Head hunger - will it ever go away?

[pinkdots410 1]

I am struggling with craving ANY and EVERY thing under the sun. I swear people's heads are starting to look like big hot dogs. ummmm - I want on from the grill right now!

And the pen that I am writing with is starting to look like a twizzler. I crave salty and sweet - all day! food is all I think about. I am sick of obsessing over what to eat next and what NOT to eat. Everywhere I look, there's food. The smells...

How do you deal with it? I don't want to hear, walk, or work-out, etc...nothing works!!!!!!

Will I be in Head Hunger Hell for the rest of my life?:cursing:

[shy_one 0]

OM Gosh! I just wrote that as a quote under my name. I'm dealing with the same issue! Luckily I don't think about food all day long, just all NIGHT. I'm really good during the day, but at home, forget it. Working out is the only saving grace, but then again, I'm fighting the urge to stop that also. Why can't our bodies just accept the fact that we now have a band and to listen to it? lol

I wish that I had an answer for you. I'm really sorry that you too are going thru this, it's depressing I know. Hopefully, others will have a few suggestions to help stave off our head hunger. In the meantime, good luck with your journey.

[Sooverit! 1]

Hey Lexy: Just came across our post from March about head hunger....I get that hunger all the time but I am prebanded and just shut it up with salty or sweet treat. I admire you for recognizing it and trying to tame it!

How are things going now 4 MONTHs later? I hope you got that "sweet spot" with fills that people talk about. Hope all is well

best to you

Marg

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I don't think head hunger ever goes away completely but with time you learn to control it and it isn't much of an issue anymore.

There is another thought too, Luvox. Luvox is a drug for OCD. For some people it makes a difference of night and day for obsessions with food. I only have head hunger full force during TOM but if I take Luvox then, it's a non issue. Just something to research and consider.

[HeatherO 7]

I struggled the same but I got over it for the most part. I found that most of my problem was carb-addiction. Sweet or salty processed carbs eaten would definitely mean really, desperately wanting more from the depths of my soul 15 minutes later. I just had to accept that I really can't eat them.

I get my carbs now through fruits and vegetables, eat tons of Protein and try to eat whole foods in general. I don't eat bread, rice, potatoes, Pasta or anything processed. Now I don't really crave, or if I do it is a couple of brief times a week (hmm, that looks kind of good) rather than dozens of times a day (omg, I just have to have some . . . right NOW).

However, I went to a friends house for dinner on Saturday night and had a little spaghetti with meatballs (few noodles, more sauce, meatball and salad). I finished the bowl and ate a little more than I usually do . . . I swear 15 minutes later I was thinking . . . and thinking . . . and thinking about getting just a little more, but I didn't.

Now I realize that pre-banding, and early post banding, that the carb demons were keeping me down, why couldn't I have figured this out pre-banding???

[Northwest_Nance 0]

I was banded in mid-May and for the most part, I do just fine with my 3 meals a day and I don't even think about eating in between meals. But then I'll have the occasional day, like this past Saturday. I wasn't hungry, but I wanted to eat. It's all I could think about. And while I was at it, I wanted a glass or two of wine too. Why not? LOL.

I struggled with it all day. I was only half a pound away from losing 40 pounds and I kept telling myself "I really want to lose that half a pound more than I want to eat anything" but I had to tell myself that over and over. And then there was the wine issue.... one glass of wine couldn't hurt, right? Well, most of the time, it wouldn't hurt me, because I'd stop at one glass and it wouldn't lead to over-eating. But the way I was feeling on Saturday, it's most likely that one glass would have led to two. And two easily leads to wild abandon in the kitchen and I'd be waiting awhile to make that 40 pound mark.

Like I said, I had a little war inside my head over this all day long on Saturday. It made me realize just how often over the years I have eaten (and drank) out of boredom. How sad is that?

I made it through on Saturday without giving in, and woke up feeling pretty good about myself on Sunday morning. Then I made plans to keep myself busy on Sunday so I could fight off the boredom cravings.

It's a process..... I think we can overcome it (at least for the most part) but we have to really work at it. We have to WANT to overcome it and we have to WANT to be healthy more than we want to eat. It just takes time.

[kgloverii 0]

Take it one day at a time. You're early into the band and don't have a proper fill level yet. I really believe when you're at your sweet spot, you'll feel a TON better. Once I got my 'sweet spot' that head thing disappeared and it was like it was rewired or something. I've lost about 15 pounds since my last fill and am starting to get that hunger at times I shouldn't be, so I know that I need a bit to top me off...

You'll get through it. Keep working at it, make wise choices... I know that another that really changed it for me was trying to eat mainly organic/unprocessed foods as much as possible. I cut the diet drinks and that made a HUGE difference. I know it sounds all 'tree hugger' or something but the less artificial stuff you eat, the more natural you go, you'll see a big change in your satiety.

[KelinTx 1]

Head hunger is a big nagging problem of mine also, i deal with it every day! No matter how much i lose no matter how much or little i eat .. ITS STILL THERE! Being a food addict i think this is something that will always plague me. I wish there was a magical answer or solution.

[gkeyt 0]

In my experience, it DOES get better. But it hasn't ever completely gone away. It becomes less intense and easier to deal with, I think. But there are still days when my head thinks it knows better than my stomach. I doubt that will ever completely stop being a problem.

