Continuing the cycle

[emilygrace 5]

I am about 4 months postop. I have lost a total of about 65lbs. My weight loss has slowed right down despite doing all the right things. I have realized that I am getting discouraged and now have been eating and concentrating on food more, as in the thinking about what I can eat next when I just ate something. I even have realized I am not hungry but "felt like something" and eaten again. I can't eat a lot, but I can eat often. Even on these days, I don't much go over 1000-1200 cals, but I recognize that the behaviour is not consistent with success and I want to stop it. I know it's the old pattern of getting discouraged and thinking "well, I may as well screw it up properly if I'm not losing weight anyhow".

How did you stop the non hungry eating? The eating to fill boredom, sadness, being upset? I feel like I tell myself "no" but do it anyway. What do you say to yourself to make yourself NOT do it?

I had the required psychologist session preop but didn't go postop, I wonder if you did and if it was helpful?

Thanks for your input.

[livelovelaugh 1]

I didn't see the psych post op. I am 7 weeks out and I still like to snack and pick...I don't know if it will ever go away, but I concentrate on drinking sugar free drinks and SF popcycles at night to help with the need to have "something". I eat pumplkin seeds (break them out of the shell), I can't eat too many of them so it doesn't impact my weight loss, but the activity of shelling them helps with hand to mouth fixation...

I am suprised more people don't have something to say about the mental eating...I am sure so many of us must be dealing with it in some way.

I am about 4 months postop. I have lost a total of about 65lbs. My weight loss has slowed right down despite doing all the right things. I have realized that I am getting discouraged and now have been eating and concentrating on food more, as in the thinking about what I can eat next when I just ate something. I even have realized I am not hungry but "felt like something" and eaten again. I can't eat a lot, but I can eat often. Even on these days, I don't much go over 1000-1200 cals, but I recognize that the behaviour is not consistent with success and I want to stop it. I know it's the old pattern of getting discouraged and thinking "well, I may as well screw it up properly if I'm not losing weight anyhow".

How did you stop the non hungry eating? The eating to fill boredom, sadness, being upset? I feel like I tell myself "no" but do it anyway. What do you say to yourself to make yourself NOT do it?

I had the required psychologist session preop but didn't go postop, I wonder if you did and if it was helpful?

Thanks for your input.

[LittleSteve 5]

I`m almost 6 months out, I eat heaps between 6pm and 11pm. I eat alot better foods such as fruit and "some" not so good. I exercise or weight train every day, my weight loss has slowed to a crawl. I am very, very happy with my sleeve. As long as I don`t put on weight then I feel I have already succeeded, I thought I wanted to be slim but it turns out I just wanted to not be fat.

[Tiffykins 673]

vHere's the kicker, and really think about it this way:

We have 2 choices:

A) Eat properly, fuel the body with the "best" food option, and maintain your weight loss. Beat the obesity related health problems, fit into smaller clothing, have more energy, live longer. Stay the course, and realize I was adding years to my life

OR

B ) Eat crap food, let your body suffer because of poor food choices, take 1-15 pills per day to combat the symptoms of obesity related co-morbidities, stay the same size, feel lethargic, worn out, fatigued, die early.

Honestly, that's exactly what I thought about when I wanted to let old habits creep in. Plus, I took a good, hard look at my before pictures. I had to remind myself of how hard I had worked to get where I am. Yes, I lost fast, and hard, never had a stall, but I had my own struggles throughout my losing stage. I keep "healthier options" when I want to snack. Grant it, sometimes the fat girl wins. BUT, I also recognize the behavior, and remind myself of how much healthier and happier I am in a size 2 than I ever was in size 24W.

Working with a therapist/counselor that has experience with food issues/eating disorders can really help you find other coping mechanisms to deal with the emotional side of eating. As for boredom eating, do some light exercises. Endorphins are way better for your body than any junk food you could be eating. Even if it's just jumping jacks, some crunches, do some bicep curls with canned veggies, or light dumbbells. It'll occupy your hands, your mind, and your body will thank you. Finding another "habit" to replace the boredom eating will definitely help tremendously.

[chilo1 62]

I sometimes feel my bad habits creeping back in too, so today I really concentrated on what I ate to see when I felt full. This helped. I had a big skinny latte for Breakfast, 1 small boiled egg and a small lettuce carrot cabbage low fat mayo (just a teaspoon)for lunch. In the afternoon had a skiiny coffee and blended in 1/2 a serving of Protein cause I'm trying to up my Proteins, and for dinner 2 small pork ribs and a tiny portion of the same salad (added raisins). I feel fine with the amount I ate today, I'll have a cup of tea with a splash of skimmed milk before I go to bed, and this is how I intend to continue until I reach goal

[thinoneday 445]

vHere's the kicker, and really think about it this way:

We have 2 choices:

A) Eat properly, fuel the body with the "best" food option, and maintain your weight loss. Beat the obesity related health problems, fit into smaller clothing, have more energy, live longer. Stay the course, and realize I was adding years to my life

OR

B ) Eat crap food, let your body suffer because of poor food choices, take 1-15 pills per day to combat the symptoms of obesity related co-morbidities, stay the same size, feel lethargic, worn out, fatigued, die early.

