Satiety & Appetite Questions

Ileal brake, not switch, dorry.   Faster transit time of food (particularly fat) out of the sleeve causes the ileal brake mechanism to be triggered. It's a satiety response.  When fat hits the intestines undigested the body thinks it's time to stop eating.

Thanks for the explanation - very interesting!

Yes and no for me.  I have a satisfied feeling after only a few bites and fortunately for me this includes desserts and what people refer to as "slider foods".  The ONLY food that I seem to be able to eat unlimited amounts of is popcorn...crazy! lol  It's an amazing feeling to take 2-3 tiny bites of cheesecake and pu**** away because you are satisfied and don't want any more of it.  Before VSG, I had never experienced this.  I am one who never lost my hunger and desire to eat but I feel that that is a blessing.  I feel like I get to enjoy food so much more now because I don't have to worry about overeating it...I feel free and it's amazing.

I am 6 weeks post op and I have not felt stomach hunger, only head hunger and it's much easier to deal with and stick to plan because even if I eat something that is calorie dense/low protein...I can't fit much so I track it and then make sure that everything else for the day will satisfy my body's protein needs. I can eat about 2 oz dense protein. My food tastes have not changed except for the fact that I do not eat carbs nor do I really crave them much. NOW they are empty useless things that do nothing to promote health or energy in my body. I hope to heck that this feeling continues because it was my carb addiction that got me to where I needed surgery in the first place. As I get to maintenance I hope to add some whole grain carbs back in, but in small amounts on seldom occasions.

So yes, I'm satisfied with much less and I do enjoy my food but I also enjoy getting full quicker so I don't feel like I'm missing out (like pre-sleeve diets). It's PHENOMENAL to me that the fam went out for pizza last night and I had the toppings ONLY (cheese and pepperoni) off of a HALF a slice and I was full. FULL! We are saving money and eating healthier as a family now because of my sleeve. When we used to buy two pizzas and clear every crumb our large family is fine with just one pizza now. LIFE IS GREAT WITH THE SLEEVE!

Oddly I haven't experienced  "the physical hunger sensation"  at all - I've waited and experimented  and um it really is bizarre not to feel anything at all.  I would physically ill before I feel hungry!  I too was one of those bandsters whose hunger was dimmed like magic with a little pressure from the band (how liberating when you suffer from a satiety disorder of sorts).  It does not take long to "fill up" being sleeved and it is a true stomach is full,  that is enough feeling - for me!

Many people say their sleeved stomachs affected their appetite - especially early out.  Many sleeved people were telling me watch, see what you like now will change - your taste buds will be different ,  don't stock up on foods pre-op because you may not like them post-op. NOT!!!

Well Jean, I am and forever will be a food lover for life.  My sleeved stomach is absolutely beautiful - I wouldn't change it if I could!  The thing is I have to work this food/body thing out every single day for the rest of my life (just like healthy fit people)  and I don't mind at all 90% of the time.  I want to do the work and feel I deserve the results.  I want to feel healthy and that to me means putting effort into proper food choices, moving around, and building muscle.

Eating is for me so much easier with my stomach sleeved.  Now that could be a curse or a blessing.  My band was never tight and I still made sure not to do certain things before bed time (this helped me lose weight/keep my weight down).  With my sleeved stomach I could eat and drink right before laying down - no worries! I have zero and I mean zero issues with any food - negative or positive???  I am totally normal - again negative or positive???

Now my doc won't tell me but I truly believe that my stomach is a little bigger than most.  When I asked him to make my stomach a little bigger outraged he said "I will make it the appropriate size"  then I said the appropriate size is a little bigger .  I did not think he'd comply.  Now I am glad that I am probably a little larger - I do struggle and have not lost like the other band to sleeve revisions here.   There were many times I felt terrible that I could not eat like a successful sleever ("you must eat 600-800 cals to succeed" - heard that said the loudest because I couldn't comply).  Finally I told my surgeon this and he said that is ridiculous, I want you to eat!  Yeah, I want to eat too !  I'm a turtle and it is okay.  What would happen if I did do the 600-800,  lost the weight and then eventually increased my calories to something more normal 1200- 2000?  Would I then gain and think I failed just because I was trying to be more normal.  The other point is many people do not have the capacity to eat much in the beginning.  I personally had no problem getting all my liquids and everything I needed in.

Like with the band, the rules of eating are the same - protein first, vegetables/fruits second, and if there is room complex carbs.  That is etched in me!

So I continue to attend Weigh****chers (which I have always loved), journal my food, use weighing and measuring tools, take my vitamins and make sure I get my protein & liquids in.  I just stay in the game.  I will be at my goal weight by my 1 year.

All best,
Leila

I have always been a food measurer.  In the *very* beginning, yes, small amounts brought early satiety. I never ate until discomfort, perhaps because I measured?  I do not know.

Now - I have what I suppose is standard satiety for DENSE proteins.  I can eat googobs of simple carby things, multiple cups of cucumbers or cooked veggies, I can still put away a watermelon that is cut up and in my face. 

My appetite was not affected.  I never lost my hunger, all the things I liked before surgery, I like after. Only, now I crave peanut butter, which is swore, before surgery, I had had too many lifetimes of.

There are things that I will just be compelled to eat until they are gone, I have set up structure so that those things are not in my face, or if they are things my husband eats on a regular basis, I just do not start - because starting equals finishing, or paying a high price for all the mental rent I have to pain on it.  Two bites of cheesecake will not ever be enough, unless its nasty cheesecake. :}  Those stupid Rollo/pretzel/almond pretend turtle things?  Once I start, I will rip the wig off of anyone who thinks they can fight me for them.  :}

Sure you can have bigger portions and second helpings.  The longer I sit at something, the more I can eat. That might not be helpful to the whole keeping the weight off gig, though. :[

I am incredibly desirous of eating, even if/when I am not full, but I get to remind myself I risked my life for surgery so that "some could be enough."  When I make optimal decisions it is.  But my wanter still wants, my craver still craves, and my social eaterfly is still hongry as she can be.

 I thought the sleeve cut out the hunger hormone?  Am I wrong?  It seems a lot of you are still hungry???

Ghrelin is made in multiple places in our bodies.  Some folks never feel hunger anymore, but some folks do! 

So, you are right in that it cuts out some of the places that generate/secrete it, but no - not all of the places. 

Also, it seems a few folks who got the break of not feeling hunger soon after surgery, find they are getting hungry again a year, two years out from surgery, which seems like that would be, to me, more of a bummer than never losing your hunger!

85% of the hormone grehlin made in your body is made in the fundus (stretchy) part of the stomach. When most of that fundus is removed, so is most of your capacity to produce ghrelin.  Having said that, the other parts of the body (intestines, primarily) that produce ghrelin will compensate to a degree. Studies show serum levels about 50% of pre-op after 6 months - year in VSG'ers while they are actually higher than pre-op in people with the band and RNY who do not have the fundus removed.

Weightloss triggers ghrelin production.  It's a natural response to caloric restriction.  The body wants to conserve energy at almost all costs. The body secretes ghrelin and slows conversion of inactive to active thyroid hormones to increase food intake and decrease metabolism. 

Nasty cheesecake? Is that even possible? :-)