How are you managing hunger post op?

[Christina.Rose 287]

I am having sleeve surgery Dec 30th. I have been getting very nervous and upset by reading so many people are feeling starving after surgery???? WTH? Logically you arent eating so you're hungry, but what is the surgery for then? And "head hunger?" Is that just a way you feel before you are used to starving??? Very unsettling feeling right now. When will I not be hungry? Is it just because I can kill myself by eating that makes you not eat? Someone tell me something good please! Be real though. Thanks.

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[lmay89 11]

I didn't understand head hunger. But now that I've been on clear liquid for 7 days I think I'm understanding it now.. your not really hungry but you know that you should be because you haven't had any real food in days.. surgery in a few hours and I can't wait...

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[fordtmacrae 21]

Imay89, good luck on your surgery.

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[Jamieson 40]

I have never been hungry since my surgery 10 weeks ago.

[CherCare 34]

To me, head hunger is when you want to eat, but your body isn't needing food. You might be craving a food, missing the social interaction eating has provided, feeling the need for comfort or stress release. Head hunger has alot to do with most of us getting obese.

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[CherCare 34]

I have felt some hunger pangs.... little growly feelings deep inside. I sort of like them. I never used to go long enough without eating to feel them before. If I haven't started getting a meal together, that's when I do. I've been fortunate with no difficulties in eating. As a result I haven't suffered from hunger.

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[smyleetn 55]

@@Christina.Rose. I had mine dec 8th I don't ever feel hungry, yet. I'm even still on full fluids. I still have cravings or wants, chips chocolate Pasta, rice food lol but I'm definately not hungry.

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Edited December 28, 2016 by smyleetn

[theantichick 2,204]

I had seven kinds of hell in my pre-op diet, and I wasn't even on liquids only. I felt deprived and starving. I worried incessantly that I was going to be the ONE PERSON who didn't have the hunger drive killed off with the surgery.

I all but lost my hunger with the surgery. I don't know what the people are going through who are having the starving feelings. I'm not discounting them, I'm just saying that didn't happen for me.

I had a few days with some stomach pains that felt like true hunger pains when my sleeve would get completely empty, and I just took that as a sign I wasn't sipping often enough on my Protein shakes. That and the PPI for acid stopped that. After about 10 days I was desperate to just CHEW something... wasn't really hungry for anything, just tired of drinking everything. But I soldiered through. I did have a hankering for refried Beans and cheese, which is the first thing off the pureed list I had once cleared by my doc, but could only get down a couple spoons before I was FULL FULL FULL.

Really, I was weeks and weeks out before I had an old craving hit, and that was just a voice in my head trying to tell me that Little Debbies (an old nemesis) would count as "soft foods" but I thought about what it would actually taste like, and it didn't appeal. I wasn't hungry, and wasn't driven to eat junk. I was probably 6 weeks out before I really felt hungry for real. I had to set alarms on my phone to remind me to eat and drink because I'd get busy and forget for HOURS.

Now, I have days and days where it doesn't occur to me to eat, I have to remind myself that yes I need to stop and eat something. And then I'll have a couple of days where it catches up to me and it's like I'm hungry ALL DAY LONG but not binge eating, just I'll eat and then a couple of hours later I'll find myself hungry again, so I'll actually eat 6 small meals that day where I'm normally fighting to get 4 in (I'm supposed to eat 5-6 small meals a day). I'm just now at almost 4.5 months out starting to want to eat stuff I shouldn't in quantities more than a bite or two, and am dealing with that but it's still not overwhelming, just thoughts of "oh, wouldn't a huge bowl of ice cream be great?".

So at least for some of us, the hunger really isn't an issue after the surgery.

[Christina.Rose 287]

@@theantichick Thanks for the valuable experience information. I am seriously nervous, like you said, that I will be the one person that keeps getting hungry all the time. Did you get a PPI from the doctor or use an over the counter medicine? Im thinking about getting some early just in case?

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[Night 25]

I personally haven't felt hungry since surgery on 12/20, but I do get little rumblys which is gas just fuckin' around in my tum.

[LittleBill 2,231]

@@theantichick We must have some sort of psychic connection, because I am the person who thinks that I am going to be the ONLY ONE who this doesn't work for.

As for hunger. Pre-op, there were days where I thought I was going to have to gnaw my left arm off to survive. Post op, I still get hungry, but it is very controlled. In other words, if I am eating my Protein first (and I am) and I am eating at my regularly scheduled intervals (which I do, most of the time) then I will feel hunger, but I do not feel like it is controlling me. I eat the portions that my nutritional plan recommends, and I am fully satisfied. Between meals, I drink plenty of fluids, which also helps with those occasional hunger pangs.

Before my surgery, Tastykakes were a big part of my life. I loved them. I have not had a Tastykake since June, and I have not had any cravings for them. The same goes for Dunkin Donuts. I drive through there several times in a week, and sometimes twice in a day. I have yet to buy anything more than coffee. Well, there was that one time where my rider bought me a turkey sausage sammich, but that wasn't a doughnut. And I didn't eat the bread.

I think you will do fine if you stick with your program, and find things to occupy your mind with besides TV shows, advertisements, and fantasies about food.< /p>

[Andell 53]

Sleeved on 12/21 and no hunger yet. I just feel bored of liquids and I hate the smell of Boost...

I did have some "head hunger" where I wanted bacon. I knew it wasn't real hunger as my stomach is still basically to dazed from surgery to produce hunger pangs.

If you think your tummy is growling it's just gas.

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[theantichick 2,204]

PPI was from the doc

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