Hungry pre and post surgery/does it change

So I'm scheduled for my surgery on the 21st, and I actually tried to my surgeon about this at our 1 on 1, but we got distracted.

My question is I get hangry now when I'm very hungry, and I haven't eated in a while. It's hard to tell if it's a more of a blood sugar/full body thing or if it's just my stomach is empty and I'm hungry.  When I'm very hungry, I get very irritable.  I'm wondering if anyone else is like this (many are), and if it changes after surgery? Do you lose the hanger with the very full feeling, or is it worse because you're eating so little.  Just wondering.

Thank :) 

I was very susceptible to hanger pre-surgery, as well. Most of it for me was being irritable because my tummy felt so hungry. But you do have to realize that a big part of that is in your head. After surgery, if you even have any physical hunger it won't be nearly as strong a feeling physically, but it can be just as difficult mentally. My personal experience is that now I can get a little moody because I "can't" eat what other people are eating, or that I don't have that coping mechanism of food to fall back on when I'm stressed or angry or sad. So in summary, no you won't have as much physical hunger. But you will have a lot to wrestle with when it comes to your emotional relationship with food.

Agreed. It was definitely a emotional learning curve for me ... but now I enjoy my food ( no guilt) a LOT more and am vey grateful for the surgery .  

My biggest challenge was to realize and accept I am a stress eater.  If I have anxiety of any sort, I find myself looking for food.  It took work and self-awareness to stop that.  I'm about a year out and its still work but I now have the discipline to ignore it, or at the very least make a good choice.  I eat a lot of raw celery, and have since the 5 month or so time frame.  It allows me to eat without much of a consequence.  Two bunches a week on average.  The surgery is a tool and it will not address the emotional side of eating.  Read about it and be aware and it will give you the best chance for success.

One thing that has been a challenge for me is the realization that a lot of my emotional reactions to food (and I consider "hangry" as an emotional reaction) are just that: a symptom of my emotional addiction to food.  I was an insulin dependent diabetic, so it was very easy for me to assume that my reactions were due to "low blood sugar" or physical responses.  Food funerals in the months before surgery were common.  I can't tell you how much like an addict going through withdrawal I was at times.  Seriously.

I remember that while I was on the pre-op diet feeling very angry at times.  I was angry at my family for eating foods I enjoyed, angry at thin people for not having to do what I was doing, I angry that I was tired, emotional and uncomfortable -- and most of all, a little bit angry that I'd let myself get to the point that I was at. There were several times I even seriously questioned going through with surgery.  Did I really want to go through life not eating a lot??   It was really hard to deal with all those emotions without the vice I'd become used to using: food.  

I want to be very honest and tell you that a lot of these feelings DO NOT go away with surgery.  Those are the feelings and relationships with foods that the vets are ALWAYS talking about.  That's why they repeat over and over over that surgery doesn't fix our minds.  Also, if you depend on feeling "full" after surgery, you may find yourself pretty disappointed.  First, your nerves are cut and take a while to heal which is  one of the major reasons we weight and measure our foods from the start.  We often don't feel full for a while.  Second, many of us find that we never really feel physical hunger -- and we weren't really eating for that reason -- but for emotional hunger.  That doesn't magically go away with surgery.  That's the hard work and why surgery is only a tool.

So, to go back to your question, I do think it is easier after surgery to eat so little but it is never easy.  What has helped me is facing my emotional relationship with food by working with an eating disorder counselor, educating myself about my eating, and using support groups like this one on a nearly daily basis to keep my focus and connect with other people who truly understand.

I sincerely hope this helps you.

I got very "hangry" before surgery. I also listened to people say their hunger when away entirely afterwards, but mine didn't at all. I felt like I was starving at 2 days post-op. BUT -- I do find that hunger is possible to ignore and distract myself from now, when before it would become an all-consuming monster. I definitely don't get "hangry" the same way I used to, and hunger no longer feels like a life-and-death situation. I still try to eat small, frequent meals though because if I go too long without eating, once I start it's really hard for me to not eat too fast, and I wind up overeating.

What Kat said.  She covered it VERY well!

I feel head hunger mostly five years post op .. but not being hungry never stopped me from eating pre or post lol.  My restriction stops me now ( sneezing lol) .  I still really enjoy eating and food but it desn't dominate my life .  I sty at a very normal weight and am extremely healthy Thank God - a miracle considering where I came from pre-op and a few years before 

Kat W gives a great perspective on emotional eating.

About actual hunger feelings:  Studies have shown that Ghrelin, a hunger hormone increase 34% while on a conventional diet.  It decreases 66% after WL surgery.  After WLS, I am not hungry all the time, but I get hungry, and yesterday I went too long between eating and I was crabby.  And I forgot that I had a protein bar in my purse. (A bite or two would have been enough.)  It won't be perfect, but it will be more reasonable.   Remember, a reasonable goal is to have a healthy relationship with food and your body.