Hungry all the time :( failure of operation???

[Rita89]

Iam 3 weeks post op. My 1st week was total disaster I couldn't drink half cup of water I felt a lot of discomfort.the 2nd week got so much better! And the 3rd week was bad once more in the sense that iam hungry all the time and iam unable to control myself I dont know if I am over eating. During the first 2 weeks I lost around 22 pounds and the 3rd week gained 2 pounds back...will this get better too? This is my menu: breakfast: 2eggs or cup of milk with corn flaxs or cheese with 2pcs of crackers or toast lunch: broth or pureed food or half chicken sandwich and dinner: same as breakfast. Also snacks: 2-3low carb biscuits or low fat chips.. am I over eating?I eat all these things without any discomfort...it has been around 10 days I have lost nthg instead I gained 2 pounds. Plz can somebody tell me if I am eating in normal quantity or overeating?did someone pass through this not loosing a pound for more than a week ?should I eat less??I will appreciate if someone shares her/his menu...

[Ann2]

Deleted ... I mis-read your post. Sorry.

[Missy1973]

I am three weeks post op too. I had a one and a half week stall. I increased my fluids and the stall lifted. I see you are eating crackers and biscuits. I would cut those out if I wasn't losing weight. Make sure you are getting all your liquids - 64 ounces of water a day. Make sure you are getting all your protein. It is normal to lose then stop then gain a pound or two then lose again. I'm sure you are doing fine, just watch the carbs. I eat carbs myself but I'm making sure I get the protein first. Today I had one quarter of a low carb whole wheat tortilla - about 2 carbs with chicken breast lunch meat and provolone cheese baked in the oven. It was good, but I couldn't finish it all. For snack I had a portion of a protein bar with only 1 net carb. It was a Quest bar and those have a load of fiber and protein. Good luck to you. You will be fine.

[Missy1973]

Also, I forgot to tell you that I was hungry too but it was at week two. My doctor told me that sometimes it takes a while for the ghrelin hormone to leave your body. I never heard that before. Plus, if you are not taking your antacid that could be making you feel hungry. Also, the carbs will go right through your stomach so eat more protein to feel full longer.

[zmdh39]

Ok, just breathe you are still VERY new to life after surgery. Maybe some of this info will help ease your mind. First, read this, it helps explain how early on stalls, and gains are possible...just click on the link: http://www.gastricsleeve.com/forum/t...ng-stalls.html

Second, this surgery is different for everyone, if you feel like you are eating more than you should, keep track of your food, that is the best way to gain some prospective on your eating habits. I think a lot of newbies worry they are eating too much, its a natural worry, but there are many things you should consider.

1. Some foods you will be able to eat more of because they are easier to digest. Soft proteins like eggs, versus hard proteins like steak, you will most likely be able to eat more of the softer proteins.

2. You may be confusing head hunger, or thirst with real hunger. Next time you find that you are hungry, try drinking a glass of water. Wait a half an hour and see of the hunger goes away. Right now your body is working to rewire your brain, that is not an overnight process, and many times your brain will signal that you are hungry, when in reality you are just thirsty.

3. You may have had a longer stomach. Everyone's stomachs are different, when the sleeve is being formed, those that have a longer stomach, will naturally be able to eat more than others...the surgery removes a large portion of your stomach along with the fundus...but the vertical length of you stomach...whether it be small, medium or longer is a participating factor in how much you will be able to eat...so don't compare yourself to other sleevers, EVERYONE is different.

4. Are you drinking with your meals? If so, watch this video, it shows a visual demonstration of why drinking with you meals will lead to hunger coming back faster, this is one of my own personal weaknesses, and trust me, if you can retrain your body to not drink with meals then it will be a great benefit to you both now and in the future:

5. Ghenlin, we have all heard of the hunger hormone right? I can't tell you how many people I have talked to that think the fundus of the stomach is the only producer of this hormone...WRONG. There are a number of things in your body that also produce the hunger hormone, but the fundus is its main producer. So naturally people think, if you eliminate the fundus, you will eliminate the hunger all together...but then you read about people months out that complain about being hungry. I am no doctor, but logically thinking...it makes sense to be that our bodies are designed with one purpose in mind, to keep us alive, and out bodies are extremely efficient at this agenda. So I believe, that it would only make sense that if you remove the main producer of a certain hormone..and I am guessing since we all have to eat to live, this would be considered a pretty important hormone to have...that your body would increase the production of that hormone in the other parts of your body to compensate for the loss of the fundus. Just a theory, but it makes sense to me.

