Recovery and hunger

[Andrei 1]

Today was a week since I had my gastric sleeve surgery. I'm feeling perfectly fine, but I feel constantly hungry. I already included solid food to my diet bc I just can't be satisfied drinking liquids like chicken broth or Protein Shakes or creemt souos, they do not help at all like it was when I was on pre op diet.

I should say that I kinda nervous that I already add solid food, but my body reacts fine. I never felt this "plumb" feeling that many people spoke about. I can easily swallow any food.

Is anyone else having same issue with a hunger? How long does it take to you feel satisfied with small portions of food? Honestly, I started regretting about surgery, I expected it would help with food cravings but in fact I'm just limited in portions and feel hungry all the time

[Arabesque 7,240]

I’m going to jump on the going off plan issue first. Your tummy is being held together by sutures & staples (can be 12inches of them - imagine that on your arm or leg)). The staged return to eating solid food is in place to protect your healing tummy & not strain or stress your digestive system. Your tummy is a muscle. Would you start exerting your arm or leg muscles if the wounds were there or would you tread carefully & follow the plan to aid healing? Nerves are also cut during surgery so signals that you are doing harm may not be getting through. Please, please return to your plan.

As for hunger, yes there are some who do continue to experience hunger after surgery but it’s not common. It’s more likely you are experiencing head hunger not real hunger. (A easy way to differentiate the two is with head hunger you tend to crave a specific food, flavour or texture. You don’t with real hunger.) Most of the area that produces your hunger hormone is removed during surgery. For many, we ate as a comfort & to soothe ourselves when stressed or emotional. The surgery is stressful on your body & you psychologically & emotionally (consciously or subconsciously). This is a time you would turn to food but you can’t which makes you want food more. Plus the psychological issue of how can this small amount of food be enough can start to kick in & you consequently feel hungry because you think you need more food.

There are a few strategies you can try to help with head hunger. Distraction is very useful. Read, play a game, phone a friend or family member, check social media, go for a short walk, etc. Sipping a warm drink can be helpful. These diversions are helpful in the long term too. As we progressed many of us distracted ourselves by cleaning out a wardrobe or drawers or the pantry or learn a craft. I found setting routines for eating good too: didn’t eat between my set eating times. I still do this nearing 5 years out.

All the best.

[catwoman7 11,212]

I agree with everything Arabesque said (as usual!). Get back on your plan. Soon enough you'll be able to enjoy everything you did pre-surgery (but in smaller amounts). Right now it's very important to let your insides heal - and then to work on eating a healthier diet (if you weren't prior to surgery). If you want to succeed with this (and early on, if you want to heal), you really need to follow the plan.

[SomeBigGuy 110]

Agreeing with the others, stick with the plan. The first couple months you definitely do not want to put pressure on those staples and risk a leak. That's a rough surgery compared to what you just had. Infections from that can get nasty and lead to sepsis.

I struggled with overdoing it myself early on, but had to remind myself that its to prevent burst staples, and that I can give it 30-60 minutes and resume eating to give it room. I've noticed I can do 8 fl oz easily if I'm not careful before my stomach starts pushing back.

As for the hunger, I'm one of the unlucky few that still has the obsessive head-hunger. It takes practice, but look for signs that your stomach and body are telling you that you are full, despite part of you saying "I have to keep eating!" It took a lifetime to train that reflex, and it won't go away overnight. I'm still fighting mine daily. I've noticed I'll feel a little pressure if I'm approaching the limit, but if I keep going, I start to get a runny nose, which is my final warning before making myself sick. My goal is to prevent it from getting to that point.

One thing I did to throttle my eating speed is to get disposable mini / baby spoons and forks from Amazon. They're only like 1/4 of a teaspoon so you get a smaller portion per bite, which helped me a lot! It takes longer to eat, which gives your stomach more time to send the full response to the rest of your body, since that is delayed. I've had to use the disposable ones since its mentally easier for me to walk away from the food if I throw the little cheap spoon in the trash. I'd rather use the reusable ones, but I know the limits on my discipline haha.

This is just anecdotal, but as a recovering Type 2 diabetic, I have to be careful with sugar and starch hidden in foods. I've eaten some over the holidays, which tasted great, but realized it made me crave more. If I went a meal without it, I would get actually angry, and I'm sure I wasn't any fun to be around. Eating Desserts over Christmas would send me into constant snack cravings for 2-3 days. I told my doctor, and he said you have to power through those couple of days, but by focussing on low carb (not necessarily keto) and prioritize Protein, unsaturated fats and Water, those cravings go way down.

I've had to use "filler foods" to hold me over between meals. My wife says its gross, but I've been eating Fage plain greek yogurt to hold me over. Single Digit carbs and 17g of Protein per serving and its more savory rather than sweet. Mentally, I've used it as a substitute for cheese, mayo, sour cream, and other things to just pretend that its a more substantial food. That and it does seem to fill me up as long as I don't have anything sweet with it. Similar with 2% fat cottage cheese.

Also, some artificial sweeteners can set off a sugar craving or insulin response, which just compounds the cravings. I'm not sure which ones do, but I know the ones in the Fairlife brand Protein Shakes do not set it off for me, while MuscleMilk does make me crave it. Fairlife has Monk Fruit, Stevia, and Sucralose, and don't seem to set that off for me. You may want to experiment to see which ones may bother you.

[Spinoza 1,376]

OP you really must stick to your plan one week post op. Yes it is really difficult for some people and I'm sorry you're one of them. solid food a week after surgery can honestly be dangerous.

You won't feel full because the nerves to your stomach have been cut and sutured and you need to let them grow back. This is why you can eat anything. You CAN, but you SHOULD NOT.

Drink drink drink. If you meet your fluid goals I suspect your hunger will be easier to ignore.

[SleeveToBypass2023 2,598]

Stick to the plan. Not everyone loses their hunger. I know I never did. That can't be what you rely on to not over eat. This is where doing the work really comes in. Train yourself to follow the plan, eat what you're supposed to, when you're supposed to, and don't cheat. Do things to keep yourself busy so you're not so focused on eating.

[Andrei 1]

Thank you everyone for your responses. I stopped eating solid food and continued with my diet plan and I can say it's terrible. I'm HUNGRY all the time! It's impossible. Everyone saying about head hunger, but no solutions how to deal with that. I drink enough Water but it never helped before surgery neither now. Honesty, I'm giving up and don't know how to live normal life.

[SomeBigGuy 110]

On 1/19/2024 at 11:03 AM, Andrei said:

Thank you everyone for your responses. I stopped eating solid food and continued with my diet plan and I can say it's terrible. I'm HUNGRY all the time! It's impossible. Everyone saying about head hunger, but no solutions how to deal with that. I drink enough Water but it never helped before surgery neither now. Honesty, I'm giving up and don't know how to live normal life.

I'm right there with you. The last 3 days have been constant cravings, so I'm back on the Protein Shake diet for the next week. I'm working with my therapist to get set up with a coach that's trained to deal with eating disorders and retraining myself. I'll check back in if that leads anywhere. Hope you're doing well, and that things are improving!