Head Hunger...

Hey, everyone! I'm almost two weeks post-op (as-of tomorrow), and almost two weeks into my pureed diet, of which I have eight weeks total (hooray for only 6 more!). The main problem that I'm having is that of "head hunger". It didn't make sense when I was pre-op, now...? Just seeing a Burger King commercial makes me want to say "screw it!" and run out for a burger. I can't believe how much I want to shovel the food into my mouth, instead of sip on an ounce of pureed soup every ten minutes. Is anyone having trouble with this? Has anyone overcome this feeling? I'm just scared that, when I start solid foods in 6 weeks, I'm going to overeat and thereby burst my pouch or undo all the good this surgery has done.

Hey there, You can take control of the head hunger! Don't let it win!! I have those feelings too but you physically CANNOT consume that type of food without making yourself sick. I have these thoughts about pizza, just wanting to cram it in my mouth and swallow big pieces but I know that when I get food, I will not actually do that. I had an incident about 2 weeks ago where I ate too big of a piece of baked fish. I will NEVER repeat that again. The pain in my stomach felt like LABOR PAINS and was quite unpleasant. No food is good enough to warrant that kind of pain and I hope I remember that for the rest of my life. Stop watching TV, watch movies with no commercials. Your pureed/liquid diet is the best for you right now as your new pouch heals, you must treat it with care. Good luck to you. Angela

Angela - Thank you so much! I've never had much will-power, so it's a mixed blessing to know that (1) I'm just going to have to suck it up, and (2) my body will let me know if I've taken it too far. That's a little scary! I don't want any more pain! Thank you again... you're completely right. We have completely different insides than we did before, and have to treat them as such. THANKS!

Krystal, I think we are all going to struggle with this the rest of our lives. Early on like this we are going through food withdrawals so hopefully this is the worst of it, but even if it is not we really do have to deal with it. I agree with the first reply, get away from what is causing distress. Personally, I can't even watch cooking shows now and flip the channels when those food commercials are airing. My nut. has a schedule of 1-2 oz puree six times a day so I don't even have the option of soup all day long. Unless you want to consider drinking broth as a soup. Ick, it makes me feel like I'm back in the hospital. It is just one of those foods I associate with illness. I've been trying to make sure that when I do have my six little feedings they are as flavorful as possible. A tablespoon or two of light ricotta with some spaghetti or pizza sauce on top tastes pretty good as a substitute for pizza or pasta. And I have several different types of Mrs. Dash to sprinkle into my fat free cottage cheese to give it flavor. We can get through these early days and develop good strategies for beating the head hunger. I'm not worried about bursting my pouch, that would hurt too much but I am more concerned about developing grazing habits that would undo all the good this surgery does. That is my huge, huge worry. Molly

I have he exact same problem. I want a juicy, delicious cheeseburger SO bad...or whatever else happens to be on the TV. Even worse, it's not just the TV, it's in my head ALL THE TIME. I obsess about food and how much I sincerely miss it. I hope this passes because it's driving me crazy!!

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and I think I like it here...I am struggling with head hunger...for every piece of food that I have passed on or never eaten. My sense of smell has become too good, so that I am smelling everything and it's making me crazy. You are not alone, I also afraid that at the six week, six month mark I will do something crazy and overeat or eat the wrong type of foods...I think I'm starting to feel a little depressed about not eating what I want to eat. I think I really am a food addict.