I'm about a year and a half out and I would like to say that there is really no part of this journey I enjoy. I'm grateful for my tool but having to do the work of bariatrics is very very hard and today I'm just pissed because I still don't crave food.... like I don't Have a craving for food. I have to make myself eat, then when I do finally eat the food is like uneventful even though it's very flavorful.: it's just it doesn't give me that ummmp dopamine hit like it used to. It's like my food addiction no longer has that pazazzz that it craves. I can't explain it and then as I'm sitting there eating my f**king stomach is gurgling and making noise and it just irritates me like This journey is very very hard. Everday I have a gripe!

Edited October 26, 2025Oct 26 by Mspretty86

There are lots of things that are frustrating or annoying even after we lose the weight. Six+ years out and there are times I still get frustrated. I was annoyed last night as I was trying to sleep & my abdominal poltergeist was groaning and whining and rattling chains after having a mouthful of water. Some nights I toss and turn because my bony joints make it hard to find a comfortable position to sleep. Ggrrr!

But, yes let’s share our gripes and frustrations so we know we’re not alone in our feelings & that particular annoyance may not be forever.

As to your gripe, & not to take away from it, I think I’m in two minds about it@Mspretty86. There’s a side of me that wants to celebrate that you don’t have food cravings any more. And to celebrate you don’t get the same dopamine hit. It implies you aren’t ruled by your head hunger any more. You aren’t looking at food to make you feel better, happier, etc. That emotional high was always short lived and you’d go looking for food again to give you that high once more. That cycle is what led many to being obese. If you don’t experience that any more that is a huge win.

The other side is I feel sad that you don’t have any joy in eating, of the flavours, smells, & textures. That first crunch and burst of sweetness when you bite an apple. The sharp & salty zing when you bite a pickle. The creamy goodness of the first lick of ice cream. The smell of freshly baked apple pie. …

I’m hoping you are in an interim stage when you’re still recognising what the difference between eating only to make you feel better and eating to enjoy the pleasures of the food & the stimulation of your senses means for you. And the difference between thinking eating will help your emotional or mental health versus eating that will help your physical health.

I’m eating lunch as I write. Am I craving what I’m eating? No. Am hoping it will make me feel better or happier? No. Am I eating quickly to try to get that dopamine hit sooner? No. Am I enjoying each bite, the crunch of the multi grain cracker, the smooth creaminess of the liverwurst and salty mouth puckering tang of the pickled onion? Yes, but it’s no more than this.

Sorry for the long reply. Hope you can see there may be a light ahead of you.

@Arabesque thanks! I know it's a gripe but I'm Sorry I chuckled at your adominal poltergeist remark! I needed that little laugh. I understand completely!

Great viewpoints, I know a lot of people would feel that not having cravings and not being hungry is a good thing but when you have been obese, all your life and that high is no longer there it's like a death. I've came a long way to conquer this beast this f**king demon. 🤣

You have come a long way and that’s what you have to keep reminding yourself @Mspretty86. And it is a f**king demon & we need our inner Buffy to kick its butt. I don’t think we will ever slay the demon but we can take away a lot of its power.

And gripe away anytime. Sometimes just talking/writing about the thing that is driving you crazy will show you a way forward, make you look at the issue a different way or show you you’re not alone.

I’m only two months out, but I did my share of lurking on reddit and in here for 9 months before my surgery and never did I ever read anything about Keto Rash, until I was two weeks post op and ended up with it on my back!

Edited to add….this is a bit of a positive but I’ve only heard of the opposite. Nobody talks about how incredible some things taste after surgery. I’ve only heard about how folks have lost the taste for some things and admittedly, I have had some of that. But last last week I had some cake donut and it was incredible as was the tiny cup of ice cream I ate and some of the white cheddar cheese I bought at Aldi. Maybe this is because some of this was taken for granted?

Edited November 1, 2025Nov 1 by kellsbells0182

i wish my food cravings had stayed away. I found it very liberating to never be hungry and not give a flip about food. Although you're far from the only one who doesn't like that aspect. My hunger and appetite came roaring back about five months out and it made things much more difficult. I did end up losing a crap ton of weight, but it became much more challenging once my hunger and cravings were back.

@kellsbells0182 I wish I had a bit of your taste buds. I am so happy for you that you can taste and actually enjoy what you eat! Yes could have been taken for granted. Keto Rash is a new one for me wow will have to look that up!

@catwoman7 I understand! I will be standing there like a Spartan fighting a battle with my shield when those cravings come roaring back although I would love to crave food a little....., I'm not ready for any of that constant battling with the demonic forces to be, and that is Food !

