laura-loo

My friend Lexy (banded yesterday!!! so proud of you girl!!) has heard me say a million times that *there is a mental addiction to food that is largely going unaddressed.* I don't mean compulsive eating, I don't mean emotional eating, I mean a mental obsession.
Tell me if any of this sounds familiar:
- I think about food from the minute I get up until I go to sleep.
- When I eat, I think about what I should have eaten instead.
- When I am not eating, my thoughts often stray to what I will eat later.
This is EXHAUSTING!!!! Abby I felt just like you before I got the band. Once I got my magic fill, the hunger largely disappeared, and it was just a matter of breaking bad habits. Oh my GOD I wish I could show you how much easier it is to retrain yourself when you're not battling your damn hunger, too!! It's how normal people see food. It's AMAZING!
By the time I was filled properly, 6 oreos would make me feel as sick and stuffed as a whole bag. I love oreos :cursing:
oh, I'm a major cookie monster (ask lexy) and my weight loss has stalled because of it. But here's the great thing about the band:
You can start over with the band whenever you're ready.
You just need to be HONEST with yourself.
Tonight I ate a cheese calzone :cryin: I should have had a veggie cake. Know what? I enjoyed every bite. I know I delayed a pound of weight loss by another day or two, but I've also lost 8 lbs since May 1. I'm at the point where I know the cycle. Some weeks I'm motivated and not hungry; some weeks I want the comfort of food.
Personally, *for me*, the balance of always trying and never giving up with forgiveness and NOT guilting myself when I go off diet is the real beauty of the band. I have a much healthier relationship with food than I ever have.
3.5 years later, my biggest problem with eating is unconscious eating. When i'm dining with someone I talk constantly and forget about food. When I'm home, I watch TV and snack til I realize I've eaten the whole calzone. More than I intended to. It's just something I work on. I don't have to be perfect, but I will never stop trying.
Be kind to yourself darling It will come. I promise you, the peace will come. Surrender to it now, and your whole band experience will be that much better. I promise. Just know you're gonna have ups and downs.

First of all, congratulations on the 50 pounds. You have come a long way and have positives to show for it.
Secondly, perhaps it is time to analyze some of the behaviors that cause you to turn to food and eat around the band. Seeking some counseling may be helpful and allow you to dig into the root of the behaviors so that you can make an adjustment. If you are regularly eating 1/4 gallon of ice cream, you may be sabotaging the level of success you can attain with the band.
You have already recognized the behavior and have already made steps to address it. Journaling is another means to help you uncover reasons why you make the choices you make. Distractions as previously mentioned are always helpful.
For me personally, the most effective things I do if I have a craving that won't go away works three fold.
One, if I make a decision to indulge in something I know is not healthy I make myself wait 30 minutes to see if the craving will pass. Usually it is the impulse that I have to have something nowww that allows me to make an unhealthy choice. 30 minutes is also plenty of time to get distracted if you know what I mean :0)
Secondly, if I decide to go ahead and eat whatever it is that I am craving, I eat something healthy first. I prefer whatever I eat first to not be too soft so that it helps to really fill me up. This way I am limiting on quantity but still able to indulge if I really need to do so.
Last, I don't allow myself to feel guilty about it. I made a decision, took the steps I promised myself I would take and followed through. Everyone can indulge occasionally, it is making the conscious decision to control the situation instead of allowing it to control you that makes all the difference.
Best of luck to you. We are all on this road together and dealing with the same issues. I know you can do this, 50 pounds lost is already showing that you have made a lot of great choices since banding. :0)

queen latifah is gorgeous and healthy. what is she, maybe a size 16? she doesn't need fat people on the internet talking about how fat she is.
and do you mean vincent d'onofrio? he's overweight in LOCI, but that man can lose weight or gain weight for a role when he wants to. he doesn't need a surgical implant to help him.
i'm not trying to be crabby, but really, why do we sit around judging celebrities about their weight. yes, some of them probably do need WLS because they have been struggling with being morbidly obese. but since when is someone who's just overweight (like Vince Vaughn) a candidate for WLS in our eyes? What happened to all of the rhetoric about how hollywood has distorted our body images and our views of thin? VV being so fat he needs WLS is definitely a hollywood distorted body image.