needtorecover

Hello! I am new to this forum and wanted to introduce myself and ask a few questions. I'm an Indiana girl with a big appetite (a common theme amongst us, yes?). I've been seriously overweight (needing to lose 100+ pounds) for about 7 years. I used to be thin when I was a teenager but age and a puttering metabolism have packed on the pounds. So I love to eat. I LOVE to eat. And cook. And share food with family and friends. Food is a big part of my life. I love feeling full and I eat quickly so I get to feeling uncomfortably full before I realize it and that's usually when I stop eating. This is something I clearly need to work on. Anyway, I'm enduring a tremendous amount of stress right now which means I need food more than ever (at least that's what my brain is telling me). I'm in the process of moving, I have a 9 month old baby who is going through a wicked sleep regression (meaning I've been getting 6 broken hours of sleep per night for the past month), my mother in law moved in with her dog (which is upsetting my other pets, stressing them out, and now they're all aggressive towards the baby which is stressing ME out further), it's cold and miserably wet outside, and there's nothing good on TV right now (seems like a silly problem but it sucks that there's nothing I can zone out to at the end of the day other than a giant bowl of Pasta alfredo). All of this is temporary, and I know it. Logically I can tell myself that we will have a nicer home soon, our baby will move on from the regression, we're looking for a new home for MIL and the dog, the weather will improve, and my fun shows will return next season. But my poor psyche is grasping for comfort wherever it can be found and that's usually buried in my delicious meals. I don't really have a coping mechanism that compares in terms of easing my distress. People say to take a walk, read a book, surf the web, or find some other type of distraction but the whole time I'm thinking about how much I'd rather be eating. My understanding is these feelings won't go away with a lap band. And I understand that. I guess my question is, how do you cope without food (if you're a stress eater)? Does the lap band inhibit your ability to binge, at least? I desperately want to be healthy again. My cholesterol is frighteningly high (especially for a woman in her mid-30's), I feel horrible all the time (exhausted, it's hard to move, easily winded...), my libido has gone to hell, and my zest for life is just zapped. Some of this has to do with my stress levels but I know I'd feel better if I wasn't so heavy. I couldn't care less about how the fat makes me look - if I could still feel healthy at this weight I'd be a happy girl. But I don't feel healthy, not at all, and I need to change. Anyway, I guess I'm just looking for some hope. I'm probably going to get the band in December (if all things go according to plan) and I want my expectations to be realistic. Thank you for reading! Any stress eaters out there with the lap band, I'd love to hear about your experiences!!