How do you break the habit?

[JaneDarcy 9]

I have been waking up for so long, years in fact, with the intent to eat right all day and end up giving up by lunch or dinner. That's one of the reasons I have decided to have surgery. However, in the pathway to get the surgery we are required to change our ways and lose weight in the process. I desperately need advice on how to break the habit. How have you been able to change your ways prior to the surgery?

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[James Marusek 5,244]

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery 3 years ago. One of the first changes I made was to give up my 6 diet coke a year habit. One of the requirements of the program was to stop consuming caffeine and carbonated beverages. So I decided to do this early. I lost 20 pounds on that change alone. But be forewarned. I suffered through a week of severe caffeine withdrawal (severe headaches and body aches) when I went cold turkey.

Another thing you could do is to restrict yourself from drinking any fluids when you eat a meal. Drinking fluids during a meal allows you to consume more food.

Another change you could make is to restrict you intake from processed sugar. Substitute artificial sugar such as Splenda or natural low calorie sugar such as Stevia in its place.

[Malin 470]

One change at a time...that's what I'm attempting. Don't make all the changes all at once. One at a time and slowly works for me.

[MowryRocks 679]

I started out with a specific plan. I decided to do a 1200 calorie diet. I did a 1200 calorie modified ketogenic diet Monday through Friday and on the weekends I still did 1200 calories, but if I wanted something specific on the weekend, I had it and kept within my calories. I did this for the first three months of my 6 month medically supervised diet before going full Keto for the last three months.

I ate the same thing everyday for Breakfast and lunch.

Breakfast:

2 eggs, any style and a Oikos Triple Zero yogurt (any flavor)

For lunch I had a Premier Protein shake and a Sargento Balanced Break.

For dinner, I had 2-4oz of meat, with a steamed vegetable.

Since the diet was high in Protein, it made it easier because I wasn't hungry as often. It really kept me satisfied.

If I felt like I needed a snack, I had one. Typically sugar free Jell-O or sugar free pudding.

I also stopped caffeine right away. I figured why prolong the inevitable.

Good Luck finding the right thing for you!

[Djmohr 6,965]

Best advice is to remove one thing at a time. Start with things like:

1.) Stop drinking carbonated beverages, even if they are diet. You will need to stay away from carbonation.

2.) Stop drinking caffeine, this also helps with hunger control

3.) Try to remove all processed foods from your diet: chips, crackers, junk.....even things like boxed macaroni and cheese. it will be important to get in the habit of cooking your food from scratch so you know what is in it. There is so much crap in processed foods and the carbs from them actually make you crave these types of foods. Thats why you can take down a box of cheese its in one sitting. It adds NO nutritional value so you need to make them go away if you are eating them.

4.) Remove Pasta, rice, bread, pastries, cereals, all sweets from your diet. These are foods that also spike your glucose levels and create cravings.

5.) Try to change to more whole foods that will keep you fuller longer: chicken, Fish, Beef, Pork, Cottage cheese, greek yogurt, Beans, fresh veggies, some fresh fruits.

6.) change your beverage of choice to Water - you will learn to drink alot of Water through this process. For me, this was easy but for others this is difficult. I start drinking water from the moment i get up in the morning and drink at least 48 to 64 oz per day.

7.) Start walking and add a little more eveyday

8.) Try to remove drinking while eating. Wait for at least 30 minutes after you are done eating before drinking water again. This is one of the hardest things to do post surgery but it is really critical because it will flush your foods down and allow you to eat more.

9.) Practice chewing your food like crazy. This will be important and it is harder than most think to do. Still 2 years post surgery i find myself not chewing and I get food stuck. When that happens post surgery, it hurts and it basically ends your meal.

10.) Slow down when you eat. Again sounds easy but it is not. This allows your brain time to know that your full and you wont overeat.

11.) Remove distractions while eating. we mindlessly eat when not paying attention. Again, not an easy one to break but you can do it.

Some of these are much easier than others but honestly if you can work on one or two at a time, it will set you up for success post surgery.

Best of luck to you!

[WLSResources/ClothingExch 3,443]

Very few go from 0 to 60 without passing through 59 other speeds. We've all had "the intent," but most get nowhere without some actionplan to back it up. Example, if eating right is a new notion, it doesn't have to be "all day." One meal will do nicely for starters.

My meals are planned in advance for the most part. Whether one day or three, I enter my menus in a food tracker ('My Fitness Pal' is popular and, I'm told, easier to use that my choice at sparkpeople.com). Even so, nothing is carved in stone. I make changes as I please.

"Eating right" is not a reason to have surgery. Surgery eats neither "right" nor "wrong." It's just there doing nothing on its own. You're the one who has to do the work to eat differently, lose weight and whatever else. It really is imperative to understand this. Really. Please.

Edited November 28, 2016 by WLSResources/ClothingExch

[teedsg 250]

@@JaneDarcy, one moment at a time, and you have to really, really want to do better. Then gradually start weening off of 1 thing at a time.

Your health is something you can control. And then you have to know you can get past the bump in the road. Make sure you pray and get a counselor who can hold you accountable. Also, its good to find an inexpensive hobby to keep your mind focused on other things.

It's hard, but it's a behavior you can change gradually.

