Please help- I feel hungry all the time

I will be 15 months post op on the 23rd of this month and I am really beginning to feel very hungry all the time again. Any advice would be very helpful. I am soo afraid of gaining all my weight back that I have lost.

Sharon - I too have gone through this recently. I have found that I want to eat constantly when I am close to my period. I have never experienced that so much before, but I suspect that it's a PMS thing which I never had before because my cycles were so irregular. One thing that has helped me lately is to just force myself to not eat when I can. I know that sounds simplistic and obvious, but it has helped somewhat. I quit taking lunch to work sometimes or getting a lunch and just have something little while I'm at work. It has helped calm down the cravings to eat and sheer hunger quite a bit. I will drink coffee and have a protein drink, but I cut down on my lunches and snacks quite a bit. Mind you, I'm not an angel, but it has helped and my scale is microscopically inching downwards again. Also, I have been indulging myself in fruit right now. I've been eating a lot of fresh pineapple, watermelon and canteloupe with Dannon Creamy Light yogurt on top. I crave sugar and carbs like nobody's business, but the fruit has less of an impact on that than the breads and other such things that I like to eat but shouldn't. I know if I could get back on Atkins or another low-carb type of plan I wouldn't be hungry at all, but I can't face it right now, so I'm trying to find ways around my cravings. Hopefully you will find that this is transient. I have some really hard times on the weekends... Dina

Sharon, Do you do protein shakes? They can be a real help when it comes to curbing those constant feelings of hunger. You can have three to four of them per day. Hope this helps! Va

I am trying to snack on string cheese or almonds. The protein seems to stabilize my blood sugar. When I do this for 3 days straight (avoiding carbs) the cravings drop off dramatically. I think we are all sharing that struggle at this point. I am up about 6 lbs from my low and fighting to get back in control! Cheese, SF yogurt, SF pudding, protein shakes are my weapons of choice. Also, I find that if I postpone gratification of my snacking urges for 15 minutes, I often lose the urge. If not, I spend that time deciding what healthy snack I will choose! At least it stops the mindless grazing. Don't feel like you are alone in this Sharon! Joy

Hang in there Sharon! Like Dinka (of course) I too also get uncontrollable hunger around that time of the month...hence last week's disasterous eating. I never noticed before as well since i too was irregular. but then again anytime i have sugar in my system I crave like mad! Its all about control. Unfortunately. We really have to analyze when and why and how often we eat and then try to find some medium. Somewhere where we wont feel deprived and wont overdue it at the same time. I know much easier said than done. Substitution always works best for me. If I have that uncontrollable hunger and want to graze all day i pick up grapes or broccoli and just slowly eat that over 2 hours or whatever... it doesnt help the habit of grazing but it sure beats grazing on chips and junk. try making a very thick protein shake and sip on that...anything that keeps your mouth active but on good things in lieu of the bad. FOr those really bad hunger cravings. Grazing is also a bad habit but we have to do what we have to do in dire times i guess. Well best wishes to you sharon hang in there we are here for you!!! ((hugs)) Elizabeth M

I get hungry alot too...and I'm finding the 3 meal a day with no snack thing does not work for me. The meals are still small, but more like 6 instead of 3. I have not gained anything, but it's a struggle sometimes, especially on the weekends when we go out. The great thing about it is when we go out for dinner, we get ONE meal and share it. I eat less than half of the meal, and my boyfriend eats the rest so there are no left overs. We usually order dessert, and I have a few forkfulls of it. I still do not drink with my meals...only before and after. There are still some foods where I can only tolerate 2 or 3 spoonfuls of before I get that full feeling. Other things I could probably eat forever if I let myself. I was eating pretzels as a snack for a while, figuring they were ok because they are fat free, but I don't like the way they sit in my stomach, and I was finding the carbs addicting, so I stopped. One of my main staples is still those South Beach Cereal Bars....cottage cheese and low carb yogurt. I also love those Power Crunch Cookies that I got from an ad on this site, and I eat one every day. I need to join a gym and I'm sure that would make a great difference....but my work schedule really doesn't give me much time. I'm terrified of gaining weight, and I'm trying so hard to stay on track.... Joan