I was banded 12/13/05 I am down 32 lbs. I have done great. Now I find myself eating Cookies without even thinking about it and making other foolish choices.. Can anyone offer any help on how to have better self control and not messed up one of the best things to ever happen to me?

Tammy:cry

Hi Tammy,

I feel you here. For me, if I eat 1 thing sweet I crave more throughout the day so I have been doing this: eating 1 or 2 pieces of chocolate (sweets) per week. I don't make it a particular day of the week so when a situation comes up I have to choose "Do I really want this to be my week's worth of sweets?". It has helped me.

Good Luck with the sweet demon. He's a killer of weight loss that's for sure!

Tammy, It's a hell of a habit to break isn't it? You're certainly not alone in your feelings about it. I think youre about to see an amazing array of replies to this. Everything from "Its ok to eat that" to "Forgive yourself" to "Get the junk out of the house!"

This is a question that causes tempers to flare, tears to fall, and frustrations to mount to the point of despair.

I can only offer you what I find works for me, and it just so happens that it -is- to keep all tempting foods out of the house. If you are mindlessly reaching for foods at home, then it might be a good idea for you as well.

There are small 100 calories packs of Cookies you can buy, but then if it were me, I'd eat the entire box not just one pack. If you are craving sweet things, you might try subsituting sugar free popscicles, Jello, and other low calories treats.

Something else you might try is focusing on your goals and thinking through the decision before you put that cookie to your lips. Make a conscious decision not to give in and fight for your dreams to come true.

Only you will know what will work for you. Just don't stop trying until you find it.

By the way.. my last piece of advice is - When you start a thread with a title like this, be prepared for ANYTHING and keep your arse covered. *grins*

Usually if you honestly analyse your feelings you can find possible reasons.

Perhaps you're feeling a little resentful that you can't eat as much as you used to, so you feel (subconsciously) that you deserve a "treat"?

Or perhaps you subconsciously feel that because you've lost so well that you can afford to coast a little?

Have you been denying yourself since your surgery? It's not necessary. If you're in "diet" mentality then it's harder to stop with one or two Cookies, because subconsciously you never know when you're going to eat them again. If you KNOW they're not off limits, and you PROMISE yourself that if you've just gotta have them you can, then perhaps it will be easier to stop.

You have to do some probing, though, and see if you can figure out what's going on in that mind of yours. :welldone2:

Boy Tammy... that really is a golden question that I think the whole world would love to have the answer to. Wouldn't it be awesome if just saying no was the answer? It's a struggle but for me... I notice that the more carbs I eat... the hungrier I am and the more carbs I want. Now... to just figure out how to stop the carb eating cycle? The only thing that I have found to be somewhat helpful for me is to keep ZERO snack type sweets in my house. If I have a craving... I wait... and if the craving doesn't go away or gets worse... I go and get a single serving of whatever I'm wanting. Someday a brilliant scientist is going to come up with a magical pill that allows us to eat all of the carbs that we want without weight-gain... until then... I guess we'll all fight the good fight.

I'm with Donali! I think this is going to take some quiet time on your part.

The first thing that came to me when I read your post was that you've lost quite a bit of weight in a short amount of time. *holy rice cakes, Batman!* about 10 pounds a month! You've managed to lose more in your 3 months that I've lost in 11, well done!

Sorry, back on track here. (it's the pain meds...)

You've lost like what, 10 pounds a month?! I suspect that there is some subconcious panic on your part. Are people starting to treat you differently? Men paying more attention to you? Less overt hostility? I don't know, but with that dramatic of loss, poeple are sure to notice, even if you are Super MO.

It could be that you are eating more Cookies than you want because some part of you has noticed the extra attention and is starting to panic.

Someday a brilliant scientist is going to come up with a magical pill that allows us to eat all of the carbs that we want without weight-gain...

Hopefully that magic pill won't have the same nasty type side effects as Xenical... :sick

lol

I personally have removed the high-carb, high sugar treats from the house and replaced them with sugar free pudding and popcicles. I would personally like to nominate Blue Bunny for an award.

They make the most fabulous splenda sweetened low/no fat yogurt, and their SF Ice cream bars are the best in the universe. It's hardly like a diet when you can slurp the occassional creamy sugar free treat.

Good Luck.

Ok this is going to sound really retarded and some of you are probable going to go "whatever" but I have found that when I'm craving sweets, especially chocolate, I have 8 oz. skim milk with these powder chocolate citrucel Fiber shakes.....I know what your all thinking, but they do taste pretty good and curbs the chocolate thing.

Keeps you regular too!!!

Kim, I think that sounds like a great idea, and if it works for you, whoo hooo!

I had trouble getting in enough fiber - had no idea Citrucel made such a thing. I'll have to check them out, cause I still have problems getting in all my fiber.

I'm getting ready to drink one now. Just had 2 more cc's added to my fill so might take a while to get it all down :couch2:

Thanks for all the replies you all are great

Tammy

Heyas Tammy..

How goes the struggles? Gaining any ground? Found anything that's helping yet? Share.. share! :confused:

I have not won the struggle yet I have kept cookies and such from my home But I have decided to take it one day at a time and do the best I can I really appreciate the words of advice.

Tammy