I was reading a post on another thread and one thing really hit me hard and that I had been thinking about constantly. For awhile now, I have been thinking about food constantly. I'm not hungry, but I will sometimes eat anyways. I am so tired of this behavior and it has to stop. So I'm hoping others will share how they manage these pesky thoughts and stay on track. I believe it has lead me to grazing behavior. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Time to kick my butt. I can't even go to mall now because I know how to get free chocolates from See's Candies. I am so sabotaging myself right now.....

I know others are struggling with this too so now what do we do and how do we change this?

I was reading a post on another thread and one thing really hit me hard and that I had been thinking about constantly. For awhile now, I have been thinking about food constantly. I'm not hungry, but I will sometimes eat anyways. I am so tired of this behavior and it has to stop. So I'm hoping others will share how they manage these pesky thoughts and stay on track. I believe it has lead me to grazing behavior. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Time to kick my butt. I can't even go to mall now because I know how to get free chocolates from See's Candies. I am so sabotaging myself right now.....

I know others are struggling with this too so now what do we do and how do we change this?

I know exactly what you're talking about, even about the free piece of candy at Sees. Occasionally is not horrible, but not every time I go to the mall. I don't know how to change this. I do graze but to get all the calories I need every day, it's factored in. I do need to be careful what I graze on, and like you, I think about food all the time now, but I do feel like I am in control since surgery. Do you feel that way? If you get busy doing something else, even just shopping, will the "urge" leave? I have found that leaving the house to run errands, shop....anything, and maybe take coffee or iced tea with me.....changes my focus. I don't know if this will ever change. Good luck!!

I know exactly what you're talking about, even about the free piece of candy at Sees. Occasionally is not horrible, but not every time I go to the mall. I don't know how to change this. I do graze but to get all the calories I need every day, it's factored in. I do need to be careful what I graze on, and like you, I think about food all the time now, but I do feel like I am in control since surgery. Do you feel that way? If you get busy doing something else, even just shopping, will the "urge" leave? I have found that leaving the house to run errands, shop....anything, and maybe take coffee or iced tea with me.....changes my focus. I don't know if this will ever change. Good luck!!

I am working on just avoiding See's all together. This will be hard....I do graze on proteins basically, but the calories do sneak up there. So today I had 1/2 a quest bar and felt really good about it. In fact I felt full. I have been just eating the whole bar without being mindful of my fullness. Today I went shopping and my urge did go away. And I did get hungry at the appropriate time. I also made myself a tea and forgot to drink it so I'm drinking it right now.....Perhaps as time goes on and we stay on top of this, our habits will take over....IDK...... Anyways, this is quite a journey and now I totally understand what the surgeon meant when she said this is the hardest thing I will ever to to my daughter. Oh, and she also see's it too. LOL

Yes I think it's disconcerting to be thinking about food still. And as you know I still do. Having this surgery has you thinking about it naturally because of the timing and amounts of food figure into your daily life even more now.

But as a food addict, it's more than just timing and measuring of food that consume me at times. I still, even though I don't... think about eating all the time. Is it because I have a tendency to have obsessive thoughts and actions

(OCD diagnosed and runs in my family)

I've thought about the oral fixation I have too, I mean literally oral! it's my mouth, I feel the "need"

To have something in there (no wise ass joke men please) at all waking moments.

Like I said on the other thread... I still go to bed thinking about food and wake up thinking about food.

Am I destined to fail? Depends on what I do with it. My eyes are wide open and I will continue to learn about my complicated self.

As always my name is Laura and I am a food addict and a work in progress.

I think about food a lot too. I'm really hoping that it will be like when I quit smoking and the urges will fade over time. Not that they have disappeared. More than 20 years later, I still get the occasional very strong urge to smoke.

And we all know food is harder because you can't just give it up. But some people do choose to give up certain foods. For example, Shelley of http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/ does not eat carbs. I'm not ready to say no permanently to any foods, but I recently read an article, Freedom from French Fries, on Gretchen Rubin's Blog (The Happiness Project) that talks about how saying no permanently can be easier than controlling how much and when: http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2013/01/want-to-be-free-from-french-fries-or-why-abstaining-may-be-easier-than-you-think/

For me, the key to maintaining is to weigh every day and take action IMMEDIATELY if I am out of my bounce range. I originally set that for 5 lbs. over goal weight, but I think that is too much, so I've changed it to 2 lbs. over goal weight. My weight does bounce a bit due to salt and whatever, but I'm post-menopausal, so I no longer have the monthly bounce range. So for me, 2 lbs. is enough to say time to cut back on the Snacks.

I know maintaining the weight loss can be done. But it's not easy or there would be more long term successes out there.

