Holy cow! It is the evening of my 4th day post-op and out of the blue my tummy is yelling at me in hunger! Where in the heck did that come from so suddenly? LOL I have not been hungry for days. I'm drinking a protein shake and it is helping some but whoa. I was not expecting that. I'm still on clear liquids except for my protein shakes. I start my thick liquids on Friday. Come on Friday I need some Cream of Chicken. Never thought I would be excited about Cream of Chicken. When did your appetite return post-op, just curious?

I think I was hungry within a day. My post op required six weeks of full liquids. I had lots of cream s oups. Congratulations and best of luck!

I got physically hungry right away (stomach growling like crazy) but my desire to eat went away as soon as I swallowed anything. I really felt the trauma in my upper stomach and it took a lot of effort to even drink Protein shakes for the first week but it got better. Now I'm almost 100% back to normal (3.5 weeks later).

The liquid diet sucks, not gonna lie. Just gotta get through it! Good luck!

Good to know that it gets better because this girl is hungry. EEK. You are so right about the feeling going away pretty quickly after I drink something. I just wish it would last longer. I am assuming this is why they say when you are eating regular foods don't eat/drink sliders because you will not stay full and in turn eat more and not lose weight. @@needtorecover are you eating regular food yet? What stage are you at in your post-op diet? Have you had your first fill? Sorry for all the questions I am just curious in what is to come. Thanks!

Good to know that it gets better because this girl is hungry. EEK. You are so right about the feeling going away pretty quickly after I drink something. I just wish it would last longer. I am assuming this is why they say when you are eating regular foods don't eat/drink sliders because you will not stay full and in turn eat more and not lose weight. @@needtorecover are you eating regular food yet? What stage are you at in your post-op diet? Have you had your first fill? Sorry for all the questions I am just curious in what is to come. Thanks!

Well, if you think about it the liquid is only in your stomach for a short period of time because there's not much to digest. Your goal right now should be to put as little stress on your stomach as possible, hence all liquids. The "full" feeling definitely doesn't last, I remember personally, I just sucked up the hunger because there wasn't much I could do about it. I made myself live with the discomfort and it was okay because I was able to stay home and heal for a week.

Right now I'm in the soft food phase... I eat some "regular" foods but I chew them very, very carefully until they're basically paste. I haven't had my first fill yet - not until February 8th I'll either get 1 or 2 cc's, depending on how I feel (if I'm super hungry they'll start me at 2). Right now I feel okay. My appetite is still duller than it was pre-surgery but I find I'm able to eat more and more every day. It is pretty cool, feeling full quickly and staying full for a long time but I think it's because my stomach is still healing. Hardest part right now is resisting the urge to drink during meals. I drink TONS of Water and I usually go through one or two large glasses of water when I eat my meals. It's a challenge making myself wait to satisfy my thirst.

These are just my experiences though. Everyone is different! Some folks feel 100% normal by week 2. My stomach is just taking a while to get back to normal! We'll see how I feel in a week!

I found that egg drop Soup curbed my hunger very well. It's just boiling chicken broth with a raw egg stirred in. The Protein sticks.

I just had my surgery yesterday, and I was a little hungry. I ate some Jello and that filled me up. I get to eat cream Soups and yogurt tomorrow. Looking forward to the next phase of my life!

Did you lose 28 pounds in a month? That is incredible!

@@Glennda Today exactly I am one month post op. The 24 pound loss actually includes my 2 week pre-op diet too. So, I actually lost 24 pounds in a month and a half. Thank you! It has for sure been a journey but one that I am still so excited about and looking forward to. Even though my surgery was only a month ago I feel like it was forever ago. Take care! and welcome to the losers bench. Your weight will be will falling off soon if it hasn't already!

so my surgery is in 2 days , I'm a bit excited and nervous at the same time, I've been in a liquid pre surgery diet for 13 days and i have lost 10lbs, i will like to know if after the surgery how longer do i have to be in liquid diet and so i still drink the same I've been drinking? Water, Protein shakes, diet snapple, tea, ?

i can be contact at yaji7828@yahoo.com for info or support .

