This is my 8th day post gastric sleeve, and I just don't think I am having the intended results. Throughout my pre-op classes, I kept hearing that sleeve patients have a complete lack of hunger due to the loss of the part of the stomach that secretes ghrelin. I heard I would have no desire to eat and would have to force myself (with difficulty) to consume the required fluids, protein, and calories. This is just not happening. I am HUNGRY all the time. I consume the small amounts of purees and protein drinks that my stomach will allow; I stop because I begin to feel pain, not because I am no longer hungry., Due to my pre-existing lactose intolerance and IBS, it all "goes through me" very quickly, and then I am HUNGRY again. I think about food ALL THE TIME. Even in the hospital, the morning after surgery, I woke up dreaming of pizza and Italian rainbow cookies. The only thing preventing me from eating everything in sight is fear that I'll rupture my staple line or have a blockage. I really don't think the surgery is helping me as intended; this feels like a starvation diet and nothing more at this point. Has this happened to anyone else? Does it get better? PLEASE HELP! THANKS!

That kinda sounds a little like head hunger and old habits. It took me a number of weeks post surgery to FINALLY see the difference between true hunger and mental hunger. I'm not sure what finally clicked to help me differentiate but it happened and it was like a light bulb going on in my mind. The best way I can explain is that most of the eating you do is driven by habits and desire. Because your tummy is so tiny now you can't really give in to these things to the extent you did before which is lovely. Be patient with yourself and give yourself lots of love and pampering in ways that don't involve eating. You're trying to break yourself of long practiced bad habits. When you feel crazy about eating something that will hurt you or harm your progress, revisit all the things you want from this WLS. Better health, maybe better relationships, more stamina, more acceptance. I'm sure there was a very good reason you had that first conversation with your doctor to begin this whole change in your life. Try to keep that forward in your mind. Forgive yourself and keep moving toward a better life.

Head hunger and the food addiction that is the root cause will do some strange things to you.

Please take this post op time to try to break thru all that. Distract Distract Distract You have to move the mental focus away from food.

While it my be true That "Its all in your head" or not it does not make it easier.

Post op is mostly a mental game and you are being put to the test right out the gate.

The skills you learn to deal with this head hunger will help determine how easy or hard the rest of this goes.

Also mild dehydration will mask as hunger so try to increase your water intake.

medical issues like the IBS do not make any of this easier and just add a layer of difficulty to an already tough time period.

good luck

1 hour ago, josephsmom said:

don't think surgery is helping me as intended

@josephsmom

eeeeek - 8 days and you are already thinking sleeve won't work for you!! It's a common phrase that "we are all different". Amount of weight we loose, how much and how fast. directions we get from our NUT/doc.

Many OP say they have no/little hunger post op X amount of weeks, months. Even more than a year.

Others, like you, remain hungry despite WLS. You are probably on all liquids. That's not filling!! Once you start mushy, soft, solid foods - your tummy will/should be satisfied. "It" does get better!!! -

good luck bud

kathy

1 hour ago, josephsmom said:

This is my 8th day post gastric sleeve, and I just don't think I am having the intended results. Throughout my pre-op classes, I kept hearing that sleeve patients have a complete lack of hunger due to the loss of the part of the stomach that secretes ghrelin. I heard I would have no desire to eat and would have to force myself (with difficulty) to consume the required fluids, Protein, and calories. This is just not happening. I am HUNGRY all the time. I consume the small amounts of purees and Protein Drinks that my stomach will allow; I stop because I begin to feel pain, not because I am no longer hungry., Due to my pre-existing lactose intolerance and IBS, it all "goes through me" very quickly, and then I am HUNGRY again. I think about food ALL THE TIME. Even in the hospital, the morning after surgery, I woke up dreaming of pizza and Italian rainbow Cookies. The only thing preventing me from eating everything in sight is fear that I'll rupture my staple line or have a blockage. I really don't think the surgery is helping me as intended; this feels like a starvation diet and nothing more at this point. Has this happened to anyone else? Does it get better? PLEASE HELP! THANKS!

