Drives me crazy when people call every kind of hunger "head hunger." Head hunger is when you've just eaten a balanced full calorie meal and you see a donut and think you want it. THAT is head hunger. Or you've just eaten the last of your maintenance calories for the day....and your husband is eating ice cream in bed and you think...damn some ice cream would be good! That's Head Hunger. Or you have a carefully balanced small piece of pizza and a salad, and you think...damn, another piece of pizza would be better than this salad....that's head hunger again. Your nutitional needs have been met, but you are craving something that you don't really need.

When you've just had surgery and you are subsisting on less than 1000 calories a day....you are HUNGRY. Like, really genuinely hungry. So hungry, in fact, that your body's needs are NOT being met by nutritional intake, so it is consuming itself.

Anytime you are losing weight, by definition....your body is genuinely hungry. Your body is so desperately hungry, in fact.....that it is eating human fat (and hopefully not muscle) to meet its fuel needs.

Lack of food and consuming body=HUNGER.

Most of us are hungry. A lot. Being in denial about it and telling people they're lying to themselves about being hungry isn't helpful.

Hunger isn't a dirty word. It's ok if we're hungry. We've got a lot of stored calories and excess flesh to consume.

But YES, I am HUNGRY when i'm losing weight. And yes, hunger sucks.

Sometimes, I think this lie worsens the pathology of food addiction. We already have enough issues with a history of lying to ourselves about food. Sometimes honesty is healthier and better.

When I lose weight...I'm freaking hungry. It sucks to feel hungry, but it's necessary. It feels good to be thinner, it feels good to be healthier, and good health is worth it. I can handle feeling hungry. Enduring hunger is part of the work. Resisting cravings is another part of the work. Two different things. Both are tough.

Describing this honestly...is a hell of a lot easier to swallow, in my opinion, than "No, you're not hungry, your head is playing tricks on you."

We know better. Lies don't help.

21 hours ago, summerset said:

Some pretty steep assumptions. Like... just wow.

It's not assumptions. It's my life. There's nothing wow about it. I'm living it. Don't you DARE attempt to lessen my experience. Wow for your life. Thanks

16 hours ago, Jaelzion said:

Yah. And "It's not about calories, it's about energy"? Calories are literally a unit of energy. That's what a calorie is.

cal·o·rie

/ˈkal(ə)rē/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. 1.

   the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of Water through 1 °C (now usually defined as 4.1868 joules).
2. 2.

   the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water through 1 °C, equal to one thousand small calories and often used to measure the energy value of foods.

It's about the type of calories. Not all calories have the same energy or benefit our bodies the same way. That's what I meant by that, which is pretty self-explanatory. Chips don't give the same amount of energy as protein does. And depending on the protein, you can intake less calories eating protein than you would eating chips. More energy. Less calories.

2 hours ago, summerset said:

Don't bet on it.

Boredom eating (or any emotional eating for that matter) is alive in practically everyone. This "food for fuel only" schlock is only the wet dream of the dieting/WLS community.

"Elimination" of emotional eating is just not possible. Also, physical and emotional hunger are entangled all too often. When I e. g. eat after a complicated intervention that lasted for hours I'm usually eating out of both physical hunger (it's afternoon and lunch is like really late) and emotional reason (need for relaxation) and I'm definitely not in the mood then to analyze and evaluate what "might be the stronger reason for eating" or "if I should've eaten something different" or "if I should've stopped eating earlier" or "if I should've eaten at all before having done a meditation session to relax" or whatever.

Does it seem like calories are over the top? Was it an out-of-control-binge? No? Then I won't waste another thought on it.

Elimination of emotional eating is very possible. Has nothing to do with wet dreams. Thanks. Since I don't get hungry, I only deal with emotional eating. At the end of the day, it's a choice. Either I emotionally eat or I don't. No spell involved. I'm in control. I'm dealing with the underlying reasons why I feel the need to emotionally eat. And as I deal with that, I say no now. I drink more water/fluids.

Hopefully the links below will help some people differentiate between physical and head hunger. I don't know about anyone else but in the early stages of post op, it was difficult to know when I was genuinely hungry as none of the usual clues were there. Only way I knew if I had gone too long between eating was due to hand tremors.

I am nearly a year out and still do not get any physical hunger cues as yet, but I do get head hunger cues, and its like they say in the links below, those head hunger cues are for chips, lollies, icecreams. I do lots of distracting myself: reading, going for a walk, going to the gym, chatting with a friend, play games, do puzzles. The longer I distract myself and don't give in to head hunger cues, the less frequent they are. If I give in (which occasionally I do), those head hunger cues come back in full force...until once again I get into distraction mode. I am getting better at ignoring the cues which for me works best, as I am an all or nothing person. I don't moderate well at all, just having a little bit doesn't ever work for me, one little bit mostly leads to all of it.

https://www.stlukesonline.org/health-services/health-information/health-topics/head-hunger-after-weight-loss-surgery#:~:text=Head hunger is about eating,are “above the neck.”

https://primesurgicare.com/head-hunger-vs-belly-hunger-difference/

https://www.streamline-surgical.com/2017/02/dealing-head-hunger-bariatric-surgery/

On 02/22/2021 at 02:46, GBLady41 said:

It's not assumptions. It's my life. There's nothing wow about it. I'm living it. Don't you DARE attempt to lessen my experience. Wow for your life. Thanks

I think she meant that you were assuming that your personal experiences apply to everybody. That might be your experience but not everybody experiences the same things after wls. You will feel both real hunger and head hunger as you’re losing weight, it’s part of the process. Your body has to be hungry in order to consume your fat. She meant that calling any hunger someone experiences on their weight loss journey “head hunger” is frustrating because our bodies are actually hungry too.