Honestly, that's exactly what I thought about when I wanted to let old habits creep in. Plus, I took a good, hard look at my before pictures. I had to remind myself of how hard I had worked to get where I am. Yes, I lost fast, and hard, never had a stall, but I had my own struggles throughout my losing stage. I keep "healthier options" when I want to snack. Grant it, sometimes the fat girl wins. BUT, I also recognize the behavior, and remind myself of how much healthier and happier I am in a size 2 than I ever was in size 24W.

Working with a therapist/counselor that has experience with food issues/eating disorders can really help you find other coping mechanisms to deal with the emotional side of eating. As for boredom eating, do some light exercises. Endorphins are way better for your body than any junk food you could be eating. Even if it's just jumping jacks, some crunches, do some bicep curls with canned veggies, or light dumbbells. It'll occupy your hands, your mind, and your body will thank you. Finding another "habit" to replace the boredom eating will definitely help tremendously.

UGH, your so sensible my darling friend! That is why I love you! Your a fabulous inspiration! I'm so glad your on this forum Tiff! I needed that kick in the butt! Thanks!

[BlackBerryJuice 349]

I battle with boredom eating more so than cravings for junk food - thankfully, because while I have the time to be bored and/or eat mindlessly while studying, 6 months from now I won't have that luxury! With boredom eating, drinking tea helps me most - I've got all kinds of flavors, I just add splenda and sometimes milk. If that doesn't do it, I just try to choose healthier things - I've got some baby carrots, persimmons, and honey mandarins in the fridge, and they generally hit the spot. If I eat and still have head anger, I try to get out of the house and go for a walk. I have what I'd define as a "bad day" on occasion - I don't think I've ever felt out of control with a particular food since the VSG - but sometimes I'll just eat all day, or should I say, all evening. Today I had one of these non-stop eating days, I suspect my difficult morning workout played a role - lifting weights always makes me hungry later in the day! Plus I was freezing in the blizzard this morning and got a latte from Starbucks - a short one, but it still had 370 calories! I also automatically bought a pastry with my coffee, it was almost a knee-jerk reflex. I only ate half of it and threw the other way and didn't finish the offending beverage, but still, I didn't need either.

I tried to follow my basic steps today - I did the tea thing, I did the fruit thing, AND I went for a walk in the evening - and I still felt like I inhaled pounds upon pounds of food. So I decided to see the extent of the damage and logged everything, down to the one piece of curry beef, and to my surprise, even with the sugary coffee and pastry, I had about 1700 calories (on the upside, almost 100 g protein! lol). Seems like a lot, but then I remembered that pre-VSG, I would consider that a good day, and I did do an hour-long workout that left me drenched in sweat with wobbly legs. If I hadn't had the coffee + pastry, I would've been at 1200, which is the top end of my normal range, so in the end this "bad day" just came down to one impulse buy. It's amazing how you get used to eating like a bird and what would've been a good diet day to a non-sleeved person seems like a catastrophe until you look at it more closely! I feel bad about eating that pastry and drinking the latte, but I gave myself a pat on the back for trying all of my overeating solutions rather than just giving up and moved on. I don't think ANY PERSON eats perfectly EVERY SINGLE DAY.

I've been seeing a psychologist since the surgery and when he first asked me what my goal was for the therapy, I said "to be completely free of cravings and mindless eating." He told me that he didn't think anyone could ever achieve that, so we decided that we'd start with having more good days than bad days. Thankfully, my good days outnumber my bad days probably 15:1 and I consider that to be awesome. Pre-surgery, it was probably 1:1. I guess it's always a work in progress and setbacks are unavoidable.

And if anything I've experienced so far is true, I'm probably gonna be another pound down tomorrow - it seems that anytime I have dessert, I end up losing weight the next day!

[Lisalu 89]

I'm a few pounds below goal, but I still battle with the eating. It's easier than pre-VSG because I just can't eat the same volume but the compulsion seems to be the same. Lately I've been eating more crap, specifically xmas Cookies and other refined carbs. I still don't snack (just my 4 meals a day and Protein supplement) which has been a blessing. I got to 210 lbs by grazing, so I know I can't go back to that non-stop eating.

The carbs are a slipperly slope for me. I don't want to cut them out 100%, but my consumption of them can creep up easily. I could eat chocolate and Cookies all day if I let myself.

I need to see a nutritionist and a counselor to work on this, I think.