9 months post GB surgery and appetite is out of control!

I am 9mos post Gastric Bypass surgery and my appetite is out of this world!!! I stay hungry all day long. I'm eating protein at each meal and i eat it first (before veggies, etc). Does anyone else have this problem and what do you do to control it? I do not want to gain this weight back and am at wits end!!! Any advice would be appreciated!

Whenever I'm having 'issues', I make sure that I get back to measuring and logging, not only my food intake, but also my hydration and activity. It helps me see what I'm doing and then helps me make more informed changes and decisions. If you have done this and are within the caloric range that supports your resting metabolic rate, then I'd work with a nutritionist that has experience with post surgical bariatric patients. I find that what I sometimes think is hunger, is actually thirst, which is common. So make sure  that you are getting enough hydration. Then make sure that you are getting in plenty of lean, dense protein for 5 or 6 meals a day, followed by colorful carbs. You can load a great deal of colorful carbs that can take up a great deal of pouch room without loading you up with a lot of calories. For example, a salad of spinach or arugula with peppers, tomatoes, carrots, red onions, that is then topped with a sumptuous grilled chicken, shrimp or fish gives you a healthy, filling, and fulfilling meal that is likely to stick with you. 

If when you are logging you find that your meals are higher in fat and simple carbs, you can trim those back. Remember not to sabotage your success and the power of your pouch by drinking before, during or after your meals. You need to remember that the dense protein that you consume acts as bolus or ball that 'plugs' the opening from your pouch to your intestines. If you drink as little as a couple of tablespoons of fluid, including having soup, you can work around the power of your pouch allowing yourself to consume excess calories. You also need to know that 'grazing' can get you into a world of trouble because you can get a lot of excess calories quickly. Also be wary of 'slider' foods which again are often loaded with excess calories. Slider foods might be soft things, such as macaroni and cheese, ice cream, mashed potatoes, etc..., but also might be thinks that are crunchy. Again, a little can do a lot of damage quickly.

If you are not yet exercising, this is another thing that can help you regulate your weight. You don't have to be training to be a triathlete, but moving enough to get your heart rate up 30 minutes a day, plus several days a week of weight training can be a big help in helping your body learn to reset your metabolism by building muscle and setting that engine to an efficient burn level. Another benefit to this, is helping your body with load bearing exercise that will help with staving off the possibility of developing osteoporosis.

I hope that this helps. Please feel free to ask more questions and of course to contact your nutritionist to help you manage this. It is managable and you should not have to be hungry and should be able to manage keeping your weight off without dieting. 

Wishing you all the best,

I had my rny 12 days after u and guess what.... We have the same surgeon.
So I am also battling hunger at nearly 9monthz out. Actually I never lost my hunger after surgery.
When I get hungry and I know it isnt time for a meal or snack, I have a cup of decaf coffee with creamer or ff half and half Or milk. Seems to work for me. Doesn't load me up on calories And gives me an hour or so of relief from hunger and by that time it's usually ok to have a snack or something.

Barbara ofcourse has great suggestions as well. Just know u r not alone in this.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I guess this is an obstacle I'm going to have to learn to deal with appropriately. When I get "hungry" I do drink lots of water to try and ease it and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I just finished a steroid taper so that certainly didn't help the situation. haha! Example, I eat a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and then an hour later, I'm hungry again. I remember being like this pre-op so it just scares me. I did lose my hunger for a long time after surgery....actually I couldn't eat at all and had a PICC line w/ TPN in place for about 4 months. I'm stuck now at 165 and no matter what I do, I am not losing. I want to get to at least 145. I'm gonna keep on trying tho!!! :)

WJ,

After a bypass many people experience an interruption of the hormone grhelin, which helps to regulate our since of satiety or hunger. They aren't sure how this works and why it seems to eventually wane. 

I am sure that your steriod taper was likely to impact your hunger levels, since it does for people who haven't had a bypass.

Re: oatmeal for breakfast... believe it or not, oatmeal, which can seem like a stick to your ribs breakfast, often seems to function more like a slider food. It may have something to do with the consistency of the oatmeal. Don't get me wrong, I had oatmeal made with skim milk for breakfast myself this morning, so I'm not saying that you are doing anything 'wrong', but you may want to look for foods that provide denser proteins. Also, while some people are able to feel totally satisfied with 3 or 4 meals a day, others do better with 5 to 6 meals. You want to stay within the the caloric range your program has set for you to support weight loss, but divide it up among more meals throughout the day, leading with that dense protein. Also, be sure that you are getting in enough calories so that your body isn't moving into a slower, more efficient, fat storing mode. My program wants us to get about  800 to 900 calories a day when we are trying to lose weight. I found that if I wasn't paying enough attention and allowed my caloric intake to drop below that threshold, that I often would stall and quit losing.

Congratulations on your considerable success.