Friday, June 12, 2009

Hungry?


There's a weight loss surgery myth that goes: I WILL NEVER BE HUNGRY AGAIN.


This is a falsehood.


I’m talking about physical hunger here. The kind of hunger that makes your tummy growl. (Mouth hunger and head hunger are a whole other topic.)

Fighting Weight, Khaliah Ali’s book about her weight loss surgery experience, proclaims that the adjustable gastric band procedure “eliminates hunger – forever”. If that’s true in her case, I’m happy for her, but as successful as I consider my lap-band, I still get hungry.

Everybody reacts to the band differently. Some people get a break from hunger for a while after surgery because of surgical swelling. Every now and then I hear someone say that they rarely feel hungry after they’ve gotten a few fills. But I was starving hungry the day after my band surgery and I’ve been hungry ever since then. The greatest benefit I get from my band is portion control. A secondary benefit is that my small meals keep me feeling full longer – but sooner or later, I get hungry again. Even with great restriction, I find that I get hungry every 2-3 hours (and even if I don’t experience hunger then, I start feeling faint because my blood sugar has dropped). Others might be able to go 4-5 hours.

No comments: