mom24teens

Maybe it's how you structure your food intake throughout the day. I had to experiment and play around with mine until I found what works for me to keep me from being hungry. I was at first, but now, am rarely hungry unless it's close to meal time. I start off the morning with a high-protein shake on my way to work. At work, I eat 1/2 a protein bar. (This came throught experimentation too - because along with protein comes calories!) Around 10:30 a.m. I start drinking a can (11.5 oz) of V8 vegetable juice. This is a great way to get your veggies in and curbs hunger til lunch. Then at 3 I have a snack, usually something with protein, like yogurt or the other 1/2 of the bar I had for breakfast. Then supper is around 6. For my beverages throughout the day, I drink Crystal Light - they have a strawberry-banana flavor that suppresses hunger. The also have other flavors that boost energy, increase metabolism, etc. The key is to make one change at a time so you can tell if that one change makes a difference - and give it time too - it usually doesn't make a difference right away, but after 2-3 days, you'll notice. Hope these tips help, everybody's different!

Unfortunately, the band doesn't make the triggers of emotional eating go away. That has to come as a result of changing your mindset - and only you can do that. I was banded Dec 28, 2010 and believe me, my mind has been reset in so many ways, it makes my head spin!

The band is a tool that you use to lose the weight - you choose how to utilize the tool. You control what goes in your mouth. There has been a couple (thankfully only a couple) times where I have reverted back to the old habits of eating when I am upset - as much as the band allows. I might be only able to eat 1/2 cup - but I can eat one 1/2 cup portion after another of whatever junk I choose to shove in my face all day long - and that is not good!

So, work on those triggers. If it's Dad yelling at you, then tune him out. Tell him you're not going to listen to him when he's like that and walk away - whatever it takes. The question I ask myself when I feel like doing something I shouldn't is this: "Is all the time, effort, MONEY, and success to this point worth throwing away because of how I'm feeling right this moment?" The answer is always NO! Step back, look at how far you've come, pat yourself on the back, and say this too shall pass, and move on to something else. Stress is temporary.....