Does the "head hunger" get better?
DeweyRN
Posts: 18 Member
Hi Everyone,
I will be 6 weeks post op on this coming Tuesday. I have been doing really well with the exception of this new onset of ridiculous "head hunger"!! Every commercial that I see or restaurant that I happen to drive by is making me think about all of the food that I want to eat. I have stayed faithful to my eating plan and thankfully, after a few sips or bites or healthy food/drink, I have no room for anything else. I just want my mind to shut up!! I know that this is all part of the process and I am working through it. My questions are: Did anyone else struggle with this and if so, does it get better with time? and Is this any indication that I am likely to fail in the near future/extra weak character or something?
I am so very afraid of failing, of one day waking up and realizing that I have eaten my way through my entire metro area and being even fatter than when I started. I actually dream sometimes that I have eaten something really bad and wake up in a little panic!! Up until about a week ago I had zero appetite and food made me nauseated and now this next level of the challenge has presented itself! I don't want to be a slave to my unhealthy desires forever, this is just quite uncomfortable! I am down 33 lbs as of last Tuesday (only weigh once a week) so I should be so happy with that right? I just can't stand myself sometimes!! Trying to keep a level head and not look past the moment here, I could really use some insight from those that have been there!
Aubrey
I will be 6 weeks post op on this coming Tuesday. I have been doing really well with the exception of this new onset of ridiculous "head hunger"!! Every commercial that I see or restaurant that I happen to drive by is making me think about all of the food that I want to eat. I have stayed faithful to my eating plan and thankfully, after a few sips or bites or healthy food/drink, I have no room for anything else. I just want my mind to shut up!! I know that this is all part of the process and I am working through it. My questions are: Did anyone else struggle with this and if so, does it get better with time? and Is this any indication that I am likely to fail in the near future/extra weak character or something?
I am so very afraid of failing, of one day waking up and realizing that I have eaten my way through my entire metro area and being even fatter than when I started. I actually dream sometimes that I have eaten something really bad and wake up in a little panic!! Up until about a week ago I had zero appetite and food made me nauseated and now this next level of the challenge has presented itself! I don't want to be a slave to my unhealthy desires forever, this is just quite uncomfortable! I am down 33 lbs as of last Tuesday (only weigh once a week) so I should be so happy with that right? I just can't stand myself sometimes!! Trying to keep a level head and not look past the moment here, I could really use some insight from those that have been there!
Aubrey
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Replies
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Yes...you'll get around it but it's not easy. I found I went in spurts...usually connected to my weight loss and subsequent stalls. You hit a stall...get down on the whole thing...and end up obsessing over having something you shouldn't. Sometimes you have it and move on or when the will power is winning you pass it and experience elation! :-)
So...no worries you're totally normal! Now...the hard part is how to deal with it. That is what separates the extremely successful VSGers from the marginally successful VSGers. Notice I still said successful because no matter where you end up dropping 50 pounds or dropping 150 it's still success. :-)
Stick with your diet. The better stages are coming right around the corner. You will start to feel like you are more "normal" and don't stand out so much from others when you are eating. The trick is to remain super vigilant at the beginning until you've lost most of your weight. It's the best time (my Dr. called it the "Sweet Spot" the first 6-8 mos post op) to set yourself up for long term success.
In another month or so you will be able to eat a few more bites of protein and have some room for veggies. Take the time now to figure out how to make food healthy and interesting at the same time. I have reacquainted myself with herbs, different spices, salsas etc to jazz up my food.
I guess what I'm saying is...HOLD ON...it's worth it! Drink more water with some lemon or lime in it or some of those flavour drops just to satisfy your need for flavour. I guarantee that's all it is. You're not hungry...you just crave flavour. Make what you do eat flavourful. That's how I got around things early on.
