Newbie (Slow loser)

Hello All,

I am sure you see these types of posts all the time. I am 4 weeks post of today. I have not lost much weight. 12 lbs since surgery. 22 including pre op.

I just feel hungry and still have my same food desires. I know I need to go low carb. But I'm so disappointed . I guess I wished I had no ghrelin. NO hunger or cravings. :-(

Any other vets that were slow losers in the beginning but went on to lose excess weight steadily in first year?

I started at 226 HW 215 SW and now CW 203.

Thanks for your patience and any encouragement .

The ghrelin thing is a myth. Hunger is soooooo much more complicated than just one hormone.

Are you on a PPI? Early on, a lot of "hunger" is just excess acid. Sometimes folks have to switch to different acid reducers and dosages before they find something that controls the acid.

How tall are you? 203 is a lightweight, and 12 pounds in one month is a very good percentage for your starting weight. I lost twice that much, but I was also twice as heavy.

Stick to the plan and you'll do fine.

Thank you for your response. I guess I need to pay attention to see if it is acid.

I am only 5'3

I am hoping I have success long term. I am sure this is my brain playing the comparison game. I have a relative and her experience was so different the first month. I am going to be patient and do the head work to make sure I am making good decisions.

I think my brain didn't expect to still have similar feelings to prior to surgery. But this is a tool not a cure all.

Best!

One of the biggest challenges for me after surgery was figuring out what hunger felt like with my new stomach. Everyone's experience is a bit different, but I'll tell you mine.

In the beginning, I often felt what appeared to be hunger pangs. Despite that, I didn't want to eat much. Often I would stop eating simply because it seemed like too much trouble or I got bored! Like you, I was disappointed that I still felt what appeared to be hunger, but I needn't have worried.

Over the next six months or so, the "hunger" pangs diminished considerably. Instead, I began to notice that if it was time to eat, I wouldn't feel any physical changes. Instead, I just would suddenly realise that I needed to eat. I know that sounds vague, but it's hard to describe.

Eventually I hit on a system that works well for me. When I feel the "hunger" pangs and it's not my regular mealtime (or planned snacktime), I drink 500 ml of fluid. That makes the "hunger" pangs go away. But if they come back in, say, a half hour, then I do go ahead and eat something. So I've come to regard the "hunger" pangs as a bit of tummy trouble rather than a sign that I need food. On the other hand, if I feel that vague awareness that I mentioned earlier, and I feel a little weak, then I would definitely eat even if it's not mealtime.

Before surgery, if I wanted something to eat, I usually had a craving for something specific (OMG I need a pint of chocolate ice cream NOW). After surgery, I found I simply wanted, say, something savoury, or something sweet. It's pretty easy for me to find a healthy option in either case. For example, if I want something sweet I might have a piece of fruit, or a hot drink with artificial sweetener.

I lost 16 lbs the first month and started at over 300 lbs. You are doing fine.

I think a lot of people's expectations come from watching "My 600 lb Life". Don't forget those people all started off at over 600 lbs. Starting BMI makes a huge difference in your rate of weight loss the first few months. Like Grim said, at just over 200 lbs, you're what we in the bariatric community call a "light weight". Your 12 lb loss is about what would be expected given your starting weight.

Even though you are starting at a low BMI, it will take you the full 12-18 months to reach your goal weight. I was a little bummed when I heard this too. My starting bmi was 37.5, now it's 27.0 8 months post-op. Staying hydrated, measuring food, and exercise will help you reach your goal. Just need to be patient, you'll get there :)

My surgery weight was 195 and it took me 18 months to get to my lowest weight of 128. My goal is 136.

Hi White Dove. Thanks for the input. Can you share your progress how it went month by month? how was the 1st few months? Did you go super low carb? When did you add exercise? were you super strict with ounces of food at a time? did you feel hungry? Did you graze? For instance if you have a meal and you get full do you put away till next real meal time or do you wait like me an hour or so to have more room and continue eating it? Sorry so many questions. I have same goal of 135 in my head and I am ok with waiting just want to make sure I change behaviors that would impede it. I think I need to still go super low and I need to be ok with putting food away or throwing out rest if I can not finish and not just keep it around till I feel a little more room. That's in my head. Big rant of my bad eating patterns needing to get worked out and not truly sticking to guidelines.

Thanks

I was fortunate that I had no hunger at all after surgery. I had very low carb, high protein. I drank a lot of protein shakes. They were awful back then, but I said I would gladly drink mud shakes if that is what I was going to need to do to lose the weight.

One protein shake of about 12 ounces did me for most of the day. My calories were around 500 per day for the first few months. I had protein shakes, ricotta cheese with spaghetti sauce, hard cheeses, applesauce, tuna, and chicken thighs. No bread, rice, potatoes, cereal, crackers, rolls, pasta, noodles or sugars.

At two months out I was allowed to add protein bars and non-starchy vegetables. I would have a cup of vegetable soup for a meal. I was also allowed to have strawberries after two months, but no other fruit.

At three months I added salad. That first salad was delicious. At three months, I also had my first restaurant meal of a tiny filet mignon steak. After that I tried small servings of pork but could not keep it down. Chicken breast was also too dry for me and I could not eat eggs at all. I could eat softer fish and sometimes salmon would be OK for me.

I bought an ice cream machine with its own compressor and made my protein shakes into protein ice cream. I had that for many meals. I also made flaxseed microwave muffin in a mug for most meals. I was at 142 at six months out and stayed there for a year, then lost down to 128. My weight loss during months two through six was around two pounds a week.

I added back bread during year three. It is very easy for me to gain weight now, so I stick to Weigh****chers points system, weigh every day with a smart scale, and still eat very little flours, sugars, or fruit. I need to stay at 1400 calories a day to maintain.

I put an unbelievable amount of food into the garbage. I look at it like this. It is either going into the garbage or into my body where I will then put it into the sewer system. I just put it directly into the garbage. No starving child in Africa is going to be helped by my eating too much food.

wow. I wish I didn't have hunger. Or anything that simulates hunger. I need to dial back and really stick to LOW LOW carb. (but 500 calories yikes) I wish I could be as disciplined as you. Sometimes I feel my Pouch was left too big. :-) I need to just to focus and stick to it. My fingers crossed I will reach my goal weight at one point.