Tag: <span>Cravings</span>

Like many overweight people I used to crave high-fat and high-sugar foods before my surgery. But those cravings have now gone!

When I think back to the amount of bad food I used to eat, I’m shocked. My actual meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner – were generally quite healthy, but all the snacks I used to eat in between were full of fat or sugar, and sometimes both.

I was sometimes consuming more calories in snacks during a day than in my combined meals!

However I’ve noticed that since my gastric bypass surgery many of my cravings have now disappeared. I don’t crave chocolate anymore, or jellies or mints. I don’t crave crisps. And I don’t crave chips or fried foods.

The only thing that still appeals to me are savory foods, such as bread or cheese – but I have them now in moderation as part of my normal meals, and so I have no desire to snack on them.

I suppose it helps that I’m not really getting hungry between meals. I’m really lucky that way, because I hear of other bariatric patients that experience a lot more hunger than me, and are a lot more tempted to snack.

The only problem area for me is when I’m doing a food shop. It doesn’t help that the supermarkets are absolutely jam-packed with sweets and rich foods, as it’s on the run up to Christmas. I sometimes look at something on a shelf, and some memory fires in the back of my mind saying that I want it. But when I think about it a bit more, I realise that I don’t actually want it, and that whatever desire that popped in my head doesn’t exist any more.

It happened to me the other day. I was messaged by a friend who had just bought himself some Stollen from the supermarket. Now this time last year I would have been all over that as I used to love marzipan. And initially when I got the message I thought “I should get some of that”. But when I stopped to think about it, I realised that I don’t actually want any. The thought of marzipan just doesn’t appeal any more, and I was fine with that.

I do wonder, however, if this is just a temporary thing. I don’t know whether I’m just in a post-surgery ‘honeymoon’ period, or whether these cravings are gone for good!

Diet Surgery

I’m a few days into my pre-operation diet, and I’m finding it really tough going. I seem to feel hungry quite a lot of the time, even after just eating a meal.

I guess it was never going to be easy moving from eating 3,000 calories (or more) a day to just 800 calories, and I’m finding out just how hard it is. But I’m determined to stick to it, and I have my surgery date of 27th August fully in my sights.

The pre-op diet that my bariatric team put me on allows me to eat real food and/or meal replacements shakes. So I’ve decided to go with a mixture of the two.

Originally I bought myself a huge tub of Optimum Nutrition Opti-Lean meal replacement shake, but I find it disgusting. I don’t know if it’s the artificial sweetener or the strong vanilla flavour, but I just can’t drink it!

So instead I tried out a Tesco branded meal replacement shake instead, and that’s much nicer. When make up with skimmed milk and some blended ice it tastes just like a milkshake.

My diet so far has consisted of:

  • Breakfast – Egg and mushroom omelet made with 2 large eggs – 200 calories
  • Lunch – Meal replacement shake – 200 calories
  • Dinner – Turkey steak / chicken breast / white fish and vegetables – 400 calories

And of course, I make sure that I also have my vitamin and calcium supplements as well, spaced out through the day.

However, eating this little is a real challenge. I find that I constantly crave other things – whether it’s potatoes and pasta (I’m a real carb fan) or sweets such as chocolate or jellies. So in a way I’ve become quite obsessed about the stuff I know I cannot eat!

I’m trying to distract myself with work and other activities, but I’ve also found it hard to concentrate, and I definitely have less energy than before. I still have enough energy to walk the dogs every day for about 40 minutes, but after that I’m drained.

I just need to keep this up for another 9 days, and then hopefully the surgery will help me manage my hunger and cravings.

Diet Surgery