I've been struggling with staying on track for some time now, and I've regained more than I care to admit, so I'm reading everything I can get my hands on to try to help myself. Part of my problem is sugar issues - I consider myself an addict, and a small slip can send me spiraling into days (or weeks) of off-track eating and snacking. The rest of my problem is what feels like flagging motivation. I think back to those weeks, even pre-op, when I was SO DETERMINED. I had all the motivation in the world, and nothing could derail me. Making good choices felt easy (once I detoxed from sugar AND CARBS). I find myself wondering what happened to that person, and how to get her back in my life!

One of the best reads I've come across is Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard. It's not geared specifically towards weight loss, but it takes a look at the psychology behind change and motivation, and the conflict between rational desire for a long-term goal, and emotional desire for immediate reward. It also discusses something called "solutions focused therapy", which gets at an issue that's frustrated me in the past when I've sought help for eating behavior problems. It's all very interesting to delve into the WHY of my emotional eating, but it didn't help me much with what I cared about - what to DO about it. I got a lot of info the authors of this book call "TBU" - True, But Useless. Solutions-Focused Therapy focuses on figuring out what success looks like, and on what's worked in the past, and how to build on it.

Anyway, I may not be paraphrasing it very well, but I highly recommend it. It's been out long enough that you'd likely be able to get your hands on a copy through your local library without there being a lengthy hold list.

Thanks!

We are all struggling with the same issues. I will look into this book. I know that when I do eat sugar, I get more and more cravings for it. I want to eat more these days and I'm not hungry. I know it's head hunger.

Have you looked into the 5:2 diet? I finally did it and I lost 2lbs and kept it off for day 2 too.

I so admire those of you doing the 5:2 - sounds like you're having some awesome success over there! I hope to join up with you at some point, but at the moment just getting through a day with 1200 calories and avoiding sugar and carbs is a pretty big task for me, even if I'm NOT hungry, and I definitely would be at 500 calories. I don't want to make the sugar detox any harder than it has to be - baby steps until I've got the hang of it. Once I get over the worst of it, I may give intermittent fasting a try. Thanks!!

Escape Pod....I have not read the book you recommended....but I could have written everything else you wrote. I can't give myself even the slightest amount of sweets, or I end up wanting more and more. I recently went on a carb binge that lasted almost a month, after...as you say....having no trouble staying motivated and strong for over a year. I think it started with me letting myself have a small piece of this or that. Which lead to more and more often, which lead to everyday for several weeks....me eating candy, donuts, whatever I could get. Anything sweet.

Anyway, it took some effort...but after 3 weeks off the sweets, I'm finally starting to feel like my old self again. I think I've got my cravings much more under control and I've lost a few pounds that I regained.

The way I did it was with a tool I read about called Fluid loading which is an RNY tactic for controlling hunger. You eat a normal meal. Then wait 2 hours before drinking. Seems harsh but it's not bad after the first couple of days. After the 2 hours, you spend the next 2 hours sipping at a regular pace...but continually sipping. By the end of that, you should be getting quite hungry. Once you are, you do the fluid load...you drink 16oz of Water as fast as you can. For me that means I chug about 8 oz and then keep topping off over the next 5 minutes or so. This will quell the need to eat for about 20-30 minutes. Once the hunger comes back and the bloated feeling has past....eat again. Then it starts all over. The first few days were like the first week after surgery. Eating and drinking on a timer seemed...forced. But after a few days it became routine and quite easy. Now it seems perfectly normal. It prolongs satiety between meals. And it prevents grazing and snacking because you're too busy playing this drinking game with the clock. By the time genuine hunger comes back you're full of water, by the time the water passes it's time to eat. At the end of the day, I've not been hungry, my fluid intake is up, and my calories for the day have been down by an average of 300-500 per day...simply because there wasn't enough time in the day to eat more following this schedule. I really like everything about it so far and my cravings are all but gone.

Interesting ... definitely sounds worth a try! Honestly, I find the 45 minutes after a meal the toughest of the day - I have the hardest time stopping eating. Did gum for awhile but I'm thinking that might have been counter-productive. At work is the hardest, so at the moment I'm trying out finding work that gets me away from my desk until it's time to drink Water again. So, I'm afraid for me that masking the hunger isn't usually what I need. Part of it's habit, part of it's a tendency to eat for comfort when under stress, part of it's the physical side of sugar and carbs.

When you mentioned using a timer, that rang a bell with me, because I've used a timer as a way to help get through the 45 minutes after a meal. Sometimes I think a part of it is just a tendency toward obsessing with something, and the key is to make sure that something isn't food.

Thanks for sharing - I really do think it's a matter of trying a bunch of strategies to see what helps you (or helps you for now?), so the more strategies we can share, the better for everyone. I'll add this to my list of things to try.

Oh, and huge kudos for being off sweets for 3 weeks! I'm sure you must be past the most dangerous stage, so it should be smoother sailing for now. I'm only 10 days out, so my "on-track-ness" feels a bit more fragile. I keep swearing I'm going to start using the other kitchen at work - it's smaller, and gets less traffic, so the donuts and pastries and chocolate folks bring in doesn't end up there ... kind of like the candy-free aisle some grocery stores have started.

Oh man I need to shop at a candy free grocery store. I am so sick of seeing candy bars at the checkout of every place on earth. Even the hardware store has candy racks now....right next to the credit card machine. Those little suckers jump into my basket without me even realizing it.

I'm also in the same boat. In fact I'm exploring through the forum for help. I'm 8 months out. And can't some days stop eating. I workout sometimes 4 xs a week. But usually 2-3 times. But I need help

It's hard. food is everywhere.

It's easy in the beginning because after surgery, it's hard to eat, and we are so full so fast. Now that we can eat fairly normally again, it's hard not to go back to old habits. Having the sleeve takes just as much willpower to stay away from junk as it does without a sleeve.

If someone knows good strategies I'd be thrilled to hear them. I know at work, I have to cover the candy bowls with file folders.

Thanks for this, I'm struggling ...

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smoggy...don't "like" that your struggling, "like" bc I am, too.

Thanks for this' date=' I'm struggling ...

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Been there. Done that. Continue to do it some days! Just some thoughts. Have you tried going back to basics like not drinking before and after for 30 mins. Eating Protein first THEN other stuff. Eating smaller meals 2-3 hours apart and including plenty of variety so you don't get bored of it all? And what MOSTLY are you struggling with? Losing, not losing, not having food as a crutch, or life issues it self.

Would love to help you guys. There are plenty of us who have been through it or still going through it.

Been there. Done that. Continue to do it some days! Just some thoughts. Have you tried going back to basics like not drinking before and after for 30 mins. Eating Protein first THEN other stuff. Eating smaller meals 2-3 hours apart and including plenty of variety so you don't get bored of it all? And what MOSTLY are you struggling with? Losing' date=' not losing, not having food as a crutch, or life issues it self.

Would love to help you guys. There are plenty of us who have been through it or still going through it.[/quote']

Thanks for this advice, it SHOULD be obvious but it is often hard to see what is as plain as the nose on your face!

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