I am almost a year out and for the last week I've been ravenously hungry- as in stomach growling, can't concentrate until I eat- hunger. I'm taking all of my vitamins and eating my 60-70g of protein. I've lost over 100 pounds and am so afraid of regain. Is this part of the natural cycle of RNY? I'm kind of freaking out.

Thanks for listening.

The first thing that pops to mind for me is it could be acid causing what feels like hunger. Are you on a PPI? If not, a call to your surgeon or whoever handles your aftercare is in order. Even if you are on a PPI, calling them won't hurt anything.

I am at about the same stage as you and while my appetite has increased somewhat over the last month or so I do not experience hunger pangs like you describe. I agree that acid may be a factor. You could try warm ginger tea (which soothes a multitude of ills) in addition to a PPI and maybe even some Gas-X to see if it helps. You could also up the dense protein to see if it's really hunger that's making you uncomfortable.

Good luck!!

helfer

I get pretty hungry too lately and I'm a few minutes maths younger than you. Based on the manner that folks years out still monitor food intake I'd say this is pretty normal.

Im not discounting the loss of sunlight either. It's like my brain is screaming for something,anything to make it feel good.

Are you already at goal? Just curious if you are still in the losing phase or are in maintenance.

I do two things if I am feeling "eat a horse" hungry and don't want to go down that path (sometimes I am better at avoiding it than others!). First, DRINK. Tons of water. Going to the bathroom every hour kind of drinking. Keep a huge bottle by your side at all times.

Second, dense protein. You will be surprised how little chicken breast you can fit in. Or steak. Or eggs. Now crackers and popcorn...you can eat a bathtub full. So up your protein to 100 g and see how you do!

Good luck!

I am 3 years post op and when my blood sugar is flying up and down (high and low...after a really bad bouts of hypoglycemia my blood sugar will see-saw between really high and low for about 3-4 days) I experience this kind of crazy ass hunger. You might want to check the number and what kind of carbs you are eating.

Right now-I have lost 2 lbs...and my nut has me eating 2 oz of meat, 2/3 cup starch and 1/2 cup non starch veggies per meal. The starches are things like irish oatmeal (the take forever to cook kind unless you have an instant pot), sweet potatos, black bean. That is the lunch and dinner meals. Between breakfast and lunch...and lunch and dinner, I get a protein smoothie made out of 1/2 cup 2% milk (she wanted skim but I hate skim), 1/2 cup nonstarchy fruit (think strawberries) and 1/2 scoop protein powder.

Breakfast is 1 hard boiled egg, 1/2 cup fruit (this week it is honeycrisp apples) and 1/2 cup irish oatmeal.

So far my blood sugars 2 hours after eating have been between 89-110. My morning fasting typically now 95..

I am on this because pre-gastric bypass I was pre-diabetic and taking metformin for it AND PCOS. I lost the weight, my blood sugar stayed normal but still kept taking metformin for the PCOS ...until I started passing out...Or going for 6 mile runs but only remembering the first 3 miles. Hypoglycemia will make you think you are losing your mind...

So make sure your blood sugar levels are stable!

My therapist and I have discussed hunger. He told me to ask myself a couple of questions when assessing my hunger. First, when did you last eat? If under 2 hours - you aren't really hungry. Is it thirst, is the next question? Where are you at with your liquid? Do you need to take it up. I find I can't drink less than 120 ounces a day. I feel really good at about 150 ounces per day (but that's me). If none of those, then am I stressed or bored or..... Time to figure out the trigger. Did I eat a carbie item - maybe I've triggered myself But in the end some analysis is in order.

Now, If I'm over 2 hours and I assess that my meals didn't have enough protein, then I'll consider eating a snack. Sometimes I just do my Syntrax at that time, but I like the suggestion of dense protein from the earlier post - as my dense protein go to if I'm at 3 in the afternoon and feeling hungry is an Ostrim buffalo chicken slim jim thing. I ordered it during the OH sale a few weeks ago. Actually either the Ostrim or Syntrax works well for me. But I limit myself to those, so I don't go "searching."

Good luck!

A good question is "would I eat a chicken breast?" If not, yoy are not hungry.

You know I used to hear that from people and thought it was ridiculous. But NOW I understand it. Right now I am truly hungry for breakfast and I definitely would eat a chicken breast. But last night when I was craving Irish Bread, chicken breast would not have interested me in the least!

This is a good test. It illustrates the difference between "I need to eat something," and "I want to eat something."

We got obese by wanting to eat, not needing to eat.