A few notes about HUNGER...
So you had WLS and thought you would never be hungry again? Except now you are. Maybe it happened right after surgery. Maybe it took a year or two years. But here you are. Hungry. And pissed. And scared. Well, take heart and consider the following:
The better the quality of your food and the closer it is to the way "the Creator" made it, the more often you'll probably get hungry
WHY?
Aside from whole grains which digest more slowly in your system than its refined counterparts, if you eat foods close to the way they were grown or raised, they are in best form for your body to use the nutrients. In short, they are easier to digest. Processed foods, on the other hand, are taken away from their most natural state (most times to elongate shelf life) and take a few more processes on the part of the body to digest, which is why eating them sometimes doesn't feel that great.
If you eat at or below your resting metabolic rate (the amount of calories you need simply to live and breathe) you are more likely to get hungry
WHY?
The human body is a glorious machine. But it doesn't like to operate on "just enough." It likes to have more than enough to ensure its own survival. So if you are not eating enough calories (even if you ARE eating enough food...there is a difference) you are likely to get hungry. Even if you are just barely hitting your RMR, your body probably still wants you to eat more. And here's the truly effed up part...
When your body is lacking nutrients/calories, it will employ everything, including your BRAIN to get food
So that means that head hunger CAN sometimes represent real hunger. This was a big problem for me when I was a new post-op. When my body was starving I thought of food incessantly. I can still recall the first time I ate a decent amount of calories in a day. The voices in my head shut the hell up. When I eat enough food, I don't have that animalistic, single minded focus on food. Granted, I still react to food stimuli (cuz seriously? A polish sausage is always gonna smell good to me) but in those situations I am CAPABLE of thinking of other things. In a situation where my body is in need of calories, I simply cannot.
The body has many tools at its disposal to get you to eat. It will use cravings. It will use your mind. It's a devious ******* the body! Kidding. My point here is that when you experience excessive head hunger, you might wanna evaluate your caloric intake. It's not always about you having a lack of will power. Your body might actually be trying to TELL you something.
The better the quality of your food and the closer it is to the way "the Creator" made it, the more often you'll probably get hungry
WHY?
Aside from whole grains which digest more slowly in your system than its refined counterparts, if you eat foods close to the way they were grown or raised, they are in best form for your body to use the nutrients. In short, they are easier to digest. Processed foods, on the other hand, are taken away from their most natural state (most times to elongate shelf life) and take a few more processes on the part of the body to digest, which is why eating them sometimes doesn't feel that great.
If you eat at or below your resting metabolic rate (the amount of calories you need simply to live and breathe) you are more likely to get hungry
WHY?
The human body is a glorious machine. But it doesn't like to operate on "just enough." It likes to have more than enough to ensure its own survival. So if you are not eating enough calories (even if you ARE eating enough food...there is a difference) you are likely to get hungry. Even if you are just barely hitting your RMR, your body probably still wants you to eat more. And here's the truly effed up part...
When your body is lacking nutrients/calories, it will employ everything, including your BRAIN to get food
So that means that head hunger CAN sometimes represent real hunger. This was a big problem for me when I was a new post-op. When my body was starving I thought of food incessantly. I can still recall the first time I ate a decent amount of calories in a day. The voices in my head shut the hell up. When I eat enough food, I don't have that animalistic, single minded focus on food. Granted, I still react to food stimuli (cuz seriously? A polish sausage is always gonna smell good to me) but in those situations I am CAPABLE of thinking of other things. In a situation where my body is in need of calories, I simply cannot.
The body has many tools at its disposal to get you to eat. It will use cravings. It will use your mind. It's a devious ******* the body! Kidding. My point here is that when you experience excessive head hunger, you might wanna evaluate your caloric intake. It's not always about you having a lack of will power. Your body might actually be trying to TELL you something.
RNY Gastric Bypass 1-8-08 350/327/200 (HW/SW/CW). I spend most of my time playing with my food over at Bariatric Foodie - check me out!
Well said. 
Oh yeah...hunger is NOT an emergency. But it's just so interesting to me how people delineate head vs. physical hunger. Sometimes head hunger is caused by physical hunger that you aren't recognizing!
RNY Gastric Bypass 1-8-08 350/327/200 (HW/SW/CW). I spend most of my time playing with my food over at Bariatric Foodie - check me out!
Sometimes.... but my personal and professional experience is that head hunger is more frequently emotional/psychological.
Personally, I never did get my physical hunger sensation back, but have a bit of hypoglycemia so eat about every 3-4 hours... but I do still get head hunger (usually in the form of "it sure would be nice to have some xxx right now", and it just as often comes right after I have eaten as when I have not eaten for a while).
Lora
Personally, I never did get my physical hunger sensation back, but have a bit of hypoglycemia so eat about every 3-4 hours... but I do still get head hunger (usually in the form of "it sure would be nice to have some xxx right now", and it just as often comes right after I have eaten as when I have not eaten for a while).
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
My stomach doesn't growl...but I know I'm hungry when my mind latches onto food and won't let go. That's very different from regular food thoughts. If I am truly hungry (and I've let myself do that...go 8-10 hours without eating) I can't even hear you talking to me. My mind is on FOOD. Nothing else. Just food. Then I eat. Then I can think again.
That's just my experience though. But yeah, stomach hunger doesn't happen so much. It did once and it shocked me so much I nearly freaked. But only that one time :)
That's just my experience though. But yeah, stomach hunger doesn't happen so much. It did once and it shocked me so much I nearly freaked. But only that one time :)
RNY Gastric Bypass 1-8-08 350/327/200 (HW/SW/CW). I spend most of my time playing with my food over at Bariatric Foodie - check me out!
It is kind of cool how your body tries to take care of itself, isn't it?
Really, when you think about it, having your mind fixated on food in lieu of your stomach being able to tell you that you need to eat isn't really much different than having the mind dissociate (or impose selective amnesia) during a trauma that is particularly horrible. Well, ok, MOST people probably don't think about things like that... but *I* think it's kind of cool!
Lora
Really, when you think about it, having your mind fixated on food in lieu of your stomach being able to tell you that you need to eat isn't really much different than having the mind dissociate (or impose selective amnesia) during a trauma that is particularly horrible. Well, ok, MOST people probably don't think about things like that... but *I* think it's kind of cool!
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
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