What does your TRUE hunger feel like?

I see many post about feeling hunger and reading Shannon's thread and Nik and I both thinking about what hunger feels like I thought let's see what others feel when they know it's true hunger and not head hunger.

So tell me, what does YOUR true hunger feel like?



Shannon I'm not asking this to put you on the spot and if you feel that way please accept my apologizes I'm curious what others hunger feels like.


I'll answer separately.

True hunger for me has been rather hard to distinguish post-op.  I've never felt what I can relate to a similiar true hunger that I felt before WLS.  Sure I've had the head hunger situation go on many times but as for feeling hunger it's hard for me to distinguish what that is.

What I say is true hunger and has been for me since it returned is an empty feeling.  Never any stomach growling.  I do have certain instances where my pouch makes noises, not as loud as it did early out.  I still have to remind myself to eat many days especially when I'm busy.  I feel blessed in many ways that hunger hasn't returned, it's definitely helped me maintain my weight and not have to struggle with regain.

The "empty feeling" is how a close friend who had RNY describes her hunger.  No growling or noises, but a very distinct empty feeling that she says is hard to describe.  She says it is empty in a way that is different than her pouch just not having any food in it.

Lora

Lora, that's how I feel too.  It is hard to describe.  I have to think when I last ate to realize that's my hunger signal.

I AM definitely a boredom eater especially at night when I'm sitting down with nothing to do (or things I don't want to do).

Thankfully I haven't had to deal with hypoglycemia (reactive or not) many times.  There have been a couple of times when I ate more carbs/sweets and had a sugar drop, thankfully I realize it fairly quickly and keep peanut butter crackers available for those times.

Hey Dana!  I agree with you about the hunger - it feels very empty and like nothing I ever felt pre-op or even with the band, although I was always starving with the band and the large portion of un-banded stomach would always be growling, loudly I might add.

About the hypoglycemia, I have what may be a silly question.  I was at the mall over the weekend and bought a little bag of "pretzel bits" from Wetzels Pretzels, very similar to Auntie Anne's pretzels.  I had about 8 of the little bites, over the course of two hours, and when I got home I wanted to pass out.  Is that just from the carbs or is that what hypoglycemia feels like?  Like you just want to drop for a while, and not like passing out from drinking too much, but the most tired feeling I have ever felt.  Like it's a struggle to keep my eyelids open.

Or is that just a carb coma?  It happens if I eat carbs and sometimes after sugar (that results in something far more vile than passing out though).

I dont' mean to hijack your thread, I have been wondering about it since Sunday.

Jen, I "think" that is more like a carb coma or my experience anyway.  The few times I've had a sugar drop my mind becomes cloudy, I get shaky and get hot.  Here are the symptoms I pulled off the Mayo Clinic site:

Your brain needs a steady supply of sugar (glucose), for it neither stores nor manufactures its own energy supply. If glucose levels become too low, as occurs with hypoglycemia, it can have these effects on your brain:

• Confusion, abnormal behavior or both, such as the inability to complete routine tasks
• Visual disturbances, such as double vision and blurred vision
• Seizures, though uncommon
• Loss of consciousness, though uncommon

Hypoglycemia may also cause these other signs and symptoms:

• Heart palpitations
• Tremor
• Anxiety
• Sweating
• Hunger

I had gestational diabetes with both of my boys so when it did happen I knew instantly I needed to eat a protein with carbs.  I can almost guarantee if I eat sushi (which I love) I'm going to have to eat something in a couple of hours or my sugar drops.

I feel like that when I eat too much sugar....I thought it was dumping because it happens soon after, but then I feel like crap a couple of hours later.

I have seen so much info on it and never realized that was what I was having!  I usually eat something when I feel like that and it passes....I had too much cookie dough last week and didn't realize that was it!

Yikes!  I get super hot, shaky, hungry and sometimes diarrhea (totally gross, I know) when that happens; I didn't realize that it was connected to low blood sugar too.
And I thought I did my homework!  I am quite embarrassed now 

I don't remember what true hunger feels like anymore!  I know that I must be hungry when I get dizzy or crabby, those are my cues to eat.

I'm like you in that I don't get hungry like I used to any more and I am glad for that.  Before, if I went a few hours without eating I felt almost desperate, like I had to eat now!  I have a daughter like that.  She is just like I was and she gets up in the morning and tells me she is going to die if she doesn't eat right away.  Like she really believes she is going to starve to death.
Now it's more like I know that I should eat because I haven't eaten in a while.  I have never, to this point anyway, felt like I couldn't wait for a while to eat even if I haven't eaten in a long time.  I have never felt like I have to eat this moment since I had my revision.  Now I eat on schedule or I would forget to eat.  It's more like "It's 6:00 pm so it's time to eat dinner".  

For me.. true hunger...my stomach will start gnawing.. and then I get too preoccupied with feeding the stomach to stop the hunger ..... and sometimes I will get the shakes if I wait too long ...