Hunger management – real or head hunger?

If only it were easy

A lot of people will tell you that one of the hardest things they had to work on was everything related to hunger. What do you mean? You are hungry or you are not, easy as that. Where is the catch, you might ask. Hunger management is the key to your long-term success.

 

If only things were this easy. They are not and they can mess up with you in very unexpected ways. Just try to ask yourself: why am I eating this? Are you hungry? Because somebody offered the thing to you because it is the right time?  Because you are bored? Because you want to calm yourself? Ha! This is what I am talking about.

Reasons to eat

We often eat just because. Most often because it is the lunch lime, right? Everybody eats, so I will do the same. But am I really hungry? Maybe my boss returned the report with so many comments that I will have to spend a whole afternoon on this and I won’t have time to finish other things. I am angry and frustrated, so what will I do? I will open the drawer and eat the chocolate that is waiting there exactly for an occasion like this.

 

The truth is that we eat much more and much more often than we need to. Give it a try. One single week. Every time you start stuffing something in your mouth, ask yourself if you are really hungry or if you are eating it for some different reason. You will be surprised. I am sure.

Senseless eating

It is one of the reasons why we are fighting endlessly with our weight. We eat for very different reasons than nourishing our body and giving it what is necessary. We eat to feel good. Chocolate doesn’t ask, chocolate understands, right? How many times have you tried to convince yourself about this?

 

Emotions! They come in waves, often like tsunamis, and flood all over us. Sometimes they are too much and we are so overwhelmed that we don’t know what to do with it. It feels unpleasant and too much. But food understands. It is so easy to grab a burger and enjoy the calm feeling when you are licking your fingers of mayo…

STOP!

This is where we have to stop, observe, understand, and act accordingly. What is going on? Why do I want to eat? Am I really hungry? What is my stomach saying? Oh, I am only bored and because I don’t know what to do, I will kill time (and myself) by eating. What a brilliant idea (it is not).

 

Surgery is not a miracle

If you think that you have bariatric surgery and all these things will be miraculously gone, you are badly mistaken. You do all the previously stated out of habit. And habits are here to stick. They don’t disappear because somebody cut your stomach.

It gets significantly easier right after the surgery, that is a fact. It seems that you are completely under control and nothing from your previous life is present. But it is a lie. You are only busy thinking about what to drink, what to eat, when, how much, if it will go down ok, or if you will feel like crap. That is all. You are busy with something else.

The problem re-appears the moment when you are getting set with your new routine and you can eat what you consider your new normal. You will get bored, you will get angry, the emotions will be there. The thing is what you will do with it. And I can tell you straight away. You will unconsciously want to do the same as usual.

 

You will get punished

But you had the surgery, right? So your stomach is not prepared for your old behavior. You won’t be able to stop yourself, you will do it once and then you will feel like dying, which is also inevitable. It is a very good lesson – if you can, don’t do that. The feeling of dumping is something from another universe. You don’t want that. Or maybe yes, do it, and you will remember it for the future.

The thing is that you never learned what is real hunger and what is only head hunger.

 

Real hunger

Real hunger is your friend. The body is asking you to send something good, nourishing, healthy, and balanced. It is perfectly ok to feel hungry. No need to be worried about this. I know, I understand that during your past experiments with diets, you were killing yourself by not eating and pangs of hunger were really excruciating. No need to get to his stage.

 

Head hunger

The dangerous one is head hunger. Because everybody is eating, you think you must eat too. No, you don’t. Because it is impolite refuse food. No, it is perfectly ok. Because you don’t know what to do. Ok, sometimes being bored is fine, you might think up something creative, or simply find a new hobby.

 

It will dawn on you after the surgery when you will prepare your meals for the week and then simply keep taking out your food containers from the fridge and freezer, how much time you had spent before with food. Buying it, cooking it, serving it, and eating it. Everything before was about food. But those days are long gone. It is not like that at all anymore. You have so much free time now.

One very important note here: a lot of bariatric patients turn to alcohol after the surgery. It is simply switching from one addiction to another. If you know it, you can’t act in time. Don’t let the new demon possess you. Some people become compulsive cleaners of their homes 😀Well, this is not great either, but at least socially and health-wise much more acceptable. But the addiction transfer is real and it happens more often than we are willing to admit . You were warned.

Learn to distinguish

One of the hard things is to distinguish real hunger from head hunger. They told me a simple thing: if you think you are hungry, just wait for 30 more minutes. If it is still there, it is most likely the real hunger. But if you are hungry for one certain thing, it is craving and head hunger. No, you are not hungry for a cupcake. It is your head playing games with you.

 

Have a strategy

You will notice this a lot when you come back to your normal life. Especially back to your routines. That is why it is important to be prepared. Have a “what I will do when” plan. I am talking about very possible scenarios like a colleague bringing a box of donuts to the office. Ooooowww, how nice of him, right? NO! Nasty ugly duckling!!! Go away, Satan!!!

This is what I am talking about. It is not if, it is when because you will have to face a situation like this. Not later, sooner than you think. If you have a strategy, you are prepared, and you know what to do. They won’t catch you all surprised with pants at your knees. It is a fact. Be polite, say thank you, and step away from the box. Yes, next time I will have some. Grrrr… well, you are a person who doesn’t eat sweets anyway, right? So it is easy to act like this 😜

 

Be prepared

See, you will have to think about what you will do. How will you react and what you will say? Stay firm, no need to give in to their pressure. You know what you are doing and why you are doing it. This is important. These social situations can be a real minefield. You can’t escape and you have to participate. Uff…

 

Never mind. You have time, you can prepare, and you can learn how to distinguish between what is real and what is only a silly habit. The more you practice, the better you will be prepared and you won’t slip too much. Obviously, sometimes you will eat something that is not so perfect. But come on, we are humans. It is ok. You ate a piece of cake or a slice of pizza. So what?

Exception as a strategy

Take it as an exception, know what happened and why. Whether it was planned or not. If it went down ok, you were lucky, if not, lesson learned 😀Next time you will be wiser. As I said before, you can have a “guilty” pleasure from time to time, I call it therapeutic 😂but make sure these foods don’t find your way back to your normal foods. It is a big nono. This is where the weight starts to glue back to you one pound at a time. And this is exactly what you don’t want.

 

How are you dealing with head hunger? Is it hard for you? Are you aware of this? Have you mastered distinguishing between the two types of hunger effortlessly?