Really, What is the Straight Skinny Post-Op?

[Sunshine3073 22]

I have been told different things so I want to get the "straight skinny" from those in the know! Here are my questions.

1. True/False: My doctor says my taste buds may change after surgery and foods I love now I may not like.

2. Will my appetite REALLY go away? Will the feeling of being hungry all the time disappear?

3. I'm totally addicted to food. While I have been able to mostly control it over the past 3 months, there are times when I have NO WILLPOWER and stop at Culver's on the way home from work for a big, greasy double cheeseburger and a soda! Will I be able to break this after the surgery?

I'm so worried about this. I'm already having a hard time with the liquid diet. I'm on my 2nd day now and I feel HORRIBLE!

[lauraellen80 855]

I have been told different things so I want to get the "straight skinny" from those in the know! Here are my questions.

1. True/False: My doctor says my taste buds may change after surgery and foods I love now I may not like.

2. Will my appetite REALLY go away? Will the feeling of being hungry all the time disappear?

3. I'm totally addicted to food. While I have been able to mostly control it over the past 3 months, there are times when I have NO WILLPOWER and stop at Culver's on the way home from work for a big, greasy double cheeseburger and a soda! Will I be able to break this after the surgery?

I'm so worried about this. I'm already having a hard time with the liquid diet. I'm on my 2nd day now and I feel HORRIBLE!

1. It really varies from person to person. I haven't noticed any huge changes in my tastes so far, but I do notice that some sweet things taste too intensely sweet.

2. Again, it varies a lot from person to person. Some people have no hunger for a long time post-op, some people say they feel hungry from day 1. Personally, I do get hungry if I haven't eaten for several hours, but it's satisfied with a small amount of food. I am 2 months out from surgery.

3. True food addiction requires psychological intervention. The surgeon only operates on your stomach, not your brain. The surgery is not going to make that "head hunger"--those thoughts of "OMG, I HAVE TO SCARF DOWN A HUGE GREASY BURGER RIGHT NOW"--go away. At first, you physically won't be able to scarf down a big greasy burger, but eventually, you may, and if you don't starting working on breaking those habits and thought patterns, now, you will be setting yourself up for failure down the road. I started therapy before surgery and am continuing for as along as I need to afterward to keep my head in a good place.

Oh, and the first few days of the pre-op diet are the worst... it does get easier.

Good luck!

Edited August 12, 2015 by lauraellen80

[slvarltx 332]

In my experience:

1. True. I can not tolerate cottage cheese nor coconut Water now. Not so much my taste buds, but they both give me a sense of nausea.

2. My appetite has not gone awayl. I still get hungry, but 3+ months out now, my sense of what a serving is has changed. I only have a little on my plate and eat slower to a sense of being full. This was the hardest thing for me so far as I at first just loaded up my plate when I was back on solid food. There was an ongoing battle between being physically hungry and just being hungry in my mind.

3. The thought of greasy food now grosses me out. I was a junk food junkie and now even the thought of it makes me a bit queasy.

[James Marusek 5,244]

In my case:

1) True. My taste buds change dramatically after surgery. When I was in the hospital, I could not even drink the ice Water that they gave me because it tasted very chlorinated. The amount your taste buds change will vary from one individual to the next.

2) In my case, Yes. It was not hard to lose weight when hunger was not constantly gnawing at my bones. (But again this will vary by individual.

3) I was so addicted to food that when I was eating a meal, my only thought was what was I going to eat at my next meal. I am 27 months post-op from RNY surgery and I am not hungry. On the downside, I loved food, the taste of food but now I don't. It is something that I miss, the enjoyment of eating. But life is a trade-off.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

I have been told different things so I want to get the "straight skinny" from those in the know! Here are my questions.

1. True/False: My doctor says my taste buds may change after surgery and foods I love now I may not like.

2. Will my appetite REALLY go away? Will the feeling of being hungry all the time disappear?

3. I'm totally addicted to food. While I have been able to mostly control it over the past 3 months, there are times when I have NO WILLPOWER and stop at Culver's on the way home from work for a big, greasy double cheeseburger and a soda! Will I be able to break this after the surgery?

