Pelekania

I know I may be accused of being in denial but I'm not addicted to food. I have always joked that I wish someone would invent people kibbles so I could just munch on a handful of something crunchy and move on. Moreover, anyone who has lived with me will confirm that I rarely overeat.
So how the H...LL did I put on so much weight and have so much trouble losing and keeping it off? Unrelenting hunger. I don't eat much at one time but I am famished in an hour or 90 minutes. Headache, nausea inducing hunger. And if I do not have healthy food when that hits, I will eat anything to make it quit. And in this obesegenic world that is a very risky place to be.
I did not have this problem until about 15 years ago after my daughter was born and I went into gestational diabetes for the second time. I have been told I have "borderline" hypoglycemia but I never bothered with testing as it is time-consuming, expensive, not covered by insurance, and inconclusive.
One way I kept weight gain under control was lots of physical activity. But bad feet run in my family and my activities gradually became more and more limited until I needed foot surgery and the forced inactivity really blew my weight up.
As my BMI approached 40, I decided screw it, I don't want to fight this battle anymore and with the blessing of my PCP, podiatrist, and Gyn, started looking at surgical solutions. So you could say that for me, the surgery was truly a metabolic surgical fix.
And I am already amazed at the difference. I feel so great it's almost unreal for me.
So that's how it feels from the standpoint of someone who is not a food addict. It does happen.

Well, I do think it's possible for this to happen without it being full-blown addiction. I was always overweight, but the obesity crept up on me when I switched to a desk job that had me working insane hours for weeks on end, plus I had a crazy commute. We would down sodas because they are free and kept us awake. We'd fairly mindlessly eat while continuing to work - we got paid by the hour, so we worked as much as we could. The pounds crept on, and we'd think oh, it is just a couple of pounds here, 5 lbs there... Next thing you know, that few lbs became 50.
Now, I am a food addict, but i used to control somewhat because I was fairly active before that time. However, we weren't really eating like food addicts then - we were eating whatever was quick, cheap, or provided by the company we worked for so that we could keep going. We were fueling up, just with the wrong foods. We went thinking about anything but the short term.
And as we all know, once it's on, it becomes more difficult to get the weight off. Sometimes it's harder to exercise. Sometimes the same reasons you put on the weight to begin with are still there. Could you have become addictive because of this, absolutely! Is it necessarily the case that you have? No, I don't think so.
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So do you guys know someone with a completely healthy relationship with food and what does it look like? By this I mean they rarely over eat, they eat healthy, they don't snack when they are bored or sad and they can say no to their favorite foods? Are alllll skinny people not addicted to food and we are the only ones? I doubt that. I do think some people have more will power, better genetics or exercise way more so they balance out. My activity level has contributed to my weight gain along with my need to like big quantities of food I enjoy.

This is the way I eat. If I want something I have a few bites of it and then I don't feel deprived. I decided to do this from the beginning so that I learn to eat like a regular this person, I didn't want this to be a diet where I couldn't have this or that. That never worked for me in the past.
I have had to work on my food addiction and emotionally it was so difficult at the beginning when I couldn't eat and had head hunger. I had to learn how to deal with my emotions without food. Now that I am almost 2 years out and my addiction is much better. I still have times where I eat when I am emotional but those times are few and far between and I can now stop myself.

I don't think anyone has denied at least some of their problem is owed to good addiction. I think what I and others are trying to say is, 'yes, food addiction is part of the problem but not the whole picture.'
I had problems before I developed a 'food addiction.'
Am I saying that food addiction is not part of the end result, absolutely it is part of where I am now. Gaining weight didn't start with a food addiction for me though. It was a series of things that made it all but impossible to maintain my healthy weight and made it very hard to lose weight and then spiraling into a food addiction as a result.