[LittleBill 2,231]

I was in a 3 month pre-op plan. My wife was not, but she started following my pre-op diet very closely. We both started using My Fitness Pal to keep track of calories. We also stopped buying the stuff that sabotaged us on our good intent. It is one thing to have to walk past it in the store, and it is something else entirely to have it calling out to you while you are sitting at home. If it ain't there, you can't eat it.

Both of those two things combined allowed me to lose 68 lbs pre-op. My wife lost 30 lbs. Neither of us was 100% successful, but we were successful to make a difference all around. Every day is a new day to start over again, and for every day, that is the only day you have to succeed.

[Vinasu 621]

The biggest thing that changed me was tracking food. I just started tracking everything I ate pre-op in Myfitnesspal and it was shocking. I had no idea I was eating that much! Just by tracking I changed so much. I started thinking about everything that goes in my mouth. I started planning: if I eat this now, what about dinner?

Tracking my calories has been a total game-changer, before and after surgery.

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[BettyG 75]

@@JaneDarcy, I struggled like you. Here is what worked for me: tracking. I started tracking my food/water/exercise on the myfitnesspal website. For me, "eating right" was too fuzzy... I didn't succeed until I tracked. I started just tracking carbs. Then I added a Protein goal. Then worked on fat/carb/protein and calories. Then I got a FitBit and started tracking my steps.

Start small and build up, step by step. Maybe you gave up by lunch/dinner because you ate too little (and not enough protein/fat) for Breakfast. When you eat enough protein/fat and limit carbs, you can reduce calories and lose weight WITHOUT being hungry.

Tracking helped me SO much. If I screwed up on lunch, all was not lost -- I could still use my dinner and afternoon snack to get my calories/protein/carbs back in balance for the day. If I screwed up on all of Monday, all was not lost -- I had 6 more days to have the correct average of daily calorie goal.

And the best part of myfitnesspal was the support -- every time I completed my food diary, my friends would like it and post encouraging messages on my wall. Every time I got discouraged, my friends would cheer me up.

And it became addicting and fun to try and beat my goals with my FitBit. If I noticed late at night that I was only a few hundred steps short of my goal, I would pace the living room to get those last steps so that my FitBit would buzz in notification and congratulations of my victory, and I would go to bed feeling proud of myself.

So.... that is how I broke most of my bad habits. Tracking! :-)

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[BettyG 75]

Oh wow, I just noticed after my post on tracking that I came right after @@Vinasu talking about tracking, LOL. (*high five to Vinasu*)

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[BettyG 75]

And LittleBill.... (I should have read the whole thread before replying to the OP, lol)

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[teedsg 250]

@@JaneDarcy, another thing you want to do is to learn how to listen to your body. there's a difference between being full and satisfied and knowing what physical hunger, regular hunger, and what a craving is.

I know you know what the differences are, just wanted to reiterate it again:

Physical hunger - growling noise you and maybe someone else can hear it.

hungry - you will eat and wait to eat the right foods, (you can battle this with water), and you don't want a specific junk food or drink

craving - you want a specific junk food you can do a cleanse to help you fight off the craving. I use ParaGuard by Zahler nutrition.

[JaneDarcy 9]

Thank you all for responding to my post. Tracking has been hard for me because I quit tracking once I've eaten something I know will put me over for the day. I really appreciate the advice. I will keep at it.

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[Julie norton 2,850]

Best advice is to remove one thing at a time. Start with things like:

1.) Stop drinking carbonated beverages, even if they are diet. You will need to stay away from carbonation.

2.) Stop drinking caffeine, this also helps with hunger control

3.) Try to remove all processed foods from your diet: chips, crackers, junk.....even things like boxed macaroni and cheese. it will be important to get in the habit of cooking your food from scratch so you know what is in it. There is so much crap in processed foods and the carbs from them actually make you crave these types of foods. Thats why you can take down a box of cheese its in one sitting. It adds NO nutritional value so you need to make them go away if you are eating them.

4.) Remove Pasta, rice, bread, pastries, cereals, all sweets from your diet. These are foods that also spike your glucose levels and create cravings.

5.) Try to change to more whole foods that will keep you fuller longer: chicken, Fish, Beef, Pork, Cottage cheese, greek yogurt, Beans, fresh veggies, some fresh fruits.

6.) change your beverage of choice to Water - you will learn to drink alot of Water through this process. For me, this was easy but for others this is difficult. I start drinking water from the moment i get up in the morning and drink at least 48 to 64 oz per day.

7.) Start walking and add a little more eveyday

8.) Try to remove drinking while eating. Wait for at least 30 minutes after you are done eating before drinking water again. This is one of the hardest things to do post surgery but it is really critical because it will flush your foods down and allow you to eat more.

9.) Practice chewing your food like crazy. This will be important and it is harder than most think to do. Still 2 years post surgery i find myself not chewing and I get food stuck. When that happens post surgery, it hurts and it basically ends your meal.

10.) Slow down when you eat. Again sounds easy but it is not. This allows your brain time to know that your full and you wont overeat.

11.) Remove distractions while eating. we mindlessly eat when not paying attention. Again, not an easy one to break but you can do it.

Some of these are much easier than others but honestly if you can work on one or two at a time, it will set you up for success post surgery.

Best of luck to you!

This should be mandatory reading for all going into Wls. At any stage. Great basic info!!