I don't know what else I can do to fight my battle against NEEDING all this garbage. Why do I think that I need cake and donuts and ice cream? Why can't I just say NO!!!!!!. Ugh. I really feel like I am fighting a losing battle with a serious addiction. Where do I go to detox from food? Help!

I don't know what else I can do either I'm hoping that getting the sleeve will help with the hunger hormone, plus reduce the size of my stomach and greatly lower my cravings. I'm a Dr Pepper lover, so also getting the sleeve will make me do away with that as well.

Do the five day pouch test, intended for RNY patients. The best way to detox is to go back to the basics and cut out anything that can cause a craving until it's out of your system. The pouch test will also help you adjust back to a smaller portion and it will help you stop any grazing if that's an issue.

The reality is that this surgery only gave you a smaller stomach, it didn't address the root cause of your obesity in the first place. I think many of us, even when we tell ourselves that this isn't a miracle solution, really hope it will be and aren't quite prepared for how much work it is to not only learn how to eat properly, but to develop a healthier relationship with food.

You have to be in control of food, and not let it control you. You have to find the causes for your eating habits and change them. Counseling helps a lot of people. Reading positive stories here can help, too, as can reading as many books as possible about the topic.

The sleeve is going to help you stop eating a great deal of food in one sitting but nothing will ever stop you from eating slider foods or drinking high calorie beverages. You have to make those changes yourself. The easiest way is to cut them out of your life completely until you're in control of your habits. These desires to eat are almost certainly hormonal or psychological attachments to food. Each time you stop yourself from indulging you gain a little more knowledge about yourself and a little more strength to stop it again the next time. The longer you stop indulging, you should find that the cravings diminish.

We do not struggle with our weight solely because we eat too much food. We struggle because we have built up unhealthy eating habits over a lifetime. Simply making the stomach smaller doesn't address the rest of the issue, unfortunately, though it does make it easier to walk away from food once we learn how to do it.

Good luck,

~Cheri

Do you have any suggestions for books to read?? I have surgery on jan. 7th and I have a small pamphlet of the diet to follow post op but I'd love to understand and research more!