Head hunger? What has the sleeve done for you?

Okay so I've been reading what seems like quite a few posts on the subject of head hunger, regain and that type of thing. I'm not sleeved yet and I have to say although I love to read this stuff to be truly informed, well it's starting to worry me.

I don't expect to have surgery and be able to eat anything I want and still lose a hundred pounds. The thing is though I didn't expect to go through with WLS and still have to "diet" and fight with myself and hunger every single day like I already do.

I've read again and again everyone saying they'd do it again. I'm just confused now though about what the sleeve is actually doing for you. What I mean is I understand head hunger and that even after surgery we have to learn if it's physical hunger or not. But after surgery is it easier to tell?

I'm  not sure I'm really making sense here. I'm just wondering what really changes in the end when it's all said and done. Say six months to a year out or even more. When you've lost the 100 pounds and are maintaining. Does the sleeve still help or is it just back to fighting the same old fight again? Meaning are you in the same boat as you were before surgery, just lighter now?

I hope some of this made sense. Please know that I am not trying to be negative or anything. This surgery is a last resort for me and I'm so afraid that I'll go through with it and end up right back where I am again.

Anyone care to explain how life is for them now as compared to before surgery? Is it only easier to keep the weight off once your at goal because, well, you look and feel better?. For instance I could lose 20 pounds easier when I was only a bit overweight. Now that I'm way overweight the idea of losing 20 pounds seems worthless when I have so much to lose.

I'm just scared scared scared that this might not work for me and then I'm SOL. That thought is just too much to handle.

I keep reading people's info who've done so well and many of them don't eat rice or bread or pasta. I don't want to live that way. Don't get me wrong I am not being like this lady in our seminar who was so concerned with  "Will I ever be able to eat a few tacos again?" I don't mind eating right and eating smaller portions. I'm just afraid that if I have to give up any foods all together I'l rebel.  I'm already scared thinking this will never work for me if I eat the occasional piece of bread. I don't want to live that way.

My hope for life after surgery is to eventually get to a place where I can eat like a "normal" person. I can sit down to a small healthy meal and eat a bit and then walk away. Not like now where I either couldn't walk away or if I did I'd still be thinking about going back and eating more. I don't want to be consumed with food anymore. All my life since I was a little girl food has either been good or bad and I'm so tired of that. I want to be like my husband where if he wants an ice cream cone he has one and that's the end of it. He doesn't beat himself up about it for three hours and then stuff his face with two candybars because he feels like he's a pig for eating the ice cream. He just has the damn ice cream cone, and enjoys it, and that's that. Food has never been that simple for me. I just want it to be simple for once.

I'm only 2 weeks post op, so take this answer with consideration of my limited experience... It would be nice if we could eat everything we want, whenever we want, and never gain weight.  Wow, wouldn't that be awesome!  But, the truth is, the only way to lose weight is to decrease consumption to a point of where our net intake of calories every day is less than the energy we expend through activity.  Of course, you know that.

Any WLS is a tool to help you get to that point.  Every WLS requires changes in your diet.  No matter which surgery you choose, you will eat less, and you will have certain foods you can't eat.  With regards to pasta, it may be something you can eat in small quantities later down the road, but it is such a hassle to eat it that you may not even want to.  Unfortunately, food will never be simple for someone who was once big enough to consider WLS.  It would be nice to be like your husband, but it just doesn't work that way for us.

Yes, in a way, you will diet after surgery.  But, "diet" is very different after surgery.  Diet is easier because you have less stomach capacity and the foods that are bad for you are harder to eat (with the exception of ice cream, high calorie liquids, and some other soft calories).  So, the surgery is just a tool to help you to eat a healthy diet.

OK, so I'm 2 weeks post-surgery.  I don't know everything there is to know about VSG, but I can tell you already that the surgery is going to be more successful for me than the band.  I have WAY more restriction than I did with the band.  I also don't feel hunger at all.  I hope it stays that way!!!  Time will tell, but for now, I am much happier with VSG than the band.

I don't know if that helped you at all, but I hope it did.

Good luck with your decision making,

Kim Pekin
Midwife
Purcellville, VA
www.gentlehomebirth.com

I think alot of the things that your covering is things that have to be delt with in counseling, the surgery will not stop you feeling guilty if you eat an ice cream. or leaving food on a plate even if your fill, or even if food is good or bad... but its great that you see all these issues that you have with food. It may even be a good idea to start dealing with those now before wls so you can continue with it after wls as well.
 
..As far as the surgery is concerned there is nothing that you wont be able to eat again, but for me i think its more about in moderation.. i can not eat the same way i did before surgery and not expect to end up back where i started.. it was way to easy to think lets go grab mc donalds or pappa johns...  I want to change that and just have the food i loved to pig out on prior to surgery as treats that i have on a rare occasion.

for me right now i think more about food than i did pre surgery because i have to plan what is going to be my next meal, i dont worry about leaving food behind, i pass it on to my husband or the dogs get more human food lol.. when im full im done. Im only 7 weeks out and so far i dont have room for any veges or bread or other foods i can only get in my protein.

hopefully people further out will let you know how they are doing, it will sure be interesting to read what others are doing.  good luck on your decision making

I am almost 3 months out.  Here are my hunger thoughts:

- I used to CRAVE chocolate and pasta pre-surgery.  Now I don't think about chocolate at all.  I have a big bag (liek giant) of chocolate chips in the pantry and I have not touched it ONCE.  Presurgery, I would have eaten it ina  week.  By the handful.  Also - even one elbow of pasta makes me feel awful - so I just don't want to eat it at all.  No craving.

