I was sleeved on 10/18/2017. At four days out I saw food and wanted to eat everything. Burgers, chips, chicken, pizza, chili, etc. I didn't feel that hungry for two months leading up to surgery in which I lost 20+ pounds on my own. I thought that hunger was supposed to go away with the grehlin producing cells in the portion of my stomach that was cut out. ?? I was also told that after getting sleeved you will actually crave healthy foods and not the unhealthy ones. Will this still happen for me or did it just not work for me that way?

I’d so like to throw in my two cents and say that apparently often times heartburn can be confused with hunger. So pop a Tums and see if that does it?

Interesting, really? Hmm, maybe ill give that a try. Thanks for the thought.

I do think that my ghrelin levels are lower than they were before surgery. I ate 4X per day before, and had an enormous appetite. After I ate, I would get hungry again within 3 hours. I don't eat much now, and can still last 2 1/2 to 3 hours before I start feeling that I should probably eat something. it is a subtle hunger, though. Maybe a stomach growl or something.
After surgery, one of my surgery buddies was seriously hungry. She kept complaining that she felt that she was starving. I had no hunger at all. The IV was fine for me. I thought the difference was because I did a 2 week real liquid diet, and she ate up until the day before surgery. Now, I don't know if that was the reason or not.
There are people in this forum that are not eating more than 4 ounces of food per sitting at well over a year out. I am fine with 4 ounces of dense protein, but other than that, I can eat up to 7 ounces or so. I am only 2 1/2 months out, so that scares me a bit. All I can do is follow my guidelines though. If I end up eating 16 ounces of food in the end, that is okay. I was able to eat up to 3 pounds of food per sitting before. I can maintain with 16 ounces.
I guess the thing to remember is that since we are all different, we will all respond differently to surgery. I would assume that none of us had the same ghrelin levels to begin with. I know a few obese people that don't really eat that much. They just eat the wrong things. I would guess that if they had the surgery, they would probably not experience hunger like I do. That doesn't mean that they will experience more success though. They still have to stay away from the wrong things, as they will not get full on a bag of m&ms, but they will gain weight nonetheless.

Good points. I am definitely eating less and feeling satiated longer than preop, so some things have definitely gotten better. Most things, actually. I agree also that i just dont think ill ever be a person who "forgets" to eat and has to set alarms. People around me are always, seemingly, eating and i still have to cook dinner for the fam, so foods always around me. Im more able to resist now, though. Resist the Mcdonalds they may bring home or resist the yummy food im cooking for my boys, but cant have anymore. For that, im grateful!

Quite often the gnawing empty "hunger" is actually acid. If your doc didn't prescribe a proton pump inhibitor like omeprazole or protonix ask about one. If they did, ask about increasing the dose. I had to do that for about three months then no more. Tums didn't cut it

I have to take prilosec before I drink my shake. You might want to go buy some. It's otc

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Hello! We were sleeved around the same time! I got mine on October 11 this year so I'm almost 2 weeks out. I was starving the first week after surgery. I just got moved into soft foods so that has helped some but not a lot. I still crave a lot of unhealthy foods, especially burgers brats fries etc. I'm also dying for a drink of Diet Pepsi. I think it's a mind game at this point with me. I'm hoping it gets better as the weeks go on. Congratulations on your sleeve and good luck!

How's it going for you now? You're a week ahead of me.