Hello everyone....I need advise on a few issues before I have the band done. I am soooooo much an emotional eatier. I am wondering if anyone was like that before they had the banding and if so,,,,,,,how did they handle it? This is the one concern I have and don't know if I could handle it. I am not going to fail at this.....I have been waiting too long. Any advise would be greatfully!

Thank you,

Nancy

We all have an emotional eating problem of some sort, or we probably wouldn't be in the shape we are in. I have had the band since 9/23 and am not on solids yet, so that curbs alot of what was my normal emotional eating.

I still tend to get really bored and have to fight eating all the liquid sugar free stuff I have in the house. So I tend to limit what I have of that stuff in the house. But dang it...you chew a 3 muskateers up enough...it is totally liquid...darn Halloween candy!!!

But to answer your question...my band needs are keeping my emotional eating in check.

Yep, emotional, emotional emotional...I think that was the ONLY reason I ate there for a while. I have been banded now since 5/5/05...and have lost 50 pounds! The support group that I go to is wonderful...and I have learned there that "Nothing tastes as good as being slim feels".......I have had moments where I wanted to jam what ever I could reach in my mouth just because I was upset...but you remember, a light kicks on and you say what the hell am I doing? That band is a constant reminder ~ it keeps ya in check and when you think your mind is stronger than the band...the band will win...even if its physically! I am sure you have heard or read that the band restricts us from eatting certain things and if we eat something wrong, then we are either in bad pain or we bring it all back up. After you have this surgery done, your mind goes some where else...Ive said it before and I will say it again...I think they do a mini lobotomy on ya too because you come out of surgery thinking totally different. I know I did at least. I am going thru ALL this....for me, and to be healthier...and I have had to learn other things to do with my emotions. Draw, write, exercise, walk, surf the net, keep yourself busy during those times and drink water....just to keep your hands/mouth busy. I have fallen in love with Propel. I got onto it when I had the surgery done, and I can't give it up! I love the Berry flavor and the Peach flavor. They are like mini treats.....

I hope this has been helpful~

Talk to you later

I'm still struggling with the emotional eating. I flat out can't do it, and I get angry and frustrated at times. The feeling usually passes pretty quickly and is soon followed with relief that I didn't blow it. It's at these times during the calm after the storm that I'm most grateful to have my band. I guess it's a love/hate relationship...

Thank ya'll so very much! This has really been helpful and has put my mind a ease some. I know it will be a struggle....but somehow I will make it! Mind over matter right?

Thanks again!

Tonight. Hubby is out of town for the week. Me and two youguns. Got them to bed, got a bottle of Water, turned on the TV, then got up to get a bite. Yummy. Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles (for my daughter's lunch, right?) so I grab the bag and have a seat. Oh yeah, baby. Me time!!!!!!! Munch, Crunch...oops, wow, that's stuck....oh, lemme walk around, oh no, slime, stand at the kitchen sink and spit, spit, spit, ouch, Oh, please unstick! I took a few sips of Crystal Light, burp, ah, well...okay, unstuck then. Okay, lets put those chips away now. Buh Bye!

So I had already had dinner, ate well, had no business eating those chips. But it was ME time!!! Pre-band, I'd have finished what was left in the bag. Now? I ate maybe 5 bites of a few chips at a time...too fast, obviously...and my band said "NO!" So I'm happily sipping my water and a cup of coffee. I love my band. I still ate chips. I'll live. And if I hadn't gotten stuck, I still would have stopped long before the bag was done. Not perfect, but better!

Good luck with your research. Read lots, it helps.

Yes I think we all eat for emotional reasons!

Don't give up, keep on trying.

What I find with emotional eating - and for me its stress relief, have a busy morning out with a toddler trying to do errands and shop, come home, fire up the internet, make a coffee and scoff an entire packet of biscuits (cookies). I am so addicted to that sugar rush.

But for emotional eating to be satisfying to me, as with any eating of 'bad" food or whatever, it has to be fast, it has to be in great quanity and you have to shovel it in. It just is not as satisfying to sip on a small cup (not mug) of coffee and nibble the edges off a cookie is it? Its hardly even relevant what the food is, for me its the mindless eating that provides the relief.

I've thought about times when I feel like this, what it will be like with the band and I think its going to be very hard because whilst I dont really know yet what banding will be like, I"m pretty sure I'm going to be unable to eat that way without pain.

So sheer physical restriction is going to necessitate me finding other ways to handle those feelings. Because I know I wont bother taking 10 minutes to eat one cookie. Plus I know the feeling will pass within that time. Today after a good healthy salad for lunch I was eyeing off some chocolate. I made a deal to wait 15 minutes and I honestly didnt want it anymore, the feeling had dissipated.

My middle name is emotional. This is the great thing about the band, since we have it, we CAN'T binge eat. We may try....but we won't succeed. We make a choice pain or no pain. If you binge eat from emotions you are going to get stuck, which causes pb's. It's not a pretty picture. I thank God for the band. Now I go to the fridge and look and look and look, close it, look again and start drinking water. I get upset think about the issue and that I can't eat, happy to have the band then look for something safe to eat. SF pudding and then I don't finish it. I'm glad I have the band.