Reposted from another thread:

One of the things that has been fascinating to me is the "HUNGER". I have "FELT" hunger for about the last 4 or 5 days. But when I go to drink, even Water, I am so over full that I cannot get anything down. It has really made me look at what this "HUNGER" means.

I have tried to catagorize some:

1 - The Gee that sounds good hunger: Generally accompanies Carl's Jr., In-and-Out, Taco Bell, <fill in your favorite fast food> commercial. This is an easy one to recognize in context. Just disregard and change the channel. Drink some water.

2 - The Gee I wonder if I can tolerate that food hunger: more of a curiosity than a hunger, but it is devastating (or possibly could be in my case). You want so bad to get back to eating normal that you try a little of this and try a little of that and when you find you can tolerate it you just add it back into your staple diet without any regard to if you should. Remember, you needed the lap-band because you made bad food choices in your OLD LIFE. This one is kind of a pet peeve of mine. I see a lot of posts here asking if banders can tolerate this food or this food and almost every one is something that had got them into the mess they were in before they decided to do something about it. DON'T CHEAT YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT.

3 - The Gee I should probably eat something hunger: You are not sure if you have eaten enough calories today. You should be keeping track of the calories you have taken in and KNOW if you have taken in enough for the day. Don't try to fool yourself into thinking you are hungry and NEED to eat. If you have to justify it you are probably not hungry.

There are more that I have not quite figured out yet, but I will add them when I do.

The thing that you need to remember more than anything, is that you made a huge decision to do something about your weight and get surgery, use that momentum to change everything about your life for the better.

Be a better eater, be a better exerciser, be a better employee, be a better father, be a better husband.

These are the things that I plan on focusing on whenever I "THINK" I am hungry.

-BSG

You summed it all up perfectly. My biggest problem is the whole well there is still more on my plate so I should finish it. It's totally a mental thing. I am working everyday at the whole eating to satisfy , not over eat, and make myself sick. Your post will be very helpful to those who are struggling with this.

Thanks:thumbup:

BTW, I know that I may be coming off all preachy in the comfort of my swollen band so recent after surgery. But I give full permission to all forum users to berate me when I falter (and I will) and throw my own words back at me.

-BSG

No worries BSG we are here to support each other, not ridicule. I think what you said was very informative

Good points. Identifying hunger is hard for a lot of us at first because let's face it, those of us who are overweight rarely allowed ourselves to experience true hunger because we grazed all throughout the day. In my journey I have been able to group it into three types of eating triggers. Learning how to identify them goes a long way to contributing to your sucess.

1.) True hunger. Tummy rumbling-need food hunger which seems simple enough but is still hard to identify for some who mistake digestive gas or noisy digestion (that we all have a lot of after surgery) with stomach growling. It does get easier to identify though. You should only eat when you are truly hungry. A good way to identify it is to eat only three meals per day and keep track of how long it has been since you last meal.

2.) Head hunger. Caused by seeing, smelling or hearing about food. Or cravings which can be triggered by emotions, hormones or irratic blood sugar levels. The more you feed this hunger the bigger it (and you) wil get.

3.) Dehydration hunger. This is that empty feeling in the stomach that we often feel and for most of us, the first instinct is to fill it with food. But this empty feeling usually means that we are dehydrated. Just understanding what we are truly needing goes a long way to help deal with it. Drink a good amount of Water or other sugar free non-caffeinated low cal beverage and you will probably be satisfied.

Edited April 16, 200917 yr by Jodi_620

You summed it all up perfectly. My biggest problem is the whole well there is still more on my plate so I should finish it. It's totally a mental thing. I am working everyday at the whole eating to satisfy , not over eat, and make myself sick. Your post will be very helpful to those who are struggling with this.

Thanks:thumbup:

Brockbabe, I have that kind of hunger too. What really helps me is just completely covering my plate with my napkin if I'm at a restaurant or in the cafeteria. Out of sight, out of mind. If I can see it, I will try to eat more of it, so I cover it until the plate is taken away. At home, I take my plate into the kitchen and leave it.