I've had the same primary care physician for 20+ years (rare in this day and age). I have an uncle who is a world renowned geneticist whose specialty is diabetes and obesity. I've managed to get the two of them in the same room on several occasions and the discussion and debate on this very issue is always evolving and ongoing.
One of the things my PCP realized that kind of swayed him away from the "it's all diet and exercise" opinion was a lunch he had with one of the trainers for the Seattle Seahawks. As he pointed out there are 300+ pound NFL linemen that spend 5 to 8 hours a day in the gym 300 days a year. They eat relatively healthy and far less calories than the average Olympic swimmer. Yet they remain technically, morbidly obese. The diet and exercise argument wouldn't put them that large if entirely true.
Yes some people have a very unhealthy relationship with food, it's one of many causes, but not the only cause. I think the reality is more of a blended issue. Many people fall into the category of not always eating the best, not always exercising optimally and having genetic issues and or a metabolism that is seriously dysfunctional. No one cause and no one solution outside more drastic measures like surgery.
I was one of those people that didn't battle weight most of my life. I graduated high school at 145lbs at 6'1". I was teased for being too skinny. I graduated high school and started going to the gym daily while taking weight gain shakes. I was working as a grocery store meat cutter which was a very, very physically intensive job throwing around 200lb boxes of meat all day. We worked in shirt sleeves in a 35 degree room. I think that cold temperature and the calories we needed to stay warm is what messed me up. But it didn't help that I got myself from 145lbs to 250lbs in 2 years. It was all muscle and I was built like a professional gym rat. But 6 days a week in those work conditions played a role.
Went to back to school, got a degree in technology and a desk job, wife and kids and went to the gym once a week instead of twice a day. Weight crept up, muscle disappeared and a few years later found myself getting sleeved and turning this around.
But then I look at my wife. 5'10" 135 lbs, size 6. She has out eaten me every single day we've been married (20+ years) and is within 5lbs of the size she was when we got married. Never exercises ever, eats crap, candy etc. If it were all diet and exercise she'd be 500lbs.

I think that would be great! My only concern would be how an individual would manage if they were downrange or out at sea. In those conditions you may not have the ability to eat every few hours and getting the needed amount of Protein in would become an issue because of the food that is served in those environments...other than that..I think it would be amazing if WLS patient could enlist without a waiver as long as when they are in basic they can prove they can handle and do the same as others...it would be a very difficult task.

Hi I just wanted to say personally I use the wraps and had the sleeve. And even though I contribute my weight loss to the surgery, I contribute the skin tightening to the wraps. I was 260lbs and am currently at 170lbs. As we know our skin starts to sag, and the wraps tighten and firm amazingly. I had 3 c-sections and a hysterectomy which left me with the dreaded "shelf". But using the wraps has limited the skin I would have normally had. I have used them on my "back fat" with amazing results, my inner thighs (I haven't seen as much results here, but still anything is better than nothing:) people use them on their arms, double chin, hips, butt..... Pretty well anywhere on the body.
I did become a distributor after seeing the results, not for the reason of making money, but to share it with people that have had weight issues like I have. If anyone has the chance to use them then I would in a heart beat.
Again I'm not posting to sell my product and would not benefit from any sales to distributors in your area. I am just another person who found a product that works for me!!

Good analogy! I've been thinking about the whole permanent versus temporary view points and think it does not really matter anyways. If a person likes the results of these wraps, they will go through the process of repeating the wrap every 2-4 months. Not a big deal. After all, losing weight is a " temporary" thing also despite us telling ourselves it is permanent. If we do not reevaluate our status on a daily, weekly or monthly interval, we will gain weight and our " permanent" solution to weight loss quickly becomes " temporary." I think there are very few permanent things in our world, but can be certain of two: death and taxes!

Let me see if I understand the claims correctly. You could effectively use these instead of a Tummy Tuck? I would not mind ridding myself of 4.5 inches around the waist.

This comes up every now and again. Being sleeved reduces the circumference of the stomach, but not the length. Stomach length varies greatly. My surgeon showed our group photos of actual stomachs he had sleeved, the shorted being just a few inches long and the longest at 19 inches!! It looked enormous!!
Anyway, that longer stomach even though sleeved will hold a lot more food than the shorter sleeved stomach.
I think mine is longer than average, because I can eat more than most too. But I lost weight anyway.

