Really Now, 1/8 oz???

I REALLY try not to compare my journey to others, but........ when I here things like: I can't eat a whole piece of bread, or I can't eat more than 1/8 oz of this or that, I just want to scream.  I have lost 82 lbs so I know I am doing something right.  I don't seem to have as much restriction as most, so I feel like I am having to use much more "willpower" than most.  Even though I should still keep my calories between 500-800, I am usually around 900-1000.  I just get too darn hungry.  I stop and ask myself if it is real hunger or head hunger.  I take the prilosec twice a day, follow the no drinking rules, follow the no carbonation rules, follow the no alcohol rules, heck if there is a rule, I follow it 90% of the time. I exercise. I have not had any "stalls".  So far since Aug 1,  I have had only 2 weeks where I lost zero and that was my own doing for vacation and Christmas.  I have never gained. I have lost all the others weeks, even if it was just 1-2 lbs. I feel great and feel proud of the way I look.  I get compliments and that also feels great!!  I love clothes shopping in regular stores. I still have 31 lbs to goal and I know I can do it, it is just naturally slowing down. I read self help books and am going to order the ones Brandilynn suggested a few days ago.  I still sometimes want to eat desserts, pizza, etc  but I just don't most of the time.  Alot of VSGers say they don't have the desire for the high calorie foods any longer but that is not my case.  Will it always be this hard?
Thanks for any input.
Kathy

I am sorry you are struggling.  I think that eating 600-800 cals. a day until goal is ideal, but I also believe that you should be able to reach goal on 900-1100 cals.  It might just take a bit longer, but that's ok as long as you keep at it.  Two things that really helped me with hunger were 1) Drinking a large cup of tea (Chai) with splenda and low-fat vanilla soy milk.  I would wait about a 1/2 hour after drinking this and the hunger would almost always go away.  2) I lived all last winter on my husband's green soup (recipe on my profile).  He had it for me in the house at all times and I must have had it two or more times a day.  It is only 67 cals per cup and has a lot of protein and it would just fill me up.  3) My husband made turkey chili and I ate that quite a bit, very low cal high protein.  I hope it gets easier for you but you might want to talk to your doctor about the hunger.  I wonder how many carbs you are taking in each day.  My doctor seems to think there is a strong correlation between carbs and hunger.  Just a thought.

Please don't despair. Looks like you have lost weight at a good pace since your surgery and are doing fine. If you are losing on 900 to 1000 calories I see nothing wrong with that. Everyone is different. I lost at a rather slow rate - some months only 4 or 5 lbs but it was steady with few stalls and actually picked up to 6 or 7 per month at about 6 months. My surgeon told me to increase protein to lose faster. I did but only for about a month and it seemed to speed it up. Might try that as it might help you feel less hungry. There is no doubt in my mind you will get to your goal. This is not a race; its a lifelong project and so long as you lose that pound or two a week, I wouldn't worry. I don't know why people experience different tolerences and capacities but your surgeon has a fine reputation and I am sure you have a proper restriction. People who lose 100 lbs in 5 months are the exception rather than the rule. So don't get bummed and don't give up. We all think about pizza and desserts at times (have you tried Eat-Rite low carb pizzas? Elina told me about them and they are great).
Again, the only thing I can suggest is to up that protein a bit - worked for me. At 4 months my surgeon told me he thought i would end up at 150 to 160 lbs. My goal was 135. That was when I upped the protein.  Today I weigh 122.  You can do this. Promise.  diane

How much did you up your protein to? How many carbs/day? I average between 40-50 carbs/day and 70-80 grams of protein/day. My weight loss has been steady for the past 2 months, at 1-2 lbs/week, but it is slowing down, the lower that I get. I want to lose at least 10 more lbs.

Hi Catlover;  My surgeon told me to up protein from 70 to 80. I am just over 5'4 so I am not a big person and found it hard to get that down but i did it for awhile. also, I kept carbs under 40 as I always had. A few months ago I had  a resting metabolic rate test and for me to maintain if i do nothing but sleep all day I only need 936 calories per day. So some of us are just not big energy burners. I always suspected that. But in spite of that I did get the weight off with the help of the sleeve so it can be done. So you might add another 10 g protein to whatever you are doing and maybe see if you can cut the carbs just a bit. My  surgeon said 40 or less. But really, you are doing well and I bet even if you make no changes you will get there. My surgeon recommends the three meals a day thing but realisticly some people just need a snack or two. I always have hot milk in the evening so I can get my supplements swallowed and now its something i count on. Keep at it and don't worry about what others say they eat or can't eat. we are all individuals. diane

*chuckle*  Well I am sure not a "full on 1/8 ounce" sort of person either!  :}  Welcome to the hungry club.  I could definitely eat as I wanted of a lot of stuff, except dense protein. 