6. Visually it may look like you are eating a lot, but you have to realize that you are looking at your food quantity BEFORE it has been broken down. I always suggest to people that worry about how much they are eating, for them to take a plate of what they would eat on a normal day, and stick it in a blender...puree the contents and then pour it into a measuring cup. I think many would be surprise to see that the quantity of food, once broken down, maybe far less than what it looks like on our plate.

7. Again, you body is designed to keep you alive at all cost, and you have to realize that you have made a very drastic change to your body's routine. Think about this. Before surgery, I ate on average, 3000 to 3500 calories a day. After surgery, before the swelling went down completely, I was lucky to get 500 calories a day...that is a BIG change for you body, and it takes time for your brain and body to realize what you have done.

Think of it like this...you body has spent years eating x-amount of calories a day...probably for years...now all of a sudden the calorie intake you body has been conditioned to expect has been cut, by a lot...you body is most likely going WTF right now. For a while, you body doesn't no what to think...right now, your body is assuming that you are not getting your regular calorie intake because the food sources are not available...so what do our bodies do. They go into disaster mode...if the apocalypse has hit, and you can't find food (I imagine this is what our brains think shortly after surgery) then your body (which is designed to keep you alive) says "ok, time for survival mode", so it will do things like shut down to the bare minimum functions to keep you alive...hence why you might feel tired. It will also do things like start converting anything you eat into fat stores, it sort of starts hording the stuff needed to keep you alive until the apocalypse has ended.

It takes a while for your body to realize that you are not encountering a famine, you are simply just eating less. Eventually your body will realize this, and re-optimize to work with your new caloric intake.

What you are going through is very normal, and your concern is a normal concern as well. Track your food...and I mean every bite that you put in your mouth. Talk to your doctor about what they say your limitations should be, and if you are over that, then you need to start implementing ways to keep yourself where you should be. I am betting that your intake is not as bad as you think...but track it anyway to make sure. If it turns out that you are overdoing it, then you need to get creative.

At one point in time, I had the worst battle with head hunger every...it was a daily struggle for me...but I knew that it is SO easy for me to mindlessly eat or graze ALL day. So combat that, at one point in time, I set nutritional limits for each meal and snack. I also would set a schedule for my eating...mainly because with the type of work that I do, maintaining a daily schedule is damn near impossible. So I would set a series of alarms on my phone...those were to cue me of when I should eat...whether I was hungry or not I would only eat at those times, and I would force myself to not eat again until the next alarm when off...not going to lie, retraining my brain was THE hardest part of this journey...but it was imperative for me to be successful.

I hope this info can help put your mind at ease, or give you an idea of things to look for, or things you can do. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask. I know it is tough now, but this does get better. It is a mental curb ball learning how to use this tool, but if you put in the effort, you will see success.

[Beth Pets]

I am not anti carb but you seem to be eating quite a lot of bread and crackers. I get 50 to 60 carbs a day but from lentils, quinoa, vegetables and a little fruit. What does your nutritionist think about your diet?
Most whole wheat crackers, chips and bread are loaded with processed flour even when they are called "low Carb".

[shmoofy]

I agree about the carbs. Besides beans, which are high in fiber and slow release, I didn't have any crackers or pasta until about 4 months post-surgery. They are addicting for me and don't help my hunger, and I quickly backed off. I cannot eat breads, they blow up in my stomach. At 3 weeks, I stll eating yogurt, protein shakes, cottage cheese, and cream soups mostly. I couldn't handle chicken, still really can't. Can you just go back to the stage where you are eating the soft proteins - and make sure you get the 60-80 grams plus water - the water makes a huge difference for me. The bummer is that I can't drink plain water since surgery. I rely on Vitamin Zero and those flavored drops to get my water in.

[tinman]

Please research this site using the search feature. I suggest you type in a search phrase that focuses the search on folks who haven't lost any weight with the sleeve.

Let me know what you come up with.

Or, I'll save you the trouble. There won't be many, if any at all, who absolutely failed at losing weight with the sleeve. You will lose weight with this tool as long as you follow a few simple rules. For the most part, the advice you are getting on here is good. I may take exception with the no/low carb folks, but, that's just my personal preference.

You are slugging your way through the dreaded "three week stall". It happened to each of us in this site. Some had to wait a long time and some didn't.

