Am I going to be starving?

[Primha 20]

I am currently pre-op, and I have a question for those of you who are past honeymoon phase: once the healing is complete, and hunger comes back, how bad is it? Are you able to manage it with the smaller portions? I am not talking about cravings, but rather about felling of not having enough of the regular food that you are actually allowed to eat.

Allow me to explain: I've been very successful in the past with loosing weight on the low-calorie diet. Keeping it off- not so much you know the story. Largely because I can go only so long while feeling starved /dizzy / weak. My body always wins, and eating comes back with vengeance. After starving/gaining/starving cycle for more than 20 years I got to the point where I am simply afraid of having to go hungry for weeks and months again ((

So tell me pls, what it's like for you? I so do not want to get it done and to find myself counting minutes until the next meal comes (

Thank u!

Edited December 15, 2015 by Primha

[JCP 619]

I am 14 months out. I never experience physical hunger and my head hunger has gone away too over time. I know I need to eat because my energy level will get low. I eat small amounts frequently, like a couple of handfuls of nuts, every few hours. I pretty much eat what I want. I just eat way less than before. I just have no hunger. I was a binge eater so I know about cravings and overeating. I've lost about 115 lbs. i wear a medium. I feel so very blessed.

Edited December 15, 2015 by JCP

[FrankyG 1,450]

I'm right at one year out, and I'm really not experiencing real hunger. I do have to contend with head hunger now, which I'm still not completely controlling (some grazing and craving bad stuff sneaking in).

Mostly I'm having to learn to distract myself when I start thinking too much about food cravings. I am having to stop doing things that encourage me to want to eat mindlessly (like surfing on the computer or reading) and go do something physical - like yoga or cleaning something.

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

I am currently pre-op, and I have a question for those of you who are past honeymoon phase: once the healing is complete, and hunger comes back, how bad is it? Are you able to manage it with the smaller portions? I am not talking about cravings, but rather about felling of not having enough of the regular food that you are actually allowed to eat.

Allow me to explain: I've been very successful in the past with loosing weight on the low-calorie diet. Keeping it off- not so much you know the story. Largely because I can go only so long while feeling starved /dizzy / weak. My body always wins, and eating comes back with vengeance. After starving/gaining/starving cycle for more than 20 years I got to the point where I am simply afraid of having to go hungry for weeks and months again ((

So tell me pls, what it's like for you? I so do not want to get it done and to find myself counting minutes until the next meal comes (

Thank u!

14 mths out. I still eat under 1200 calories a day and no I am not starving at all. My relationship with food has changed for the better. This weekend I was out and a friend had brought these double chocolate brownies. chocolate is my weakness but I had eaten my meal. I just wanted a taste. I took 1 bite and was completely satisfied with that. I felt happy that I could enjoy that one bite without feeling the need to go back and have a bigger piece.

I have also found that on days when I don't go to the gym I have to work at eating at least 1000 calories. I'm simply not hungry. However if I eat under 1000 I don't lose. In short, I now feel like I eat to live not live to eat.

[JCP 619]

EXACTLY. I eat to live. food is no longer my enemy.

[jane13 2,256]

@@BLERDgirl - well said "eat to live not live to eat"

[livvsmum 2,369]

I am currently 27 months post op and maintaining comfortably. There is a point where your stomach is fully healed and the swelling goes away and you may feel like maybe you are able to eat slightly more at one sitting. Just because you can doesn't mean you have to. I also find that if I keep hydrated I am never truly hungry like I was before surgery. hunger changes. Like it's more of an empty feeling than a ravenous hunger. Also, how I eat the day before impacts my hunger levels. If I've gone off plan and eating a lot of carbs and/or sugar I am craving those things and super hungry the next day (or two). But if I stick to the plan and get a lot of Protein in, the next day I'm feeling good and I'm feeling satisfied. You just have to learn to make it a lifestyle change instead of a diet. I would have to work really, really hard at eating lots of food and unhealthy kinds of food if I were to gain the weight back.

[wannaBthinsoon 1,634]

At first you're going to be starving, or at least you will be HANGRY. But it goes away. Grazing is a real thing too.....don't do it, or you will stall your weight loss.

[MrsRP 36]

I haven't had the surgery but the 'reason' for the sleeve and the diminished appetite is because hunger receptors are in the wall of the stomach so if you take 80% of the stomach out the 'physical hunger' is very low - some people report having to 'force' themselves to eat since they don't feel hunger. You can experience 'mental' hunger and that is when you want to eat a burger and fries with a Coke and you down two bites and feel full or even sick since it's not something your new stomach can handle. I have even heard patients said: if you think you will tell your sleeve what and how much to eat you'll be wrong because you WILL get sick!

Don't know from experience just from some medical knowledge and feedback from actual WLS patients.

[wannaBthinsoon 1,634]

Most people are hungry at first. Trust me. But it does go away. Even tho you are hungry, it takes very little to satisfy the hunger.

