AutumnPunkin

I also want to add, that despite my personal insecurities, my life is freaking awesome!!

I am currently pre-op and am beginning my resolution of personal wellness. This includes spiritual and physical. I have made an initial goal to go to the gym tuesdays and wednesdays. At the end of the month, i want to reward myself for going twice a week. Since our goal is to avoid food rewards, i was curious as to how you reward yourself. My 100lb goal after surgery, hopefully 50 pre-surgery is to go zip lining. But my monthly goals need to me small and fairly inexpensive.
So, whats your reward?

I also want to add, that despite my personal insecurities, my life is freaking awesome!!

I also want to add, that despite my personal insecurities, my life is freaking awesome!!

I also want to add, that despite my personal insecurities, my life is freaking awesome!!

I also want to add, that despite my personal insecurities, my life is freaking awesome!!

I also want to add, that despite my personal insecurities, my life is freaking awesome!!

I have the zombies run and zombies run 5k. If you get tired of the boring ol' run, check that out. It can be so much fun! Run, the zombies are chasing you!

I'm still pissed off about Mark! I need something pretty to look at dammit!

I have the zombies run and zombies run 5k. If you get tired of the boring ol' run, check that out. It can be so much fun! Run, the zombies are chasing you!

As usual, my response will be a novella. Bear with me!
I think the biggest thing to be aware of is that the sleeve is going to help immediately (and forever) with Portion Control. You will never sit down and eat an entire pie, pizza or box of Cookies in one sitting again. That said, the emotional and habitual triggers will not be resolved. I think a lot of people transition from binge eating into grazing because that's what their sleeve will allow.
I was completely in denial about my overeating and binge eating until I was forced to confront it post op. I had really, really convinced myself that my weight and inability to lose it was entirely due to my diabetes, my hormones, my metabolism, whatever. I really thought that simply controlling my portion size would be this miracle solution and that for the first time in my life the weight would just fly off and I'd be skinny.
It wasn't until I stumbled upon the book "Hungry" by Allen Zadoff that I acknowledged the behavior I'd been denying and realized why I was struggling with my emotions post op.
The most important thing to do is track your food. I tracked every single bite religiously, to the point of ridiculousness, actually. Six M&Ms and a sip of soda? I'd do the math and add them into MyFitnessPal rather than ignore them. This was the first big step in acknowledging what I was eating.
The next step was to force myself into a set caloric/nutritional window. If I didn't have "slack" to indulge on any given day, I did not do it. That was tough and many a night I went to bed thinking about food. But it was so important to me that I learn to control my eating instead of continuing to be a slave to my desire for food. I LUSTED after food. I had to break those habits and the easiest way was taking advantage of that window where I had zero physical hunger and using it to overcome the habit of eating.
From that point, I evaluated my emotions and feelings every time I found myself thinking about food or opening the door to the fridge. Once I pinpointed my triggers I was able to stop the behavior. The sleeve made this so much easier for me, because I really wasn't experiencing any hunger. The only time I ever struggle with this is during my cycle, when my hormones are wacky and I feel like I could eat paint chips off the wall (all despite feeling ZERO actual, physical hunger) but I still keep myself under control.
Once I was able to tackle those three things, I had to learn moderation. I could not treat the sleeve like a diet. I could not approach the sleeve as the other half of a life on Atkins. For me to succeed and feel happy about my success, I needed to feel like I wasn't denying myself or like I was fencing off an entire world of food forever.
This is different for everyone, because some people have serious trigger foods like white sugar or white flour that make it incredibly difficult to incorporate them in moderation. My only real trigger at this point is popcorn. I could eat it every day. Every other food that used to set me off has no control over me these days. So my experience in this won't work for everyone.
But basically, I found that around six to nine months post op that I was able to incorporate a more reasonable amount of carbs and good, quality fats into my diet. All at once my mood improved and I stopped dreaming about food at night. I was able to indulge myself occasionally without feeling the compulsion to eat myself sick. From that point forward I started eating about 40% Protein, 30% carbs and 30% fat as my diet.
I try to make good quality food choices 90% of the time but I allow myself 10% of give where I'll eat whatever strikes my fancy. If I feel like I'm slipping I immediately start tracking every calorie again and find out if I really am slipping or if it's all in my head. Usually it's in my head, to be honest. There's a huge amount of baggage that goes with a lifetime of negative body image, crazy diets and generally poor eating habits. There were times when eating a few bites of cake could make me feel guilty but if I counted up my calories for the day I'd see that there's nothing wrong with a few extra calories and carbs.
And I'll admit that those days are mostly behind me at two and a half years out. I have now ingrained the habit of healthier eating and the desire to binge and graze endlessly is gone. Most of the emotional baggage has been worked through and shelved, and I don't question my choices like I used to do. It really is a huge relief to feel this way - I imagine this is how people that never had food issues or a weight problem feel about food. It's just food. I enjoy it, sure, but it doesn't control me or make me feel guilty or send me into fantasies where I eat it all anymore.
All of that aside, I did not whip down to goal quickly. I was still a slow loser, even sleeved and doing my best to be healthy mentally and physically. It took me 17 months to reach goal but when I got there I was ready for it. Maintenance was a breeze for me once I accepted my body's happy weight was going to be a few pounds more than I wanted. This is why you will see me repeat the same things over and over again here - it's important to learn moderation and stumble on your way to healthy BEFORE you reach goal. Do not save up all of the issues that caused your obesity until that point and then try to live a normal life while unpacking your baggage!
I could not have done this without my sleeve. I urge anyone that's working through this to really address it as something you can fix, something you can control. You really are in charge of your body. Make the sleeve, and the fact that you removed most of your stomach, count. It is a struggle. It is hard. Those compulsions, cravings and desires are seriously hard to break, but we can do it. I'd say we HAVE to do it if we want to live life at goal as a happy and healthy person.
Best of luck to everyone struggling with this.
~Cheri

I bought myself a 10 punch card for the fitness studio by my house. It includes TRX, Zumba, turbo kickboxing, Piyo ( Pilates and yoga) and belly dancing. It's a blast!!!!