I do not know if you read my post about Anatomy of A Food Addiction, but the stuff  you are drawn to, the Za and the Desserts, she explains chemically why our bodies do things, and then she goes through emotional and environmental stuff. She also talks about amino therapy (during the chemical part) and WHY we may be drawn to those things (because we do not produce enough certain amino acids). 

I still definitely love all the foodies!  ALL OF THEM!  My tastes did not change, I could definitely eat MORE than I *DO* eat - but I work on eating "clean" 90% of the time, so when I do have an anything goes session (10 Thin Commandments, Stephen Gullo - I only follow the boxing in and out rules, not the diety part - waaay too carby and processed for the likes of my hunger and my body chemistry) then I do not have to attach emotions to it. 

Here too - I also, while I am on maintenance, do get to eat a lot of calories because my basal metabolism is so much better because of EXERCISE!!  So, we are talking 2000 to 2500 calories a day on a regular ol active day, instead of 1200 on a regular old active day. This gives me MUCH more freedom of choice, as it were.

Another thing too, that was mentioned above - I am not sure of the foods you are eating, but for me, even low carby stuff like yogurt? Made me screaming hungry/bingey.  The more dense meats/healthful fatty things I eat, the longer I stay full - although I can time my hunger to the 3rd hour.  I DO still get hungry, I do not EVER forget to eat.  :}  Its not good or bad, its just the way I am!  And that is aokay, because this is what I get to live with and so I need to find the way to utilize it best, you know?  (and I, honestly, have never been a little skurt of fatty foods.  They were not really my "problem."  I never wanted to eat a whole stick of butter unless there was a sleeve of crackers around *chuckle*). 

For me I eat on a schedule.  If I get hungry before the 3 hours is up, (when I have eaten something like a salad with meat, or soupy stuff, or mostly veggie stuff, or a sammich of sorts, or anything that is not mostly just dense meat!!) well, then I just need to maybe drink some warm something to get me through the last hour, because its just not time. 

I do not ask me if its real hunger or head hunger - I do not do the intuative eating thing well at all.  Truth be told, I probably do not trust me to.  I mean.. its like this for me (not saying its like this for ANYONE ELSE!!) if somebody has been skimming cash from you for 40 years, forgiving them is great, is fine, and is in order, but do you PUT THEM BACK IN CHARGE OF YOUR CASH?

Not me baby!  Not me.

So finding your rhythm is going to be important I think.  Do you eat "mixed" foods most of the day?  They give me the hungers faster, they empty out of my belly sooner, they just do - maybe they do you too? 

Or maybe something you are eating is giving you the hungers?  Artificial sweetner, carby stuff, or maybe you have a fat tooth ?  Like I say, fat is not an issue for me, but it is for some folk.

You are in good company girlie, always remember.  Some folks are never hungry and may be spoonfuls for life folks (just because I was not blessed with a spiritual gift does not mean its real, right?  :} ) but we get to find ways to utilize what we have to its fullest!

And you have a huge wealth of information!  And you have a huge fan base! 

You just need to learn what you need to do to set yourself up for success, my friend!!  Willpower only works for so long, for me, I need to set guards up to protect me from the times when Trixy is rangeroaming!!  She is wiley and wants what she wants! 

*squeeeze*

And too, recognize your hungry times, I am hungrier during the day, especially on an unsatisfying job sort of day, I was probably never a night muncher (aside from a huge dinner person, because I was a huge meal person) because my husband is not, so I was blessed to escape that danger pocket - so my mealings are over earlier in the day (because my day starts really early, and my hungries are earlier than a lot of folks). 

Anyway, you are doing really well!  Lets toss around some ideas about your hungry times, your regular foodies, and what safeguards are going to work best for you!!

We can help figure this out!  It does not have to be hard, it just needs to be habit!

MUWAH!  Happy New Year girlie!! 

i have noticed on the boards alot of people can eat way more than i could at the same stage but they are losing alot faster than what i did... so what it shows is that we are all different... i can eat 3-3.5 oz of meat so nope im also not one of these one bite and im full type either.

will it always be this way for you?  probably .. you might have to change things up a bit and eat more dense protein than slider food types like egg salads and tuna salad, i find that if its got mayonaise in it i dont stay full as long..

one thing that i have noticed since being at maintenence is that yes the sleeve helps us get to goal, but its up to us to stay there.  What this means to me is yes i still love food and infact since surgery i think i have probably become more of a sweet tooth than i was pre op, so i have to mindful of what im eating...
I think this is probably the only part of the process that makes me like a "normal" person they too still have to watch what they eat, because at the end of the day its always going to be calories in verses calories out.

