Sad about missing food

[livvsmum 2,368]

PLEASE tell me I am not the only one who literally gets sad to the point of tears over not having food. I was sleeved 6/3 so am 8 days post op and the past couple days were hard, as to see why my body is healing nicely and I'm not worried about that, I'm worried about not having food. I am in full liquids but so ready for some density or flavor to eat. When I see people eat or food around it makes me sad almost to the point of tears! Your mind is such as strong influence I never realized how much head hunger I have. Oh & food commercials on tv used to be nothing.. Now I'm practically drooling over anything that pops up on tv edible. Yall am I alone?

That is definitely something I struggled with big time. I was totally emotional for the first few weeks after surgery. Food was my coping mechanism for many, many years, and when that is gone, it is a difficult thing. You mourn it in a way. What I had to realize (and 21 months later I am still working on) is that my missing of "food" is not really about food, but is about what was going on underlying the desire to comfort myself with food. I highly recommend "When Food Is Love" by Geneen Roth. It helped change my way of thinking about food altogether. But what you are going through I think for those of us who were addicted to food is completely normal. I write about it a lot in my blog (linked in siggy) feel free to check it out.

[NoMoreWeightNJ 225]

This happened to me tonight at my mother's birthday party! I actually haven't had any real cravings until tonight, I just really wanted a slice of that ice cream cake and knew it wasn't a good choice. I'm about 3.5 weeks out from surgery. I reminded myself that I had frozen yogurt earlier this week and felt a little better. Eyes on the prize....the cake won't give me health and long life the way eating well will.

[AmyC007 2]

I was sad about feed in the few weeks after post op. Now at 3 months I am attempting new foods. The only thing is that foods I used to love now turns me off. It might change. I'm trying not to eat bread because it fills you up. For me, once a food addict. Always a food addict. One Day at a Time...

[a~new~me~in15 21]

I am so living this right now! I am 5days post op and incrediby hungry! Though it is no fun, I am happy to know I am not the only one But it makes me very scared that I will not learn to eat right and I will be right back here in a few years.

[SlimJill 291]

I am 5 weeks post-op and still mourning food. Although it is much better now that I can eat a variety of foods.

I talked to my therapist and she recommended I make a journal where I say goodbye to food, to mourn the death of that toxic relationship.

I try to avoid food occasions, like eating out, dinner parties, etc where I will be tempted by food I can't eat.

[DreamWeaver44 30]

I don't think I was ever "sad". Frustrated a little bit perhaps. I chuckle now, but at the one month mark, I was waking up like a 13 year old boy, feverish from desire of a wet dream. But my dreams were of a pizza slice being lfted and the cheese stretching like they do on commercials. Or it would be a giant burger with everything on it and I would be taking a big manly bite of it instead of the nibble of beef Jerky I get now.

But that month told me something disturbing about myself. I was literally addicted to food. Here I am, a grown man, fantasizing about food. When you put it into context, it all seems a little silly to get so worked up over food. It's not like I can never have it again, I can just have a little.

I'm almost at one month, and I feel you... I've taken to asking friends to describe what they ate over the weekend! It's like a food porn thing! Lol! I'm losing weight, and that helps, but sometimes I think, "Anyone would lose weight if they could only eat yogurt and boost"... (shrug) It's a process... the hardest part is working on the mental addiction.

[DreamWeaver44 30]

No your not alone I'm about 18 day's post op and I'm not used to eating slowly or leaving food behind, I love food I enjoyed cooking and now I dream of the day I can eat a burger again lol

I so relate to this... I always inhaled my food, and NEVER left food behind. I'm almost a month post-op and that's been the hardest part! I tried to eat a whole egg mashed with mustard and got painfully sick. It's frustrating because it's like you want to say to your stomach, "Are you kidding?" I used to feed you 3 big macs and fries and now you won't let me eat a single egg in one sitting? And you start to get down, and think, "If I could just eat like regular skinny people - I would be happy to do THAT now!" But we are here bc (or I am) bc I had no self-control. The surgery is a drastic measure, but I shouldn't fool myself, it took that to stop me from eating myself to death. It's hard to accept... but it's getting easier every day. I have to learn to say, "That tasted amazing... and I can have some more at my next meal maybe or tomorrow." (one day at a time)

Edited June 16, 2015 by DreamWeaver44

[bariatricnurse823 2]

I'm not getting sleeved until august, but sometimes my patients wake up after surgery and ask for pizza 3 hours later..and I have to be like, maybe 3 months from now! I can imagine the frustration

[MsTodd 2]

Because screw that Apple, it kept starting at me like you can't eat me so I thought Apple murder was the perfect rebuttal!!

SCREW THAT APPLE! Love it. Yes I am very emotional about food. And about my family eating food without me. I feel left out, lonely, scared, etc. WTF did I do to myself??

[TXBrittBritt 48]

Because screw that Apple, it kept starting at me like you can't eat me so I thought Apple murder was the perfect rebuttal!!

SCREW THAT APPLE! Love it. Yes I am very emotional about food. And about my family eating food without me. I feel left out, lonely, scared, etc. WTF did I do to myself??

I know it! I have the same feeling but instead of Apple murder I have decided to start journaling... It seems to help sometimes! And I can write all the things that I think I my head down instead of saying them to my poor family!

I can see now that there will be good days and bad days! But it will be totally worth it! I am down 15 pounds since surgery on June 1!

[Barbara01 1]

I so understand I had the surgery on May 20th, I mourned and still mourn the loss of the food I used to eat, this week the food in mourning in Chinese Food, the first week after the surgery it was Hamburgers, I like the post that said these show us how we used food to our detriment. You can mourn, know that it is normal and will pass

[roseluv3 33]

I had this happen to me yesterday. I'm on my 3rd day two week liquid diet. I was giving my kids dinner that my very very italian mother had made them. I was almost in tears serving my kids. I wasn't sure if I was crying cause I'm on a liquid diet or because I'm not sure if I will ever get to eat those food again. This was a reality check for me.

[SlimJill 291]

Tonight was so difficult. I am 5 weeks post-op and my parents ate pizza hut pizza tonight. I wanted to say "please don't buy it, please don't bring it around me" but I know it isn't fair to expect others to change their lives as I have... when it took surgery for me to change.

I was literally almost in tears, shaking, irritable, fidgeting. Pizza hut used to be my crack, I used to eat a whole pizza in 1 sitting by myself. Was very hard to sit there eating my lean Protein and smelling their pizza...

But I did it. We need to Celebrate our little victories too. I'm fighting an addiction. And I've got to say I'm doing damn good so far!

[meowmers 16]

I am a week post op and am guilty of chewing & spitting once every few days or so. It's usually with something crunchy and salty. The first time I did this was pre op with a kettle cooked potato chip. The texture and crunch was satisfying.

I obviously don't want to make this a habit and I am pretty sure once I get on my soft foods phase and have more options I will cut it out. The liquids are BORING

[SlimJill 291]

I am a week post op and am guilty of chewing & spitting once every few days or so. It's usually with something crunchy and salty. The first time I did this was pre op with a kettle cooked potato chip. The texture and crunch was satisfying.

I obviously don't want to make this a habit and I am pretty sure once I get on my soft foods phase and have more options I will cut it out. The liquids are BORING

I definitely think moving onto soft foods stage will make your chew and spit habit go away. It did for me! Once I could eat cheese, tuna fish, crab, shrimp, chicken, etc it became A LOT easier. It gets better! That liquid diet was horrible!