I watched this video of this girls recovery and her eyes were black and swollen. I'm not sure if her nose was packed but her after results looked great. A lot of black celebs have had nose jobs and I love the after results particularly the singer Amerie! I love how natural her nose job look. I do not want my nose to look like lil Kim, Michael Jackson, and Latoya Jackson!

My father is black and mother is cuban. I feel like it overwhelms my face and if I do get a nose job I wouldn't mention it to my family at all because then they would make assumptions like saying that I want to look white. If I do go through with getting a nose job in a couple of years, then I plan to see a plastic surgeon who specializes in ethnic nose jobs.

May I ask what culture you are? I have been wanting a nose job since I was 14, but like your culture it is against mine, Im middle eastern, I want to see what it looks like after I hit my goal, but I think I still will get one in two years lol

I am not necessarily on a diet....meaning I eat whatever I want and do not restrict any foods. I had a revision 1/25/13 but had my lap band for almost 2 years prior to the revision. I monitor my Protein and know the best ways to get high protein and less calories but I do not have any food that is off limits. I have had soda, alcohol, and other junk food items (chips, ice cream, etc). I restrict the amount of those foods but not the type of food..... of course I can't have that junk everyday. I have lost 80 pounds and have not gained any back. Food doesn't taste the same to me anymore so I don't chose to eat a lot of the foods that I used to love. Soda burns, I have been off bread, rice, and Pasta for 2 years so I don't even want it anymore, I can only eat about 3 chips, and sweets like Cookies make me nauseous. It's really weird now that these things aren't tempting and don't taste good. I do have a small addiction to jolly ranchers that I am working on.

I was sleeved on 02/11/13, so not that far out, but I hate the word "diet." I've always felt it had a negative meaning to it. I don't consider myself to be on a diet. I have changed the way I eat, making healthier and better choices. To me, diet is only a temporary thing to lose a specific amount of weight. Yes, we are all on here because we want to lose, and are losing, weight, but I think that our eating choices need to be made out of habit, not because of being on a diet. Besides, once we all meet our goal, our eating choices shouldn't be changing.

You definitely need to find someone whose more professional and considerate of extenuating circumstances!

Your before and after photos are amazing! They are a ton of inspiration and you look absolutely gorgeous. :-)

You will need your Protein so you will have to find something you like, even if you have to doctor up the shakes. I wasn't fond of them either, but protein is essential and so is Water. Try some crystal light or drops to make your water tastier, you know its important. Finally, put some clothes on and reintroduce yourself to the world, get out of that rut and shine girl! You will be just fine, you just need a few to adjust.

Thanks everyone! It's so crazy there were days when I'd cry thinking OMG what have I gotten myself into and then there are days like this that I'm so happy of the decision that made. I look at myself and just smile lol
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I eat one egg with a turkey sausage patty and 1.25 ounces of cheddar cheese.< /p>

Absolutely gorgeous!

I told everyone I could, but I also work in a call center. And because everyone where I work is inactive most of the time there was actually a bunch of other people who already had the surgery. For the most part everyone was happy and excited for me. The only part I am worried about is when I go back, I don't want everyone watching what I eat when I go back.......

I haven't had anyone say anything negative at all everyone has been very supportive and encouraging. If someone were to say something negative I would have no problem at all educating them. My colleagues and I have also banded together to meet with cafeteria managers to discuss additional healthy options/portions for specialty dieters, WLS patients along with Gluten free options, so it's going to be a win-win.

I personally do not look at it as a skeleton in my closet. I believe that some of those feelings derive from the way society view obese people. Once you become comfortable with the decision you made, it will be easier to share with others. And if that person is for you, they will be happy that you did something to become healthier. If they aren't, don't waste your time on him. The way I share my surgery with people, is I make it light and funny. Usually the response I get is thst you're not that big...why did you have it or thst you look good. So I end up explaining my reasoning about being unhealthy.
Good luck to you! His DUI is much worst than your WLS...