Let's talk about hunger!

As recent post ops many of us have relatively little hunger, if any at all. Invariably, as we get farther and farther out from WLS hunger returns in some form. For some only slight or subtle hunger comes back. For others it’s closer to what hunger was like pre WLS. However, my personal experience has shown me that very few of us ever return to having the type of hunger we did as pre ops.

For the first year or more I really focused on knowing when I was getting satisfied verses full, not when I was hungry. Now, at three years out I’m learning that knowing when I’m hungry is important, too. I’ll tell you why.

At three years out I have a much larger capacity than I did at 6 months out even at 9 months out. By 18 months I reached a mature capacity and I can eat about a cup of food by volume or 5 ounces of dense protein all by itself. I can eat a higher volume of calorie dense Slider Foods though quite easily. With that increased capacity comes the ability to over eat the WRONG types of foods – especially when over hungry.

I have been focusing on knowing when I am hungry lately and found that I eat much less and am satisfied with much less if I take care of my hunger before I become over hungry. With a lessened ghrelin production and having a very low hunger drive now, it has been a challenge to know when my body actually needs and wants nutrition.

If you are farther out, are you able to recognize your subtle hunger cues? It took me a while to figure out that for me a feeling of emptiness was an early indication of hunger. I know that I’m really hungry feeling when I haven’t eaten in hours and hours, but the subtle cues were a little harder to identify.

Just a little something to ponder as you’re on your journey.

I'm a long way from 6 months post-op, let alone 18 months. You make an interesting point about learning to recognize hunger cues as well as satiety cues.

It reminds me of a similar point that Dr. Duc Vuong makes in his book, "Ultimate Gastric Sleeve Success":

"There is a reason why Thanksgiving only comes around once a year. It is unnatural to feel "stuffed." Problem is most Americans want it to be Thanksgiving at every meal. They want to feel full every time they eat and to never be hungry between meals. This is just not realistic. It is not how our bodies have evolved....

"Real hunger manifests itself with measurable physical changes -- decreased blood sugar, weakness, sweating, jitteriness, dizziness, etc. Psychological hunger does not come with these physical changes (even though your stomach may still rumble), but rather is triggered by the thought, sight, or familiar smell of food....If you feel hungry, make sure it is really hunger that you are feeling. Drinking a big glass of water usually helps....If you put yourself in a different situation--you turn off the TV and go outside or you move away from the smells of baking, for example--you might find that you're not "hungry" a few minutes later."

The motto for sleevers, whether 1 day or 4 years post-op, must be "Always Vigilant."

psychoticparrot

Great thoughts.  I have been noticing that my hunger grows throughout the day and also different kinds of food help me keep it away better.  Dense protein is the best by far.  I love yogurt and have had yogurt once or twice a day since the begining.  But yogurt does not help me maintain fullness or really satiate me much at all.  I have started adding more berries to my afternoon yogurt -- this helps, but I should probably consider swapping for deli meat or some kind of dense protein.  My long commute + afternoon hunger = ravenous by dinner.  

I think it is so important for us to continually examine our bodies and our relationships to food.  As we get further and further out, it definitely becomes easier and easier to vear off track.  

I'm only 3.5 moths out, but I find adding cottage cheese to my yogurt makes me feel fuller for much longer.

might be worth trying? 

I'm not a sleever so maybe I shouldn't post but I'm gonna anyway because I think it is relevant, I am an ex bandster tho so I have some opinions on hunger. When I was banded I was always hungry it did nothing to dim my hunger. After it came out I had hardly any hunger and still don't. What I did learn tho is that it is ok to be hungry.

It isn't an emergency, I won't die if I have to wait 1/2 hr. to get home to eat something. Why do we get in such a panic to be hungry? What horrible fate do we think is going to befall us? Living in this country of unlimited food why do we think something awful will happen if we have to wait awhile to eat? Even when I was over weight I didn't get panicked if I had to wait 20 min. to drive home and have a salad instead of stopping in town for a quick burger to gobble down on the way home. I guess maybe since I don't eat much anymore I would rather go home and have a really nice salad than wolf down a greasy burger while I drive. I'd rather have a peaceful, quiet meal than a rushed, fast gulpfest.

Maybe someone can explain the feelings you get when you are in a hunger panic. Why is it so important that you eat right that second? I've known people like that and they truly get panicked if they can't find some place to eat right then and there. I'll go all day and forget to eat, people have to remind me. I was a bigger eater when I was younger but still never had to eat right away, I'd rather wait an hour and drive to a really good restaurant than go to a so so place 1/2 an hour away because it's closer and we can eat sooner. Just doesn't make sense to me. It's really ok to be hungry, nothing is going to happen if we don't eat the second we feel hunger.

For me it isn't an issue of needing to eat right then and there. Never really has been. I don't quite get the I need to eat right now syndrome myself.

My issue is I generally didn't recognize or honor my hunger and by the time I finally settled down to eat I was over hungry. Because my hunger level is pretty low in comparison to what it was pre op I found myself on the weekends going well over 8 hours without eating. Going that long made me too hungry and that (for me) was not a recipe for success.

I, too, think that being hungry is normal and okay. I also think that because so many of us have dieted and dieted and denied our hunger for years and years we have trouble understanding normal and subtle hunger cues. I have found that understanding my hunger cues has done nothing but help me manage my food intake better - cause the good Lord knows even with VSG that is still a struggle for me at times.

I think you have a really good point there with the aspect that we have all dieted for so much of our lives that we don't have a normal concept of hunger. That probably plays a really big roll in how we look at hunger because I've been both heavy and thin and it was so much worse when I denied my hunger but once it dawned on me that hunger is normal and that nothing is going to happen if I am hungry, I did much better. It doesn't bother me if I feel hungry I just think about what is a good choice for me to eat and go about getting it.

It is hard to explain, but when I get the ravenous hunger it is almost painful (working through this as it might be acid), my mind hyper focuses on food, I get extremely irritable the longer I have to wait. 

I too do not want to stop somewhere, and would much prefer to enjoy my food at home -- healthy food at home tastes much better IMO than healthy food out.  

Most of the time, the non-ravenous hunger, is easy to put off until it is time to eat.

That painful ravenous hunger definitely sounds like acid to me...

I'm only a month out, and I'm unfortunately not getting a break from feeling very hungry! I have to stop myself from shoveling food in my mouth when it's finally time to eat. (I use a timer and make sure I take small bites, and I measure what I'm eating - I know right now I'm only capable of eating 1/4 cup, so I measure that out). I've read numerous times here that hunger can be caused by acid - I have been having acid issues, and just switched PPIs. Really hoping these work better and my hunger goes away! I keep myself busy trying to ignore it right now.