JustWatchMe

Good advice. Good luck to all BariatricPal members going through their first Christmas holiday after WLS. I haven't been this size in decades. Much to be grateful for.

Love it!!

I am a binge eating addict. food addict for short. I am in remission because I have changed my behaviors and because my band helps with the physical hunger. I am recovering in OA just like a gambler recovers in GA. I don't "want" to label myself a food addict, but there you go. I'd lost 130 pounds many years ago but couldn't keep it off. The reasons behind me reaching for food were never addressed. And the one year definition of success? I call BS on that. I'll battle this addiction my whole life. It gets easier the longer I practice new habits and don't indulge in binging or sport eating, as another BP poster calls it. But that draw will ALWAYS be there for me. And once I indulge it, I slide down the slippery slope, and it becomes almost impossible to halt. That's addiction, sir. I found this article insulting and aggravating because it does contain helpful behavioral techniques. So I'll take what l liked and leave the rest. With all due respect, I find this to be an oddly contentious article to have been posted here on BariatricPal.

This is what I'm asking my nearest and dearest for this Christmas: Foot massage salon gift certificates. Earrings. Mittens (my gloves don't keep my hands warm anymore). Mini infinity scarves in several colors (warmth again). hair salon gift certificate. I'm all about pampering!

For me, thoughts feed emotions. Emotions create anxiety (good or bad = restless feeling). Anxiety is uncomfortable. My old habits were to medicate uncomfortable feelings with food to deaden them. New behavior = don't medicate/eat the feelings away. New behavior is uncomfortable. What to do? Address the thoughts that led to the emotions. The thinking that got the cycle started. New thoughts = new emotions. New behavior = new habits. Stop the thinking in its tracks. Replace the old "tapes in my head" with new messages. The hardest part about losing the weight is not the surgery or the rules I follow as a bander. It's breaking the old habits, the old cycle of thinking/feeling/eating. New habits take time. They need to be nurtured. Great article.

@@Trillium, good points. I keep hearing about the connections between stress and obesity and sleep and obesity. Very interesting.

My Big Meal is a healthy goal-weight body. I hope to get there by next spring/summer. I love this message. For so long, eating was my goal, my reward, my motivation. My life has changed now and a long, happy, healthy life with a strong, healthy, slim body is my new Big Meal. Thanks for this post.

Grazed more than I planned but it's okay. Tomorrow back to normal!

I'm hosting as I always do. One thing that always helps me eat less is hopping around serving people. The small break between bites when jumping up to get this and that gives my stomach time to realize it's satisfied. I will have food left on my plate but it's okay. And nobody pays attention anyway.

Just found my turkey day reading. Thanks !!

Stuffathon! LOL

Amazingly, I have no fear or anxiety about Thanksgiving this year. Last year preparing for surgery, the thought of not binging on Thanksgivings after surgery gave me such sadness. This year I am banded and in my green zone. I'm looking forward to all the special foods I make only at holidays, and I know I'll have small portions and stop when I am no longer hungry. Good article. I will definitely have a plan, and some changes I am making include more healthful choices at the table. But the gift of my band is that I will truly be able to enjoy the meal without overdoing it. Thankful? You bet!

I haven't taken a Prevacid in many months. Weight loss seems to have cured my heartburn/reflux. I'm a bander.

Yeah I'm trying all decaf this week.

You are both beautiful. And boy is there a strong resemblance !!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. This year as I divorce, I am going to be surrounded by family of choice. I am hosting and cooking. I love this idea of expressing what each person at the table means to me. This is my first Thanksgiving banded. It will be very different from earlier years.

This article is so good! I'm blessed to have the support of my daughters and my mother. I want to show them this because it explains so well how important that support has been to me. Thank you and bravo!

Every party has a pooper.

Bander here. My appetite is dimmed and cravings really are gone. I'm eight months post op and down over 100 pounds with 53 to go. I eat delicious food but I don't crave like I used to. I'm not hungry between meals since I found my green zone but I do get nervous and agitated and jittery from stress and now I notice that instead of eating it away. I'm practicing self care in ways other than eating. It takes tons of practice. I stopped tv eating before surgery and never went back. So when I eat I eat. I think the dimmed appetite and lack of cravings is mostly from new habits and a properly filled band. Mostly new habits. I truly believe if I started eating sliders/more food regularly I would start craving them.

Great article!

At first I weighed every day. It was quite a motivator while I was losing quickly. Then I stopped losing every few days and weighing daily began to bring me down. Someone suggested weighing weekly. I started doing that in September and my morning mood improved immediately. I weigh every Sunday morning. It's working for me, and I think I'll keep it this way.

@@cc1967 it sounds like you're really ready. The best of luck to you! You deserve this!

@@CowgirlJane, thanks for the reminder that the process evolves and our goals and motivations will always be changing. That will help me down the road when I feel "different" from my first successful months.

Great article. My dog loves my band almost as much as I do.

Bring it to work the next day.