I can understand this 100%. When I was banded, the same hype surrounded it, no hunger blah blah blah. I was hungry constantly. And I ate like crap... food addiction is a real thing.
After many years I went back and revised to the bypass. I took the recovery time from that to not ignore or shy away from the foods I wanted, I confronted them. I would look at something, and my head would tell me I wanted it badly. But I would just go over the reasons I chose WLS, the effects that food would have on my stomach, my weight and my life. I started taking back my life from foods. It's not easy by any means, but then again, if anyone told you WLS was easy... they lied to you.

When you want something, and you aren't shaking from lack of nutrients... it's more than likely not real hunger.

When you are facing food issues. Ask yourself why you decided to go through with the surgery. Who did you do it for? Who's in control of who? How important is that food over your happiness? How important is that food to your goals?

It **WILL** get better. It just takes time and effort. But the struggle is 100% worth it!

You got this!

Edited May 23, 20188 yr by Matt Z

1 hour ago, josephsmom said:

This is my 8th day post gastric sleeve, and I just don't think I am having the intended results. Throughout my pre-op classes, I kept hearing that sleeve patients have a complete lack of hunger due to the loss of the part of the stomach that secretes ghrelin. I heard I would have no desire to eat and would have to force myself (with difficulty) to consume the required fluids, Protein, and calories. This is just not happening. I am HUNGRY all the time. I consume the small amounts of purees and Protein Drinks that my stomach will allow; I stop because I begin to feel pain, not because I am no longer hungry., Due to my pre-existing lactose intolerance and IBS, it all "goes through me" very quickly, and then I am HUNGRY again. I think about food ALL THE TIME. Even in the hospital, the morning after surgery, I woke up dreaming of pizza and Italian rainbow Cookies. The only thing preventing me from eating everything in sight is fear that I'll rupture my staple line or have a blockage. I really don't think the surgery is helping me as intended; this feels like a starvation diet and nothing more at this point. Has this happened to anyone else? Does it get better? PLEASE HELP! THANKS!

Is there a lot of sugar in your protein drinks or purees? Because sugar intake triggers hunger. If you're drinking store-bought protein drinks, they can have a LOT of sugar--you may want to switch to the protein powder and mix it in nut milk (I like walnut milk with the chocolate powder, but there are lots of varieties).

I'm so sorry this is happening to you. I've had enough regret this week (apparently I'm one of the ones who develops lactose intolerance, yay me) but at least I haven't been hungry at all. I DO miss biting into things and chewing them. Wow. SO, SO much.

My best advice? Call your doctor and/or nutritionist. Everything that can possibly happen, they've seen and will be able to offer help. I hope it gets better.

2 hours ago, josephsmom said:

This is my 8th day post gastric sleeve, and I just don't think I am having the intended results. Throughout my pre-op classes, I kept hearing that sleeve patients have a complete lack of hunger due to the loss of the part of the stomach that secretes ghrelin. I heard I would have no desire to eat and would have to force myself (with difficulty) to consume the required fluids, Protein, and calories. This is just not happening. I am HUNGRY all the time. I consume the small amounts of purees and Protein Drinks that my stomach will allow; I stop because I begin to feel pain, not because I am no longer hungry., Due to my pre-existing lactose intolerance and IBS, it all "goes through me" very quickly, and then I am HUNGRY again. I think about food ALL THE TIME. Even in the hospital, the morning after surgery, I woke up dreaming of pizza and Italian rainbow Cookies. The only thing preventing me from eating everything in sight is fear that I'll rupture my staple line or have a blockage. I really don't think the surgery is helping me as intended; this feels like a starvation diet and nothing more at this point. Has this happened to anyone else? Does it get better? PLEASE HELP! THANKS!

I was hungry after surgery as well, until I went into the purred phase. Then I almost had the opposite reaction. I had some food aversion, that or a severe lack of appetite. Things change so quickly with this surgery. I wouldn't worry that you'll be hungry forever, because eventually you will have semi-solids again and will fill up after a bite or two. Or you will go through something similar to me and WISH you were hungry or that something sounded good. Its almost as bad to force yourself to eat something as to want to eat something you cant have.

6 hours ago, josephsmom said:

this feels like a starvation diet and nothing more at this point.

