Cravings

Having VSG done in couple of months. Does it help with cravings?

I'm only 6 days out but it has already for me. Everyone is different though.

Depends.

Are your cravings due to actual hunger? Or due to your brain telling you to put food in your mouth?

For me, my cravings were the latter and VSG did not fix those.

For me, I struggle with mental hunger way more than physical. The surgery didn't help with my mindset at all...I really should have continued in therapy even after I got the insurance approval! I think the surgery forces you to confront the fat brain head on.

Therapy, and working on the brain things in other ways, is definitely one of the primary forces I credit for any of the success I've had.

When the majority of your stomach is removed, some of the ghrelin (hunger hormone) goes with it. It is not COMPLETELY removed, nor is it gone forever.

Some people experience that their hunger feelings disappear, but not everyone. And for the people who do experience it, it is seldom permanent.

Surgery fixes your stomach, not your brain. Most of us have to work to address emotional eating and "head hunger" if we want to be successful.

At first, but by 6 months they were back. It's stomach surgery, not brain surgery!

Hi, my sleeve was done last Tues. I wasn't hungry until like 2 days ago. I read & read, spent hours in forums, watching youtube, asking questions to people I know that had this surgery-- NO ONE spoke of the hunger. So I'm completely caught off guard, I didnt knw Inwould be hungry. I'm craving everything but when I will be allowed to eat I will only be able to take 1 bite. So it doesnt stop hunger or cravings but with 80% of ur stomach gone, you'll be full before u get to the "bad stuff" cuz its protein first.

For me it stopped my actual, physical hunger completely. I haven't felt hungry sense surgery. However, my head hunger never went away. Therapy helped me a TON. It's the only reason I've worked through it. There are times I give in, but I have to not beat myself over the head about it, because that will make it all worse. I forgive myself, put it in my food log and the next day I follow my normal eating. I don't get extra strict, I just go back what I know is right.

I didn't feel physical hunger for the first 3-4 months and even the head hunger for that time. I had no appeal to food. I feel plenty of head hunger now.

The honest answer - I am forever grateful for what my VSG has given me as a tool to weight loss. I feel better than I've ever felt (literally, ever). Even when I was recovering from an unrelated surgery recently I felt better and more energized than I thought I would. But, on the same token, I wake up every single day and get on the horse, plan my meals, eat only what I planned (99% of the time, we're all human right?), and fight the hell out of the mental desire to eat.

The first year was easy. Seriously, a cake walk (in the scheme of things). It's gotten progressively harder to fight the demons the farther out I've gotten in maintenance (I've been in maintenance for about 9 months). And I know it will only get harder. For me, that means I've had to set hard rules and boundaries when it comes to what I eat. I have foods I literally won't touch, even if it's the only thing offered and even if you might offend a host by not eating. I also make my house a safe place where the tempting food doesn't enter, which means if I do have a slip up it's temporary by the very nature of the situation. These are things that (currently) work for me. You have to find what works for you and hold on for dear life!

I'm a very visual person and I often picture myself at the top of a giant hill. Right now I'm standing there and it's all peachy. But, at any minute I could slip down the hill. Right now it's easier to just stay at the top (and compliant) than it is to claw my way back up the side of the hill after a setback.