It's different for each surgeon. I had to be on a thin liquid diet for 10 days post op then a puréed diet for 10 days.

Hi Ladies (and Gent!) -

It looks like we are the newbies on the site, and congrats to you all for your decision and your fortitude to go thru with this 'drastic' measure to regain control of your health!

I was banded on Feb 3, and I have one more day of liquids. Truly. Cannot; Wait.

My stomach growls about 1-2 hours after I have a Protein drink, but I don't feel the same type of hunger I did before the surgery. Now it's more of an annoyance, but BS (before surgery) if I didn't eat when my stomach started to growl, I'd get the shakes, get sweaty, and feel weak. I have been thinking about the diet I have been following pre-op and post-op, and thru this time I have cold turkey'd most sugar, all diet sweeteners, aspartame etc., and I like to think it's purged all the toxicity from my body. =]

Question to those of you that have transitioned to soft food.. there's a part of me that is scared to death to eat anything that isn't liquid. I plan on having a scrambled egg as my first "meal". Does it feel different to eat now? Does 'feeling full' feel the same as it did BS?

thanks and let's chat often and support each other through this new chapter in all of our lives. =]
,

cyndiannbrown

This may sound odd but eggs seem to be one of those foods that cause the most problems for many of us. I've never figured it out and I'm a big egg eater. Most of my diets were Atkins/low/no carb diets so eggs were always a comfort food. I still eat them, but I chew as much as I can.

Most band patients cross-over to soft foods quite easily. The stoma is usually wide open unless you have one of those doctors that fills at surgery? For most of you, the band is not filled and you may never feel a wealth of satiety till you start having fills. I know for me, I did eat less after surgery but it was 3 months before I ever really felt like my band was doing anything.

You'll hear this phrase often, "till there's restriction, it's just another diet". That means be prepared to watch those cravings and keep getting fills till you reach the green zone? Hopefully you're one of the lucky ones and never need a fill or maybe the band is tight enough as it is.

Welcome to bandland.

so my surgery is in 2 days , I'm a bit excited and nervous at the same time, I've been in a liquid pre surgery diet for 13 days and i have lost 10lbs, i will like to know if after the surgery how longer do i have to be in liquid diet and so i still drink the same I've been drinking? Water, Protein shakes, diet snapple, tea, ?

i can be contact at yaji7828@yahoo.com for info or support .

That's up to you and your doctor. They should have given you some kind of booklet/pamphlet during your nutrition classes? Every doctor is different. It can be different for each patient too. Depends on how heavy you are, what kind of food triggers you are susceptible to and so on? The surgeon may give you or your chauffeur a diet to follow when they discharge you? Good luck, see you on the other side.

It took me a few days

I actually think about day 3 but I was confusing it with gas pains.

Now almost a week out, I am waking up with hunger pains first thing in the morning!

Hope they will calm down once I get off this clear liquid diet and on to full liquids

Hi guys! I feel so much better reading this knowing I'm not on my own! I'm in day 4 post op hunger mode too! But with all the weird feelings I was scared to assume it was hunger. Thinking it may just be gas or even just pain from the wounds. I'm only having small portions thinking that's all my stomach can take which did the trick first couple of days but now I feel I need a little more, is this ok with liquid diets? Or do we battle through the hunger?!

Also. When does the gas pain subside?!! It's so bad in my back! Anyone else suffering?

KirstyK25

Gas pains usually go away within a week but can come and go for up to a month. I didn't have much gas pains but I hear on the forum that hotpads and karate chops to the affected area seem to mitigate the pain.

Small portions of what?

I can only speak for me. I consumed a lot of brothy Soups and egg drop soups for the first week or so. Then I moved onto thicker foods like refried Beans, mashed potatoes and thicker soups.

Doctors have different dietary programs for each of us so it's hard to say what's OK for you? Your doctor knows your mental and medical history and will prescribe how you should be eating. And each doctor may have a different plan for each of his patients based on their history and weight.

Re: Battling through hunger. You got it. There's a saying here on the forums. "Until there's restriction, it's just another diet". That means, until you get the fill that gives you some feeling of satiety with less food, you're still on a diet.

tmf