BIG FAT PEOPLE!

[rosehips 121]

This is so true.........switching one addiction for another. So happy to hear your getting help with this....This is so frustrating for me at times. Just got back from Maui and I gained 7 lbs..... Now today I'm back on track. My adult children came with us and they ate a lot of chips, Cookies, and fudge. I gave myself permission to eat that sh** and now look where I am, yep, back to basics..... Next time we go on vacay, it's just me and my husband.......We can do this.....

I'm thinking this is what "normal people do, see the 7 lb weight gain and then stop and get it off. My problem was always....1. I could not stop after the vacation. 2. I would buy new pants. I vow to never buy bigger clothes again!!!!

[NeverBeTheSameAgain 241]

I am also a food addict....my problem is not that I eat alot but I eat the wrong things EVERYTIME. I love pastas, breads, cheese & potatoes...its my weakness. I think that we learned the emotional eating behavior as children/teens, see in my family if u had a good report card "lets go eat", if its ur bday "lets go eat", if u graduate "lets go eat", u got a better job "lets go eat" ect. its even been times that I fell and hurt myself and my mom would bandage me up & give me a popsicle...I think all of that is the root of emotional eating, so I personally believe that all of us have some type of reaction to food, we learned it. Im excited and scared all at the same time because I dont want to fail at this. Its life or death for me and thats the way I'm looking at it.

[No game 14,436]

I am also a food addict....my problem is not that I eat alot but I eat the wrong things EVERYTIME. I love pastas' date=' breads, cheese & potatoes...its my weakness. I think that we learned the emotional eating behavior as children/teens, see in my family if u had a good report card "lets go eat", if its ur bday "lets go eat", if u graduate "lets go eat", u got a better job "lets go eat" ect. its even been times that I fell and hurt myself and my mom would bandage me up & give me a popsicle...I think all of that is the root of emotional eating, so I personally believe that all of us have some type of reaction to food, we learned it. Im excited and scared all at the same time because I dont want to fail at this. Its life or death for me and thats the way I'm looking at it.[/quote']

Isn't it so weird the way we reward with food! Like we are training seals or something!

My husband came home with the kids a couple of weeks ago both of them were eating ice cream and I was like "WTF?" Well he proceeds to tell me of this tradition we have (that I was totally unaware of mind you) that he always buys the kids a ice cream after a dentist app???

May I say wrong on so many levels!!

Food as an award can have life long consequences as you and I know.

It has been my "reward" my friend,my confidant, my healer and my enemy for my whole life it seems..

[No game 14,436]

So... Yeah I did well yesterday.. Kinda anyway,

Until last night it was comfort eating all the way. I knew it as I was doing it and though I don't want to, I do it anyway.. The two sides of me fight and it seems the strong me is weak, how can someone not want to do something but at the same time have no self control over stopping it?

It was a Protein bar that got me, I wanted something sweet, I NEEDED something sweet!

[Fiddleman 4,376]

So... Yeah I did well yesterday.. Kinda anyway' date='

Until last night it was comfort eating all the way. I knew it as I was doing it and though I don't want to, I do it anyway.. The two sides of me fight and it seems the strong me is weak, how can someone not want to do something but at the same time have no self control over stopping it?

It was a Protein bar that got me, I wanted something sweet, I NEEDED something sweet!

[/quote']

That is tough and hard to win in the battle of good versus bad behavior. The human nature in us is to give in and have that sweet, salty or crunchy thing even though there is a somewhat smaller voicing say "wait, stop, you've worked so hard."

Believe me, this struggle is very real for all of us. While I know not a magic solution, I can suggest the good side will get stronger and more in control the longer you listen to it. It becomes necessary for you to separate from said food that you struggle with.

Try giving yourself 3 weeks away from sweet food. Eat dense Proteins and veggies instead, even smaller amounts when the munchies strike if outside of normal eat time. You may have to eliminate one or more "stresses" on the body like exercise while working on this detox. It is often hard to make too many changes at once, so focusing on one major change at a time may help.

Train your munchies to get satisfied from nutricious food rather then slider or zero value food. It is not such a long time. At the end of 3 weeks, you should have less of an urgency for sweet food and more of a desire for healthy food (veggy, fruit or proteins). This usually worked for me in the past when trying to break a reliance on bad carb food.

Also remember to get z good amount of sleep daily as lack of sleep can cause munchies and craving bad carb food. Been there and done that.

Remember, just 3 weeks should get you going in right direction. After 3 weeks you can reevaluate and see what is the next positive change to make.

Hope this helps.

[Butterthebean 8,146]

So... Yeah I did well yesterday.. Kinda anyway' date='

Until last night it was comfort eating all the way. I knew it as I was doing it and though I don't want to, I do it anyway.. The two sides of me fight and it seems the strong me is weak, how can someone not want to do something but at the same time have no self control over stopping it?

