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Head hunger vs real hunger?



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Ok, I went in for my fill yesterday and all went well. Had a little trouble finding the right angle of my port but we finally got it. The nurse mentioned something to me about fighting head hunger. How do you tell the head hunger from real hunger? Does your tummy still growl with head hunger? :thumbdown:

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Sometimes you can feel like your tummy is growling with head hunger. When you are really hungry you will feel it inside your tummy, It will hurt a bit. Head hunger is more like temptation. You have to eat it because it's there. It takes practice to listen to your stomach and not your head. I was banded on Oct 23 but I was practicing the head hunger thing before I was banded. When I feel like I am hunger I stop and I really listen to who is really talking. Next time it happens REALLY ask yourself, "Am I hungry or is my head speaking."

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In our nutrition classes, we discussed the differences between real hunger and head hunger. She emphasized that we need to listen to our bodies cues to determine the difference. With real hunger, you may experience stomach growling, hand tremors, headaches, etc. Head hunger is more of cravings for foods, eating when you're not hungry, eating when you THINK you're SUPPOSED to be eating, and mindless snacking. I'm having a really hard time differentiating the two. My "fat chick" brain keeps telling my "skinny chick" stomach that I'm hungry when I'm really not. It's the hardest part for me since my surgery. Hope this helps.

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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