On my profile page, I go into great detail on how to bust stalls and how to avoid them all together. Since you are able to tolerate solid food quicker than most, maybe my tips will help you bust this stall and move on. There are lots of folks on here who have succeeded brilliantly using the sleeve. Their methods are different than mine, but, they are just a relevant and valid.

Truffles, Marvinator, JessieJess, and Little Verbena are a few names that come to mind. Reach out to them via pm and I bet they would be happy to share their knowledge with you. I would too.

Take a look a some other long time sleevers and see what they did.

[senorita lolita]

Awesome advice................i learned all of this trial and error, now learning how to just drink my water 64 oz. I use to stay hungry, as soon as i had surgery and was out on the way back to the hotel day 2 i saw those taco trucks and was starving. 6 months out finally not crazy hungry, but i image all kinds of wonderful food, my challenge is packaging everything up so i won't spend lots of money eating out, i am getting ready to start pre paring and bento boxing my foods for the week. Or every 3 days?

Hang in there, drink water before eating, and yes watch carbs at least 1 bread or cracker a few times a week. Protein, protein, protein....and water, water, water. I been on a 2 month stall, but i am going to get this water moving in my soul

[senorita lolita]

I learned this my body was really craving water,,,,,,,,water,,,,,water,,,, not food. Cottage cheese with pineapple or fruit, or yogurt is really good in morning or rolled turkey with cheese dipped in mustard is good if you can eat it..........i am shocked you are eating chicken, in any form. I rarely eat chicken unless chopped up i had the worst experience with chicken month 2 at a wedding, i threw up at the head guest table, chicken, was breasted and dry, i did not know not to drink and eat at the same time and i threw up several times not knowing, don't think you can just jump up and start eating,,,,,,,,,,,,,eat the soft soft, pureed stuff for about 2 months and watch the pounds drop off, i heard god tell me, the food will still be there, just not right now,,,,,,,,,,,,,eat your phase 1 foods for about 3 months if you can, you will drop more and water, water, water..............i moved to food month three, you will not believe what i could eat.............it is amazing. I still can not eat chicken or pasta at all, kinda great those were all my down falls and of course no more soda ever..............

[SethP]

You have hear a lot of good information from Melanie, Tinman and others. I think Melenie stole my line of BREATHE. The hardest thing about this whole deal is MENTAL. We all didnt get overweight overnight but we expect the weight to just melt off like the sleeve is a magic wand. You have to do your part. You are only 3 weeks into a LIFELONG change, so RELAX. Stress is another factor that will make you retain weight, so stop stressing and breathe. It does sound like you have advanced your diet faster then most are guided to do, but I dont know your surgical team. As for the carbs, I do not say that you should go low or no carbs, just like Tinman, I believe that you should have what your body craves but NEVER NEVER overeat. Here is the thing with carbs, IF you are eating them and sitting on the couch you are doing yourself no favors. Carbs are EASY energy for your body and IF you are a very active person you will NEED THEM. Another thing that many dont know, is that just like calories, NET carbs is what matters. IF you are eating beans, yes they have carbs, they are full of fiber. For every gram of FIBER that you take it it neutralizes a gram of Carb. So with beans IF your serving as 3 grams of fiber and 5g of carbs it is only 2 GRAMS OF CARBS. I would definetely slow down on the REFINED carbs and stick with the unrefined carbs. Godspeed to you on your journey. Remember that you are in the first 50 feet of a marathon, pace yourself and BREATHE.

[Mbenson5]

Hey! No, the sleeve is not failing, you are just acclimating. In my first month, I lost 15 lbs and that was in 1 week. After 3 weeks with no loss, I was beside myself and was sure I went through everything only to stay where I was. Fast forward, I have lost 139 lbs and it has been very slow. Still have 4 to go! You just have to have patience with the process, and like I have said before, who knew patience wasn't one of my best qualities! lol! Hang in there! I know this site was my saving grace, and thank goodness for all those who were kind and patient with my whining and complaining! I owe them so much! I wonder where Rainbow went? She was such an inspiration and I will never forget her! Not to mention Munchkin, Gayle, Dachie, and Jerzeygirl. There are so many who have contributed their time and words to encourage others and we really owe it to each other to pay it forward. Hugs to you and know that the stall won't last forever! (((hugs!)))

[Ann2]

Melissa, what a great post. Thank you.

[Rita89]

Thank you all once moreeeeee such a beutiful team is thids.thank u all for ur encouragementss I owe u guys!! U all have been there in my weak times! And I will follow ur guidelines and ivwill try 2 contact the names mentioned to hear their experience.God bless u all