I feel lucky....no scratch that blessed. Not to long ago I felt hopeless and miserable. Here I am today, lost almost 60 pounds. This has changed the ways look at food. I still have lots of mental changes to make and still need to make sure this new found thought process sticks. In the past I have lost weight and I have regained it back with a nice bonus extra weight. What's so different now? The week before surgery when I could only drink Protein shakes had me come to a realization, this is not going to be easy. I already knew it was going to be hard but actually experiencing the hard made me realize what it truly meant. When I came home after surgery my brain wanted food. It wanted to feel good. I even had dreams about food. I cried a lot. I felt like I lost a friend. When I began eating solids is when I realized how much this surgery can really help me with this mental change. I embraced it. Began logging my calories. The scale moving down was exciting! Here I am 3 months later almost 60 pounds lighter...37 pounds away from my goal of 135.

Everyday I have been working on my mental stomach. I have been feeding my mental stomach nourishment. A positive mental outlook on life, a eat to live not live to eat kind of attitude. I read health food magazines, I look at pictures of women with toned bodies rather then admiring skinny women. Every day I look in the mirror and admire what I have accomplished so far. If I don't do this I will fail. I will fail at this losing weight again and this surgery will be for nothing. I will regain the weight back. I lost so far. I didn't get fat because I was physically hungry after all. It wasn't true hunger. It was hunger from my mental stomach begging to be fed. Now I feed it something different. Yes I was a food addict and now I am in recovery and I will always run the risk of relapsing. I have to avoid trigger foods, trigger people, and situations. I avoid revolving fun around food. If we go out to eat I make sure they have healthy choices. Yup this will be a life long battle but I believe it can be won!

Thanks for listening (or reading)

I just wanted share

Great share. Thank you, ruthie.

My surgery date is Nov. 14. I'm still working on the eating plan, learning to sip, eat slow, etc.

I've been looking at this like I'm going to be a new mother and my new stomach is my soon to be born baby. I'm preparing a room for my new baby, which is my body. After the baby is born, I will love it and nurture it, give it the best that life has to offer. And, the vision not only applies to my new stomach. It then loves and embraces the whole me.

I'm enjoying the journey so far in anticipation of my new stomach. And, I know now that it's a lifelong journey of love.

Great read with very good thoughts. This is a good way to look at it.