Always starving, never full

kpedersen3 wrote: »

Don't eat cereal, bread, pasta, muffins, granola bars, added sugar, nuts, hummus, peanut butter, nuts, etc. I'm not kidding. DON'T EAT THEM. It's not about eating more protein, it's about NOT eating trigger foods that activate your desire to eat and those foods that spike and drop your sugar levels. Try it. Eat eggs, protein, vegetables, fruit, Greek yogurt, etc.

NO
You don't need to give up any foods, you just need to be in a deficit.

I've had weight loss surgery. Best thing I've ever done. I now feel satisfied with a smaller portion of food. I had VSG surgery over a year and a half ago. I eat a meal about the size of a lean cuisine and I feel full. ALSO, I'm not constantly thinking about food anymore. Before, if I was visiting someone and say, there was a plate of cookies in the kitchen.. throughout the entire visit, I'd be obsessing over if they were going to offer me some cookies or not.. and then if they did offer me, I'd be wanting to eat ten cookies, but limiting myself to only two and fighting the almost overwhelming urge to take more. NOW, I might notice a plate of cookies and think "oh, don't those look yummy" and then not give them a second thought. It's AMAZING how much of my problem was PHYSICAL and was rectified with a PHYSICAL solution. Of course I did/do struggle with emotional eating, eating out of boredom at times, etc... BUT it's SO much easier to combat the mental side of things when you don't also have to combat constant and nearly insatiable appetite. With the surgery I actually feel like a NORMAL PERSON now. I still love food and want it in my belly but I don't obsess over it anymore. I can eat to the point of satiety three or four times a day rather than feeling like I'm constantly STARVING.... If I'm somewhere and I can't get a full meal.. a banana or a hard boiled egg actually provides me with enough food to hold me over... whereas before, I'd need to eat three bananas just to feel like I have ANYTHING in my stomach. ALSO when you have VSG surgery, the part of your stomach that produces the majority of the hunger hormone ghrelin is removed.. so if you had a problem with too much hunger hormone before, having less of it is a Godsend. AND there have been studies that show that with WLS patients, the way their brains react to food post WLS is ALTERED. so yes, having the surgery helps you not just by restricting how much you can eat, but it can lead to reduced hunger hormone AND altered brain responses to food.

You seem to have your head in the right place for this surgery. It's a lifelong commitment and you are well aware of it. I wish you the very best.

How I have dealt with it is by eating nonstarchy vegetables like it's going out of style in order to fill up.

kpedersen wrote:

Don't eat cereal, bread, pasta, muffins, granola bars, added sugar, nuts, hummus, peanut butter
... it's about NOT eating trigger foods that activate your desire to eat and those foods that spike and drop your sugar levels.

No. Just, no.
Completely removing any food is a bad idea. Eating less of it, or less frequently, is reasonable.
Nuts, hummus, & peanut butter are healthy fats & proteins which should be eaten more often.

I can eat an entire carton of eggs and feel nothing. Same with fruits and veggies. I can eat and eat and eat them and feel nothing... I can eat an entire chicken, and it's (sic) eggs and still feel like I haven't ate (sic)... my hungry feeling IS constant, sometimes it hurts so bad like I haven't eaten all day, even after eating.

Obviously there's something very wrong. Why aren't the doctors trying to figure it out, instead of pushing surgery?? The medicine will help control the hunger while they get to the root of the problem.

I lose about 20 lbs in a month before I fall off the track, and gain it all back. I have over 100lbs to lose.

20 lb in a month is way too much, even if you're morbidly obese.
And if you're not learning to eat right, it's no wonder you're yo-yoing (which is not healthy).
I started out with a goal of losing 110 lb. I'm over halfway there, and am thinking that once I do, I'll think about maybe losing another 10 lb, depending on how I feel.

I am not looking into advice into what I am eating, because it is not what I am eating.

Yes, the problem is what you're eating, or rather how much you're eating.
The calories don't jump into your mouth on their own while you're asleep.
Controlling calories in is the biggest part of losing weight. Exercise is vital to maintaining weight loss, but it's much harder to exercise away 300 calories than it is to eat that much.

I was just fine until 2 seconds ago my toddlers started yelling, and immediately I felt very hungry.

Interesting. So working on relaxation might help, or be aware of the connection & work to undo it.


Eating higher protein & lower carbs leads to more weight loss
(links to studies in the post)
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-08-09-high-protein-diet-685553
Try 45% carbs, 20% fat, 35% protein

Eat about half your calories for breakfast, and a small dinner (see the last half of this post for the studies)
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-06-10-some-studies-about-weight-loss-667818

I never ever get that full feeling. Heck, I don't even get a satisfied feeling.

I never in my entire life thought I could possibly get satisfaction from food, until I did, it f'cked me up. If you're looking for that kind of thing, enjoy those moments, but not too often. Like any other fun activities there's only so much you can take In the end it's always a mind game in it's pursuit of happy endings.

If you don't feel full, the same story, avoid sugars, learn to love protein, good fats and complex carbohydrates. What works for me (we'll see if it does over the long haul) is drinking my vegetables and fruits during the day and eating the rest at night in one meal. This way I feel more than full and I don't feel hungry the rest of the day. I hope you find something that works for you .

I had the same issue as you, just wanting to eat all the time, and never feeling full.

For me, the answer to losing 25% of my body weight in the past nine months was from eating how I like eating.

Before, I always used tricks and tips. The Paleo diet, high carb, low carb, whatever diet was in vogue. This is the first time I paid no attention to diets. I even paid no attention to how my bariatric physician said to eat! I did not want to know what the celebrities eat, or how anyone said is the right way to eat.

I DID NOT GO ON THIS DIET OR THAT DIET or WHAT SOMEONE ELSE SAID IS THE RIGHT WAY. I just eat the foods I like and don't eat the foods I do not like.

I happen to mostly like foods that do not come in a package, but that's just me. Trust your gut feeling on how to eat. Not listening to anyone else has been what has changed my life.

When it comes to stuff I love like pizza, cake, and cookies, I only eat it when I go out to eat. And when I do, I still try not to overdo it. But if I do overdo it, it might set me back for a week or so, but then I move on.

I also have been taking Phentermine all this time. It does make me feel fuller. I am weaning off of it now, very slowly. I am scared, definitely. But the idea for me is to start eating right, and then I will not need it anymore.

If you want to friend me, you can see how I eat. I like to keep it real simple. Lots of fruit, lots of vegetables, and at night either fish, chicken, or meat.

I love chocolate and butterscotch candy, so I make sure to have it every day. Because of the Phentermine, I can keep candy in the house and not chow down on the whole bag like I used to.

I am lucky that I don't like bread that much except when it is fresh. So the only time I eat bread is when a restaurant has crusty bread. I had to give away my bread machine, way too tempting!

Good luck, I think you are doing great!