I am in the midst of my first really emotionally stressful situation since my surgery. My mother in law passed away yesterday and I am finding myself at a loss. Like many WLS patients I have always celebrated, stressed and grieved with food. I feel lost already and now not being able to cope in the way I always have is making my head spin. I tried a 1/2 a half of a chocolate chip cookie. Ugh!!! Sick to my stomach. Old habits definitely die hard!

First, I am so very sorry for the loss of you MIL. ???? Second, you are also mourning the loss of your previous coping mechanisms. Which is another devastation for you.

While I haven't experienced this myself, a friend did. She used walking EVERY CHANCE SHE GOT to help get her through. She walked 5, sometimes 8 miles at a time. However, sometimes it isn't practical to just leave a house full of family to go walking. She busied herself with all the organization 'stuff' ... making sure everyone had what they needed, putting out more food, making coffee, etc. She was a regular little Holly Hostess. It wasn't perfect & she still called to cry on my shoulder, but it did help her through the worst of it until ahe could get back to her routine.

I hope things get easier for you during this especially difficult time.

First, I am so very sorry for the loss of you MIL. ???? Second, you are also mourning the loss of your previous coping mechanisms. Which is another devastation for you.

While I haven't experienced this myself, a friend did. She used walking EVERY CHANCE SHE GOT to help get her through. She walked 5, sometimes 8 miles at a time. However, sometimes it isn't practical to just leave a house full of family to go walking. She busied herself with all the organization 'stuff' ... making sure everyone had what they needed, putting out more food, making coffee, etc. She was a regular little Holly Hostess. It wasn't perfect & she still called to cry on my shoulder, but it did help her through the worst of it until ahe could get back to her routine.

I hope things get easier for you during this especially difficult time.

Thank you so much! I'll keep those suggestions in mind

I'm so sorry for your loss. And for the loss of your coping mechanism. Even this far out I still miss my coping mechanism and find myself wanting food. I still sometimes eat when under incredible stress. But....I don't eat processed sugar. It takes me FOREVER to make the cravings go away again after I do that. So, as an example this is what I did the last time I really wanted to eat, I ended up eating cherry tomatoes and raw slices of mushrooms. I wasn't able to eat much before I was full. I was still sad, but there was no more room in my little tummy for me to put any food so I had to face my emotions without any more food. I'm hoping that eventually I won't need food at all but for now I'm just happy I don't eat a bunch of junk.

Hang in there