I am new to this great site that I recently found and I am in need of some guidance. I am in Canada and the process takes approx. 1 1/2 -2 years from the time you enter into the bariatric program until you have surgery. You have to go to your nurse, dietician, psychologist, bariatric program Doctor etc. many many times before you are even sent to see a surgeon. Once you get referred to the surgeon you are looking at another 9-12 months before surgery. Here is my issue...... I want this surgery so bad but my obvious gross eating habits are going to get in the way of continuing in the program. I have to lose weight each time I see someone in the clinic (or at least maintain) and I feel like I am self sabatoging the process. I can't stop this binge eating and yet on the other hand I know I HAVE to or I will NEVER get the surgery. I have spoke to the Psychologist and she tells me that I just have to think before I eat but as we know it is not just that easy. Please Please Please reply to me and tell me how you succeeded in getting your eating under control before your surgery?

Thank you all for responding it feels wonderful to know there are people out there I can talk to about the feelings I am experiencing and the hurdles I am putting up myself by binge eating. I don't have any close friends to speak to about any of this as the majority of my friends are at a very healthy weight. I am not comfortable talking to them about any of this in fact non of my good friends even know that I have been on this journey with the bariatric weight loss clinic for over a year now. I just told my daughter's about this process last week and they do not understand why I can't just "diet and exercise". I have made myself a promise this morning that when I want to eat a big bag of junk food that I will #1 NOT BUY IT and #2 sign onto this site for support. Did any of you experience slight allergies when you were heavy? I have found that in the past 2 years I feel a kind of shortness of breath and my nose is plugged. I am not sure but I think I may also have a gluten sensitivity which I completely ignore as well. I need to take care of ME for once and put on my big girl panties and be strong and vigilant and start getting healthy! Love and Light to all that read this and post a comment to help me through this process!!!

Hi there, you are in good company here. If we could have lost our weight through diet and exercise then why would we need weight loss surgery? I just had a few flaxseeds in my little portion of yogurt and fruit -- a few nuts. Prior to my surgery I would not have been able to have just one serving -- I would have had a lot. Probably drizzled a bunch of maple syrup on it as well. Then I may have gone looking for something else. It was that way with me, the more, more, more. Having my appetite dimmed by the band has allowed me to be satisfied on a small portion of food. It is heaven being out of food jail. So don't be hard on yourself -- most if not all of us have been where you are right now. It's a desperate feeling.

Here's the thing -- how to comply with whatever hoops you need to navigate in order to get what you want. When I saw your height and weight so similar to mine I immediately wanted to ask you about whether there is any kind of BMI requirement. For instance my insurance required a minimum BMI of 40. Others (and this is here in the States, I have no idea about Canada) have a 35. My insurance company did not care about co-morbidities (some roll those into the equation); I had to be at 250 or I couldn't get them to pay for the surgery. I just want to make sure you are "allowed" to lose weight -- that you will still qualify. They really have us over a barrel, don't they? Sorry to throw that into the works but just while you're gathering all the information and making a plan.

You have taken a really big step already in deciding to choose yourself and your healthy future -- this will make you stronger and fiercer in your life, able to do things you might not have imagined before. Don't give up! There are two things I was really glad I did while I was going through the process: I upped my exercise. I didn't want to but I did it anyway and that helped me tremendously. Also I got a therapist to go through the process with me. We really worked on identifying my triggers for emotional eating, eating from boredom and habit, stress eating, rewarding myself eating. You know, eating, eating, eating. We got down to the brass tacks of it all -- the when and where. It was tedious but I'm so glad I did it as we were able to identify some very particular situations which don't trip me up anymore because I can see them coming. The other thing I did was spend a lot of time reading through posts on this site. It got to be so I could spot the successful people right away and I followed them. If there were negative posts I just skipped them, did not engage. I asked questions and people were so generous with information -- I took what felt right and left the rest behind.

Good luck to you -- you are worth all of this, you deserve this and you will find success!

Try to change and maintain one habit change per week. Give up soda. Then add walking around the block once a day. Then add putting your fork down between bites. You get the idea. Treat this as a project. You'll make lifestyle changes now that you'll need later anyway. First thing I had to do as required by the psychologist was give up tv eating.

I also find Overeaters Anonymous helps me process the feelings.

Edited October 10, 201411 yr by JustWatchMe

I do not know if this is true but I wanted to add something: I understand it takes 3 weeks for something to become a habit. Maybe it would be easier to do one change as was suggested, but just 1 for 3 weeks and then go on?

What do you think would help YOU better? 1 a week, 1 a day, 1 every 2 weeks, change? I'd rather target to the person so it works for them.

I think for me I need for sure 2 weeks per change as to much to fast will be overwhelming and I will end up on a binge.

They want you to loose weight continuously for the next 9-12 months?

I'm not sure about others her, but in my case, it was the fact I could not get my eating under control, the primary reason I needed this surgery...

Believe me, I wish I did not need to do this, but there was no other choice. It was last resort after everything else failed.

BTW, Lap Band surgery did cure me of binge eating, emotional eating, and just plain overeating in general....

