The medical records that my parents saved show that I was only 4 years old the first time I went through a medical diet. Since then I tried all the diets you can imagine. I have been followed by nutritionists, doctors, therapists. I followed the south beach diet, Duncan diet, intermittent starving, the whole 30, I can't even remember them. But when I was going back eating as my all other friends were... I gained weight. Again and again. I have been up and down from 170 to 280 pounds so many times in my life. And that's very dangerous. But I never felt "full" or "satisfied" in my entire life. I'll go through a gastric bypass on September the 5th. I am on my pre-op diet. It started few days ago and I know I'll do my 30 days of shakes and 1 meal of boiled veggies and a small amount of protein. I am really scared for the years after surgery. I hope I'll tolerate all healthy foods but in moderation. Please keep your fingers crossed for me. I hope this is last time I'll lose weight and I hope this time will be a little easier to mantain the new weight. Good luck to all of you, my friends.

Good luck on your upcoming surgery. After I had my RNY gastric bypass surgery, I completely lost my hunger. It was not difficult for me to drop the weight when hunger was not constantly continually gnawing at my bones. It is a very different experience than dieting. Not everyone who has surgery loses their sense of hunger, but many do. Since you are at the beginning of this process, I would recommend three things.

1. Take a good before photograph of yourself, so that you have something to compare to after surgery. Many times we are blind to our obesity. We do not see ourselves. Therefore when the weight begins to drop off rather dramatically, we question if this is really happening. Photographs are a good visualization of our success. Many people carry a before and after photo with them, just to remind themselves of their success.
2. Walk 30 minutes each day, every day until surgery (or equivalent exercise). Walking helps the recovery process go smoothly and minimized the pain levels from surgery.
3. Wean yourself from caffeine and carbonated beverages now. After I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered from a week of severe withdrawal syndrome consisting of severe headaches and body aches. I was miserable. You don't want to combine the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of surgery.

Thank you James for the suggestion and the nice words. I'll print a picture and I'll carry it with me. I'll also cut down the coffee...I like those ideas. For the rest, I haven't drink a soda in the past 2-3 years, I excersize every day including 1 hour of yoga, 1 of cycling and 1 of body pump a week. I think my case is a little bit different from the other cases. For me it is that constant sense of hunger together with a never experienced sense of fullness and satisfaction. I hope this will work for me. I am pretty scared at less than 30 days from surgery.

Zleng, you have already made a brave decision regarding your health by scheduling this surgery. I have never been a small person myself and have tried all diets known to google with yo yo success. I was sleeved 14 days ago and feel this has been the best decision. I am just now starting to lose a bit of weight and I am happy. I feel full with a shake! James is very right about caffeine. I used to drink 5-6 cups of hot black tea daily. I stopped that cold turkey when I started the preop diet. I wish I had slowly weaned myself off because I was so tired and sluggish. I am fine now. Wish you well in your journey. We are all here because of the same struggle.

On 8/10/2017 at 6:14 PM, zleng said:

I think my case is a little bit different from the other cases. For me it is that constant sense of hunger together with a never experienced sense of fullness and satisfaction.

i think we are a lot alike. from age 18-38 i bounced from 180-280 about six times. i actually figured out that i had lost over 300lbs cumulatively on my own during those 20 years. until the latest upswing took me all the way to 370 - my body broke my thyroid in order to return to being overweight.

all the while i was a devoted runner. i ran a sub-2hr half marathon when i was 250lbs. i've always lifted weights, crossfit, P90X, all of it. while doing paleo, intermittent fasting, etc.

anyway, rejoice as it seems like all that is a thing of the past. good for you that you're doing this now before you get to where i did.

as far as hunger goes, help is on the way. i recently described for someone else what it's felt like for me. hope it helps...