losing your appetite? not me...

 i keep reading about how people lose their appetite after 3-6 months after surgery... what changes to make that happen? do we just get tired and bored of eating the same stuff for so long or something biologically changes?

I'm a little more than two months out and still think about food a lot and am dealing with a lot of head hunger...and would love to be eating to live..not living to eat but i'm just not there yet i guess...

 Hi Robert, 
 I am only 2 weeks out and have had so much nausea that it makes me not want to eat.  I just had my first head hunger dream last night (read about it under Hamburger and Fries) and it didn't even make me want to eat more.  My doctor said that some people have to schedule their meals and others don't so I am not sure if the desire goes away for everyone.  Sometimes we have to think about it in the Mind over matter thinking.  You will get there....the mind can play many games on people, you are the one who has to tame the mind.   Best wishes.....You Can Do It!!!

I am making tee-shirts.  When I stop eating when I first feel full, I a hungry 90 mins later.  Then it feels like I am eating all day.  I have not got the hang of my sleeve, yet!

Good luck!

We're all wired differently. I personally wasn't an emotional or compulsive eater pre-op. I just ate in large volumes, and would eat out of boredom.

I did lose my appetite because my taste buds changed dramatically post-op. I was miserable with a lot foods tasting disgusting or boring. Plus, I had the band first, and honestly, it helped me beat any head hunger I had it beat because when you puke, or have discomfort from food getting stuck, sliming on foods, it made eating unappealing. So, I kind of feel like I had a lot of my own food demons beat before I ever had the sleeve because of my horrible band experience. Also, since VSG was my 2nd WLS, I was pretty hellbent on succeeding. Along with major complications and extensive recovery, I refused to fail. I had to come out on the other side, and beat obesity, and all the naysayers that swore I'd fail miserably with the sleeve.

Appetite is different than hunger. I still never experience true physical hunger at 22 months out. My appetite is fine, I still love food, and enjoy eating. But, I eat to live instead of living to eat at this point.

Hi..I just noticed we had the same surgeon. How was your experience? I think he did an awesome job. I see him today for my 2 wk post op.
The hunger thing is supposed to be related to removing part of the stomach that contains ghrelin. Ghrelin is what makes you hungry. I totally notice a difference. Are you sure what you are experiencing isn't "head hunger"? I can be around all kinds of food and it doesn't bother me in the least. I was told it doesn't last forever, but I am taking advantage of it while I have it. Try to get busy with other things and see if changing your focus doesn't help.
Good Luck!
Linda B

 Hi Linda,

i thought Dr. Li was fantastic..i really experienced very little discomfort, and had 0 complications.  i still have no idea what this gas pain everyone talks about is..

he isn't as personable as dr. alami (oh so attractive..) but who needs personable when he's taking out a piece of my body lol 

how was your experience? i actually stayed in the hospital for 3 nights because of a little nausea i guess..i'm still not entirely sure why he wouldn't let me leave..

It's been almost four months since I had the VSG, I still get hungry, but nothing like I use to. If I had to quantify it, I'd say I'm 80% less mindfull of eating and hunger in general. :)

so, by your post I understand that the lack of appetite sometimes happen a while after the surgery and not immediately after? it seems to make sense in my case...

I am 2 months+ post-op and up to last week I still had an appetite and thought quite a lot about food throughout the day.

I am not sure what happened in the last days, but the constant thoughts about food are gone and I only try to eat something not to starve myself. not sure if it is a phase that will pass though.

I think eating is not a pleasant thing any longer. I am having trouble with quantities and always end up eating a tad bit more and feel bad after (as in food comes back)... I am talking about eating one more spoon of something. so, I think my brain is starting to associate eating with a not so pleasurable experience :/

I am 9 months out and I never lost my appetite. I can't really distinguish whether it is head hunger or true hunger a lot of times. I easily get bored and want to eat, but noticed I can go a lot longer between meals if I am having fun and keeping busy. However even if I am having fun and keeping busy I will get hungry after 3-4 hours (bored it could be every 2-3 hours.

What I do to manage this is always keep low calorie healthy choices with me, so if I MUST graze or eat frequently, I minimize the damage. See my profile for many examples of recipes I use to help me with this.

Also I do not crave carbs as I have not eaten them in a long time, but I do crave cheese, nuts and other fatty foods. Right now I eat them occasionally so that I do not get too crazy over them, but I try to measure them out and only do that a few times a week.