- I am almost never hungry.  At home I often need to remind myself to eat.  I can go for hours without eating and not even know it.

- I do have head hunger for certain things.  Especially when I am out at parties with h'or deourves (sp?).  I loved those before surgery, I still love them now.  So far I have been pretty much able to avoid then - or just have 1 bite and be happy with that.

- I don't eat pasta, bread, potatos or rice as a rule.  I have occasionally have a spoon of potatos at a restaurant, etc.  AFTER I ate my main meat.  It is not hard for me to avoid these, even though I LOVED them before surgery.

Good luck with your decision.  I would suggest some councilling to help you deal with these issues...that will increase your likelihood of success.

Only head hunger I've had has been this week when I think I've been battling dehydration instead.. and confusing the two.. I started working out HARDCORE.. and didn't up my water.. and have had some side effects... and have saw myself going to the kitchen a lil more than usually...

But fixed that. Got my water back on...

head hunger has nothing to do with any surgery. It will be there. it's a product of stress and/or why you eat or what you eat....

Right after surgery, our car broke down... and while I was on the side of the road waiting for the tow truck.. food went thru my head... and I realized then and there that I did sometimes stress eat...

But being aware of these problems can help too..

After surgery.. your choices are EASIER to make... if you want to change...

If you truly want to change.. you take the tool and run with it.
Free will to make it work or not.

At 22 months out, I mainly feel exactly like what you say your goal is - to eat and feel like a "normal" person. My capacity is still very low, about 5 oz according to the cottage cheese test. I don't eat pasta because I don't like it anymore, and I do try to follow the "protein first" rule, but otherwise I eat what I want - including ice cream once in a while. I do have to watch "boredom snacking" when I am not working, but even then, the sleeve keeps me under control most of the time, and certainly prevents me from the kind of binges I used to indulge in.

I will say that when I started out, my nutritionist told me to treat the first six months as a rehab period, comparable to rehab from any bad habit or addiction, and I tried very hard to stay mindful of that. I used that time to try and instill new habits and a new relationship with food, and for the most part I think I have succeeded. The thing is, "normal" people sometimes overindulge too, but the keys here are a) sometimes and b) taking immediate action and not playing ostrich about it.

I still weigh every single day, and have given myself a two-pound (1 kg) "acceptable range". If my weight starts creeping toward the upper limit, I immediately cut out white carbs and sugar for a few days until I drop back to the lower limit and then try to be more careful. It doesn't happen very often. Most of the time I don't think much about food or eating, and don't have any bad feelings or guilt about food anymore.  

I am going to put my two cents in though I am sure you read my post already.

The difference between a "normal" eater post VSG and an "abnormal" (Lord I hate those terms but understand them) is the starting weight prior to surgery. Is it that simple you ask?

I saw the need to create a board early on for those that had over 150 lbs to lose. The higher your starting weight the longer this road will be and the harder it will be to lose the weight. That doesn't even take into consideration the fact you might be an emotional eater (eating disorder) type person.

If you start low , generally, you will get to goal faster and with less effort; shoot some even have to eat all day just to maintain so they don't lose too much.

if you start high, like me and many others, this will be a road full of challenges. Think about how much in denial a person has to be in order to get morbidly obese in the first place. I know a few that have stuck to no carb/low carb that have made it losing 150, 200, even more but they will forever need to do just that to keep it off and maintain.

Reality sucks sometimes but it is reality. Living in fantasy is what got us to this surgery.

It was my last resort too. I thought about WLS in general for 10 years prior to making this decision and now I wish I had done it 9 years earlier.

This surgery was the best decision of my life and it only gets better as I go. Do I have to deal with all my emotional issues now? yep...and I am glad this surgery has forced me to do just that before I was too old to change anything about my life.

life is a challenge at this moment because of my relationship to food but I have never been happier to be me.

The bottom line is if you have 100 lbs to lose it is entirely doable and in a reasonable amount of time relative to the others on here of course. I actually consider that lightweight...I know others would not...I just wish that I had had only 100 lbs to lose...

You will do great...

hugs, B

 I'm only 3 weeks out, but my thought is that I'm just swinging the odds in my favor!

Before, I really felt like the odds were stacked against me to lose weight on my own, but now I have some serious tools to help - won't do it for me, but makes Mr. Everest into a MUCH smaller mountain, and even a hill sometimes!  

I was just like you I wanted to feel some what normal. I had thought about the band and one of the reasons i did not choose it was because there were so many food restrictions. I wanted something that would help me get in control and not have food controlling me.

I am 3 mons. out today. I have lost 55lbs. I use to crave foods especially sweets. I would eat breakfast and 2 hrs. latter be thinking about a snack and lunch. I was always hungry and tired. Now I never crave anything. Not even sweets. I hardly ever even get hungry and when I do  it is only a small hunger. I know some people say they have head hunger but i do not.

I eat what ever I want. I start with meat and veg. but I do not tell myself I can not have carbs. Your body needs some carbs to feel good. I do not have much room for them but I do eat carbs and am loosing good.

I was also worried about eating such a small amount when everyone else is eating a normal plate of food and how I would feel. It does not bother me at all. I get sooo full on my small amount and could care less about what is still on my plate or anyone else's plate. It makes me feel good that I have that control to stop and be happy about it.

I know you are scared, I was to but this is the best thing I have ever done for myself. The first few weeks and even 2 mons.  are not always easy but is sooooooo worth it.  You will be so happy and even if you have a little head hunger it will not be the same as pre surgery.