I'm so worried about this. I'm already having a hard time with the liquid diet. I'm on my 2nd day now and I feel HORRIBLE!

I can tell you what my experience has been post-op (next week I'll have been sleeved one year; I'm 7 pounds below my weight loss target; I'm 69 years old, 5'5" tall).

Starting with your last comment first: I'm already having a hard time with the liquid diet. I'm on my 2nd day now and I feel HORRIBLE!

Yeah, the liquid diet sucks. And Day Two is the worst day. Maybe Day Three. After that, if you're like me and most others, things get easier. (I had to do the liquid diet for two weeks; the last week and a half was a lot easier than the first 3 days.)

1. True/False: My doctor says my taste buds may change after surgery and foods I love now I may not like.

True -- up to a point. Early on after surgery, my taste buds almost disappeared. Yuck. Drinking was a challenge. But when I finally got to eat refried Beans and scrambled eggs -- it was like ambrosia. As the months went along and I tried "new" foods (again), I sort of had to get used to them. After all, I'd not had a lot to eat, and my taste buds needed reawakening. And now, most foods taste pretty good to me. Needless to say, I'm on maintenance and able to eat anything I choose to eat.

2. Will my appetite REALLY go away? Will the feeling of being hungry all the time disappear?

Aaahhh ... the $64 million question! Hard answer is for most people it'll go away for weeks, months. But it does come back. And you have to learn to distinguish between real hunger and "head hunger" (as some people call it). When it comes back -- or I should say the rate at which it comes back -- varies a lot.

3. I'm totally addicted to food. While I have been able to mostly control it over the past 3 months, there are times when I have NO WILLPOWER and stop at Culver's on the way home from work for a big, greasy double cheeseburger and a soda! Will I be able to break this after the surgery?

Yeah, and no. Have you heard the saying, "The sleeve is only one tool you will have post-op. You have to build other tools to be successful long-term." Those other tools include eating slower and chewing better. Another one is eating more Protein (and eating Protein first) so you won't be as ravenous as you were before. Exercise helps, too -- it gives you some happy chemicals that replace the fake happy feeling you think fast food will provide. Environmental controls are tools, too -- don't buy Cookies and crap food for the house; you'll wind up eating them. Nutritional education is a critical tool -- learning which foods are nutritious for you and which ones aren't -- I learned that mostly by tracking everything I've eaten (still do that) and use www.myfitnesspal.com .

Have you also heard the expression "They operate on your stomach, not on your head"? Binge eating and self-medicating your discomforts (physical and emotional) with food is what they're talking about. If this is a big problem for you, you'll want to add the resource of therapy / counseling (individual or group) to understand your triggers and to build different responses than eating.

I wish WLS were a magic wand. It is not. The sooner you know that, the more serious you'll get about building and using other tools that you need to be successful.

But please know this: You have a lot better chance of being successful after WLS than you had before trying to just diet and exercise. If we had a 5% chance of being successful with diet and exercise alone, consider that we have a 50% chance of keeping our weight off long-term after WLS.

But it's all still up to you and the energy and commitment you bring to this process.

Very, very best to you. And hang in there.

[Djmohr 6,965]

@@Sunshine3073

Good morning! I will do my best to answer your questions with my experiences. You do have to remember that everyone is a little different.

1. True/False: My doctor says my taste buds may change after surgery and foods I love now I may not like.

This is completely true. I have also found many foods I hated before surgery that I now love.

2. Will my appetite REALLY go away? Will the feeling of being hungry all the time disappear?

This is definately true. In the beginning I had to even set a clock to remind me to eat. At about 6 months post op I started feeling actual hunger again. The good news is it takes very little to feel full. I never have that gnawing hunger I used to have though. I had bypass, I am not sure if those that had sleeve have a different experience.

