Need Help at Night

[Marissa's Mom 1]

I was banded on April 11th and have lost approximately 22 pounds since surgery, which for my size is not that great.

My problem is that in the morning I can eat very little and the same at noon, however at night I am extremely hungry and the last 2 nights I have found myself eating more and more. I go in for my second fill tomorrow but this has been extremely disturbing to me.

:thumbs_up:

[lucymae 0]

I don't know if this will help but sometimes when my husband gets a great big bowl of ice cream and it looks good to me I just go to bed. When I wake up in the morning I am fine and so happy that I did not cheat. I have also had a yogurt when he is eating and that makes me feel better. I know a lot of our eating is just habit.

[picturemethin 0]

Don't worry you are doing great! Just think if you hadn't had the surgery you probably wouldn't have lost even the 22 lbs, and you may have gained. How many fills have you had... you may need to have another one done... or even talk to your doc about an appetite suppressant.

But you are doing great... you have lost 22 lbs in 2 months, count that up thats 44 lbs in 4 months and soo on.

[caribelita 0]

Have you considered the possibility that part of the problem is that you may be setting yourself up for binge-mode by not eating much at all during the mornings and during lunch time? Although it's good that you're reducing your calories and it may seem easier to do it when you're not "hungry", it's also important to eat "enough" throughout the day so that you don't set yourself up for a binge at night. Perhaps you could try eating a little bit more during the morning and during lunch (even if you're not that hungry), and then see if this helps you stave off your night-time bingeing. This might be a good experiment to try. Good luck!

[SkyeBlu 0]

You say that you are good in the am and the afternoon...Take a look at when you are hungry in the eveing, is it when you are sitting down to watch tv, is this a time you would normally munch and munch? A big one for me was bordom or stress eating simply because I could. I realized most of the time I wasn't really hungry but had the munchies from years of habit. There are time you can be honestly hungry though (I know I do get that way) to test if I am munchie hungry or in need of sustinance I drink a bunch of Water if that doesn't do it then I am hungry and I have a small treat/meal like a yogurt, a really yummy chocolate protien shake, or 1/2 of one of my favorite Protein bars etc. Also, if you are genuinely getting hungry quicker on some nights and not others look at what you ate, I know some foods go through me quicker and I crash if I inadvertanly ate too much carbs. There is so much to learn it is amazing!

And by the way....AWESOME on the 22lbs lost!!! :thumbs_up:

If you keep up that pace you could be down over 100lbs by your bandaversary!

Keep up the great work!

Edited June 12, 2008 by SkyeBlu

[judy2291 0]

Of course you're hungry! Giving up our massive amounts of food is hard. I have people ask if the lap-band doesn't take the joy out of eating. The JOY??? Isn't this how I got here to begin with? ~LOL~

I also am tight in the morning and find by night time I can usually eat more. I was getting really hungry until my doctor asked if I was getting enough Protein. Gawd!!! I hate that stuff and thought I would be ok. But looking at my diet I could see how much it lacked. I found those 42gram bullet fruit things that I mix with a small amount of juice. One in the afternoon really helps curb my hunger at night. I know a lot of people eat soft foods like mashed potatoes but I try to stay away from those type of carbs. I bought a stick type blender and when I can't eat (it varies day to day), I blend Soup, cooked vegetables, Beans, and even the occasional casserole. Sounds awful but it taste good when you're hungry.

Last thing... You really can't eat and sip Fluid at the same time unless you want to burp it back up. When I was doing that I starved because I wasn't keeping anything down. It took me months to learn to do it right because I was use to washing everything down. Another thing I do that really helps is to eat with a baby spoon and really savor whatever I'm eating. Since it takes me an hour to eat less than 1/2C of food for my dinner, I bought one of those heating things people use at their desk to keep their coffee warm. I guess when you have a band, eating cold food is part of the drill. Most of the time I don't mind but occassionally I want to keep things hot. Tonight I had one broiled shrimp, 2 slices of zucunni, and a tablespoon of rice cooked with grated carrots and peas. Once I knew it went down I finished up with a glass of ice Water.

Eating is one of the hardest thing to learn again but you'll make it as long as you plan meals, take plenty of time to eat, and when you do indulge, make it a healthy snack. Oh, and yes... I do occassionally "cheat" with low fat/sugar ice cream but I use a condiment cup when everyone else has a mug. Honestly though, I perfer sugar free popsicles.

You've made a great start, don't get discouraged.

Hugs,

Judy