I understand what you meant about not all calories being equal but even if you’re only eating good calories you’re still experiencing a caloric deficit (which is necessary to lose weight) and will thus feel actual hunger. As well as the head hunger from not eating as much/the same things as you used to.

I don’t know why people are so easily offended and wanting to fight on these forums. Maybe it’s because we’re all hungry all the time ?

I also experience real hunger. A lot of WLS people I speak to do as well.
I never actually expected to lose hunger completely but I’m not nearly as ravenous as pre WLS so that’s a win.

1 hour ago, Circus321 said:

I don’t know why people are so easily offended and wanting to fight on these forums. Maybe it’s because we’re all hungry all the time ?

Hangry, my dear, hangry!

8 hours ago, GBLady41 said:

It's not assumptions. It's my life. There's nothing wow about it. I'm living it. Don't you DARE attempt to lessen my experience. Wow for your life. Thanks

lol

Calm dawn, ok?

12 hours ago, summerset said:

Don't bet on it.

Boredom eating (or any emotional eating for that matter) is alive in practically everyone. This "food for fuel only" schlock is only the wet dream of the dieting/WLS community.

"Elimination" of emotional eating is just not possible. Also, physical and emotional hunger are entangled all too often. When I e. g. eat after a complicated intervention that lasted for hours I'm usually eating out of both physical hunger (it's afternoon and lunch is like really late) and emotional reason (need for relaxation) and I'm definitely not in the mood then to analyze and evaluate what "might be the stronger reason for eating" or "if I should've eaten something different" or "if I should've stopped eating earlier" or "if I should've eaten at all before having done a meditation session to relax" or whatever.

Does it seem like calories are over the top? Was it an out-of-control-binge? No? Then I won't waste another thought on it.

I appreciate that! I've watched a lot of videos (hours and hours worth) but I think social media peoples may pretty up the effects to some extent. I am confident that I can at least get it under control versus it controlling me. Eating lunch when I should be and not overeating throughout the entire day would be nice, even if it isn't done perfectly. I think your mindset is great!

4 hours ago, Circus321 said:

I think she meant that you were assuming that your personal experiences apply to everybody. That might be your experience but not everybody experiences the same things after wls. You will feel both real hunger and head hunger as you’re losing weight, it’s part of the process. Your body has to be hungry in order to consume your fat. She meant that calling any hunger someone experiences on their weight loss journey “head hunger” is frustrating because our bodies are actually hungry too.

I understand what you meant about not all calories being equal but even if you’re only eating good calories you’re still experiencing a caloric deficit (which is necessary to lose weight) and will thus feel actual hunger. As well as the head hunger from not eating as much/the same things as you used to.

I don’t know why people are so easily offended and wanting to fight on these forums. Maybe it’s because we’re all hungry all the time ?

First of all, I didn't assume anything. I also know that my experience is not everybody else's experience. I never said it was. I don't feel actual hunger. That's my experience. I only experience head hunger, and it's always for the wrong food.

You are assuming that everybody feels both types of hunger. Everybody doesn't. So while I actually wasn't assuming anything, you are.

I'm not offended. I'm frustrated at being accused of something that other people are actually doing.

2 hours ago, summerset said:

lol

Calm dawn, ok?

I am calm. How about you calm down? ??

On 02/22/2021 at 14:14, GBLady41 said:

First of all, I didn't assume anything. I also know that my experience is not everybody else's experience. I never said it was. I don't feel actual hunger. That's my experience. I only experience head hunger, and it's always for the wrong food.

You are assuming that everybody feels both types of hunger. Everybody doesn't. So while I actually wasn't assuming anything, you are.

I'm not offended. I'm frustrated at being accused of something that other people are actually doing.

Your body feels actual hunger whether or not you have the actual sensation of being “hungry”. It’s physically impossible for your body to not be hungry and you to lose weight. So I’m not assuming, I’m stating a medical fact lol

On 02/22/2021 at 14:14, GBLady41 said:

First of all, I didn't assume anything. I also know that my experience is not everybody else's experience. I never said it was. I don't feel actual hunger. That's my experience. I only experience head hunger, and it's always for the wrong food.

You are assuming that everybody feels both types of hunger. Everybody doesn't. So while I actually wasn't assuming anything, you are.

I'm not offended. I'm frustrated at being accused of something that other people are actually doing.

Also I don’t think anybody ever accused you of anything? No need to get defensive lol

5 minutes ago, GBLady41 said:

First of all, I didn't assume anything. I also know that my experience is not everybody else's experience. I never said it was. I don't feel actual hunger. That's my experience. I only experience head hunger, and it's always for the wrong food.

You are assuming that everybody feels both types of hunger. Everybody doesn't. So while I actually wasn't assuming anything, you are.

I'm not offended. I'm frustrated at being accused of something that other people are actually doing.

I'm fairly new here, but you did make a lot of definitive statements in your original posting. You claimed it's not about calories, but about energy. That 1000 calories a day aren't needed to survive. And that people don't feel actual hunger when they're eating at a calorie deficit (IE losing weight). You lead with the statement "...when you're losing weight, your body is not hungry."

When you're posting in a thread about how people's actual hunger keeps getting dismissed as head hunger, even though it's perfectly normal to experience actual hunger after surgery; then it seems like you are applying your experience to everyone, even if that was not your intention. That ends up feeding into the very problem the initial rant was about.

18 minutes ago, GBLady41 said:

I'm not offended. I'm frustrated at being accused of something that other people are actually doing.

You're frustrated, offended and angry because people don't take what you write as gospel but call you out on your unscientific and unproven statements.

Claiming you're not frustrated, offended and angry? Well, you don't give the impression that you're not.