You know how so many women who have straight hair get perms and yet those with beautiful curly hair flat iron it daily. Or how so many taller women wish to be shorter, but short women often say they’d like to be tall. And those with smaller breast usually want bigger, but many bigger breasted women would love to be smaller. I think it’s human to want what we don’t have. Sometimes we get it and don’t like the grass on that side of the fence either. In reality I think we just want a happy medium. I mean It would be great to not have cravings so intense that I am thinking about food all the time yet be able to go to a nice restaurant and really enjoy a small portion of a couple of things when i want.

Unfortunately I think it’s usually more one way or the other and few of us are lucky enough to have the best of both worlds. That’s why we have sayings like be careful what you wish for and we make pro and cons lists when making decisions. I mean too much water can kill you! Any one extreme or the other is usually not very good. 🤷‍♀️

My gripe is that after talking so Much about what I should and should not be eating and that I’m gaining my well intentioned husband is playing food police now. I’m not sure if his reminders are helpful or not, but I know I don’t like to hear it!! Makes it a total waste of calories when I can’t even enjoy it without guilt. I just don’t want my food choices to be open to criticism but I guess I made it that way by involving him to begin with 🤷‍♀️

My gripe is constipation after my bariatric surgery.

@ShoppGirl soooo true. Only to balance the scales so to speak. Hubby is taking his job seriously 😂. @Michelle22 I agree with you such a valid gripe! I already had chronic constipation before this surgery and man let's just say I have to strive hard to regulate! Gripe on ladies!

7 hours ago, Michelle22 said:

My gripe is constipation after my bariatric surgery.

Pun alert: This too shall pass.

It’s unpleasant for sure but keep on top of it with soluble, not swelling fibre, take stool softeners as needed and make sure you’re hitting your fluid goals. The longer you go between poops the more difficult it becomes and the more discomfort you’ll have. I’d take a stool softener if I hadn’t gone by the third day. You may be more or less frequently. But it does eventually get better as you’re eating more and a wider variety of nutrient dense food.

22 hours ago, Arabesque said:

Pun alert: This too shall pass.

It’s unpleasant for sure but keep on top of it with soluble, not swelling fibre, take stool softeners as needed and make sure you’re hitting your fluid goals. The longer you go between poops the more difficult it becomes and the more discomfort you’ll have. I’d take a stool softener if I hadn’t gone by the third day. You may be more or less frequently. But it does eventually get better as you’re eating more and a wider variety of nutrient dense food.

Physical activity makes a big difference also. For me it’s hydration and activity. I drink a lot of water as a rule but if I am sick or injured I drink and exercise less. I usually take a stool softener as preventative because if I don’t I will need a laxative when usually I have the other issue.

Mine is getting too full too quickly.

I dread eating sometimes, although I've always been a foodie. My hunger never went away, I have cravings and I enjoy looking at recipes and making new dishes and trying all the restaurants, but I really dread sitting and eating because I know that 5 minutes in I'll be very uncomfortably full.

I have not properly enjoyed a meal since my VSG because my fullness feeling is extremely intense, borderline painful. It's the sort of pressure that's ugh, awful. And no, it's not due to eating too fast, that is something that I have worked on and it takes me an hour to finish a meal sometimes, if I want to get my nutrients in.

My restriction is a blessing, but also a curse sometimes. And if I don't workout for a few days, I lose my appetite and I lose weight.

I was traveling last month and I was hungry after walking a few miles that my husband and I decided to sit down for brunch, I literally ate 2 bites and pushed my plate away, my husband is used to my tiny portions, but I think even he was surprised, it's worse on somedays, and better on others.

@Lilia_90 same gripe! I feel the same as you. I know will never be the same. Yesterday I made beef fajita tacos with lettuce as my tortilla and only took a few bites! It finished me ha.

Edited November 4, 2025Nov 4 by Mspretty86

Does anyone else have an abundance of stool and pain when it sort of hits you all at once. Since I started chemo exactly four months post op and I was barely getting back to eating normal and I THOUGHT this had something to do with chemo but Im done with that now and it’s still an issue. It could be the immunotherapy but since that’s every three weeks I would expect it to get better for at least the last few days before my next treatment and it does not.

I have to wake up like 2 hours before I go anywhere just to start my bathroom routine 🤦‍♀️ I go like three times every morning and each time is more than I ever went before the surgery. I know it has to be because it’s passing through quicker and has more water or something but seriously 2 hours and sometimes I still have to go after I leave the house. And it’s not like I can wait or get any warning when I have to go I gotta go right then. It hits and I’m like doubled over in pain and I couldn’t hold it for long at all. Then I go and feel fine but 30 minutes later it’s the same thing, all of a sudden, pain and lots of stool.

I had the SADI so maybe this is exclusive to that. Not sure, but it is not fun to be so gross, for starters but it’s time consuming and painful as well.