10+ years out and I'm hungry... Help!

[Rosemar 10]

I need some wisdom from anyone and everyone who is more than 10 years out. I lost 134 pounds after my surgery. I have been able to maintain a weight loss of more than 100 pound over the past ten years until recently. All of a sudden I am gaining a pound here and a pound there. I'm eating as I've always eaten, but I am always hungry now. I can be full and in about an hour, I'm hungry again. It's very distracting because I haven't had this sensation for a long time. Help, what do I need to do?

Edited July 2, 2015 by Rosemar

[Bufflehead 6,358]

Warning: long post ahead!

Well, if you haven't already, focus on eating lean Protein, green veggies, and healthy fats. These foods will help keep you satisfied longer and avoiding high-carb foods will help curb your hunger.

And the other thing to do is to learn to be okay with being hungry. Hunger is not an emergency. Starvation is an emergency, but you are not in danger of starvation. Hunger is just unpleasant. There are good CBT techniques to learn that can help you deal with hunger in ways other than eating. Here are a couple that I have found helpful:

--plan everything you are going to eat each day, either at the beginning of the day, or the evening of the night before. When you get hungry, say to yourself, "it's not fun being hungry, but I can wait to have my beef Jerky snack at 2:30" (or whatever your next planned snack/meal is).

--log everything you eat -- calories, carbs, Protein. When you see those amounts going into your log, you'll find yourself less hungry.

--plan three healthy meals and allow yourself unlimited Snacks in between -- but only if your Snacks consist of nothing but one specified type of lean protein and one green veggie. You can use whatever spices you want, but no oils, no cheese, no sauce, etc. So your "unlimited snack" foods for the day might be chicken breast and asparagus. You get to eat as much as you want as long as it is chicken breast and asparagus. Again, you may find yourself not as "hungry" as you thought you were -- you may be experiencing head hunger or carb cravings, not true hunger. And if you are really hungry, well, you can't do much damage with chicken breast and asparagus.

--practice fasting a couple of days a week. Have a small Breakfast, then no eating (or drinking anything with calories) until dinner. Before you start fasting, write a list of the most physically and emotionally painful experiences you have ever been through ("my mother died" "I gave birth" "I had a root canal" "I lost my job" etc.). Then, every two hours on your fast days, write a brief journal entry. Describe your levels of hunger. Rate your discomfort associated with hunger on a scale of 1-10 and compare that with the worst physical and emotional experiences in your life. Write down a coping strategy ("I will go for a walk" "I will remind myself that I can eat a nice dinner at 5 PM and I'm not in danger of starving" etc.)

Make sure that you only eat sitting down at a table. No, you can't even taste or sample anything standing up. And being in your car does not count as sitting down at a table! Keep your phone turned off and do not look at any lighted screens (tv, computer, tablet, handheld gaming device) while you are eating.

I am aware that this all sounds like a lot of effort and not much fun. Both of those things are absolutely true. I don't have a magic wand solution for you. But these things really have worked for me when I put the work in. Good luck to you!

[SkinnyDown 409]

@@Bufflehead What a great post! These are the very things I have been working on in therapy, and continue to work on. I know for me, as a person with food addiction issues, I need that kind of continuing help. I am glad I invested nearly a year into therapy before surgery.

Again, great post. I'm going to save it for future use, should I need it. Thanks!

[parisshel 1,892]

@Bufflehead: Thank you for taking the time to write this all out. I'm saving it in a Word doc to refer to, too!

[Rosemar 10]

Thank you. I appreciate the time it took to write your response. I printed a copy and intend to keep it front and center where I can see it daily. Best of luck with your journey. Things get much more difficult when you get to the point where you can eat larger amounts again.

[glitter eyes 1,398]

@@Rosemar First of all congratulations on having maintained the majority of your weight loss for 10 years. That is an amazing accomplishment. I know it must be frustrating to have gained some of your weight back and trying so hard to lose it.

I am only one year post op so I probably don't have a lot of wisdom to share. I just wanted to say you have done a great job and I know if you have kept your weight off that long you will be successful in losing the amount you have gained.

You got this. Good luck!!

[Rosemar 10]

Thank you Glitter Eyes. That is so kind of you to say. I can use the encouragement, so your comments are most appreciated.