It was a Protein bar that got me, I wanted something sweet, I NEEDED something sweet!

[/quote']

Laura, I've done the 5 day pouch test a couple of times. It's basically a condensed post op diet. There is no magic to it but it helped me kick some bad habits that I was starting to slip into. If you feel your will power is getting weak you might try it.

Also, for my long term success, I just can't keep things in the house that tempt me. If there is something my wife wants that's going to tempt me I ask her to hide it. But mostly, she wants to eat healthy so she is willing to get rid of most of the tempting junk and keep only a few treats that she knows I'm not interested in.

[No game 14,436]

You know guys I have to admit our house seems to be full of **** lately it's like everyone here is going through a junk food stage.. I'm going to crack down on the crap. Hope they don't pull a mutiny on my ass

Everyone in my house is fit.. As a matter of fact my husband and son must consume large amount of food or they lose weight

But I've had to contend with bags of chips and all three of them eating them the last couple of weeks.

So today I got away from the house, I went to the fish store to buy saltwater and flirt with the young boys that work there! Hehe my favorite past time,

My husband always teases me by saying "do you want me to go too" knowing I'm going to say hell no!

I stopped at the store and bought some smarter snacking options ( plain Greek yogurt anyone)

I am going back to basics and I'm detoxing starting now.

I can not do "moderation" and "I'm not going to treat this like a diet"

That does not work for ME

I am a person with food issues, call it what you want but it made me fat, and I'm tired of not living life fully.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Laura - I get the sweet craves sometimes too. One trick that works for me is to have 1-2 Bariatric Advantage Caramel calcium chews. It may be a kind of cheesy response, but it helps and each chew is only about 15 calories. It does not need to be caramel; that is just a flavor I like. You can also see if chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, green tea or any of the other flavors work for you. I know Trader Joes sells these dark chocolate wedges in a small round tin. Each one is very rich and my wife loves them. You might consider these if you are craving chocolate, but do not want a lot of calories. I would say each wedge is about the size of two Calcium chews in surface area and about 1/2 inch thick.

[SpaceDust 585]

Ugh, Laura, I may not be sleeved yet but I'm trying to stick with an approximation of my pre op diet right now and I'm stumbling a bit the last couple of days. I had a handful of Doritos a couple of days ago because my husband and our friend (eh, might as well call him our honorary family as it's almost always the three of us doing stuff together!) were sitting around munching the last few evenings, and I didn't go chop up a cucumber like I should have if I wanted to munch as part of my evening meal. I did manage to keep it to 5 chips, but it would have been easy to slip into mindlessly munching.

Today, I had my Breakfast Protein shake, but I was honestly hungry a couple of hours later. Instead of doing what I should have and having another shake, I broke down and had something with texture. The good thing is I did not head for the chips in the pantry. I decided that if I was going to fall off the wagon, it was going to at least be nutritious and reasonable. I stuck to a small egg white omelet with an ounce of sharp cheddar and sliced up an apple for some crunch.

I've decided I'm not beating myself up over it. I minimized the damage, I think, and it's not the actual pre op diet yet. Best thing is to get back up and move forward. I can't change what's done, I can just learn from it and try to avoid the temptations.

It's tough, though! That's why I'm testing the waters early, because I'm really afraid of that week of mostly Protein shakes.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using VST

[TES 858]

I freely admit that I'm a food addict! Prior to being sleeved people would frequently remark that they didn't understand how I was so overweight because they didn't ever see me eat hardly anything. Well, duh! This is a two part no-brainer, people! One part is the fact that they all ate a whole lot more than me (not judging, just fact) and the other part was the fact that I was one of those "secret" eaters. As if no one would ever notice the fact that I'd eaten my way to almost 500lbs!

Now I struggle with food, period. Keeping it down, weighing it, tracking it, enjoying it- food and I are no longer friends. Until someone suggests a restaurant with a salad bar. Then I mourn it like we had been joined at the hip. Truly, it's the only thing I miss being able to eat. See? I'm an addict.

Don't take me to the farmer's market when I'm missing salad, I'll embarrass you by loudly bemoaning my choice to have this surgery and making lewd comments about what veggies make me want to do- toss a salad full of spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, and so many other- OMG! See what happens?!

I'm sort of making light of a very real problem. My very real problem, that my therapist sees me for every week. Surgery didn't make one eating order disappear. It just swapped it out for a whole new one and put this food addict into a holding pattern for the time being.

I've found that if I eat a salad as a snack and not with a lot of Protein (maybe a few almonds or pecans and some blue cheese), I can eat a LOT more than if I have it with a Protein meal. Yesterday I ate at least a cup of romaine lettuce, but I think it might have actually been more like 1.25 cups. I cut the lettuce really finely and chewed it very well. My surgeon told me I would be able to eat a lot more volume of lettuce than other foods because it is mostly Water, and this makes sense. I can only eat about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of more fibrous veggies (which I also often eat as a snack rather than with protein, which my RD said is fine). Just a thought. I understand you were just giving an example of your mourning of a certain food, but for me, this has really been the only thing I missed and I'm so happy to have a good solution.

