So question for you long timers. I'm struggling but in a way I feel I should be grateful for (and USUALLY am) but last night I was down right frustrated.

There are days that I am physically famished but can troll up and down the aisles of the grocery and not find one damn thing that I want to stick in my face. My stomach is rumbling, I've not eaten more than a few hundred calories of something I really didn't want earlier in the day and while I want to eat, I can't find something that I WANT to eat.

I am not a sweets person so a protein shake won't do -- I'd rather go without. The few hundred calories I ate but didn't want earlier was probably a protein bar. I don't want chips or crackers and I don't want meat. If anything, I want the insides of a pot pie, but I know that's a bad choice.

I don't feel like cooking for the three bites I can take.

On the upside, I've hit my all time low in the last few weeks and now I think I just might hit my ultimate stretch goal of as I've lost 16 pounds since June (hit the top of my 5 pound bounce range over the spring).

UGH. I know there's a million things you can suggest that I will, in turn, say NOPE to, I just needed to say this out loud to someone who will understand and hear that I'm not the only one with this blessing/struggle.

Edit to add: It wouldn't be bad if it was an occasional occurence but it's happening more and more frequently. It was 2-3 times a month, now it's 3-4 times a week. Again, I am grateful for it, much better than being morbidly obese, but it is frustrating.

@@Alex Brecher !!! We cannot find the Vet Forum! What happened to it?

It was moved to the New Maintenance Forum.

@@Alex Brecher !!! We cannot find the Vet Forum! What happened to it?

It was moved to the New Maintenance Forum.

Okay, I've given it some thought, (and am sorry to break my own plan of not posting on a thread I don't 'qualify' for yet) but I'm not seeing any other threads about the Vet Forum, so here goes:

I MISS IT!

At 18 months out I'm down 120+ lbs, and still working on slow loss, so not yet at Maintenance, and at the same time I don't want to wade through the scores and scores of great new people posting all the pre-op and newly post-op things they need to post. It leaves nowhere for folks like me to connect and peruse those things more in line with the stage of the journey I'm in, and when I find such things in Maintenance, I"m super-hesitant to post there prematurely.

Does anyone else miss the Vets Forum??

So, not that anyone asked, but it bites to have lost the Vet's Forum!

Oh boy I could have written your post for the last couple of days. I've been feeling the same way, except I know what I want...and it's CRAP.

As we speak, my hubby is going out to a business dinner that I didn't feel like going to. I told him I'd just fend for myself at home.

What was I thinking of eating? A GRILLED cheese SANDWICH. I've discovered some amazing low calorie 11 grain bread that I'll indulge in every once in a while, and as you can see, it's turning into el slippery slopo.

I wasn't going to eat at all if I couldn't have my grilled cheese, but I came to my senses and had my costco chicken skewers with a little pesto.

I still want my grilled cheese! *Stomps foot*

I don't see anything wrong with eating grilled cheese or a potpie once in awhile. They aren't junk food.

I am really bad about this too. I have the opposite problem. I crave sweets all the time and all I ever want is Greek Yogurt and Protein shakes. I get hungry now though, and I need something more solid that's going to stick with me longer.

I cooked a bunch of chicken thighs in the crock pot and took all the meat off, put it in different baggies, and froze them. This helps me and I made vegetable Soup. I rarely get enough veggies.

I live alone and I hate to cook for just me. Sometimes I eat those Atkins meals. I have to force myself though. I'd rather make a Protein shake.

All I can say is that I completely relate. In fact, you put it better than I have in other posts.

The surgery definitely affects appetite long term. The way I feel hunger is not the same and the way I feel full is not the same.

But you say you are hungry- so I'm thinking maybe you're just mentally a little frustrated. The three bites of food thing. It does get really really old. No matter how hungry I get, food just doesn't have that same wow factor it used to. And that's a mentally challenging fact to live with.

I wish I had some advice to give you. It's hard when eating feels like a chore. We all know it is something we HAVE to do however. I'm working on my non desire to eat by allowing myself total freedom to eat what I want. That's helps a little.

When eating is a chore, high calorie foods help. Things like nuts. It only takes a minute to eat them and not much effort, and your getting your calories. Protein however... So much work. Sigh.

Hang in there. Hope it gets better.

Lipstick, here's MY two cents' worth -- not saying it'll translate to any currency you can use. They're some of my current issues, about which I'm a little reticent to talk about, since so many people here are struggling with weight loss.

Recently, a week after getting home after a 17-day cruise and weighing the same I weighed before the cruise, I hit my all-time low: 134.4 pounds. And it freaked me out. I got that low for several reasons:

* My sleeve's restriction still really kicks in sometimes, and I just can't eat as much as I need to eat to maintain my weight.

* Sometimes nothing sounds all that good -- the boredom factor.

* I've been eating so much cleaner for months (a year and a half, actually) that I am very leery of eating "regular" foods -- and pot pies certainly are on that list, along with potatoes and gravy and dozens and dozens of other foods that most people eat exclusively.

* (This one's hard to admit) I still get a thrill when I see a number on the scale that's lower than the last number I saw on the scale. And I feel a frisson of fear when the number's a little higher. Obviously, that's not a combination of emotions that will lead me to a happy place.

I now know how to lose weight. Really well. And I've been doing that very well for the last year and a half. Frankly, losing weight has become a habit, like eating a little too much (and gaining weight) was a habit before WLS.

I offer these thoughts, not to say any of my issues are yours, but just to say them out loud so I'll deal more effectively with them.

P.S. You will notice my weight ticker says I weigh 137 pounds. I was embarrassed to change my ticker. (Shame of being too thin?) Anyway, this morning I weighed 135.2 pounds. My goal weight is now 137. Sheesh, this is a little messed up.

Lipstick, here's MY two cents' worth -- not saying it'll translate to any currency you can use. They're some of my current issues, about which I'm a little reticent to talk about, since so many people here are struggling with weight loss.

Recently, a week after getting home after a 17-day cruise and weighing the same I weighed before the cruise, I hit my all-time low: 134.4 pounds. And it freaked me out. I got that low for several reasons:

* My sleeve's restriction still really kicks in sometimes, and I just can't eat as much as I need to eat to maintain my weight.

* Sometimes nothing sounds all that good -- the boredom factor.

* I've been eating so much cleaner for months (a year and a half, actually) that I am very leery of eating "regular" foods -- and pot pies certainly are on that list, along with potatoes and gravy and dozens and dozens of other foods that most people eat exclusively.

* (This one's hard to admit) I still get a thrill when I see a number on the scale that's lower than the last number I saw on the scale. And I feel a frisson of fear when the number's a little higher. Obviously, that's not a combination of emotions that will lead me to a happy place.

I now know how to lose weight. Really well. And I've been doing that very well for the last year and a half. Frankly, losing weight has become a habit, like eating a little too much (and gaining weight) was a habit before WLS.

I offer these thoughts, not to say any of my issues are yours, but just to say them out loud so I'll deal more effectively with them.

P.S. You will notice my weight ticker says I weigh 137 pounds. I was embarrassed to change my ticker. (Shame of being too thin?) Anyway, this morning I weighed 135.2 pounds. My goal weight is now 137. Sheesh, this is a little messed up.

Very well said. I so relate!!! You're not alone. Many of this hit these issues when at goal. It's tough. Don't be embarrassed.