I saw a thread on the main board saying if we had vsg we would always have to diet, while i dont believe that to be true as i dont fo fat free, low fat products... but i still like everyone else have to stay with in the calories that my body burns to keep from gaining. and i certainly dont starve to do that..

My advice is to look at YOUR progress which is fantastic by the way, and accept that this is how YOU are, it does not matter what anyone else can eat i.e one bite you are not that way and thats just how it is.
you can keep your metabolism burning by doing exercise..  but i think the biggest peice of advice is relax and enjoy your journey.. if your eating 900-1000 calories and still losing it means if you keep doing what your doing now when your at maintenence your going to be able to eat more than 1000 calories to maintain.

Thanks guys,
Elina - I will try the tea and soup.  I had never tried the Silk Vanilla light before the VSG and I really like it.  I buy all healthy items at the store and feel so proud when checking out that my basket is not filled with cookies and chips. I am blessed my guy is supportive and won't bring bad food in the house.  BTW, he has lost 45 lbs from eating healthy with me.
Diane - I will try that pizza.  I have tried the Amy's organic pizza which is really good, but because of calories, I only cook half of it, although I could probably eat the whole small one and not feel really full.  I try to eat to satisfaction and not FULL.  I have never over eaten and felt miserable since surgery. I guess I am "blessed" with being able to eat anything and feel no nausea, ie salad, eggs, bread, etc.
Brandilynn - I agree, when I eat only dense protein I feel full longer and I try to do that alot of the time. I will increase my exercise.  I just bought hand weights last night to start working on the batwings.  I need a Mandy arm transplant.  lol

Another question:
The first 6 weeks post surgery, I ate every 3 hours because my amounts were sooo small. Now my nut has said eat only 3 meals, if I HAVE to have something mid afternoon, it must be a "protein pop",  get out of the habit of saying snack.  And NO snack after the night meal.  I do miss my 9pm BlueBell nightly ice cream, but I would rather be smaller. Would I do better on 5 meals - although it is soo hard to keep at 500 cal on 5 meals.
Kathy

I was between 600 and 800 calories until I went to maintenance.

I HAVE to eat every 3 hours.  No way in hell or anywhere else could I manage on 3 meals.  NO WAY IN HELL. I am not sure if you heard me. 

NO WAY IN HELL.  And honestly, if you are going to be exercising.. you might bump your cals up to 600 to 800, really.

Here is my blog on the lifting and whatnot.. it links up to mandy's old workout too, so maybe something in there might be helpful.

http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/juanita1313/blog/2010/12/2 7/body-changes-after-surgery--skin--excercise--being-realist ic/

Girlie, I think 500 a day might be a problem hungerwise.  If you are miserable and you get there in 3 more months, is it worth the misery than uppering your exercise, your calories to 600 or 700 and getting there in 4 or 5 months?  Really?  Only you can answer it, but misery is well..

miserable!  :}

Hi Kat!! I have to ask are you seeing David (PA/Nut) at Dr Kim's office?? I'm just wondering because I discussed the 3 meals/no snack thing with him back in Oct and he recommend their new plan of 3 protein dense meals w/2 high protein snacks. I get kinda frustrated because I get a different answer each time I talk to him so I'm just curious. 

I eat every 3 hours because I'm hungry. Not the ravenous/starving hunger but I just feel empty. I have been like this since day 1. I eat on a schedule Monday-Friday (9a, 12, 3, 6, 9p) and am a little off this plan on the weekends/holidays because I ususally sleep later and stay up later.

I too found an increase in my calories (900-1000) right about 4 months out which David told me is normal. He said we should gradually increase our calories (with dense protein) the closer we get to goal so that we are eating approximately 1200 calories to maintain. I'm struggling with 1200 calories because I'm having to add another meal or snack and I constantly forget but I am maintaining ok at least for now. I also generally consume approximately 100 gr of protein unless I have a protein shake to up my calories. Then I am around 130-135 gr.

I always have a snack before bed (usually string cheese & almonds) or I feel like I'm going to pass out the next morning (have some issues with hypoglycemia). I too would LOVE some bluebell in the evening but I have learned I cannot keep it in the house. Sweets are my downfall! If its in the house it calls my name and I will binge on it until it is all gone!! I no longer buy it or sweets of any type to bring home.

You have done a GREAT job working your sleeve!! Keep it up!! Hope to see you soon at one of the support groups!!

Debby