About the Luvox, I was taking it for years and stopped taking it about 3 months after I was banded. I never noticed any difference in head hunger, but I did lose 5 pounds after I stopped taking it. YMMV.

[gkeyt 0]

I guess I should clarify. I took Luvox for its antidepressant effect. It is an SSRI (same drug class as Prozac).

[Jachut 487]

I'm suffering with it a lot lately, but I really think my body is trying to tell me that it does need more food.

I had a fill back in Feb, a teeny .1. I didnt even notice that it had an effect but gradually over the months, it has tightened up to the point where I'm eating around 1200 calories a day. I run an hour most days and I no longer need to lose weight, so I am going in for a slight unfill this afternoon. I think for me personally, to actually eat more will help me, I need 3 square meals a day, not three times of having a little mouthful of this or that. My stomach feels full but my body keeps telling me it needs more energy. I think as long as I keep training for this half marathon I wont gain.

Its not likely if you're early in your journey that this is the answer for you but you do hear a lot of people start to complain about this when they've had more than a few fills. I dont think you need to be necessarily suffering reflux, pbing or other problems for your band to be too tight. And I think the reaction to a tight band is sometimes craving all sorts of foods because you're jsut not nourishing your body properly.

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,282]

I still deal with head hunger; however I suffer from it in a different way entirely. My head hunger is a result of actual physical hunger. I eat when I’m hungry – but once I start I have a hard time stopping when I should. I never get over stuffed because I’m afraid of hurting my band, but the desire is there.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

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Then I also get that TOM Head Hunger issues too. I crave certain foods, and I feel that I'm destined to deal with that for the rest of my life.<o:p></o:p>

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I agree with some above though that it should all get better once I reach my sweet spot. I don’t believe I’m anywhere near it, but once I am I’m sure I will be able to control more of that head hunger.<o:p></o:p>

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[Sooverit! 1]

Hi WasaBubble: This is very interesting about Luvox and I appreciate your honest advice. I have read that overeating is akin to OCD and it does seem obsessive compulsive at times for me when I just can't stop! I am like a starving animal the 2 weeks before my TOM and I am looking for anything that will help with this also. I will ask my doc about this! thanks!

Hi Northwest Nance: I was wondering if after being banded do you crave wine more so now? This is my worst fear of getting the band. I do like my wine and I do drink occassionally and when I do drink, like eating, I usally drink a bit too much but I don't drink often just 2x a month or so. I have heard about the transfer addiction problem but not at all on this site.

[Jodi_620 37]

My view is the same as Heather's. If you are craving salt then sweets all day long then that is a possible sign that you are having insulin spikes. As a carb addict, I know this problem all to well. Are you eating starchy foods with your meals like potato, Pasta, rice, corn, bread, crackers and anything with sugar in it? Once I eat this type of food I start the cycle of insulin spikes and cravings (head hunger).

During the pre-op and post-op diet I was on a high Protein low carb diet and I cleansed my body of the simple sugars and starchy carbs and that broke the craving cycle. Now that I am on solid food I have chosen to avoid jumping back on the carb/insuline spike roller coaster because I know that those cravings will start right back up. My surgeon recommended that I avoid the high carb foods as long as possible as well.

I do not eat bread, Pasta, potatoes, rice, sugar or any other starchy or sugary carbohydrate. And the carbs I do eat come from natural sources like fruits, veggies and dairy. That may sound impossible or too restrictive to many but in my opinion, once you get these foods out of your system, it makes eating healthy sooo much easier because you don't get those constant carb cravings. For carb addicts, those cravings are not just a mental desire for the foods but a physical need caused by overeating these foods resulting in insulin spikes and drops. The only way to break the cycle is to avoid these foods alltogether. Sure I do miss pasta, which I absolutely love and have been tempted by it several times since surgery but so far I have been able to avoid it along with all of those other bad carbs and for the most part my head hunger has been very easy to control compared to pre-op days.

If you think that this may be the case for you, try to make your meals consist of meat, veggies and fruit (all fresh and uprocessed foods). And eat your food in that order, Protein first, then veggies then fruit. The protein is necessary for us bandsters as we all know plus it fills us up and does not affect our insulin. Eating protein before the carbs slows down the digestion of the carbs in the veggies and fruits so that your body absorbs it more slowly (no big insulin spikes). I do occasionally allow myself whole grains in the form of Cereal or oatmeal and sometimes 100% whole wheat wraps filled with meat and veggies but I keep it to a minimum and always have it with a protein.

If you do crave a sweet go for sugar free, right now I am using creamsicles and fudgecicles when I need to tame my sweet tooth they are low in calories and sugar and do the trick.

Edited July 16, 2008 by Jodi_620

[shy_one 0]

This is why I won't even go there - eating Pasta, breads, rice, etc. - to not get back into the carb roller coaster. When my head hunger rears its ugly head, I try to eat healthy foods, mostly Protein, maybe some fruit. Last night I tried eating raw carrots. MISTAKE! I Pb'ed for almost 30 minutes. I had pain in my chest and back. Finally it went away and I'm hoping I didn't do anything to my band. Won't be eating raw carrots anymore. Now I need to find another alternative snack preferably low fat, high protein, no carbs, no calories....anyone have any suggestions? lol.