the kitchen and grab a cookie that I've been hiding (my husband HATES carbs and can't stand looking at them, so I hide food. I know, a no-no) or an ice cream sandwich that I've managed to keep discreet at the back of the freezer.

If no one sees us eat it, then it doesn't count, right?

I've been a rule breaker from day 1 of having this band. Always pushing the limits. My first real food was a Burger King cheeseburger. not a good choice. Now that I'm having a revision, I'm gunna do things right this time. Especially cuz there's a chance of it leaking during the first months of healing. No more closet eating!!!

How come no one has a problem with closet eating carrots or broccoli?[/quote']

This is such a slippery slope, Marfar and I'm here to tell you that people get fat from carrots and broccoli when consumed in massive quantities- especially in secret. I certainly ate more than my fair share of unhealthy things, like homemade tacos and burritos but mostly I used too much butter on my sautéed vegetables or too much dressing on my salads. And I thought if I ate while no one else was around it didn't count! Wrong. I was almost 500lbs of wrong.

Like you, I think this would be easier with surgery on my brain instead of my stomach. If they could tweak the way I thought of salads, especially at this time of year. If they could rewire the way I thought of things like butter, cheese, and Caesar dressing then things would be simpler all the way around. And while they're in there, how about getting rid of my love of Helluva Good dip, just for good measure?

Since that's just a great fantasy, I'll just keep my sleeve. And I'll keep going to therapy every week. Then when I fall off the proverbial wagon, I'll document it using MyFitnessPal and start all over again the next day because at least I'm taking responsibility now, which I never did before. (But no matter what, I'm always going to be that fat chick with a food addiction!)

[mistysj 1,939]

How are you doing now with this?

[MichiganChic 3,262]

How are you doing now with this?

Hi, thanks for checking back. For some reason, I never saw all the other responses on this thread, but I was happy to see others with the same issue. As I read my original post, I remembered that day. I did OK that day, and for the most part, I do on most days. I am finding some are more difficult than others. I still want to be a stress eater....so I avoid stress. I'm surprised at how I've learned to just let things go instead of perseverating on it. I wish I had been able to do that before, but I couldn't. I also hope this is a new skill, as opposed to just having less stress now . I know that this is going to be a lifelong struggle. It's how I'm wired. I will say that head hunger is powerful and real, but it's no where near as bad as it was before surgery. I do have physical hunger, but it's greatly diminished and very manageable, so I think that makes it a little easier to combat the head hunger. Before, I had both things working against me. I always knew I had great will power, so I was mystified that I couldn't control my eating. I really think the surgery has dealt with the physical issues enough that it allows ME to deal with the mental issues. So, that's where I am today. I hope I can say the same thing in another 5 months or 5 years! I'm a little wary of thinking I've conquered this because I have failed at this my entire life, and I think it's too soon to declare victory. I'm very happy so far

[mistysj 1,939]

I'm so glad. I identify with the same struggles.