Goodbye Letter to Food

[RaleighGal 4]

Goodbye yummy Cookies and cakes. Goodbye fried foods and starchy potatoes and breads. Goodbye large portions. Goodbye eating late at night or just because someone offers it to you.

For as far back as I can remember, food and I have had a love/hate relationship. Food has given me both comfort, misery and a waist that has constantly increased, decreased and increased again. I have battled over what to eat, how much to eat and when to eat. Food has made people judge me, laugh at me and stare at me for being the biggest person in the room. Food has made me feel bad after I would binge, and feel good when I knew I was doing the right things and making the right choices. So today this all ends! I am breaking up with my dysfunctional relationship with food!

So to you bad food…listen up! I will no longer let you control my life. I will no longer make bad food choices that sabotage my long term weight loss success. I will no longer eat the bad food choices to make me feel good. I will no longer turn to food when I am stressed. I will no longer stock my kitchen cupboards with you. I want you out of my life for good!

Moving on…hello good foods! Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Jen and you and I are going to be best friends. You are going to help me in more ways than you will ever know. You are going to be a form of nutrients that make me feel good about myself. You are going to help me loose weight and keep it off for good this time. You are going to keep me feeling strong and not sluggish. You are going to fill my cupboards and fridge with healthy choices. You are going to help me reach goals and finally do all the fun things I have sat on the sidelines watching for years.

I will no longer let food control my life and have it be a permeate fixture over everything. I will no longer make bad food choices. I will no longer eat till it hurts. I will no longer let food dictate the choices I make. Social gatherings will not be centered around food…instead, they will be for spending time with those you care about, not what to eat or where to eat.

As I get ready for surgery tomorrow, I have a mountain of emotions flooding over me. I am so beyond ready to make this change and create a better, healthier me! Sometimes you have to leave something behind…and for me, I have decided to leave bad food choices behind.

[Matt Z 4,138]

Congrats and good luck! I'm getting my band Friday and the anxiousness is coming in waves mixed with tints of doubt. But all I have to do is look down, and I know that I don't really have a choice.I'm not breaking up with food, but I'm setting new ground rules. The healtier, better for me foods are going to come first in this releationship. But I'm not going to say I won't have a quickie fling with some bad foods once and a while lol.

[llwotb 0]

Congratulations! You can do it. I don't look it at as "giving up food". A cheat now and then isn't so bad. Remember, moderation. The first couple of months will be hard. I had my lapband done 12/21/2009. What a stupid time of year. I missed out on the traditional family fare. That was my breakdown, but have been great ever since. Good luck and stay healthy!

Goodbye yummy Cookies and cakes. Goodbye fried foods and starchy potatoes and breads. Goodbye large portions. Goodbye eating late at night or just because someone offers it to you.

For as far back as I can remember, food and I have had a love/hate relationship. food has given me both comfort, misery and a waist that has constantly increased, decreased and increased again. I have battled over what to eat, how much to eat and when to eat. Food has made people judge me, laugh at me and stare at me for being the biggest person in the room. Food has made me feel bad after I would binge, and feel good when I knew I was doing the right things and making the right choices. So today this all ends! I am breaking up with my dysfunctional relationship with food!

So to you bad food…listen up! I will no longer let you control my life. I will no longer make bad food choices that sabotage my long term weight loss success. I will no longer eat the bad food choices to make me feel good. I will no longer turn to food when I am stressed. I will no longer stock my kitchen cupboards with you. I want you out of my life for good!

Moving on…hello good foods! Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Jen and you and I are going to be best friends. You are going to help me in more ways than you will ever know. You are going to be a form of nutrients that make me feel good about myself. You are going to help me loose weight and keep it off for good this time. You are going to keep me feeling strong and not sluggish. You are going to fill my cupboards and fridge with healthy choices. You are going to help me reach goals and finally do all the fun things I have sat on the sidelines watching for years.

I will no longer let food control my life and have it be a permeate fixture over everything. I will no longer make bad food choices. I will no longer eat till it hurts. I will no longer let food dictate the choices I make. Social gatherings will not be centered around food…instead, they will be for spending time with those you care about, not what to eat or where to eat.

As I get ready for surgery tomorrow, I have a mountain of emotions flooding over me. I am so beyond ready to make this change and create a better, healthier me! Sometimes you have to leave something behind…and for me, I have decided to leave bad food choices behind.

[llwotb 0]

Good luck to you! Conquer your anxiety and doubt. You will be fine and will enjoy the benefits. For me it was kneeling. Can't tell you how long prior to surgery I was unable to kneel. I can kneel and do all sorts of things that I was limited on doing.

Congrats and good luck! I'm getting my band Friday and the anxiousness is coming in waves mixed with tints of doubt. But all I have to do is look down, and I know that I don't really have a choice.I'm not breaking up with food, but I'm setting new ground rules. The healtier, better for me foods are going to come first in this releationship. But I'm not going to say I won't have a quickie fling with some bad foods once and a while lol.

[Dibley Dawn 84]

Good luck on your surgery tomorrow.

