Hunger hormones

[LaTiaV 111]

Just now, newnew@46 said:

Hi all, I am 7 days out from surgery and idk how to distinguish if I have hunger pain or just pain. Mentally i don’t feel it’s like hunger but idk. Also, does it matter if I take my liquids laying down ?

I would not recommend to drink or eat lying down, not just because of the surgery but in general, I have suffered GERD and lying down while or too soon after eating/drinking can trigger GERD, it is easy for me to confuse GERD and hunger pains. I try to sit to eat and not lying down after one or 2 hours after having some food or liquids.

[Happy Stylist 86]

2 hours ago, SleeveDiva2022 said:

I didn't feel any hunger the first 6 days post op. Now, at 9 days post op, I definitely feel it. Not for anything specific, but just hunger. At the moment I can drink a shake and more fluids and take care of it. But it does come back. I start on mushy foods on the 17th and I'm hoping that helps more.

I wasn't hungry at all for 11 days post op. But the last 4 days I have been. I know it's hungry, I can tell the difference between just grumbling vs growling. My stomach does both now. My weight loss is very slow coming off too. I get to start soft foods in a couple of days. Im looking forward to it.

[Arabesque 7,617]

Most ‘hunger pains’ having nothing to do with hunger. It’s an old wives tale we all got sucked into. The rumbling, gurgling, squelching & other sounds are just your digestive system doing what it’s supposed to - digesting food through our stomach & intestines. For some reason it seems to be noisier after our surgery.

Sometimes it does take a while for our bodies to readjust the production of the acid to digest food. This excess acid can cause a sharp cutting like pain. Some say if they eat it goes away so it must be hunger. But eating just means the acid is used not that you were hungry. Were you prescribed a PPI to reduce the acid production? Yiu usually only need to take them for a couple of months.

Yes, the surgery does remove a lot of the area in your stomach that produces the hunger hormone ghrelin however it’s not the only place that produces that hormone or others. So some still do feel real hunger after surgery. And as someone also posted the surgery doesn’t remove head hunger which is one of the big battles we have to fight. That occurs because of emotions, boredom, eating out of habit, etc. You’ll discover real hunger feels different to head hunger. For me I get restless, don’t crave a specific food or food type & there is a logical reason behind the hunger (like I’ve eaten little that day). I don’t get an emotional drive to eat - no feeling hangry.

Yes you are eating very little but remember you have a lot of energy stored in your fat your body can use to function as it needs. And getting your body to burn those fat stores is what you want to happen.

I felt real hunger for the first time at about 8 months. I had passed my goal & didn’t know what was wrong. But my hunger didn’t really start to come back until well into my second year. I was very fortunate in that.

[Happy Stylist 86]

8 hours ago, Arabesque said:

Most ‘hunger pains’ having nothing to do with hunger. It’s an old wives tale we all got sucked into. The rumbling, gurgling, squelching & other sounds are just your digestive system doing what it’s supposed to - digesting food through our stomach & intestines. For some reason it seems to be noisier after our surgery.

Sometimes it does take a while for our bodies to readjust the production of the acid to digest food. This excess acid can cause a sharp cutting like pain. Some say if they eat it goes away so it must be hunger. But eating just means the acid is used not that you were hungry. Were you prescribed a PPI to reduce the acid production? Yiu usually only need to take them for a couple of months.

Yes, the surgery does remove a lot of the area in your stomach that produces the hunger hormone ghrelin however it’s not the only place that produces that hormone or others. So some still do feel real hunger after surgery. And as someone also posted the surgery doesn’t remove head hunger which is one of the big battles we have to fight. That occurs because of emotions, boredom, eating out of habit, etc. You’ll discover real hunger feels different to head hunger. For me I get restless, don’t crave a specific food or food type & there is a logical reason behind the hunger (like I’ve eaten little that day). I don’t get an emotional drive to eat - no feeling hangry.

Yes you are eating very little but remember you have a lot of energy stored in your fat your body can use to function as it needs. And getting your body to burn those fat stores is what you want to happen.

I felt real hunger for the first time at about 8 months. I had passed my goal & didn’t know what was wrong. But my hunger didn’t really start to come back until well into my second year. I was very fortunate in that.

But there's that hungry feeling too. Maybe it's hard to explain because I know everyone is different. But for me I know the difference in just my belly/gut making noise. It has been making noise since I've had surgery. But this growling and feeling is definitely hunger. I do fight it and I try to stay busy. But no matter I do at this point it's not going away. I'm hoping once I get to add soft foods it will stop. I'll update when I do lol. I'm thinking of calling my surgeons office and ask about starting the soft food just a day or two earlier. Just giving them the info and see what they say. I've stuck to the plan and will continue to do so.

[ShoppGirl 5,073]

1 hour ago, Happy Stylist said:

But there's that hungry feeling too. Maybe it's hard to explain because I know everyone is different. But for me I know the difference in just my belly/gut making noise. It has been making noise since I've had surgery. But this growling and feeling is definitely hunger. I do fight it and I try to stay busy. But no matter I do at this point it's not going away. I'm hoping once I get to add soft foods it will stop. I'll update when I do lol. I'm thinking of calling my surgeons office and ask about starting the soft food just a day or two earlier. Just giving them the info and see what they say. I've stuck to the plan and will continue to do so.

I would call. If you haven’t had any struggles on the liquid phase perhaps they will add a purée phase between the two. Most of us have a purée phase anyways. Or, like I suggested before maybe they will at least let you have another Protein Shake. The extra Protein shake should help without technically advancing your diet. They do fill you up for a good 3-5 hours. I know because even at a year out I still have one everyday for Breakfast and depending on when I wake up it keeps me full till noon. I would choose food instead if it didn’t keep me full. But just three a day it may not keep you full long enough. If that makes sense.