A big reward for me...................I am going for some plastic surgery on the 10th, woohoo!!

I am currently pre-op and am beginning my resolution of personal wellness. This includes spiritual and physical. I have made an initial goal to go to the gym tuesdays and wednesdays. At the end of the month, i want to reward myself for going twice a week. Since our goal is to avoid food rewards, i was curious as to how you reward yourself. My 100lb goal after surgery, hopefully 50 pre-surgery is to go zip lining. But my monthly goals need to me small and fairly inexpensive.
So, whats your reward?

Nursing student here. I will be graduating in August 2012 assuming my patho doesn't take me down lol. I am on a waiting list for my first consultation and have about 6-8 months left to wait. I am really hoping to get it done in my 6 or 7 weeks off I have coming up in 5 months. I might be asking too much. I am then back on clinical rotations for 4 months. It is so nice to see so many nurses here

Nursing student here. I will be graduating in August 2012 assuming my patho doesn't take me down lol. I am on a waiting list for my first consultation and have about 6-8 months left to wait. I am really hoping to get it done in my 6 or 7 weeks off I have coming up in 5 months. I might be asking too much. I am then back on clinical rotations for 4 months. It is so nice to see so many nurses here

Nursing student here. I will be graduating in August 2012 assuming my patho doesn't take me down lol. I am on a waiting list for my first consultation and have about 6-8 months left to wait. I am really hoping to get it done in my 6 or 7 weeks off I have coming up in 5 months. I might be asking too much. I am then back on clinical rotations for 4 months. It is so nice to see so many nurses here

Hiya,
So I have been trying for awhile to track my food. It is a nuisance, but I realize it's importance. How did you finally kick your butt to do it? Any tips? Please don't respond with determination or motivation.
Cheers
Niki

One that one one has said yet
- be pregnant and people know that i am instead of thinking i am just fat!

I have a few to add. I have read all so far, an quite inspirational. To add, I have:
1. To be able to go zip lining
2. To be able to climb a rock wall
3. To be able to go tree climbing
4. To be able to scuba dive again. Those tanks are heavy and I almost died carrying that weight and my own the last time. Also if you ever have been diving an have been so positively buoyant they had to add an extra 30 lbs to get you to get below the surface only to sink too quickly 15 feet down. I did, scary.
5. To wear a form fitting wedding dress and not have boning literally dig into your skin by the end of the night.
6. To wear high heels. My fiancé finds it so sexy but I feel like a clown.
7. To not have to gasp for air when shoulder checking
8. To be able to put on my socks without moving my fat around so I can reach my feet.
9. Skinny sex as mentioned lol
10. To feel less lethargic
11. To not be a hypocrite nurse. Being overweight and working with patients to lose weight is not something I feel is appropriate.
12. I want to run again
13. To play with my nieces and nephews without running out if air.
14. To be at a beach and not think everyone is commenting on the recent whale sighting lol
15. To quite putting myself down. Ok it is fun to poke fun, but seriously all the time? Lol
16. To feel like I belong in a gym
17. To be honored for my hard work. We all have experienced how our weight affects that.
18. To swim with sharks with my hero doc Gruber!!!
19. To enjoy life to its fullest
20. To find out who I really am without the feeling if something holding me back!!
Long, but seriously, these are only a few. Lol

I have a few to add. I have read all so far, an quite inspirational. To add, I have:
1. To be able to go zip lining
2. To be able to climb a rock wall
3. To be able to go tree climbing
4. To be able to scuba dive again. Those tanks are heavy and I almost died carrying that weight and my own the last time. Also if you ever have been diving an have been so positively buoyant they had to add an extra 30 lbs to get you to get below the surface only to sink too quickly 15 feet down. I did, scary.
5. To wear a form fitting wedding dress and not have boning literally dig into your skin by the end of the night.
6. To wear high heels. My fiancé finds it so sexy but I feel like a clown.
7. To not have to gasp for air when shoulder checking
8. To be able to put on my socks without moving my fat around so I can reach my feet.
9. Skinny sex as mentioned lol
10. To feel less lethargic
11. To not be a hypocrite nurse. Being overweight and working with patients to lose weight is not something I feel is appropriate.
12. I want to run again
13. To play with my nieces and nephews without running out if air.
14. To be at a beach and not think everyone is commenting on the recent whale sighting lol
15. To quite putting myself down. Ok it is fun to poke fun, but seriously all the time? Lol
16. To feel like I belong in a gym
17. To be honored for my hard work. We all have experienced how our weight affects that.
18. To swim with sharks with my hero doc Gruber!!!
19. To enjoy life to its fullest
20. To find out who I really am without the feeling if something holding me back!!
Long, but seriously, these are only a few. Lol