I don't want to shatter your image of what is going to happen when you get that band around you, but, it's not a magic wand. it's not going take away the desire to eat things that aren't the best choices for you and for me personally, that's a good thing. you are not going to NEVER eat junk food ever again. i don't think anyone here can say that they have gone more than 1 year or 2 without eating a piece of chocolate, or a slice of pie, or a cookie. you can't live like that for long.

i was afraid before I got the band that i would have to say goodbye to all my favorite foods and, well, that hasn't happened. what i did say goodbye to was the quantity of the foods i was eating and the constant eating of foods. i don't have to do that anymore and i don't feel compelled to just eat and eat and eat. i don't think about food all day long and i don't obsess over what my next meal might be. that being said, when i am hungry, i don't just stick to salads and fish. i eat a lot of salads and fish, but i branch out and eat tacos, chicken courdon bleu, fast food, lasagne, etc, etc, etc,

i don't really look at food as good or bad, but rather, better choices than others. sure, i could eat a hamburger every day, but do i want to? no, i don't. am i going to kick myself if i have a burger once a month? absolutely not. most diets are giving up things so that you can get smaller, and some people view the band as a way to do that (and I guess it is) but for me personally, it wasn't for me to give up all foods. it was to help me with my portion sizes and it has done that beautifully.

like i said, i don't want to burst your bubble, but you should look at the band a little bit more realistically. i wish someone would have told me this before banding and i wouldn't have gone through the 'goodbye food' phase where i ate foods i thought i would miss for 2 weeks solid before my liquid diet. ...and consequently gained 5 pounds ......

anyway, if nothing else, i actually enjoy food more now than before because i actually take the time to chew it and taste it, rather than vacuum it down and not remember eating it. it has opened up a new world of taste for me. foods i used to like, now that i have to spend time chewing them, i no longer care for. you'll find that things are different, but some things are the same.

don't judge the food and make the food feel bad for being delicious....just try to watch your portions and please allow yourself to make bad choices every once in a while and be forgiving. you'll be happier for it and more successful with the band.

again, good luck on your journey.

[JerseyGirl80 12]

Good luck on your surgery tomorrow.

I don't want to shatter your image of what is going to happen when you get that band around you, but, it's not a magic wand. it's not going take away the desire to eat things that aren't the best choices for you and for me personally, that's a good thing. you are not going to NEVER eat junk food ever again. i don't think anyone here can say that they have gone more than 1 year or 2 without eating a piece of chocolate, or a slice of pie, or a cookie. you can't live like that for long.

i was afraid before I got the band that i would have to say goodbye to all my favorite foods and, well, that hasn't happened. what i did say goodbye to was the quantity of the foods i was eating and the constant eating of foods. i don't have to do that anymore and i don't feel compelled to just eat and eat and eat. i don't think about food all day long and i don't obsess over what my next meal might be. that being said, when i am hungry, i don't just stick to salads and fish. i eat a lot of salads and fish, but i branch out and eat tacos, chicken courdon bleu, fast food, lasagne, etc, etc, etc,

i don't really look at food as good or bad, but rather, better choices than others. sure, i could eat a hamburger every day, but do i want to? no, i don't. am i going to kick myself if i have a burger once a month? absolutely not. most diets are giving up things so that you can get smaller, and some people view the band as a way to do that (and I guess it is) but for me personally, it wasn't for me to give up all foods. it was to help me with my portion sizes and it has done that beautifully.

like i said, i don't want to burst your bubble, but you should look at the band a little bit more realistically. i wish someone would have told me this before banding and i wouldn't have gone through the 'goodbye food' phase where i ate foods i thought i would miss for 2 weeks solid before my liquid diet. ...and consequently gained 5 pounds ......

anyway, if nothing else, i actually enjoy food more now than before because i actually take the time to chew it and taste it, rather than vacuum it down and not remember eating it. it has opened up a new world of taste for me. foods i used to like, now that i have to spend time chewing them, i no longer care for. you'll find that things are different, but some things are the same.

don't judge the food and make the food feel bad for being delicious....just try to watch your portions and please allow yourself to make bad choices every once in a while and be forgiving. you'll be happier for it and more successful with the band.

again, good luck on your journey.

Well said. My approach to lap band life is the same. I eat everything, just make better choices. If I want to pig out on occasion I do, but my "pig outs" are laughable to my friends without bands because I can barely eat 1/4 of what they can. Everything in moderation, not deprivation is what I believe. I also believe that quitting all the "bad foods" cold turkey every time I dieted was what got me this big (and even bigger) in the first place. For me saying I'd never have something again was just a disaster waiting to happen, but that's just me. I wish the original poster the best of luck on this journey.

[RaleighGal 4]

Thank you all for your feedback. I understand fully what everyone is saying. I love having so many people able to share their opinions and experiences...makes this journey so much easier!

I think that by my doctor giving me a HUGE list of no-no items (carbs, sweets, etc.), I have gotten into the mindset of never eating anything good again. I am happy to hear I can cheat every once in a while and eat something yummy, in moderation of course