33 pounds down is a great first month loss! Celebrate that and be good to yourself! :-)0 -
For most of us surgery is only 10% of the process. the other 90% is stopping medicating with food. we developed an unhealthy pattern of "I am bored,tired,stressed,mad,grieving, sleepy, sad, happy,depressed,in pain,driving,watching tv/movie, broke, fired, hired, celebrating...etc. so I eat" i eat with certain people,in certain locations at certain times..etc. my default activity is eat. at parties i don't mingle i eat, at picnics i don't play i eat. i had to constantly stop myself and say "Why are you thinking of food?!" "You are not hungry, you already had your healthy meal and in a couple hours you will have your healthy snack.this is just head hunger and by the way self, i love you, you are a miracle and together we can heal our body and beat our food addiction" Sure, it may sound corny but I have worked closely with my priest(a former physician) on the root of my gluttony. i ran away from life or dealt with life by eating. i wanted pleasure to distract me from dealing with the crappy parts of life. He has helped me understand that a full rich life involves death, disease, destruction. It is part of the greater matrix of Glory. By being open to the sadness and pain with fortitude we are given so much Grace. that said, i also gave up my kryptonite foods of wheat, rice potato and processed corn. eating them just sends me back to "food prison" where i obsess about rich carby treats. i don't think that much about food anymore-in terms of timeline it really was about 6 wks because that is when i really let go mentally of my trigger/kryptonite foods. i have no plans to reintroduce them. and honestly, i never really got more than 5 min of pleasure out of food before the humiliation would kick in. My pleasure now is slipping on a pair of size 6 Ann Taylor jeans and sitting in my husbands lap. I do agree with teachren. I tweaked and developed all new recipes for my lifestyle. My food is delicious. i make my own wraps from chick pea flour, eat quinoa instead of rice, make summer squash pizza crust, hominy instead of potatoes. i eat plenty of butter and bacon to give me the energy i used to get from a steady stream of carbs. I do suggest therapy to deal with the "Why" you want to eat when you are not hungry. I also go to my monthly WLS support group-and as i told my husband i will likely go as long as i am breathing. we have mentors that are 8 yrs out. they all remind you that WLS does not cure "obese brain". We range from 400 to 120 lbs but we all have the same food addiction problem. I suspect we are kind of like AA group therapy for each other. They have become very dear to me. Since i returned 2 yrs ago to worshiping God instead of food, prayer has been an integral weapon in my fight against food addiction. if i start thinking about food when i am not hungry i know i am stressed about something and try to pray for guidance immediately. Mary and St Maximillian Kolbe have also been wonderful help in my journey and i highly recommend them. God bless and good luck. You can do this!0
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I'm only 2 weeks out, so I'm no expert by any means, but from what I know, the answer to your question is "no, the head hunger does not change". Surgery fixes physical hunger, not the mental. This is the reason I have yo yo'd my whole adult life. I am going to focus on addressing the head hunger, otherwise I'll gain weight back even with the surgery. I know two people at work who had bypass surgery, loss a bunch the first year then gained it all back. I hope & pray the support groups (online and one each month in my surgeon's office) teach me how to successfully address this, as I can't imagine anything worse than to go through all this and gain the weight back!0
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Thank you all so very much for taking the time to respond!! I am trying to learn to sit with the uncomfortable feelings rather than "get high" with food (this is so much like a drug addict in many ways!). I have used food to check out for so many years that I almost completely forgot how to feel very much, which is sad. I am in therapy and go to the support groups which are helpful. I am hoping to learn how to change the way I view food and to stop worshipping it. It is one day at a time and I am grossly inpatient, which is something else I need to work on! Thank you again for writing back, I appreciate and value every bit of wisdom that I can from you all.0
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Can you share what you have learned on how to cope with those times(after dinner all night used to be my hardest time)? Thank you!0
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For most of us surgery is only 10% of the process. the other 90% is stopping medicating with food. we developed an unhealthy pattern of "I am bored,tired,stressed,mad,grieving, sleepy, sad, happy,depressed,in pain,driving,watching tv/movie, broke, fired, hired, celebrating...etc. so I eat" i eat with certain people,in certain locations at certain times..etc. my default activity is eat. at parties i don't mingle i eat, at picnics i don't play i eat. i had to constantly stop myself and say "Why are you thinking of food?!" "You are not hungry, you already had your healthy meal and in a couple hours you will have your healthy snack.this is just head hunger and by the way self, i love you, you are a miracle and together we can heal our body and beat our food addiction" Sure, it may sound corny but I have worked closely with my priest(a former physician) on the root of my gluttony. i ran away from life or dealt with life by eating. i wanted pleasure to distract me from dealing with the crappy parts of life. He has helped me understand that a full rich life involves death, disease, destruction. It is part of the greater matrix of Glory. By being open to the sadness and pain with fortitude we are given so much Grace. that said, i also gave up my kryptonite foods of wheat, rice potato and processed corn. eating them just sends me back to "food prison" where i obsess about rich carby treats. i don't think that much about food anymore-in terms of timeline it really was about 6 wks because that is when i really let go mentally of my trigger/kryptonite foods. i have no plans to reintroduce them. and honestly, i never really got more than 5 min of pleasure out of food before the humiliation would kick in. My pleasure now is slipping on a pair of size 6 Ann Taylor jeans and sitting in my husbands lap. I do agree with teachren. I tweaked and developed all new recipes for my lifestyle. My food is delicious. i make my own wraps from chick pea flour, eat quinoa instead of rice, make summer squash pizza crust, hominy instead of potatoes. i eat plenty of butter and bacon to give me the energy i used to get from a steady stream of carbs. I do suggest therapy to deal with the "Why" you want to eat when you are not hungry. I also go to my monthly WLS support group-and as i told my husband i will likely go as long as i am breathing. we have mentors that are 8 yrs out. they all remind you that WLS does not cure "obese brain". We range from 400 to 120 lbs but we all have the same food addiction problem. I suspect we are kind of like AA group therapy for each other. They have become very dear to me. Since i returned 2 yrs ago to worshiping God instead of food, prayer has been an integral weapon in my fight against food addiction. if i start thinking about food when i am not hungry i know i am stressed about something and try to pray for guidance immediately. Mary and St Maximillian Kolbe have also been wonderful help in my journey and i highly recommend them. God bless and good luck. You can do this!