Lynda

I don't know if you exercise much but that's my saint grace. I LOVE working out, the endorphins, the sweat, the confidence it gives me vs. putting thigs in my body just because I'm bored.

If I eat something I shouldn't, I work it off or ill work it off twice.

If I'm feeling bore and like eating for no reason, ill go for a walk, ride my bike, do some jumping jacks, etc. get AWAY from the food. Sometimes I'll Also go so a load of laundry or kind some housework that needs to be done. Or get a glass I tea sweetened with stevia. Works for me.

Otherwise, I think of weight watchers. All FRESH fruit and vegetables are zero points. That's what I eat when I'm experiencing head hunger and feeling weak.

If its crap that you're eating, can you get the crap out if your house?

Are you tracking what you eat? That helps a ton for me too.

All that said, I am NOT perfect. Ive screwed up. There was a Cadbury egg incident. And others.

I was reading a post on another thread and one thing really hit me hard and that I had been thinking about constantly. For awhile now' date=' I have been thinking about food constantly. I'm not hungry, but I will sometimes eat anyways. I am so tired of this behavior and it has to stop. So I'm hoping others will share how they manage these pesky thoughts and stay on track. I believe it has lead me to grazing behavior. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Time to kick my butt. I can't even go to mall now because I know how to get free chocolates from See's Candies. I am so sabotaging myself right now.....

I know others are struggling with this too so now what do we do and how do we change this? [/quote']

I am reading a book called 'skinny thinking'. One of the things I have taken from it is to realize that when you think about or see some food then think about how yummy that would be, you are only paying attention to one sliver of the truth about that food. If you widen your view of that food, then you pay attention to the health impact, the emotional impact, etc. If you look at the WHOLE picture (instead of just the sliver view that focuses on taste) then you can make an informed decision to eat it or not to eat it. I'm probably not saying this well, but it helps me when I feel the urge to eat something off my plan. I try to look at the WHOLE picture BEFORE I choose.

working on avoiding .

hey bud

i also think about food more than i should

since no kids/grand-kids at home (except DH ) i keep our pantry empty of alllll "bad/tempting" foods

that i know i shouldn't be around - sweets/cookies/et al

for me - i think about food when i'm not busy, bored, watching tv - thats when i want to attack something

(like many of us) 93% of the time in the evening is when i think about food

i have given in to my feelings and had that extra MET-RX Protein Plus Protein Bar (creamy Peanut Butter crisp)

3. 0 oz

310 calories

33 gr carbs

way tooooo much

i would rather not have those couple of bites of a pie/slice/this or that evil - i feel its like i'm teasing myself

so, what works for me is abstinence,, "of food"

as far as the mall, i walk in the middle of the walkway/hallway - wearing "blinders" like a horse

then i don't look at any food - really pretend its not there

whatever works right??

getting busy/occupied would help me alot - not battling with the food issues

easier said than done

amytug - i wish i loved to exercise as much you do - that would keep me occupied

i wouldn't think of that "treat" while on the eliptical

to all of us sleever around the world - stand strong

we're all in the same boat

but this time, when we get into that boat, it shouldn't sink

good luck

kathy

.......

but this time, when we get into that boat, it shouldn't sink

good luck

kathy

Ha ha! That's a relief! And we will fit in the seats on the boat too!

Lynda

Every time I'm inappropriately thinking about food I drink something like milk or water and holds of my tendency to eat whatever is in the house. It's very difficult though and I know what you are going through. Hang in there and focus on being diligent. You can do this!!

I really love the feedback. I am working on exercising. Keeping my home free of crap. I could just imagine how I would lie to myself and eat the foods. I love my Quest bars. They do have 170 calories so now I am satisfying myself with 1/2 of one. I can go to the mall and by pass all the goodies except See's Candies. So my challenge is to just avoid See's. I will break this habit. I am a food addict and my name is Dorrie! LOL. Lynda I am going to change my bounce weight from 5 lbs to 2 lbs also to keep focused. Great idea. I am at a point where I believe I am at goal now. So maintaining will be a challenge.

I think you hit it when you used the word "mindfulness" because that's where we need to be.

Old (bad, bad, bad) habits we had before sleeves:

Eating quickly

Not tasting our food

Not focusing on our meal and taking time to enjoy it

Making easy choices, not good ones

Being mindful about food helps a lot for me. And I have to be very careful about this as I've transitioned from maintenance to loss again. It's not the same way of eating, and it does hit home that I really did indulge in sloppy eating habits in maintenance, simply because I could do it and not gain any weight.

I start my day and first thing I log my food plan for the day in MFP. Then I stick to it. And I find that for me, this works. I don't think about food or fantasize about what I might eat later...I just stick to my plan. Provided I'm not feeling particularly stressed or hormonal, it's like it trips a trigger and I all of a sudden just don't care about food. I'm not busying planning my next meal; I've already done it. I'm not wondering what's in the kitchen for snacking; I've logged my snack already. In fact, instead of sitting around grazing, I'm missing meal times again like the early days.

