How long after surgery did it take for "head hunger" to return, and how did you cope with it?

I was in hospital for 2 nights, so when I got home after surgery and started seeing commercials on tv I was craving everything. From wings and pizza to ice cream and cake. Honestly I think the head hunger was only there because I couldn’t eat and barely sip water. When I got to my soft foods stage which took much longer than expected (month 3) I didn’t even think about bad foods twice cause I know I couldn’t eat it or I’ll get sick AND because I lost so much weight already I didn’t want to slow down the progress

Coping wise I just kept telling myself this is all temporary. I will be able to eat again soon and honestly now that I am able to eat anything I don’t look twice at those types of food. You’ll see with your sleeve how your body reacts to certain things. It will go away soon!!!! Stay strong [emoji4]

Honestly, I don't think it ever went away. For me, I had to make food fuel, and I spent six months before the surgery doing that. Even at 16 months post-op, I'll see something (like this toffee cake dessert my colleagues were having the other night) and think about how good it would be, but I won't have it. I only eat certain things (mostly meat, cheese, eggs, and green vegetables) and that's that.

That was the only way for me to deal with it. It's been a very effective approach for me.

I'm not sure it has gone away for me at all. But, it started to become easier to deal with around 6 months out. At first I dealt with it through fear of getting sick and willpower because I was losing weight quickly and didn't want to stall. Now it's easier to deal with because I have lost so much weight and gotten so much of my life back and I don't want to give that up for one piece of cake/cookie/chips or whatever (plus I'm still working to get to my goal...)

3 hours ago, goldenbarbie said:

I was in hospital for 2 nights, so when I got home after surgery and started seeing commercials on tv I was craving everything. From wings and pizza to ice cream and cake. Honestly I think the head hunger was only there because I couldn’t eat and barely sip Water. When I got to my soft foods stage which took much longer than expected (month 3) I didn’t even think about bad foods twice cause I know I couldn’t eat it or I’ll get sick AND because I lost so much weight already I didn’t want to slow down the progress

Coping wise I just kept telling myself this is all temporary. I will be able to eat again soon and honestly now that I am able to eat anything I don’t look twice at those types of food. You’ll see with your sleeve how your body reacts to certain things. It will go away soon!!!! Stay strong

This is the way to go about it! You have to always keep the voice in your head that you want to continue to progress stronger, than the voice that's telling you to eat. This is what has helped me in the past to lose weight. I was (obviously) not very good at the maintenance phase.

Head hunger in my opinion is just a form of deception. Your mind telling you you’re hungry when your stomach isn’t. Have you ever been deceived? Probably so, and it doesn’t feel good to be deceived. So, if you want another way of looking at it, then think of that. Will you be deceived yet again?

I deal with this daily. Sometimes I cave, but the most important thing is that you recognize it for what it is and overcome it the best you can.

About 3 weeks for me. Now I am 4 months out and I fight it every day. I have lost 64lbs so I am headed in the right direction, but I keep reminding myself that it is only in my head. Now every time I start feeling it I get up and make myself a cup of hot tea. It does help!

I have a question, it may have been answered on another thread. How does one differentiate between hunger, grhelin griping and gastrointestinal griping? Food doesn't make it feel better, even a tiny bit.

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