3. I'm totally addicted to food. While I have been able to mostly control it over the past 3 months, there are times when I have NO WILLPOWER and stop at Culver's on the way home from work for a big, greasy double cheeseburger and a soda! Will I be able to break this after the surgery?

food addictions are something you have to work on with a therapist. If you go back to those foods you will begin to crave them. For me Pasta was a trigger. I stay away completely. Because I am now most happy with good Protein and good carbs, that is what I crave most of all. I do not crave sugar which was a huge addiction for me. In fact I don't like anything overly sweet.

I'm so worried about this. I'm already having a hard time with the liquid diet. I'm on my 2nd day now and I feel HORRIBLE!

The liquid diet is pretty tough, for me at day 4 I did not even care anymore. In fact I could not even drink all the Protein shakes. I would have 2 a day and then sipped on good chicken broth which was more satisfying for me.

You are almost to your first goal line and you can and will do this. You have to stay busy. Go read a book, take a walk, have a bath. Anything to get your mind off of the food thing. Drink a lot of liquid, it will help with that hunger feeling.

Good luck and I hope you have a safe and speedy recovery!

[Sunshine3073 22]

Thank you all for your honesty. It helps. I start therapy the day before surgery only because my therapist had some scheduling conflicts and then was on vacation, etc. I hate that I'm starting it so late, but I do recognize that I need therapy to deal with my food addiction and head hunger. I hope they can help me!

[AvaFern 3,516]

1. True/False: My doctor says my taste buds may change after surgery and foods I love now I may not like.

They may or they may not. I still like most of the foods that I used to like, but for some reason I now crave meat more than I used to (probably a little bit of anemia). I also tend to really like salty Snacks and in the past I never cared much about them.

2. Will my appetite REALLY go away? Will the feeling of being hungry all the time disappear?

It might, temporarily. There are different kinds of hunger. Will you be physically hungry all the time? No. Will you always know the difference between stomach and head hunger? No. Sometimes I find myself eating because I feel like I'm starving and I'm really just stressed or bored. I'm almost 2 years out from surgery and while I eat much smaller portions and avoid certain foods, that nagging head hunger isn't gone.

3. I'm totally addicted to food. While I have been able to mostly control it over the past 3 months, there are times when I have NO WILLPOWER and stop at Culver's on the way home from work for a big, greasy double cheeseburger and a soda! Will I be able to break this after the surgery?

If you're like me, that burger will make you puke. You won't be able to eat as much of the food you like so you might be able to only have a few bites and be completely satisfied. My sleeve doesn't tolerate most milks, eggs, oils, some sugar, and certain types of Protein, so a lot of the junk I am lucky in the fact that I actually can't eat it because it will just come right back up. Food addiction is tricky though. You can eat around the sleeve and get fat all over again or never lose weight at all, especially after the first few months. As an example, despite my milk issue, ice cream slides down my sleeve like a hot knife through butter. Oooh I love ice cream and chocolate and Wheat Thins. I could easily eat these 3 things enough to gain a lot of weight, so I just make sure that I don't ever order them or bring them into the house. The other day I had some drama with my boyfriend and I proceeded to eat his snack size ice cream cup in my freezer, just like I used to do before. The difference now is that I don't go get a regular size one or 4 snack size ones. I enjoyed the one and now I'm done with it.

The sleeve is a huge help, but it's really not a fix for eating addiction.

[JamieLogical 8,708]

1. True/False: My doctor says my taste buds may change after surgery and foods I love now I may not like.

True. I have heard of it happening to many people on these forums. It didn't happen to me.

2. Will my appetite REALLY go away? Will the feeling of being hungry all the time disappear?

Your head hunger won't go away. Not at first anyway. If you are an emotional eater, then emotions are still going to trigger the desire to eat. You will also still have food cravings. The good news is, your WLS is a great tool for resisting these temptations and sooner or later you will mostly adapt. I'm 11 months post-op and I do still occasionally want to emotionally eat and I do still see commercials for food and think "ooh! I want that!". But I can't binge anymore even if I wanted to and when I think about the reality of actually eating the food in those commercials, I quickly realize I don't actually want/need it.