Because it is.

You cut out most of your stomach and you're eating starvation level calories.

Don't listen to the "head hunger" BS...when you're eating starvation levels of calories...you're hungry. Real hunger. Sally Struthers starving children in Africa hungry. Hungry. You're hungry because you physically can't and shouldn't yet eat the amount of calories your body requires.

In a few weeks when your stomach can handle more food...you will still be facing the same choices you always have. Ghrelin be damned. You will still be on a diet that will require thought, attention, and will power.

The good news....is that it gets better. Right after surgery, I could have eaten my leg off I was so hungry. After I was eating 1000-1200 calories around week three...I no longer felt like I was starving to death. I was much more comfortable, satisfied with much less, and found it pretty easy to stick to my calorie goals. Almost six months out....1200 calories a day still feels pretty satisfying. So that's an awesome change for the better.

Now..back to your statement "this feels like a starvation diet and nothing more at this point."

There are two ways to lose weight. Reduce input calories (Starve)....or.....Increase output calories (Exercise your arse off)

The surgery isn't magic. If changes your tummy, not your head. You will still have to work hard and diet. It's not a magic fix.

You will still be tempted. You will still crave old favorites. You will still get hungry. As time goes on and your tummy is healed and holds a little more...you will have to learn to resist temptation just like before.

The big advantage of this surgery....is that if you screw up and lose your mind and eat without thinking it through......you're more likely to screw up by 1000 calories, instead of 5000 calories in a day. It buys you some time to really look at your behavior so you can address it. It gives you some relief from the massive portions you'd worked up to needing to feel full. And rapid results will hopefully give you incentive to finally commit to better habits. That's the goal...changing how you mentally cope with food.

That's the reality. Work and diet. For the rest of your life. I'm sorry you were sold a steaming pile of BS. You're not alone.

But again...the good news...is that what the sleeve realistically does for you is a leg up on any previous diet efforts. You've got a real chance to change your habits. A LOT of people have tremendous success with the sleeve. Most folks will lose 60-70% of their excess body weight....which is a tremendous accomplishment and standard dieting efforts don't come close to those results.

Hang in there. It does get better.

3 hours ago, Creekimp13 said:

Don't listen to the "head hunger" BS...when you're eating starvation levels of calories...you're hungry.

Some of us did not experience physical hungry for sometime post surgery. I'm one of them, so definitely not BS.

I thought I was hungry, I wanted to order a pizza, I filled up my GrubHub shopping cart. But I came to realize, it wasn't my stomach telling me to eat, it was food cravings. It took me a while to figure out, because it feels identical. Real hunger didn't return for me until 3 months post op. And then this week it is gone again.

I think many of us thought, head hunger, because of these comments "I think about food ALL THE TIME. Even in the hospital, the morning after surgery, I woke up dreaming of pizza and Italian rainbow Cookies". IMO that seems more of a food addiction/obsession rather than true hunger.

Hello again, and many thanks to all of you for your thoughtful and helpful responses. I have been on other forums in the past where veterans were unhelpful or even downright mean to newbies, so I am very grateful for all of your generous hearts.

Maybe I do have head hunger, cravings, etc. But I am also HUNGRY...as in shaking and light-headed...as in it's a good thing I still have 11 more days off from work...as in I don't know how I'm ever going to have the energy to go to the gym again.

I think the biggest problem is with my lactose intolerance and irritable bowel. I am not exaggerating...every little thing I eat or drink goes straight through within minutes. Yes, I am remembering not to eat and drink at the same time. But I am emptying immediately and then getting hungry all over again. Maybe I failed to explain to my bariatric team just how severe my lactose intolerance and IBS were, but honestly I feel they thought I was exaggerating and didn't take me seriously enough. They did not work with me to develop a post-op plan that wasn't milk-based, and I guess I didn't insist strongly enough. Or I chose to be satisfied with their explanation that their standard plan works for most people. Or I heard what I wanted to hear; I guess we all do that at times.

The bottom line is that I am HUNGRY and I'm having trouble keeping anything in my stomach long enough to be satisfied. I am clearly not having the "no ghrelin=no hunger" effect. I will have to keep trying new things, and I will ask for a different dietitian the next time I call my bariatric clinic for help.