Mango,
You have shared this story a few times and I just wanted to thank you for sharing your inspirational journey with us. I am dealing with some of the same stuff (as I bet a lot of us are) and reading your story is very helpful to me.
NSV aside: today I made it all the way down on one knee (and back up!) to genuflect at Mass.0 -
The best treatment for head hunger is to not indulge in it. That is really hard to do.
Also, try and focus on what prompts you to have head hunger. I know that if I eat some carbs I have it. One bite of something bad leads me to want more and more bites. For me, it is better to abstain from trigger foods completely.
I also made a promise to myself - protein first. If I am craving food, I will always eat my solid protein first, until the point that I am comfortably full. Usually that is about 2 oz of protein. Then I don't have room for the bad stuff. Even one bite of a cookie will make me feel sickly full and I will regret it immediately.0 -
"Head Hunger" really helped me to recognize my food issues. I used it as a tool to really start to understand what my food issues are/were.
I am 9 months out now...hit my goal on Saturday and moving into the maintenance phase. Food is now fuel for my body. I still enjoy it but I make smart choices. Always protein first!
Best of luck to you....use this tool and put in the work.....best thing I have ever done for myself!0 -
You are all awesome encouragers, thank you so much!! Today is still difficult but I am not giving in, I will sit on my hands if I have to!! The funny thing is, even though I am craving so much, after I drink some water or my protein shake I am so full so there isn't even any room. I am trying desperately to understand what is being these emotional cravings! From what I am reading, it is just the grieving process after saying goodbye to a not very good best friend that I have indulged and relied on for way to long. So I logically understand that this is just part of the process and no one said that this would be easy, after all binging was easy and that got me an extra 180 lbs that my body didn't need.
Ankinray-the only way that I have dealt with it so far is just to recognize it for what it is, not a physiological hunger but an emotional one, and to just get through each hour the best that I can. I try to remember how disgusting I felt after indulging in a binge and all of the self loathing that it brought. I am so thankful our support group meets tomorrow, I wish they had one every day!! The one thing that I do know I need is to utilize every possible resource available, no one can get through this alone! It is great that you are already preparing for any potential rough spots!0 -
Can you share what you have learned on how to cope with those times(after dinner all night used to be my hardest time)? Thank you!
I am 3 years out and this is still my most difficult time of day. If I find myself battling head hunger or munchies during the afternoon, at dinner I will eat the protein portion of my meal and leave the rest of it to eat an hour or two later. Typically the rest of the meal for me is a salad and lettuce really fills me, so if I eat my salad at say 7:30 or 8 PM, I won't want to eat again before bed. This is especially true if I still have water I have to get in before bed. Adding water into my tummy after a salad, even waiting a 1/2 hour or more, just makes me feel more full.
Truth is, head hunger is something we all continue to fight. I don't have it every day, but it can sometimes be really bad. I found separating out my dinner helps. Others here break up their meals into 6 small ones spaced out during the day. Same concept and helps to keep you feeling full.
Hope this helps.
Pat0 -
NSV aside: today I made it all the way down on one knee (and back up!) to genuflect at Mass.
Great NSV Rob!0 -
Did you read the post about me genuflecting out of my pants?! That was when I really cleaned out the closet!
NSV aside: today I made it all the way down on one knee (and back up!) to genuflect at Mass.
Great NSV Roy!0 -
Did you read the post about me genuflecting out of my pants?! That was when I really cleaned out the closet!
NSV aside: today I made it all the way down on one knee (and back up!) to genuflect at Mass.
Great NSV Roy!
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure the entire church is hoping that doesn't happen to me!:blushing:0 -
Did you read the post about me genuflecting out of my pants?! That was when I really cleaned out the closet!
NSV aside: today I made it all the way down on one knee (and back up!) to genuflect at Mass.
Great NSV Rob!
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the entire church is hoping that doesn't happen to me!:blushing:
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No missed that one, just saw this one! Too funny! Sounds like it was past time for some new, smaller pants!
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