I'M HUNGRY!!

Lately, I have been feeling really hungry and want to eat all the time. I eat between meals (almonds, popsicles), but I know I shouldn't. Why am I so hungry? What became of my little pouch?

Sometimes referring back to the pouch rules can help, here's a page: http://www.gastricbypassfamily.com/PouchRules.html

I have found that my appetite is starting to return. But no matter what you have done as far as surgery, if you don't change the habbits that got you there, you won't be successful in the end. I have started to look into ways to get my mind off of snacking (even if it is just one pretzle or one sf popsicle). The first thing I do is change whatever it is that I am doing. If I am watching TV, I turn it off and go outside. If I am working in the kitchen, then I go do something in the living room. If reasonable, I try to take a walk or go play with the kids or something physical. It does not always work. If that fails, then I get rid of anything that I would want to snack on. Put the pretzles in the cabinet, put the popsicles behind some frozen meat in the freezer, put the wheat thins in my wifes office. You get the idea. Finally, if I just can't stand it, and everything else has failed...I give myself one. I force myself to eat it slowly and enjoy the taste. And most importantly, I don't beat myself up about it. I watch the healthiest people I know walk by the candy jar and pick out one hershey kiss or one cookie and break it in half. The key is, they get the taste...they get the little snack...but they don't eat the whole bag...and they don't come back for 20 more (as I used to do). This is just the strategy that I have started using. I have also started trying to identify those triggers that cause me to desire those snacks. If figure if I can identify what is going on, then I should be able to change something to fix the problem. Well...that is the theory anyway! Hope your hunger subsides quickly. Dave