I am disappointed that this process became difficult so quickly; I really believed I would have a honeymoon period where the weight would drop off without hunger.

Again, many thanks to all of you. I hope tomorrow will be better.

6 hours ago, Creekimp13 said:

Because it is.

Your entire response was fantastic. Not debating whether head hunger is real or not just saying the way you described the entire process has made the most sense to me ever. The doc explained, I have read so many posts here about the process but your post just made so much perfect sense. Thank you for that really!!!

@josephsmom I am so sorry you are experiencing the after this way. I wish I could assist in the advice but I am still pre-op. I read a lot of posts to learn, and I certainly did from yours. I really hope things turn for the better for you and you become extremely happy with your choice. Best of luck to you!!!!!!

You need to change ur protein drink I have IBD (inflammatory bowl disease) and u are having a reaction to the protein shake. I shop at GNC it’s a 30 day guarantee. If it dose not work my stomach I return it. I have to stay away from sugar alcohols (which is a lot of artificial sweetener) and anything lactose. I find I handle the vegan protein much better. I don’t have surgery tell Tuesday but I been trying out tons of protein shakes to figure out which works and dose not. I am trying isopure next they are sugar free gluten free and lactose free and 50 grams of protein a serving. Vegan ones are so expensive. But if I have to stick to it I will. I can’t help u with the hunger except when u get hungry get up and move. Serotonin helps hunger cravings and u get that natural release when u exercise

I can not handle lactose either go to GNC and get a vegan protein powder u will thank me. Now they taste nasty but I don’t run to the bathroom after. I use unsweetened almond milk as well

Thank you, Azmassage, I will try that. I should have done what you did: experiment with different protein sources BEFORE surgery. You were very wise to do that. Thanks again for the suggestions.

49 minutes ago, josephsmom said:

Hello again, and many thanks to all of you for your thoughtful and helpful responses. I have been on other forums in the past where veterans were unhelpful or even downright mean to newbies, so I am very grateful for all of your generous hearts.

Maybe I do have head hunger, cravings, etc. But I am also HUNGRY...as in shaking and light-headed...as in it's a good thing I still have 11 more days off from work...as in I don't know how I'm ever going to have the energy to go to the gym again.

I think the biggest problem is with my lactose intolerance and irritable bowel. I am not exaggerating...every little thing I eat or drink goes straight through within minutes. Yes, I am remembering not to eat and drink at the same time. But I am emptying immediately and then getting hungry all over again. Maybe I failed to explain to my bariatric team just how severe my lactose intolerance and IBS were, but honestly I feel they thought I was exaggerating and didn't take me seriously enough. They did not work with me to develop a post-op plan that wasn't milk-based, and I guess I didn't insist strongly enough. Or I chose to be satisfied with their explanation that their standard plan works for most people. Or I heard what I wanted to hear; I guess we all do that at times.

The bottom line is that I am HUNGRY and I'm having trouble keeping anything in my stomach long enough to be satisfied. I am clearly not having the "no ghrelin=no hunger" effect. I will have to keep trying new things, and I will ask for a different dietitian the next time I call my bariatric clinic for help.

I am disappointed that this process became difficult so quickly; I really believed I would have a honeymoon period where the weight would drop off without hunger.

Again, many thanks to all of you. I hope tomorrow will be better.

My experience has been the same as yours. I have an appetite and hungry a good bit of the time. I have been on a regular food diet for the past two week. My plan is to eat small meals 5 times per day. I do get full on those meals but, I am plenty hungry two to three hours later.

I too am disappointed that I never lost my appetite as I thought that I would. You are not alone.

I’m 2 days out of my sleeve. And the head games are real.

I find myself wanting to be hungry. It’s a really weird feeling. It’s also really strange to mix a Premier Protein with some espresso and have it last for 3 hours.

I want to want to tear up a Chinese buffet. Or I want to want to eat a tomahawk ribeye. But I don’t want to.

I don’t know if that makes sense. I’m also sore, thirsty and can’t sleep.

Wish you well.