Head Hunger

  Does head hunger ever go away?

I find myself asking this all the time.  I do not regret for one moment having the lap band surgery.  I know that was the right choice for me.  I could not have had gastric bypass and been sucessful with it.  I'm too addicted to food.  I need the dr's office stepping in and tightening up that sucker when the weight starts to climb again.  

Since my sugery I've had my ups and downs.. (mostly with my weight! hah)  I started out at 256lbs and have gotten all the way down to 119lbs and promptly went into congestive heart failure.  Since then they have been playing with my band and I've been playing with food.  My weight goes up and down.  

They had to remove all the fluid from my band because it had gotten too tight and nothing would pass.  I've had to endure my weight going up while they struggle to find my sweet spot and start on my weight loss journey again.

Recently my weight ballooned all the way up to 165lbs while waiting to get the right fill.   Last Friday I got a tiny bit more put into my band and finally the weight has started to come down again.  The first few days after the fill I only had liquid.  I wasn't even hungry but all I could do was think about food and what I wasnt able to eat.

It made me think about my obsession with food.  I remembered back to being a child (a fat child) and always wondering what I was going to eat next.  When time was breakfast, lunch & dinner.  What would be my snack?  I have had this obsession with food as long as I can remember.

It makes me realise that it's going to take more than this band to be successful.   

I have thought about therapy...I've also thought about hypnosis. I know I need some kind of help.

Does anyone else struggle with this?

Diane

Head hunger is the worst thing to deal with when you are trying to lose weight. I fight with head hunger really bad about a week to a week and half before my period. It's hard and sometimes I do really well then I have my days I give in.

We talked about head hunger in support and this wheraloft of bandsters get into trouble with fills. I had to really learn from head hunger to actual physical hunger when I got the band . It's a on going battle and that is something the band just won't fix , we have to do that ourselves.

Now as far as obessing about food like you mentioned. I have really never been that way. Before the band especially in the summer and it's starting again now for me is skipping meals. I'm opposite of you like today I ate breakfast at 9 am and didn't eat again till almost 8 pm tonight. I'm really really bad about that because it's nice out and I'm to busy outside to even worry about meals " sigh". . My doc has already jumped me about this and I just cant help it.

When you start getting that head hunger go do something. I play a game on the computer Or go take a nice hot bubble bath with a book that really works for me

Head hunger gets the best of me during the time of the month!  I start craving for everything like sweets and really salty things.  I feed into those cravings but I also work off those cravings with a nice long jog. 

I used to have issues with boredom hunger- it was the worst at night while watching TV.  Now I keep busy by being on the computer, playing angry birds on my iphone, playing bejeweled on my phone, etc. while watching tv to keep busy.--- as long as my hands were busy, I didn't have a hand to feed the mouth (my twisted logic!)

If you find that you are struggling often with the head hunger, hypnosis may help or over eaters anonymous?  I know Jean M's newsletter yesterday featured an article about OEA... maybe try their website and give it a shot?

Good luck to you and hope things work out!
Take care!
Jan

I obsess over food all of the time.  It wasn't until I got my band that I realized that I am a food addict.  Most of my hunger comes from head hunger.  I think about cookies, cheesecake, ice cream...stuff like that.  I am able to resist the urge to go out and buy that stuff...but if it's right in front of me that's really hard to resist.  If I am not day dreaming about junk food than I am looking forward to my next splurge.  Like for instance  I splurge once a month at my company's food day (basically it's a potluck).  I always allow myself a few treats that day...like cookies.  It's next Fridays and I have been looking forward to it for over a week now. 

The big difference is when I do fall off the wagon I'm not eating a whole package of cookies or a whole gallon of ice cream.  I'm eating a lot less.  I have to learn not to give into these urges all of the time or else I would be eating cookies 24/7.  I am getting better about cheating but I still think about food all of the time. 

Many if not all of us fight head hunger.   Sometimes also called emotional hunger.  I think therapy would be a good idea.  I wish I could see my way clear to get some, but it's $$ and with 2 kids in college at the same time and only one wage earner, I feel bad about spending the money on it.

It's not so much sweet things that call to me, but salty & crunchy & carby.  sigh.  I think they must put crack in saltine crackers.  LOL

There's a great chart to help tell the difference between real hunger and emotional hunger.  Took me forever to realize that boredom is also an emotion!  I fight hunger due to boredom almost every night. 

http://health.usf.edu/NR/rdonlyres/435CB8AC-84C4-491B-920E-7 85F4E1A34F0/26063/8TraitsofEmotionalHunger.pdf

YES!!!!!!
I just had a fill and don't feel restriction. I go up and down the same 5lbs after gaining 7. (12 total)
I have adjusted to try to eat mostly protein but head hunger screams carbs. It is so difficult to work full time, take care of kids and wrap your head around what to eat.
I totally can relate to what you said about being a kid (fat kid) and wondering what and when the next meal would be.

 Try a support group. Some are free. 

I found the book, "If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Lose Weight" by Brooke Castillo to be extremely helpful in learning to come to terms with head hunger.  The biggest step is learning to recognize head hunger versus real physical hunger.  The book teaches you how to do that and how to react to head hunger.

Wendy

 I really appreciate all the replies.  I know I'm not alone in this battle.  We all have our demons.  Food is mine.  I used to be a 3 pack a day smoker and I quit that cold turkey.  Hopefully I will find the strength to be as strong with my food addiction!

Diane

Diane,

I was a two day a pack smoker this month is my 7 month anniversary and I quit cold turkey to.

For me quitting the smoking was ten times harder then losing the weight.  Oh dont get me wrong losing weight is hard but the way you crave food I do that with my smokes.  I enjoyed smoking very much even though its a nasty  habit .

I didn't turn to food when I got upset or emotional well I did sometimes but not very often 85 % of the time I smoked that was my get away . I would smoke instead of eating .

If I had it my way I would have continued smoking through all this and then when I got myself down pretty good weight wise I would have quit the smoking . I didn't want to do it this way but it was either quit smoking or no surgery so  had no choice lol.

And since I have been smoke free for 7 months kinda silly to start back up again and to be honest I dont want to go through what I did quitting .   that was a ***** lol