Hello all,

I've really been struggling lately and I wanted to know how some of you deal with what I've been dealing with. I think this may be a "form" of head hunger, but when I search lapbandtalk.com for head hunger, I don't find exactly what I'm dealing with. My problem isn't that I eat when I'm not hungry, but when I do sit down to eat I don't listen to my stomach to tell me when I'm full. I listen to this little voice in my head that wants to eat everything on my plate. Can't throw anything out. Even if I'm full. There's a war going on in my head EVERY TIME I EAT. I have two voices in my head, the angel and the devil. The devil WANTS to clean her plate. The angel wants to listen to her stomach to tell her when she's full. And the entire time I'm eating, I'm arguing with myself. "Just don't take as much", "Okay, even though you took that extra scoop, you don't NEED to eat it", "Stop when you're full", "but there's still food on my plate", "but you're full"....... and as this fight goes on, I'm still shoving food in my mouth. Then I get stuck.

This is so emotionally draining, that I hate eating now. Plus, I find myself eating sliding food so I don't have to think about it. Which is BAD, and I know it.

So, would you guys call this head hunger? Or what is it?

I wouldn't call it head hunger at all. I would call it bad habits that you are having trouble breaking.

I have the same issue sometimes. It seems that my head thinks I can still eat large portions while my stomach says NO MORE. If I don't pay attention I can easily miss the signal that my body gives me to tell me I need to stop. When this happens I always end up PBing.

Our bodies really do tell us to stop. Sometimes I get hiccups, other times I just sigh and take a breath, sometimes I start burping or I get stuck.

If we eat slow enough, stop and rest between bites the signal is much more clear.

Hope this helps!

The way I broke that habit/problem, is from the moment I was banded, I only put on my plate what I was SUPPOSED to have. I realized if I was truly still hungry after eating it, I could always get more. What I found out was, that I was satisfied with the amount I fixed every time, as long as I chewed my food well and ate slowly. I do NOT however take the 30 minutes or more you hear some people talk about. Usually it is 15-20 minutes and I am done.

I routinely eat about 1 cup of food at each meal and daily consume 1200-1500 calories. This gave me fast weight loss the first 6 months and now slow weight loss, but I never feel deprived or hungry, so I don't plan on changing it. I didn't get banded to feel like I was on a diet every day!

I agree with the just putting on your plate what you're supposed to eat. I use small plates, zip lock 1/2 cup bowls and baby spoons all the time. It helps me stay focused on eating slow and helps me be able to clean my plate. I grew up thinking there were poor children starving and I had to clean my plate because I was fortunate to have food on my plate.

It's a tough habit to break and as you get more restriction and a few episodes of that terrible feeling of being stuck you will retrain your mind...Or at least I did. I was going through much the same thing up until my last fill.

Good luck.

Stacy

I agree with the others. If you use a smaller plate and only put on it the amount of food that you are supposed to have then it won't be a problem eating everything on your plate.

I think clearing your plate is something that goes back to when we were children. Our parents would make us eat everything and not leave the table until it was finished.they would remind us about starving children in Africa etc although I can't see how my finishing all my food and getting fatter helps starving children anywhere!

Head Hunger is when Your NOT hungry you just eat to eat .......I have this problem...my DR said he never heard of it being called head hungry but that is what it is......

I've had my band for a year, I have have great restriction, and I measure most of my meals. When I go out to eat, I eyeball a 1/2 cup serving, and move the rest to the side right off the bat. If not, I could still easily overeat. When I stop at my 1/2 cup portion, I'm fully satisfied and stay that way for 4+ hours. If I waited until I had full signals, I would have eaten too much for my pouch. Drinking plenty of Water between meals is also very important.

If your doctor has recommended a certain volume of food for meals, and you can get into the habit of measuring and stopping when you finish your serving (no seconds), you might find that you have good satiety between meals.

You have to be able to tolerate good solid Proteins and vegetables for sustained satiety though. If you're reaching for slider foods because you're constantly pb'ing on solid meals, you may need a slight unfill. If you're getting hungry even though you're carefully eating good solid meals, you may need a fill.