Hungry!

jrnguyen

I am 3 weeks out and hunger has hit me full force today! I have had the urge to graze and I can typically distract myself, drink more water, etc. This is different. I have progressed to pureed/soft foods (which there are no words to describe how happy I am right now lol), so I've moved from drinking liquids all day long to 3 meals a day with protein boosts. I can only eat a few bites at a time and I'm full, but within an hour I'm starving again. I'm hitting my protein and water goals, even exceeding at times. Is this possibly just due to the change in my diet? I certainly can't deal with this excessive hunger everyday, but if it is just temporary, I think I can push through.

readallday

I am four weeks out and ran into much the same thing. Its better already this week. I really think that a big part of it was my brain getting so excited for real food that it was sending signals to eat all the time. I found that water with flavor was more helpful than just plain water for making me feel like I was getting something real in between meals. I also will chew gum just for the sake of the chewing motion. Hang in there!

itsdreday

I still drink flavored water 7 months out. It was one of the first things I could do to add some sort of taste back into things. Started with 80% water 20% Poweraide Zero. Now I use the same split with water and the zero calorie Arnold Palmer Iced Tea/Lemonade. It still works great for satisfying cravings

rpyle111

I am two weeks out tomorrow and getting very bored with the soup and protein stuff. I see my surgeon tomorrow and I hope I can progress to semi-real food. If not, I'll deal, but will be disappointed. I haven't been hungry, which is nice, and have learned some new soups to like. Carrot ginger soup was a surprisingly good flavor.

juliebccs

I was advised to eat several times per day. So I don't regard it as grazing. At the early stages I probably had 8-10 little meals per day of between 50-100 grams. I now have anywhere between 4-7 small meals a day of about 100 grams. That works well for me still. As long as I don't exceed my calories all is good.

bigolbull

I am 2 weeks out tomorrow also and down about 33 lbs. I lost about 17 the week before surgery.
I am sticking to my diet with soups and proteins. However, this morning I gained 1 pound!! WTH.....has anyone else had this happen?

pawoodhull

At your stage I was eating 3 meals and 3 snacks per day. I couldn't get enough in any other way to get all the protein they required. If hunger is an issue, try breaking your meals down a bit more, so there's more of them but they are smaller. Also remember that 99% of us lose all hunger for at least the first year. It's possible you aren't really, physically hungry. I call that head hunger and we all suffer from that from time to time. Try upping your protein a little, drink Isopure protein water or at least a flavored water. Those things will help with head hunger because the protein fills you and the flavored water makes you feel like you're getting something more than just plain water.

I think you are on the right track when you say your brain is just excited to have food again. If that's true, it should settle down once you readjust a couple of things. Hang in there, it does get easier.

Pat

Mangopickle

bigolbull wrote: »

I am 2 weeks out tomorrow also and down about 33 lbs. I lost about 17 the week before surgery.
I am sticking to my diet with soups and proteins. However, this morning I gained 1 pound!! WTH.....has anyone else had this happen?

Oh yes, once you lose the first 30 often wt loss is much less linear with a bounce up of a lb in water shift before a net loss 5 days later. those first 30 lbs are the Honeymoon. from here on out you will fight to lose each lb (mentally mostly) cause it takes much longer to lose each lb. recalculate your BMR set at sedentary for your new wt. it will be lower than before. when i weighed 254 my BMR was 1854 calories a day. now my BMR is 1350 a day. Eating 900 calories a day will take me a week to lose 1lb ( i am 1 year out). mentally that is tough when you see almost daily wt loss after surgery. Also, make your own soups. the thinner you get the more you will notice salts affect on your wt. when my wt is up i force myself to drink more water-it works. the wt usually resets with a net loss

juliebccs

Ahh head hunger. I remember how my mind fought me on portion control at first. My conscious brain could not convince my unconscious brain that a small plate of food was enough. It would satisfy me. But now my head has gotten around portion size to satisfy me. I tend to choose the right amount most meals. I had almost forgotten that battle of the brains.

pawoodhull

juliebccs wrote: »

Ahh head hunger. I remember how my mind fought me on portion control at first. My conscious brain could not convince my unconscious brain that a small plate of food was enough. It would satisfy me. But now my head has gotten around portion size to satisfy me. I tend to choose the right amount most meals. I had almost forgotten that battle of the brains.

Oh yeah! I can't even tell you when I was finally consiously aware that something was too much food. Probably in a restaurant or looking at a menu. I can now look at something and know I will only want about 1/2 or less. It really does take the brain a while to catch up with the physical reality of being sleeved. Now if I could get the husband to stop cooking like he was feeding me pre-sleeve!

elifusa

Or, as I used to do, down 16 oz of water in 30 seconds because I was thirsty. Now I have to realize that I will not DIE is I sip that water over a longer period.

juliebccs

pawoodhull wrote: »

juliebccs wrote: »

Ahh head hunger. I remember how my mind fought me on portion control at first. My conscious brain could not convince my unconscious brain that a small plate of food was enough. It would satisfy me. But now my head has gotten around portion size to satisfy me. I tend to choose the right amount most meals. I had almost forgotten that battle of the brains.

Oh yeah! I can't even tell you when I was finally consiously aware that something was too much food. Probably in a restaurant or looking at a menu. I can now look at something and know I will only want about 1/2 or less. It really does take the brain a while to catch up with the physical reality of being sleeved. Now if I could get the husband to stop cooking like he was feeding me pre-sleeve!

Haha Pawoodhull my Dad is the culprit. In fact not pointing the finger but I think he was a big part of large portions for us in the first place. Not having lived at home for 27 years I had forgotten. But although he is so happy to see my weight loss he is convinced that I can not live on my small plate of food and always tries to get me to eat more. I just clicked one day that my family of origin taught me some pretty bad habits. My Father is a very hard worker and has never had an ounce of extra flab, even at 79. I just don't thin he understands the concept of 'bad foods'.