I'm 2 years out from RNY and I have been struggling with this very thing. It occurred to me this weekend that I am eating much faster than I should be. When I was pre-op and early post op I was instructed to cut my food up into teeny tiny pieces and to take 20 min to eat a meal. Honestly I got bored with it in about 10 min. I was satisfied, but more importantly I was bored. I was bored with eating, I was bored with the taste and I was done. Now I'm eating my meals in about 5 min. or so, taking bigger bites and looking forward to more before my initial portion is even gone. I'm going to start taking teeny bites again and precutting my food really small again, and setting a timer at meals and see if that helps. I'm thinking that it will.

Hi all. I think asia 1967 hit it right on the head. As obese people, we were used to eating until we were full or in most of our cases, stuffed. That's a learned behavior and we need to unlearn it. For me it was finding what my "full cue" is. Full after being sleeved doesn't feel the same. If I eat until I feel full,like before my sleeve, I have over eaten and will throw up the extra. So I had to really pay attention to how I was feeling during the meal. What I discovered is that when I feel like I need to burp, that's my cue, I am done eating. If I've eaten too fast and really do need to burp, I am still done eating.

Point is, once surgery is done, figure out what you "full cue" is. Wanting to eat after you have finished a meal, you aren't hungry you just want to eat? That's head hunger. We all have it and need to recognize it for what it is so we can figure out how to handle it. Truth is all these WLSs help with the physical size of our stomachs and help limit the amount of food we can consume at one sitting, but they do nothing long term for the head hunger. Maybe that's what you are feeling.

Hi all. I think asia 1967 hit it right on the head. As obese people, we were used to eating until we were full or in most of our cases, stuffed. That's a learned behavior and we need to unlearn it. For me it was finding what my "full cue" is. Full after being sleeved doesn't feel the same. If I eat until I feel full,like before my sleeve, I have over eaten and will throw up the extra. So I had to really pay attention to how I was feeling during the meal. What I discovered is that when I feel like I need to burp, that's my cue, I am done eating. If I've eaten too fast and really do need to burp, I am still done eating.

Point is, once surgery is done, figure out what you "full cue" is. Wanting to eat after you have finished a meal, you aren't hungry you just want to eat? That's head hunger. We all have it and need to recognize it for what it is so we can figure out how to handle it. Truth is all these WLSs help with the physical size of our stomachs and help limit the amount of food we can consume at one sitting, but they do nothing long term for the head hunger. Maybe that's what you are feeling.

Burping is my cue, too. If I continue to eat after feeling the need to or burping once I usually regret it because I will have to throw up. It's only happened a couple times and it's awful, so I focus on eating slowly so I have time to sense that cue/burp, lol.

I do get a "full" feeling unlike the OP and some others, though. Although, it is not like it was pre-op, like Pat is saying here. It worse. VERY painful, and uncomfortable. Even one bite too much will put me in a world of hurt.

Measuring and weighing is so important, IMO. I've gotten to the point where I know what I can eat, weigh that out, eat slowly, and I now can eat all that is on my plate now (since it's properly portioned for my mini tummy) and that alone gives me a sense of satisfaction most of the time. When I take too much and cannot finish it I am often "discouraged" that I cannot finish my food, so again, I really try to avoid taking more than less so I feel "satisfied"

Weighing & Measuring - someone (ATXHeather) mentioned they aren't sure what a portions should look like. I'm not sure how far out you are, but I am about 9.5 months out and still only eating usually between 1-2 oz of dense protein (meats, usually). Most commonly I eat 1.5 oz, but it also depends on what kind of food it is. Drier, denser things like chicken, specifically, I can sometimes only eat an ounce of. I am a veggie lover, too, and cannot forgo them to increase my protein intake. I just can't, and my surgeon is cool with that so if it weren't for that I'd probably eating between 1.5-2.5 oz of dense protein. When it comes to things like chili I can eat no more that 1/2 cup, but really just serve up a "heaping" 1/3 cup of it when I make it.

Anyway, good luck. You're still early out and will get into your own groove.

I'm only 3 weeks out from my RNY and I have the same issue - never full and never hungry. My dietician says it's actually a good sign with me because it's partially due to me drinking enough water and getting enough protein. I'm just into pureed food, so there's still a lot of protein shakes and broth in my life, and I don't think those work as well as actual chewable food to send me the signals I need to get.
I do hope that some form of normal "hunger" comes back eventually though, because right now I just feel like I am getting no signals whatsoever from my stomach and I worry that long term that would mean I will either skip meals or way overeat.