3. I'm totally addicted to food. While I have been able to mostly control it over the past 3 months, there are times when I have NO WILLPOWER and stop at Culver's on the way home from work for a big, greasy double cheeseburger and a soda! Will I be able to break this after the surgery?

See my answer to #2.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

I can't believe it. We agree!

LOL!

[OKCPirate 5,323]

@@VSGAnn2014 - Amazing what happens in a troll free zone

1. True/False: My doctor says my taste buds may change after surgery and foods I love now I may not like.

Operative word is MAY. Mine didn't, but some do (or claim to, very subjective)

2. Will my appetite REALLY go away? Will the feeling of being hungry all the time disappear?

It did for me. I had a really horrible day, didn't have time to eat and I never felt hungry, didn't mean I didn't feel weak around 7PM I was exhausted. Not recommended, but it was an interesting test.

3. I'm totally addicted to food. While I have been able to mostly control it over the past 3 months, there are times when I have NO WILLPOWER and stop at Culver's on the way home from work for a big, greasy double cheeseburger and a soda! Will I be able to break this after the surgery?

True confession, I mindlessly ate pizza like I always did ONCE, caused me to throw up. Have not had that problem since. But please do yourself a favor and work through the emotional aspects in advance: http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-First-Aid-Kit-Practical/dp/0976852659/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1436729032&sr=8-13&keywords=bariatric+book

Good luck. It's a tool not a magic incantation that will make all your issues and problems go away.

[dhrguru 1,238]

1. True/False: My doctor says my taste buds may change after surgery and foods I love now I may not like.

True-- at least i was for me

2. Will my appetite REALLY go away? Will the feeling of being hungry all the time disappear?

Again it did for me, and 4 months out it hasn't really come back yet.... but I know it will.

3. I'm totally addicted to food. While I have been able to mostly control it over the past 3 months, there are times when I have NO WILLPOWER and stop at Culver's on the way home from work for a big, greasy double cheeseburger and a soda! Will I be able to break this after the surgery?

I doubt it-- it will make you incredibly sick though. I think you need to try and break that habit now. I've been soda free for 6 months, and now I eat a cheeseburger-- just differently...with a knife and fork, starting with the meat, then eating tomatotoes and pickles in liue of a bun and fries.

I'm so worried about this. I'm already having a hard time with the liquid diet. I'm on my 2nd day now and I feel HORRIBLE!

y day 4 it get more bearable-- stick with it!!

[catwoman7 11,211]

1) taste buds changing: I don't think my tastes completely changed, but flavors have become more intense for me (sweet things taste sweeter, salty things taste saltier). I also prefer fruity Protein shakes now, whereas before I preferred the milky ones (chocolate, vanilla)

2) Hunger/appetite going away: I'm three months out, and have had no hunger whatsoever

3) food addictions - I'm fortunately one of those who doesn't have a food addiction, so it's one less thing for me to have to change. As others have said, a therapist may need to help you with this one

[WL WARRIOR 692]

The best book if you want to learn how to think differently about food and overcome sabotaging thoughts is Dr. Beck's The Complete Beck Diet for Life.

She uses CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) strategies to help change your thinking so that you can overcome food addictions. Reading through the book is like therapy lessons from a diet coach. Its a 5 stage plan in which you make notecards that you read over every morning to help you handle hunger and cravings while giving yourself credit for the changes you make along the way.

[Elode 8,093]

1) Maybe- Mine really never changed just my appetite.

2) Maybe- Mine disappeared for a good 6 months but it slowly comes back.

3)Maybe- It may be easy for you and you may very well still need to use a good amount of willpower to resist the urges.

See all those maybe's are because only time will tell. Nobody can give you a correct answer. Our bodies are all different. Good luck!