I really need to know how some of you got over your head issues with food.

I'm to the point where I'm almost hating my band and wishing I never had it done. Yet, it's not the band's fault, it's MINE for not getting my shit together. I can't even make it a week eating right.

Is there any advice (aside from therapy; nothing against it, I'm just looking for other types of advice also) for people like me?

I struggle with the fact that I see myself eat so LITTLE. That just doesn't make sense to me sometimes. So I will 'force' another bite (clean your plate syndrome perhaps) and pay for it with a stuck. Months out, and its still new day to day.

Keeps it exciting!!

I think that this is something that we will have to work on for the rest of our lives.

I go to my theripst everyonce in a while. She is fantastic because she knows where I'm coming from. She has her stomach stapeled in 97.

The thing that works best for me is the reminder of my port and that the band is here to help me get back on the wagon.

I accept the choices I have made. I do get frustrated with myself at times but it is so much easier to get back on the bandwagon now.

Good luck, hang in there and don't be to hard on yourself.

Thank you for all the kind words.

I've scheduled another fill and I'm going to talk to the doctor about this when I go. It helped venting here, though!

I think a lot of it depends on which head issues you are dealing with. There are all kinds of them, such as:

Clean plate club,

Not comprehending the small amounts of food today vs. yesterday,

Emotional eating,

Social eating,

Eating due to being bored,

Food enjoyment,

Food punishment,

And the list goes on and on.

I think the key is to determine what your individual head issues are and when you recognize "what" the issues are you have an easier time dealing with them.

Notice the difference in the newbies posting vs. the old timers? The newbie posts are ALL about what can I eat? How much can I eat? Will I be able to eat cake and bread? How will I survive not eating pie and pizza? There are actually posts where they absolutely swear they will just die if they can't have tacos and beer.

Then they get a little lap band time under their belt and they see the scale moving and they are proud that they gave up soda and bread. They miss it but they are realizing they are surviving anyway.

Then the old timers... food? Who cares. They eat when they are hungry.

I think a lot of it comes from time and getting used to the life style and accepting that there are some foods that just plain don't work and realizing we aren't going to die from not drinking soda. There are other things to do in life but eat and other ways of coping without being T-Day stuffed. It just takes time and a willingness to be open to new things in life.

Don't be too hard on yourself. We didn't get these habits and issues over night, they aren't going to go away that quickly either.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Your posts always help!

Very good points, Bubble

I was going to say too that it depends on which head issues you're dealing with.

I have to say though, since I have gotten the proper fill, I am not interested in eating. Looking at food almost makes me nauseous.

If you tell us what head issues are giving you the most trouble, maybe we can be of more help.

Thanks Denise. Your posts always make me feel like I'm not alone in what I'm going through. :eek:

I am reading a book to try do "self-therapy" if you will. It's very good at helping us realize where the "head hunger" comes from and to try to get to the root of emotion/stress and express it in a way other than eating. It's called "Life is hard, food is easy". I ordered it from Amazon and it's really good.

I just placed an order for it!

You're welcome Maurdan. You definitely are not alone in this.

Lap band talk really has been a life saver for me. I was really

unhappy with my weight loss and felt like I was the only one

who wasn't losing. I was eating right and exercising almost

every day. It's only since I got this last fill, that I can barely

eat. I am not sure if I like it, but I sure have been losing better.

I don't really want to snack, because I just feel so darn full all

the time. Like I said, I am not sure if I like it, but I did pay

10,000.00 and take a 2nd mortgage out on my house to lose weight, so I am going to stick with it for awhile longer before

I decide if I should get a little bit more taken out. I am not

pbing, so I guess this is how it's supposed to be.

Was reading all of these replies and I thank everyone for saying what they are saying. I was thinking today and getting very frustrated. It is almost three weeks since I have been banded and it seems that my band will take anything. I have been told to watch just in case the stitches rupture inside. My frustration comes from not feeling full and always wanting to eat. It is like I am back to where I started. The cookies today just found my mouth and I just get so angry because I have spent $16,0000 and I should be able to control this. I figured with spending this much it would be so easy. I am hoping that maybe once I get my first fill things will change and maybe by then I will get my mind around this. I am not going to give up on this one, because I am tierd of being unhealthy. I have to realize that the band is just a tool to help. I think it is more mind over matter!!

I got banded in Dec. I am almost 9 months since I was banded.

I am just now, getting to where I feel the band is really helping me.

Before this,it was major willpower.

Sheila, you are a long way from having enough fills for the band to do it's job.

That is what I was hoping to hear Denise. Thanks. I guess I am just a little overanxious. Do you mind me asking you how many fills you have had so far?

Sheila...

There is nothing "easy" about the band. NOTHING!

The difference is that this is the kind of hard WE can do.

Get a fill and when your band is functioning then you can expect results but right now it is like you just bought the most expensive tires on the market for your car, let all the air out of them, and you are questioning why your car won't go fast.

Give your band a chance to function before you get frustrated and NEVER say this is easy or you thought it would be easy. It's not easy. But we can do *this* unlike traditional diet/exercise.

No I don't mind at all. I have had 4. I lost weight after each one, but it was almost hard to keep it off. The restriction didn't last. Since I have had this 4th one though, it's almost like I have to force myself to eat.

Feel free to ask me anything.