[OneWritersSoul 353]

Ugh' date=' Laura, I may not be sleeved yet but I'm trying to stick with an approximation of my pre op diet right now and I'm stumbling a bit the last couple of days. I had a handful of Doritos a couple of days ago because my husband and our friend (eh, might as well call him our honorary family as it's almost always the three of us doing stuff together!) were sitting around munching the last few evenings, and I didn't go chop up a cucumber like I should have if I wanted to munch as part of my evening meal. I did manage to keep it to 5 chips, but it would have been easy to slip into mindlessly munching.

Today, I had my Breakfast Protein shake, but I was honestly hungry a couple of hours later. Instead of doing what I should have and having another shake, I broke down and had something with texture. The good thing is I did not head for the chips in the pantry. I decided that if I was going to fall off the wagon, it was going to at least be nutritious and reasonable. I stuck to a small egg white omelet with an ounce of sharp cheddar and sliced up an apple for some crunch.

I've decided I'm not beating myself up over it. I minimized the damage, I think, and it's not the actual pre op diet yet. Best thing is to get back up and move forward. I can't change what's done, I can just learn from it and try to avoid the temptations.

It's tough, though! That's why I'm testing the waters early, because I'm really afraid of that week of mostly Protein shakes.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using VST[/quote']

SpaceDust, I commend not only your honesty but your willingness to at least TRY to adopt healthier habits pre-op even before you have to! Having taken that recommended route myself, I know it's not easy at all. But you can do this- one day at a time!

[No game 14,436]

Laura - I get the sweet craves sometimes too. One trick that works for me is to have 1-2 Bariatric Advantage Caramel calcium chews. It may be a kind of cheesy response' date=' but it helps and each chew is only about 15 calories. It does not need to be caramel; that is just a flavor I like. You can also see if chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, green tea or any of the other flavors work for you. I know Trader Joes sells these dark chocolate wedges in a small round tin. Each one is very rich and my wife loves them. You might consider these if you are craving chocolate, but do not want a lot of calories. I would say each wedge is about the size of two calcium chews in surface area and about 1/2 inch thick.[/quote']

You that's funny Fiddleman I was eating my Calcium chew this morning, same kind as you,

But chocolate... And you know what? They taste good, but I realized afterward that it just makes me want more.... I realized then I have it bad!

This oral fixation to fill the hole with sweets!

I'm going to back off of anything sweet for a couple of days and see if I feel better.

I already feel pretty good today.

Ok one fish tank down <*}{}{}< one to go.

[OneWritersSoul 353]

I've found that if I eat a salad as a snack and not with a lot of Protein (maybe a few almonds or pecans and some blue cheese)' date=' I can eat a LOT more than if I have it with a Protein meal. Yesterday I ate at least a cup of romaine lettuce, but I think it might have actually been more like 1.25 cups. I cut the lettuce really finely and chewed it very well. My surgeon told me I would be able to eat a lot more volume of lettuce than other foods because it is mostly Water, and this makes sense. I can only eat about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of more fibrous veggies (which I also often eat as a snack rather than with protein, which my RD said is fine). Just a thought. I understand you were just giving an example of your mourning of a certain food, but for me, this has really been the only thing I missed and I'm so happy to have a good solution.[/quote']

TES, my surgeon and nutritionist told me the same thing and I do love my salads! After I received the green light initially I kept a quart jar of salad in the refrigerator to snack on. Then I realized, as a total food addict, all I was doing instead of eating my protein or drinking my Water the way I was supposed to, was grazing on nothing except that salad all day. That was my red flag.

Now that spring is here, my salad cravings have hit hard core again. It's truly scary to see the roadside stands starting to crop up, because I genuinely fear for the safety of those poor little farmer men!

[Carolina-Girl 28]

I feel you! I have a garden full of romaine lettuce that I am having to give away because I cannot eat it. Grrrr. 3 weeks post op.

[lsereno 2,525]

....

I stopped at the store and bought some smarter snacking options ( plain Greek yogurt anyone)....

I love plain greek yogurt mixed with Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix as a dip for cucumber rounds, sugar snap peas, celery, and carrot sticks.

I also love it with blueberries. I buy the little frozen wild ones from TJs. I like them better than the big ones so it feels like a treat.

I feel you Laura-Ven. It's going to be a lifetime struggle for me to stay away from the sweets and Snacks. I'm really hoping it will be like when I quit smoking. At first, I was consumed by wanting a cigarette. Now, 20 years later, I still occasionally want one, but it's so much easier to say no and the craving is pretty rare.

Lynda