That's a tough one to do this for that long!! Best of luck. I don't really know if my "advice" works or not so "take it with a grain of salt!" These are just things that, if I had to do it over again, I would do.

-- start going to a support group now. Do you have an Overeater's Anonymous group in your area? You're going to have to find one for after surgery anyway so might as well start now.

-- you need to understand that you are a food addict. that is why the above group is important

-- Slow down. On everything. See some items below.

-- Stop counting calories, start counting grams of Protein. We (post surgery) need to get in around 60-90 grams of protein a day. To do this, it is best to eat some protein every couple of hours. Try this:

-- Breakfast: 1 or 2 eggs (I do hard boiled only because I can carry it to work and eat it there); and a Kashi bar (I eat the Trail Mix Chew Granola Bar)

-- About an hour later I have a Fit and Light yogurt (in the purple container, or a Protein shake (you could also have the protein shake for Breakfast instead of the eggs or especially instead of the kashi bar)

-- always drink a lot of Water BETWEEN meals. Stop drinking water 30 minutes before your meal, such as lunch or dinner

-- for lunch, a couple of ounces of chicken or turkey or fish. I also add some raw veggies (red and green peppers, cherry tomatoes, red onions, cukes, tomatoes) with balsamic vinegar. Sometimes I add some low fat cheese to it. DON'T DRINK anything with your meals, that means any meals!!! Eat slowly, but not too slowly. In other words, chew, chew, chew, but don't go beyond 30 minutes to eat your meal.

- 30 minutes after you stop eating lunch, start drinking your water again.

-- mid day snack of yogurt or Protein Drink or cottage cheese (or some other protein). I've never liked cottage cheese but the ones that are pre-mixed with peaches or pineapple are fabulous!

-- Dinner is lean protein again (about 3-4 oz or the size of a deck of cards), maybe a small bit of brown rice or a baked potato, some veggies (raw, steamed, boiled, etc). Again, don't drink anything with your meal and really chew your food. While chewing, think about how it tastes. When I do this, I sometimes discover that I really don't like it! lol. It's hilarious to discover that.

-- You can have another snack of protein--protein shake, make some string cheese, some low fat cheese (laughing cow is good).

-- EXERCISE!!! This might be just walking to start. Again, you're going to have to do this anyway. I started by getting a pedometer to monitor how many steps I do in a day. Your goal is 10,000 steps in a day. It's a little scary how few steps we take in a day. So, first just do what you normally do to find out how many steps you have been getting in. Once you see that for a few days, try to increase the number of steps.

These are some of the things that you will be doing after surgery. Try them before surgery to see what happens. You can probably add a piece of fruit or 2 each day, and some extra veggies as well. If you eat like that every couple of hours, you really don't get that hungry.

I'm sure I"m forgetting some things but try to do some of these and see what happens. There are some interesting recipes that have been posted on these sites that you can try as well.

Best of luck!! That is a long wait that you have but you can do it!

Edited October 11, 201411 yr by esskay77

Mexico, here I come. It's $4,500 and lots of references right here at Bariatric Pal. 2 years, that's horrible. I have been bitching that it has taken me almost 3 1/2 months from beginning to end for my surgery

Yes two years is along time but I am 13 months in now so I hope that I will be able to get surgery by summer 2015. What do folks that have post op problems do for a Dr here if they have surgery in Mexico? I would be afraid to be left hanging if I had a problem.

Another good snack option that is protein and is very trendy right now is Edamame. It's an appetizer on a lo of menus. I also get it in the frozen foods section. If you go out to eat, share this as an apetizer with the table to fill up on some good protein (don't eat the pods!).

Flaxseed, how about asking the docs? The other is find a GI who has experience with bariatrics. I am here to tell you they are few and far between.

Yes two years is along time but I am 13 months in now so I hope that I will be able to get surgery by summer 2015. What do folks that have post op problems do for a Dr here if they have surgery in Mexico? I would be afraid to be left hanging if I had a problem.

I don't know what the system is in Canada, but I do know a LOT of people from Canada go to Mexico for WLS, so I am sure you could get some answers on the Self-Pay Mexico forums. I'm in the US and I just confirmed with my insurance company that they would cover any hospital visits for dehydration, infection, or complications and they said that they would. I also visited my PCP and scheduled my first round of post-op bloodwork and follow-up prior to having my surgery. She will be monitoring my vitamin/mineral levels and ordering any other tests I might need depending on the outcome. I'm almost 6 weeks post op now and will be having my bloodwork done next week and my appointment with my PCP is on the 24th.

Thank you Alex everyone that has replied to me thus far. I am so desparate and I need this type of community very much. I look forward to learning all I can about how to control my binge eating and lose some weight so I can continue in the program and then have surgery. Any suggestions from you regarding gaining control and eating healthier would be greatly appreciated. thank you all again and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Once I went on the liquid diet, it helped a LOT. I saw immediate success and it helped convince me to take better care of myself. Hopefully you can feel the same success.

GL!

I am undergoing the same thing not far from you. I have qualified for the surgery through a ton of hard work. But its the mental game that had to change, like you said. I told, and keep telling myself, that doing it my way for the first 45 years of my life hasn't worked out that well. So clearly trying something else is the answer. I deferred to their expertise.