Many people who have VSG, as I did, report no longer being hungry. The reason is that the surgery removes the fundus of the stomach and it is in this area that ghrelin, the hormone of hunger and satiety, is produced. So, the thought holds that removing that portion of the stomach helps remove hunger itself as well. And to a large part it's true - I do feel less hunger than I did before. However, I think a lot of that is also eating a dense high protein diet with a stomach that's 85% smaller than it was.
There is another phenomenon called 'head hunger' that you hear WLS patients talking about. Head hunger is hunger that isn't real: you're bored, it's 'mealtime', you have a craving, you see someone else eating - whatever. This is a real thing and I have had it from time to time but I find it's not too hard to overcome.
What I'm bummed about though is real hunger. I haz it. The craziest thing is that my hunger seems as real and strong as it always was (and granted, I used to eat so much that I wasn't often actually hungry...) but then the amount I can eat never matches my hunger. For example, last night I was really hungry for dinner as I hadn't eaten since lunch. I was making turkey meatballs too which was something new and I was excited for them. 7PM (??) rolls around (remember - no food since noon) and I am famished and ready to eat a house. I had made baby 1oz meatballs and as I put two on my plate I lamented how measly they looked: "I am SO hungry. I can't believe this is all I get". SADFACE.
Twenty mins later I am staring into my bowl with about a quarter to a half of a meatball remaining. SAY WHAT?
I'm just getting used to this but it's strange to be satisfied by that little amount of food despite how starving you are before.
No comments:
Post a Comment