[Primha 20]

Thank you ladies! I like very much what I hear so far!! It was my biggest fear- to go through all of it just to find myself starving again. I can handle few hungry weeks post op, as long as it's not going to be something permanent, and thanks for the warning!

I also started practicing post-op type eating (protein+veggies) and post-op behaviors (no drinking while eating, etc) so I just can see what it's like and t prepare accordingly. Head hunger, cravings and grazing are all very real for me but that's a separate issue I am learning to deal with. In my case, just getting sleeved is NOT going to be enough- I have to make some major lifestyle changes, or I'll be back to square one.

I read forum a lot and you guys are really invaluable source of info!!!

Edited December 15, 2015 by Primha

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

A note of caution: One person's experience doesn't translate into "everyone's" experience. When you're getting first-hand reports from patients here, you're mostly getting only their personal experience.

Worse, when someone who hasn't yet had WLS predicts what you'll experience, there's no telling whether their prediction is based on a majority of WLS patients' experiences or on a single anecdote they heard that made a huge impression on them.

My experience thus far (after 16 months post-op) is that I wasn't hungry at all until about 6 months post-op. Then I began to experience physical (not head) hunger. And I figured out quickly that I was actually hungry. Not ravenous like I used to be, but just "peckish" and needed nourishment.

As you can read at various WLS medical sites, the portion of the stomach that's removed during a VSG is the "fundus" -- which is the stretchy portion of the stomach that also produces ghrelin, the hunger hormone. In my situation (and in the experience of many, but not all other VSG patients) the removal of that hormone from your body will probably lower or even eliminate your future hunger levels, for at least six months. On the other hand, a small minority of patients report that they never really lost (even temporarily) the feeling of hunger.

Some sleeved patients report they're never really seriously hungry again, far past the six-month point. Others say that hunger does return, to varying degrees. Distinguishing between "real hunger" and "head hunger" (as it's usually called) is worth your study.

One report that's pretty universal is that if patients ever start eating high-carb, high-sugar, high-fat foods in large amounts again (and those foods can be consumed in pretty large quantities because they're cooked in ways that make them highly processed and require little digestion in the stomach) they begin to crave those foods. Those who post here complaining of regain pretty consistently report that they've got the carb/sugar/fat monkey on their backs again and can't get it off. Others report that they had to quit cold turkey with those foods before they could make any progress in losing their regained weight.

I love your attitude about toughing out the first few weeks, no matter what discomforts you experience. I think that's the way to approach it. I see some people here freaking out unnecessarily during the first month because they think all their early discomforts will be permanent. That is definitely not something that most people should expect, unless they've got complications occurring.

You should read as much as you can here before you have surgery and ask questions. Use the search function, too, to find threads on topics you want to learn about.

Best wishes.

[KarenLoh 128]

You are correct that just being sleeved is not going to be enough. I still crave and graze and overeat for no reason I can identify.

I also still get hungry but it takes way less food to satisfy me. Less than I ever could have imagined. So I'm very glad for the sleeve as an extra tool for weight loss but it is not enough by itself. The mental is the thing.

[livvsmum 2,369]

Thank you ladies! I like very much what I hear so far!! It was my biggest fear- to go through all of it just to find myself starving again. I can handle few hungry weeks post op, as long as it's not going to be something permanent, and thanks for the warning!

I also started practicing post-op type eating (protein+veggies) and post-op behaviors (no drinking while eating, etc) so I just can see what it's like and t prepare accordingly. Head hunger, cravings and grazing are all very real for me but that's a separate issue I am learning to deal with. In my case, just getting sleeved is NOT going to be enough- I have to make some major lifestyle changes, or I'll be back to square one.

I read forum a lot and you guys are really invaluable source of info!!!

Sounds like you are as prepared as you possibly can be. You are SO right. There is nothing magical about the sleeve surgery. It gives us an amazing tool to use to get healthy and shed the pounds quickly and it WILL work if you use it correctly. The bad news is that if you don't make it a lifestyle change permanently it is all to easy once your stomach is healed to let bad habits back in. But knowing this and dealing with it up front will make you SO much more successful in the long run. I think you are going to do great!

[MrsRP 36]

My medical And nutrition background is what has led me to comment here. Yes, I haven't had the experience and this forum this is not where you want to rely on to make decisions. Always consult with your physician, nutritionist and if you have one a psychologist. We are here to give our own opinions, and share what we 'know' but by all means at least when I write I do not mean it for anyone to take it by its word. I can only share what other patients have share with me and their experience.

Agreed: people that are not successful with WLS are usually the ones that do not make the dietary and behavior changes. High caloric intake is what leads us to gain weight. WLS is just a tool like you make up brush is. Ultimately you are the one putting on the make up, how much and what you put on are your decision.

Keep up the good work and if in any doubt I'm sure your team will always be glad to answer any questions or concerns you may have.