feszyk

May 31rst. Down 46.

May 31rst. Down 46.

It just hit me today that I am no longer an emotional eater. Today, I learned that my sister and best friend in the world is going onto the heart transplant list--IF they consider her to be a good candidate for surviving it. She is beautiful--the picture of health and fitness--but chemo in her 20's destroyed her heart valves and she's been struggling with congestive heart failure. However, I realied this evening that for the first time in my life, I didn't even consider eating to ease my pain and worry.
Amazing. What is different??
I got to my highest weight by eating every time I had an emotion, be it anger, sadness, or even excitement and happiness. I've worked on awareness of this for a few years now. When I would get upset about something, I would automatically walk to the pantry or fridge. But instead of just grabbing something, I would say, "If you eat this, you'll have two problems instead of one," and then I would force myself to just feel my feeling and walk away from the food. Last weekend my husband made me so mad, I got out my boxing exercise DVD at 1 a.m. and pictured his face every time I threw a punch! But tonight, I made the connection that even as mad as I was I didn't turn to food to feel better.
I'm really thrilled about this. If I can stop eating for emotional reasons, I truly believe anyone can. It will take practice and a willingness to actually FEEL things rather than just drug yourself with food, but it can be done.
Thanks for letting me share. Please pray for my sister. She's an amazing woman.

I honestly get hungry like before. I eat when I'm hungry. Big difference now is I am full and satisfied on (for example) 1 small slice of pizza not the entire thing!

I'm not a doctor or counselor, but you are feeling exactly what you should be feeling. This is a adaptive process in the head and heart, and you're just along for the ride. So ride it out . Try to work through any resentment you may be pulling up as you go by consciously acknowledging the logic behind it being there (i.e. you feel disconnected and alone w/o your friend food) and then offering the reason why you've chosen this strategy. Lather rinse & repeat.

I'm not a doctor or counselor, but you are feeling exactly what you should be feeling. This is a adaptive process in the head and heart, and you're just along for the ride. So ride it out . Try to work through any resentment you may be pulling up as you go by consciously acknowledging the logic behind it being there (i.e. you feel disconnected and alone w/o your friend food) and then offering the reason why you've chosen this strategy. Lather rinse & repeat.

Agreed! Will show her your post .

I just registered to this site today after lurking for the past couple of days. My first office visit was in early February. I have been at 380 over the past two years, although I had fluctuated as musch as 40 pounds lower. Prior to that I peaked at 400, and prior to that (1999-2009) I have been in the 300s bouncing up ad down with different diet attempts.
Over the last 10 years my primary had suggested bariatric (GBP) being an endocrinologist and very aware of the tendency toward diabetes, heart disease, etc. and I was critical of a surgical solution to what I believed to be solely a behavioral issue. Having gone twenty pounds up and ten pounds back for 10+ years, and having reviewed the associated statistics for commorbidities and lifespan, I have entered into the process. I have chosen the VSG, for the very simple reason that it appears to maintain the original plumbing. i am exactly 200 punds over what I would want to be.
I completed all of my consults, my last being the psychological eval, which is scheduled to happen in a couple of weeks. So far all completed tests are approving of the surgery.
So right now I am in the reading stage, sampling high Protein Drinks, answering family questions, etc. I am not clear on the timeframes going forward. My understanding is that upon qualifying the psych eval my surgical team will submit me for approval. Not sure how long it will take after that.