Vets - need food ideas

Okay so for those of you that have passed well beyond the 6 month mark, how do you handle having more hunger? I am 6 months post-op in another week and in the past couple of weeks I have noticed a marked increase in my hunger and in the amount that I can eat at one time. I really have to watch my portions and the calories in what I eat or I will pop up over 1000 calories easy without even realizing it.

What tricks have you found that keep your hunger at bay and your calories down? I have been stuck at 170 lbs for the past few weeks. I think this increased hunger might have something to do with it since now it is tricky to stay below 1000 calories/day.

Help...I'm stuck!

After the six months mark, many people notice numerous subtle changes that all seem to add up to less weight loss.  The hunger often increases, the cravings begin to reemerge and the capacity to eat junk magically increases ( it might seem overnight).  Part of what is happening is that your sleeve is now mature and the swelling is all gone, some of the ghrelin is now produced in other organs so you might get about 50% of it back, and you have learned to eat around your sleeve.  When you combine all of these factors with the fact that you are now significantly smaller than you were, you might find that your weight loss slows down or even stops.  I get the most calls and PM's asking for help in this time period.  Without knowing more about your eating, I will give you some basic advice and take it for what it's worth.

1) Put yourself on a clock and only eat during meal times, do not graze.  Even if you are feeling a bit hungry, still refrain from eating at non-designated meal times.  Drink instead.  Drink like a fish, I drink tons of tea all day long, it speeds up my metabolism and reduces my hunger, you can drink tea or water or any other liquid that does not have calories in it.

2) Always eat your pre measured protein first, followed by high fiber veggies.  This keeps your pyloric valve closed longer. Read Frisco's post on the pyloric valve, (I believe it's called Pyloric valve 101).

3) Do not drink right before you eat or for 30 min. to an hour after you eat.  The longer the better.  This too helps to keep you pyloric valve closed.

4) Reduce the carbs. that you have let into your diet.  This is a huge issue, the more carbs you eat, the more carbs you crave.  Whenever I used to complain to my doctor that I was feeling hungry, he would check on my carb counts and reduce them.  Magically, (I am being sarcastic, it's not magic, it's science), my hunger would go away.  Most of us begin to add in more carbs around this time frame and that is what is called, "learning to eat around your sleeve". 

I hope this helps.

I think I am letting too many carbs sneak back in...or I am suddenly more carb sensitive as far as triggering hunger. Do you count net carbs or all carbs (meaning all fiber, sugar and sugar alcohol carbs)? There seems to be variations there.

I have read so many posts about going back to basics and I think I am at the point where that is what I need to do here. I will have to read that post by Frisco about the pyloric valve. I understand how that works to a point but could use a bit more education on that topic.

Getting in enough water has always been a struggle. I do tend to drink right up to when I eat and then not drink usually for more than an hour after I eat. I didn't realize that not drinking for 30 minutes before makes a difference in how the food will stay in your stomach. That might be another place that I'm off.

I forgot to include that I log all of my food on MFP. I am NadurraDeb there too. Look at my diary and see what you think. I'm thinking it's a carb thing. By the end of the day, I just seem to get more and more hungry...kind of all the sudden this past week like you said. I've aimed to keep my carbs under 70g but looking at my carb reports, I'm not very consistent and range from 40-90g in carbs. I definitely find I crave those carbs in the evening, even if I haven't had a lot of carbs that day. That is probably a brain thing.

Very helpful! Thank you Elina!

There is not a doubt in my mind that it is a carb thing.  Bring your carbs under 20 if you want to see a huge drop in hunger.  Keep your protein at 100 grams or more and drink like a fish.  Do this for a week and let me know how different things start to feel.  You are going to have to make these changes to reach goal (in most cases), so you might as well start now.  Remember, this is not about deprivation, this is about giving you the tools to maximize that first year.  Once you are at goal, we can talk about putting some of the carbs back in as well as increasing the calories.

Under 20g? Wow OK Thanks! I will try that.

Do you count sugar alcohols and fiber in your carb count or do you go with net carbs after subtracting those?

Yes, I count every single carb.  I know it sounds brutal, but it really increases your weigh loss and reduces your hunger.  If you just can't pull off under 20, try under 40 grams.  I used to go under 20 to break stalls and get my head back in the game.  Under 40 grams was my usual during weight loss.  Now, I eat anywhere from 80-120 carbs daily.

Thank you! I'm going to try this. In fact, I am going to start a challenge on YouTube centered around this. I have a WLS channel there (same name....NadurraDeb) and have made a lot of WLS friends there that could really use this information. I hope you don't mind if I pass on the information and challenge others to join me to try this approach.

Thanks so much for your help. I'm so glad you responded. I was hoping you would. I need to make some kind of shift to get my head back in the game. Hopefully this will get me started. I will let you know how it goes.

Make sure you also tell them to increase their liquids to about 100 ounces.  This will help you lose faster as well.  You can do this.  :)  Also, lower your calories to 600-800, it will be easier to do now that you are not eating the carbs.  Most meals should be 2-3 ounces of lean meat and green veggies in some form.  You might also take a look at my soups on my profile, they are very low calorie and high in protein (low on carbs) and are great to make you feel really full.

OK will do!! Thanks!

Have you tried an antacid or on a PPI? When I go off my medication/ forget it, the acid mimics hunger!

Just a thought!

Hugs

Donna