When it's time to eat, I'm mindful about my food.

When it's time to live life, I try to focus on all the other things I have in my life.

And when all else fails and that head hunger won't go away? I exercise...some jumping jacks, push ups and crunches or half an hour dancing with the kids on the XBox and I've forgotten I wanted to eat in the first place.

~Cheri

I believe I think about food just as much now as I did before surgery...which means all the time. The difference is I can't indulge my cravings each and every time like I did before, and that makes it hard to deal with. The only way I know to deal with it is to stay busy and log those crappy foods before I eat them...seeing them on my food diary makes them much less appealing.

I am working on just avoiding See's all together. This will be hard....I do graze on proteins basically, but the calories do sneak up there. So today I had 1/2 a quest bar and felt really good about it. In fact I felt full. I have been just eating the whole bar without being mindful of my fullness. Today I went shopping and my urge did go away. And I did get hungry at the appropriate time. I also made myself a tea and forgot to drink it so I'm drinking it right now.....Perhaps as time goes on and we stay on top of this, our habits will take over....IDK...... Anyways, this is quite a journey and now I totally understand what the surgeon meant when she said this is the hardest thing I will ever to to my daughter. Oh, and she also see's it too. LOL

I have only been into Sees twice. I manage to avoid even walking by it now!! I'm with you, IDK about the old habits, but I AM developing new ones, so hopefully they'll be the norm one of these days!!! All the 'head' stuff is the most difficult, but it is easier than it was 2 years ago, at least I "recognize" myself now!! LoL I'm telling you, going shopping takes our mind OFF wanting to graze!!! Good for you!!

I think you hit it when you used the word "mindfulness" because that's where we need to be.

Old (bad, bad, bad) habits we had before sleeves:

Eating quickly

Not tasting our food

Not focusing on our meal and taking time to enjoy it

Making easy choices, not good ones

Being mindful about food helps a lot for me. And I have to be very careful about this as I've transitioned from maintenance to loss again. It's not the same way of eating, and it does hit home that I really did indulge in sloppy eating habits in maintenance, simply because I could do it and not gain any weight.

I start my day and first thing I log my food plan for the day in MFP. Then I stick to it. And I find that for me, this works. I don't think about food or fantasize about what I might eat later...I just stick to my plan. Provided I'm not feeling particularly stressed or hormonal, it's like it trips a trigger and I all of a sudden just don't care about food. I'm not busying planning my next meal; I've already done it. I'm not wondering what's in the kitchen for snacking; I've logged my snack already. In fact, instead of sitting around grazing, I'm missing meal times again like the early days.

When it's time to eat, I'm mindful about my food.

When it's time to live life, I try to focus on all the other things I have in my life.

And when all else fails and that head hunger won't go away? I exercise...some jumping jacks, push ups and crunches or half an hour dancing with the kids on the XBox and I've forgotten I wanted to eat in the first place.

~Cheri

Logging AHEAD of time, that's something to think about. A good idea, thanks! I have "searched" for something that I may eat later, to see if it's "worth it". I like your idea though.

I think you hit it when you used the word "mindfulness" because that's where we need to be.

Old (bad' date=' bad, bad) habits we had before sleeves:

Eating quickly

Not tasting our food

Not focusing on our meal and taking time to enjoy it

Making easy choices, not good ones

Being mindful about food helps a lot for me. And I have to be very careful about this as I've transitioned from maintenance to loss again. It's not the same way of eating, and it does hit home that I really did indulge in sloppy eating habits in maintenance, simply because I could do it and not gain any weight.

I start my day and first thing I log my food plan for the day in MFP. Then I stick to it. And I find that for me, this works. I don't think about food or fantasize about what I might eat later...I just stick to my plan. Provided I'm not feeling particularly stressed or hormonal, it's like it trips a trigger and I all of a sudden just don't care about food. I'm not busying planning my next meal; I've already done it. I'm not wondering what's in the kitchen for snacking; I've logged my snack already. In fact, instead of sitting around grazing, I'm missing meal times again like the early days.

When it's time to eat, I'm mindful about my food.

When it's time to live life, I try to focus on all the other things I have in my life.

And when all else fails and that head hunger won't go away? I exercise...some jumping jacks, push ups and crunches or half an hour dancing with the kids on the XBox and I've forgotten I wanted to eat in the first place.

~Cheri[/quote']

I like this I am going to try this. Then I can see my calorie count and make a mindful decision on whether it's worth it or not. I am going to try this. I do know that dawn had suggested this also but I didn't follow though. Monday will be 1st planned day.

I like this