When are you hungry?

I bet most of us are like this... I get hungry at night.  I actually do alright with breakfast and lunch. right now im having 2 very small turkey patties and a little yogurt and some grapes and my decaf. Then for lunch I normally have soup. If I want to loose a little weight I normally skip breakfast and lunch (replace with shake) and then have light dinner. Its hard for us to loose weight because of our metabolisms being so messed up. If we don't exercise we practically have to starve ourselves. At least I find it to be that way. I literally have to eat soooo little to drop a few pounds if I am not exercising. These last 20 pounds I shed have been soooo hard to get off. Even when we do exercise its hard. I find I eat sooo much less than the normal sized person and struggle not to gain. It's frustrating and just seems to be not fair but thats just how it is. Anyway... Once I start back at the gym I'll see how it affects my metabolism and if I loose weight by eating breakfast and lunch AND dinner I will be ecstatic!   Hunger... hunger is a whole other issue! I don't even know where to start to tell you how BAD my hunger was. I have only one way to curb my hunger where it isn't raging out of control... I rememer caffeine use to help me with hunger when I was younger, but I cannot have a drop of caffeine in me. So I have resorted to other means by doc prescribed help. No it isn't a miracle pill. It is just to get that bizzare insatiable hunger to a dull roar, but that in itself is a miracle to me because the insatiable hunger was almost painful, if you can imagine, and VERY distressing. I still get hungry yes, but its now a normal hunger. Nothing insane as before. (Maureen email me). If anyone is having issues with this...some insurance covers certain meds. I would most definitely talk to your doctor. Again, it isn't a miracle cure to loose weight by any means at all, it was more for killing that unnatural hunger and it really was unnatural. anyway... for many exercise helps with the cravings. Not so much for me. But for many others it does. Everyone is so different.  ((hugs!))

OMG, it's like this post came from my head! This is EXACTLY what I'm going through this far out from surgery. Insatiable, PAINFUL hunger - all I can do is try to ignore it and just cope with it, but it never, ever subsides. Even when I eat something, I never, ever feel satiated. It's been like this for me for at least a year. And like you, no matter how little I'm eating, no matter how much I'm exercising, I can't seem to get these 20 lbs. off. So I try to focus on the blessings in my life - for the most part, I am healthy at least as far as I know. My children and my husband are healthy. I have a job. I have a horse that I adore. I can MOVE MY BODY - and this one simple thing remains the biggest miracle in my life.  But there IS something UP with this post-surgery life, especially if we are experiencing the same symptoms. Metabolism is key, and I believe mine is shot to hell. 'lizbet, it's SOOOOOO good to have you back! Love you, Maureen

I've learned a bit from surfing around reagarding our metabolisms. Its a strange thing, but true that we really did some damage there. I also think there is DEFINITELY something with the hunger. Even if I ate it knawed at me. There were really no answers from the doc, but the low blood sugar dips that are associated with the surgery along with the metabolic differences...it wasn't surprising that there are hunger issues and there are! Even some of the wls revision doctors have discussed the insatiable hunger issues and relate it to the metabolic difference and other chemical changes within our bodies after we got this surgery. I got help. Medication isn't always exactly the most healthy thing, but its mild. Nothing damaging and I am SO glad to be rid of the insatiable hunger! Once in awhile I still get it but It also goes away. Ask your doc about those sort of alternatives.

What did he prescribe for you?

I would like to know what your were precribed, as well!!How & When do you take it? Is it really working for your hunger issues?

Elizabeth, it's great to hear from you!! I've missed you.  I am having the same problems you are. I want to eat all the time, I feel like I'm going to starve..  I manage to eat well durning the day, but at night I want to eat so bad. Sometimes I eat durning the night and don't remember doing it!  I had some Atkin's protien bars that had chocolate on them, one morning I got up with chocolate on my mouth and on the front of my gown!!  So, I guess I might as well eat when I'm awake and enjoy it!!  Judy

even with my medicine, I still struggle at night. Night time is just the time I get hungry. I guess because I relax and watch tv and the hubby always wants to eat a snack or something else. But the hunger isn't as bad but still hard to resist the nightime snack. Have you tried those fiber one bars?? YUM! they have more sugar than most but they are sooo yummy when you are craving the chocolate. they have these little chocolate chips throughout the bar. They aren't high in calories and they are very high in fiber! :)  like 35% of your fiber for the day. They are really good! But again... the sugar is like 9 or 11or something like that. Not too bad, but not great. good for when you have that super chocolate craving or sweet chewy craving :-)

Hiiiiiiiii Elizabeth...nice to see you back and doing ok....I missed ya!

Its funny I would read this now....last night about 3 am I woke up with a really weird hunger pain...ate a snack then went back to bed...hope it was a fluke ...but I swear it felt like I was starving...weirrrrrrrrrd

Anyway check in now and them...youve been missed

and funny  you should mention that because I SWEAR last night I woke up at 3:00 in the morning I swear it!!! It really was 3!!! and i was so hungry. lol... but for candy!!! Weird!!! I had two starbursts and went back to bed. But it was strong hunger. I guess because after so many hours I'm back to my normal (weird) self. Including that weird hunger. Maybe that has to do with blood sugar. and whats also really really weird... is often times that I wake up in the middle of the night like that I only crave candy... like something chewy and very sweet. (like a starburst or jellybean) other than that... like during the day.. I do not crave candy. its really weird. Most the time i just shove myself back into the bed and clench my teeth and fight off the urge. (since i try not to eat that darned sugar) but it does happen to me more often than not. Its really weird!!!

I know we are all different but with our surgerys so many of us are the same!
so far I've been lucky and not had the hunger you discribe.
I've had my other issues. Again while I know from what I've read and also Reenie our Dr A now gives patients a sheet about Low blood sugar an how you can get it after weight loss surgery -for me it was something i'd always had just not as drastic. I don't need to go into details cause everyones read it before. enough said about that!
But I think the point I'm trying to make is while I might not have the hunger issues you guys are suffereing with I believe you when you say yhou have them!
don't you find that one of the biggest things we get is when we complain we are not believed??? That is what really ****** me off! pardon the wording there but its true. If anyone else went into their doctor and said I'm having this or that right away they'd start with different tests and stuff. for us its like well everyone gets hungery. Geesh! duh we KNOW that but for us and the size of our tummys we shouldnt go thru it.
I've been wondering about how we relate to those poor individuals who have had their stomachs surgerically altered due to health like cancer. I had a friend many years ago who had stomach cancer and they had to take her's and alter it. I dont' know how never did get the details and for her the cancer had spread all thru her body so the surgery was just another way to torture the poor thing.
But I do know that people had that surgery all the time and live their normal life expectancys. Ok so how do they cope? what are their issues and are they the same or close to what we go through? I've tried googling things like that but just become so board by all the jargon that i give up reading.
I also wanted to say that when i read things you all have written I also note the date of your surgiers.
I dont' know if it is a co-winky-dink or what but when you guys who had your surgery in the beignning of the month start stuff and i had mine at the end of the month i usually will see the symptoms you all disccribe a few weeks later.
not always but sometimes so I read and file it away in my little bitty brain so that if i do get something odd I can say O yes this one or that one had that its normal for me!