"Head hunger" and the DS

Great Post Diana. Very enlightening and informative!

Because of my unique surgerical situation, the switch portion is absolutely a life-saver!  I no longer have the compulsion to eat the entire bag of candy or pack of cookies. I no longer 'need' to eat and eat and eat until whatever is gone, and then go looking for more.

True that!  I have found that to be true for me as well!  I can eat a few pieces of candy or 1 cookie and not feel the NEED to finish them all.

After this post, I can understand why this is the case now.

Thanks Diana for posting!

Yup, that's how it happened for me. I had no idea how much of my "emotional eating" was GUT driven until my gut was changed. I had no sense of hunger or of satiety, just an unending DEMAND for food in my belly that wasn't satisfied even when I had eaten until I felt ill.

I got everything from exorcisms to psych meds to psychotherapy for the problem. I followed every diet and exercise and mind-changing regimen I encountered. The only thing I didn't do was take diet drugs. NOTHING helped.

Then a few weeks after my DS, I started feeling this strange twitch in my belly. It was weird. When I ate, the twitch would go away. Then in a couple hours it would twitch again. I was so puzzled.

By golly, it was a HUNGER PANG.

A few more weeks passed. My appetite improved and my diet broadened. I noticed something weird: I could eat a few bites and then walk away from the food. Then later I could come back and eat some more. No "drive" to eat. It's called "satiety."

The DS changed my guts and they have stayed changed for three years. So far, so good :-).

 I'm sitting here reading this with a half-serving of grits sitting in front of me.  I've had an awful cold for three days, protein has been most unappealing, and I figured if I made a single serving of grits and added some shredded cheese, I'd least I'd be getting a bit in before bed.    I ate half of it, and I"m stuffed.  I can't eat another bite.  I am 3.5 years out.   The other half of the grits will be washed down the garbage disposal before I head off to sleep.   I could have never seen myself with this same situation 3.5 years ago.  .   I will say that I am not always perfect in this area....sometimes I DO push myself to eat more and pay for it.  The vast majority of the time, praise be, though, I experience exactly what I'm describing now.   

EN, your post made me laugh!!!  I was in constant pain a few weeks after surgery. Pain that would subside when I ate. Stupid me realized...DUH, I'm hungry!!  
  I love now, that I have satiety.  I remember Larra telling me, "Trust me, with the DS  you will finally will know what satiety is"  She is absolutely right. I no longer eat like someone is going to never eat again!! I get full, then I can come back later and eat more!!  I flove it!


Here is how I ate yesterday

Breakfast-
Sausage patties with melted cheese on top!(yum!)

Snack-
some popcorn

Lunch-
Half of super burrito with Carnitas, extra sour cream, extra guac, extra meat and beans.

Snack-
Some almonds and goatcheese and triscuits

Snack-
Some costco chicken, then stopped at Starbucks beforework

Dinner-
Other half of burrito, and a spinach salad with tons of bacon, red onions and manderin oranges and lots of Balsamic Vinegar.

When I got home from work I made a BLT YUM!

I woke up and dropped 3.5 lbs this morning...DS living ain't bad! (I gotta update my ticker!)

Look at you melting away!!! We gotta do another CA get together sometime so we can get loads of AFTER pictures :-).

NO such thing as "head hunger" with the DS.

When I'm hungry, I can eat 3,4, 5 or more times a day. If I am hungry, I EAT.

Since people with the RnY must eat a lesser volume due to their little pouches, yet STILL have to diet, count calories, watch portions, etc. it MUST be the metabolic changes that occur in the switch that allows me to eat at will. Sure, if all I ate were bags of Snickers, I'm sure, I'd gain weight. But, I am SATIATED after ONE. That never happened before.

There is a line in the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" where Kathy Bates is moaning about eating candy bars. Jessics Tandy tellsher something along the lines of," Well, one candy bar a day won't hurt you." That line used to make me scream. I would have been HUGE (R) if I ate one candy bar a day. Kathy Bates replies," But, 5 or 6??!!??" One would never have satisfied me, either, but it WOULD have packed on pounds.

Not anymore. The DS has been a dream come true. I CAN eat a candy bar and still be thin like Jessica Tandy, like a normal thin person.

Bravo Kelly!!!!  I eat when I am hungry! Easy Peasy. No more roaming the pantry and kitchen trying to find something to eat when I wasn't really hungry.  I eat good and  WHEN I AM HUNGRY!.