Did anyone feel hungry after surgery?

[sillykitty 10,705]

On 4/22/2018 at 6:49 AM, Creekimp13 said:

I could have chewed my own leg off I was so hungry the week after surgery.

I started feeling better around week 3 when I was getting about 1000 calories per day. Today, I'm still eating 1000-1200 calories per day and don't feel hungry at all.

But man...that pre-op diet and the post op first week....that's starvation. It's necessary, but it sucks. I envy people who don't feel hunger after surgery. I know some people don't. But some do, and it's not "head hunger" which is ludcrious when you're eating starvation level calories.

"Head Hunger"= I just ate a 400 calorie balanced meal, but a Burger King comercial just came on and now I want fries.

Real Hunger= I've been eating less than 700 calories (less than half of my basal metabolic rate) a day for three weeks and have just had major surgery which further increases caloric demands on my already starving body.

We need to stop throwing the term "head hunger" around to describe any time fat people are hungry...to do so under starvation levels of calorie consumption is pathological....ie: eating disorder mentality.

I have to somewhat disagree with you here. I eat 300-500 calories a day, but I have no physical hunger. I do have head hunger though, and it feels IDENTICAL to physical hunger. It took me a while to figure out the difference between the two. I had to realize that I only feel hungry when triggered by something, seeing food, smelling food, even thinking about food. Secondly, I had to realize with head hunger I don't want just anything, a healthy snack isn't appealing, I only want specific things, and usually unhealthy things. So it is possible to be eating at starvation levels and not have any physical hunger.

[sillykitty 10,705]

On 4/21/2018 at 7:11 AM, JoJoWazoo said:

Me too. 3 weeks out. The dietitian told me it's in my head but I'm 57 and I'm pretty sure i know what hunger pangs are by now, surgery or no surgery. I've been on pureed diet for 1 week. I just don't feel satisfied. At all!

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I'm not saying you're not physically hungry, but I thought I knew the difference between physical hunger and head hunger as well. It turns out for me, they feel the same.