In the waiting room to get my surgery I had heard a whole group talking about being glad they won't have to deal with excessive hunger anymore, and how they know so and so that had it done and now have to remind themselves to eat. I did the research and it was interesting about the hunger hormone cells being removed with stomach and the chance of going away. For me, nope nope nope no and oh hell no. I am hungry all the freakin time, I am hungry 2 hrs after I eat anything. I've gotten into a snacking little rut I am trying to break, but dang- I myth busted that for myself. Maybe I need more protein, but that would of helped the hunger before surgery as well, there is no change whatsoever. Only thing that changed is the size, good thing there are not enough hours in the day to eat that much.

Some things you can do to get rid of hunger include drinking lots of water, exercising, taking vitamins every morning and understanding that weight loss surgery no matter what type is a tool and no magic wand. Also check to see if it's head hunger.

I actually had the same thing happen to me, I didn't want to eat, at least not really for the first week after surgery, but once I was healed it was pretty much the business as usual. I do find however that the things that I eat when "snacking" are better now than the things I ate before. I think this new tummy just happened to turn us into the people who need to eat a small meal every couple hours versus three normal meals and the occasional snack.

Protein does keep you full feeling longer (it didn't work when we were bigger because of our ginormous tummys), I also find that drinking flavored Water helps more than regular water and I LOVE regular water. Something about the flavoring tends to soothe the hunger pains that are in my tummy/brain. I'm pretty sure a portion of this is head hunger as well. We are use to eating junk whenever we want and that is a hard habit to break. A few recommendations that I have read are to drink a lot of water and if you still want to eat in 30 minutes, eat some Jerky or a Protein Bar. That should tide you over until your next meal.

I agree though, thank goodness for the small stomach so that I can't overstuff myself because I think I'm hungry!

when was your surgery?

I had my surgery May 5th and started to get hungry at about day 4. I was so pissed! I cried for an entire day fighting it. Mostly in fear that I wouldn't be able to use this new tool in a productive way. I decided I'm still going to lose weight anyway. What's wrong with eating every 2-3hrs if it's only a tablespoon? Nothing! I'm still under 400 calories! There is no way that is a bad thing! Not to mention all the walking burns that off! Just eat right and you and I are both going to be okay!

I hope someone has explained that the hunger reduction doesn't happen immediately and for many of us it wasn't permanent.

I'm 4 months post op and I too am usually hungry most of the day even though I get in all my Protein and Water. The only way I can stop myself from snacking all day is staying under 1000 calories on MyFitness Pal app. I choose my food according to the calorie count but do snack more at night. My hunger is more intense after work so I save my calories for those times.

At least you get full really fast! I can eat up to 2 cups of food and can tolerate everything

I stick to My Fitness Pal as well and if I'm so hungry that I want to snack, I either drink water to try to fill me up or I'll eat a handful of almonds. The nuts do seem to hit the spot

I had my surgery May 5th and started to get hungry at about day 4. I was so pissed! I cried for an entire day fighting it. Mostly in fear that I wouldn't be able to use this new tool in a productive way. I decided I'm still going to lose weight anyway. What's wrong with eating every 2-3hrs if it's only a tablespoon? Nothing! I'm still under 400 calories! There is no way that is a bad thing! Not to mention all the walking burns that off! Just eat right and you and I are both going to be okay!

Are you taking a PPI or antacid? Are you getting in all your Water? Acid and thirst can both feel like hunger. Bad hunger.

That being said, I had no desire to eat for the first 3-4 months. I was thinking "this is gonna be easy!" But then my normal appetite returned and I was able to eat more. Since then I get hungry and eat every 2-3 hours. but since I've been below goal for over 9 months I don't see the problem.

I agree, check to see if it's acid. It can feel very similar, especially early on. My hunger never went completely away but it's definitely dulled. At 8 months out, I get hungry but not nearly as much as I did before surgery.

Make sure you don't drink with your food, it stays in my stomach so much longer. I've also noticed a huge difference in how long Protein stays in my stomach compared to carbs. If I eat carbs, my tummy is empty and wants more food in about 2 hours.

Sometimes it's so hard to tell the difference between head hunger and real hunger. I can honestly say that I rarely feel real hunger. Most of the time it's just me wanting to eat something, and me pausing and asking myself if it's REAL hunger or all in my head....

I don't really understand the concept of 'head hunger' when I'm hungry, I eat, it goes away. I don't see the idea of it. Except sometime I think I can eat a whole cow, and it only takes a few bites before I am good....

For me I drink a lot in between meals and keep busy doing stuff /exercise. I don't think I'm hunger but do battle with cravings. I just tell myself this is temporary till I get to goal. Head hunger is a b****h!

I thought I was hungry a lit until I started taking acid reducers...don't feel that way anymore unless I'm truly hungry.

i take enough acid reducers that could kill a small horse

@ ... if you're hungry, eat.

But eat what will assuage your physical hunger.

Protein is great for assuaging our physical hunger.

But highly processed carbs (slider foods) just make us crave more of them.

Before I had surgery, I heard this a lot from my surgeon, his team, and online: The sleeve will not fix all your eating / weight / health problems. The sleeve is not the only tool you will have to use to lose all your weight and maintain your weight forever. Other tools available to you include: Nutrition education; meal planning; food tracking; exercise; counseling / therapy (for a variety of reasons -- you don't have to be "crazy" to benefit from counseling); patience; a positive attitude; personal discipline and accountability; etc.

As my surgeon said: "The sleeve isn't magic. There is no magic."

BTW, "head hunger" is a general term used around here that means a number of things, including: emotional eating; self-medicating uncomfortable feelings with food; eating out of habit; eating in response to environmental cues. Not every impulse to eat comes from unpleasant feelings either: Some people have learned that they are cued to eat when they are happy or in a celebrating mood. A lot of people (me included) learned very, very well to eat when we "deserved" a treat. Food = rewards for a lot of us. Yeah ... no.