I'm dieting to lose as much as I can before surgery (while staying within the BMI range needed for insurance approval.) I've dieted MANY times before, and it is a lot of work! The only thing that has consistently worked for me is logging every single thing I eat. It also requires a huge time commitment in terms of planning every bite I'll take in a day, and thinking about what I'll do if we are going to be somewhere where I will need to eat out. As a result, a huge amount of my time is spent thinking about and planning my eating. It's the only way I can successfully diet. And it's a bit exhausting.

So, here's my worry: am I putting myself in the situation of having my whole life centered around food forever if I go through with the sleeve procedure?

Do you have to plan every single day's eating and think about what you're going to eat ahead of time and log everything forever? Or does it just become second nature, part of life? I would hate to devote a huge chunk of my life to thinking about food! That's one reason I want to have the surgery in the first place -- so food is not such a big part of my day and my mental landscape.

Thinside,

You’ve gotten some good replies here. To some extent, yes, you are going to have a food-centered life if you get WLS and follow the plan. However, wouldn’t you say you have a food-centered life now? For me, at least, the difference is in the control. Before WLS, food controlled me. After WLS, I control it. I may still think about food a lot, but at least now I am winning the battle.

I think different WLS patients are food-centric to different extents. I know people who continue to count every bite and think about food constantly for years after WLS so they can maintain their weight loss. I know other patients who are “over” food after WLS – they don’t really think much about it because it’s just not as appealing or it’s not the outlet it used to be.

You don’t know how WLS will affect you in particular, but I would encourage to think honestly about how much you think about food and how much time you spend on it even when you’re not hard-core dieting. Is it ruling your life?

Good luck with your decision!

Of course I've gone through the tracking/measuring thing in the past with many different diets. And I was really good at it.... Even made computer spreadsheets for data analysis. But like I said before, I had surgery so I wouldn't have to do that anymore. I know it wouldn't seem like I'm OCD to most of you who have read my apparent cavalier posts about not tracking, not weighing, etc, but it's actually the opposite. I am insanely meticulous when it comes to details. Downright obsessed about them in fact. That's why I was able to follow my preop and postop diet instructions so easily.... Detailed rules to abide by with no real variables.

But like @@JamieLogical said, trying to log on days when there are unknowns would make me crazy. Basically, if I can't do it perfectly, I'm not going to do it at all. How in the hell can I log what I eat at a potluck or at the Sizzler buffet I just went to and had a bite or two or three of 8 different things? I know I would obsess over the inaccuracies because I have a Fitbit One and I've forgotten to clip it on sometimes. Knowing my steps for the day are not right stresses me out.

Hmmm, before I logged on here, I was updating my spreadsheets and adding a few more series of data to my graphs, fun stuff like that.

I get obsessed, too. It doesn't take me "10 minutes" to log - I could easily spend a good hour a day logging, planning, updating, etc. Plus all the weighing and prep. It's not just time consuming, it's bloody inconvenient.

In the past, if I couldn't record something (and with the correct weight, down the to the gram) I would just record nothing for the whole day rather than have it be incorrect. Then of course I would go off the rails and weeks later I'd remember I tried to go on a diet recently...

I think I've only been able to stay on track this year because of the promise of surgery at the end of the year. I would just like to not have to think about it too much - at the moment I go from one extreme to the other - I just want 'normal' for once.