How did everyone cope with loosing the favorite pastime of eating? This past week I feel like I've relapsed and have been snacking, thinking about my old friend food, and sometimes I feel like I am backsliding on the progress I've made. I started at 220 (ish), sleeved on 12/12/12 (196) and now weight around 155. I was making great progress but it's stalled. I have started to workout religiously but I like the food has me trapped. I know it all sounds crazy. I don't even know why I am wanting to eat all the time. I feel like I am at risk for failing.

Bethechange, if you figure out or learn the answer to this you can retire on the millions you will make!

Don't hate me, but eating has just never been a pastime for me, it's a necessary evil. I'm fat because I am truly starving all the time (and my feet are messed up so I have mobility issues). I have joked that I wish someone would invent people kibbles so I wouldn't have to bother thinking about it.

That being said, I know so many people with weight problems that would have to get over their dependent relationship with food and eating to even think about losing weight. I don't even recommend the sleeve for these folks and I doubt they would want it.

I don't have any good advice but I hope others will jump in.

I haven't had surgery yet, but I'm in therapy working on my food addiction. My therapist recommended the book "The Emotional Eater's Repair Manual" by Julie A. Simon. This book has a lot of good information in it and I now have a better understanding of why I overeat. I hope this helps.

I think this is a very common problem, For me, I spent the first 2 months hating to eat, and have spent the last 4 months fighting the same old fight I have dealt with for years. My husband doesn't understand that we still can't have any junk food in the house because I will eat it. I might only eat 3 cookies where before surgery I would have eaten 12, but I still want them. And as with Pantela, I deal with hunger daily. It isn't acid reflux or thirst, it is hunger. I just take it one day at a time. Hang in there and good luck!

This is a hard journey mentally, I have been able to eat my whole life past the point of full . Eat wait awhile till it doesn't hurt eat some more. this surgery doesn't really fix that does it? I know the struggle. I read a book and still read it, its called " Anatomy of a food addiction" and wow did it hit home!! There is some technical stuff in there that boggled my mine a bit but that book made me look at my problem differently and instead of hating myself I found a way to care about me and understand why I was doing what I was doing.. It is still a struggle sometimes to comfort myself in healthy ways but the one thing the sleeve gives us is time to work on it.

Laura