ANY addiction can be a transfer addiction after a bariatric surgery messes with your food addiction. About a year after surgery, I noticed I liked to go gambling more. (not an insane amount, but instead of going maybe once every three months or so and taking $50, I was going maybe twice a month and taking $100. One month, I went once a week) I'm thrifty, so I noticed the casino losses in my budget right away and said....oh, hells no, this has to stop. So, I quit gambling entirely. Dodged the bullet on that one, thank goodness.
But....of course.... that void looked for another way to rear its head.
I started buying way too much **** on Ebay and Amazon. Late night purchases. Ugh. When I identified that issue....I quit, and promptly started hitting thrift stores and buying too much crap. Just kept swapping out one source of instant gratification for another....kinda like food.
Addiction is a real thing. And finding healthy ways to deal with that need for instant gratification (and the hidden **** that drives it) will always be something I deal with.
Very often when I hear people talk about regain... they will beligerantly insist that they don't have problems with food addiction or disordered eating. And I always think....oye. This ain't gonna end well for you.
Admitting you have a problem is the first step, imo. And I know that sounds cheesy...but it's true. You need to get your head around your blind spots and confront them. Understand the behavior so you can change the behavior.
I'm 4.5 years out, maintaining my weight loss (very proud of this)....but more aware than ever before how food addiction has impacted my life and my habits. Also, more aware of what drives my addictive behaviors.
Still workin on it, man it's hard! Parts get easier, parts get harder. Just gotta keep fighting the good fight:)
bloomin18 got a reaction from heyprofessor in So Who do You Look Like?