I've known for many years that I have a problem with food (obviously, I mean you don't become obese without having issues) but I recently came to the realization that I prefer food to pretty much everything. I would choose food over spending time with friends, a concert, shopping, a great movie, a good night's sleep, a vacation, nice clothes, anything. It satisfies me more than anything else. I knew I had a problem but this made me realize that my problem was just as serious of a compulsion as a drug or alcohol addiction. I hope I can defeat this and become healthy, not just physically, but mentally.

An even more disturbing realization is that no wls surgery will fix this type of problem.

5 minutes ago, GreenTealael said:

An even more disturbing realization is that no wls surgery will fix this type of problem.

You have done so well with your weight loss. What did you do to work on your mental health to improve your health?

34 minutes ago, Swanton_Bomb said:

You have done so well with your weight loss. What did you do to work on your mental health to improve your health?

I do not have food addiction issues, so that battle I did not have to fight.

I think society pushes us to believe in a one answer approach to solve ALL of our problems immediately and finally (if this blank happens ... then I will finally be happy/perfect - constantly leveling up) instead of a holistic approach (multiple goals adding to a full life- adding to a simmering pot) . So I decide to embark on a holistic approach which involved mental health care (along with other goals/things) as a part of overall my selfcare plan (whether I believed I needed it or not). I figured they ask you to see a psychologist for a reason, so I continued to explore that option. I hope if its available to you, you may explore it as well.

Edited August 3, 20188 yr by GreenTealael

Just recognizing your addiction to food is a monumental step. So many people are in denial about their eating. They blame society, other people, their past traumas, their thyroid, etc. I'm not saying that those things don't have an impact on an individual's weight, but they are rarely the main reason. It always goes deeper.

It appears that you understand the struggle ahead of you and that in order to proceed you need to do so with your eyes wide open.

Keep us posted.

5 hours ago, Swanton_Bomb said:

I've known for many years that I have a problem with food (obviously, I mean you don't become obese without having issues) but I recently came to the realization that I prefer food to pretty much everything. I would choose food over spending time with friends, a concert, shopping, a great movie, a good night's sleep, a vacation, nice clothes, anything. It satisfies me more than anything else. I knew I had a problem but this made me realize that my problem was just as serious of a compulsion as a drug or alcohol addiction. I hope I can defeat this and become healthy, not just physically, but mentally.

I am in the same boat- food addiction. I’m 2 weeks post op and now in tears daily because I miss food and worry about never eating tasty food again. It’s a serious and difficult addiction.

I am in the same boat- food addiction. I’m 2 weeks post op and now in tears daily because I miss food and worry about never eating tasty food again. It’s a serious and difficult addiction.

I am only on the third day of my two week PRE-op diet and have also been in tears about missing food.

10 hours ago, MN_Meg770 said:

I am in the same boat- food addiction. I’m 2 weeks post op and now in tears daily because I miss food and worry about never eating tasty food again. It’s a serious and difficult addiction.

Hi Meg! Congrats on being two weeks post-op. If it helps any, I was the same way. I can promise you that it does get easier. You're in a kind of mourning phase; mourning the loss of being able to eat as a form of medicine. Ultimately, you will find your relationship to food changes for the better.

I now really like eating to live versus living to eat. I like how food no longer makes me feel better - it forces me to deal with the realities of life on life's terms. This is ultimately healthier for the psyche. It used to be that eating would make me feel elated or relaxed. Now it's just eating. I've had to find other things to do to fill my time because so much of my days used to be spent around food.

Since I have had so much free time (and being out of work due to a long, hard recovery), I picked up a new hobby. I've always wanted to do Amateur Radio so I took the time, studied, and passed all three tests at once. There are three levels of Amateur (Ham) Radio: Technician, General, and Extra. I did a marathon study and became an Extra. I started blogging again because I love to write. Now, I will be able to go back to work full time next week. It's amazing how much of my life was wasted due to food and sometimes it saddens me because time is something you cannot recapture. But, you can always start anew, here and now.

WELL IT IS rather similar if you stop to think about it. Instead of saying Oh my, I certainly did love Great-Uncle. Josiah, I will always miss seeing him, his shining face, his way of building birdhouses?. How will I live through each and every day without being able to share a joke with Great Uncle Josiah? The difference is Uncle Josiah is aI16 inch pizza, giant platter of spaghetti and meatballs or half a chocolate layer cake with fudge frosting. And you visited them even more than going to Great Uncle Josiah's house. You can mourn intently.

If your deep love of food is really in the eating, think about what you really love eating. If I am honest about my deep almost unrequited love prior to surgery about food, it was sweets and carbs. Looking at baking books was like porn to me, and I wanted to bake it all and eat it all. I I baked, I just had to taste taste taste and NO AMOUNT was ever satisfying. Ever. 10 cookies might make me feel sick and I stop, but not the first nor the 10th cookie was truly ahhhhh, satisfying, had enough.

When I learned that our cravings come from our gut bacteria, and certain ones want sugary foods, I knew I could do a serious reset with my diet and this with my gut population at the same time, by avoiding all sweet tastes after surgery, when I wouldn’t be eating real food for a while. I used only unsweetened, unflavored protein powder. Absolutely nothing with even a sweet taste at all. I mixed it with raw milk or full fat Greek plain yogurt. Eventually I added veggies and meats to my diet, eggs, beans. I never added in anything sweet. My nutritionist had me off fruit for 6 months.

so I lost the desire to eat the sweets I used to crave. But I kept the desire to interact with them. It’s a bit weird. Bear with me. I still love to bake. My family loves to eat it. I get pleasure out of smelling what I bake. If I were to eat sweet carbs, I feel a bit ill Nd my vision gets bad and I feel really off. So I have zero desire to feel bad, so I don’t eat it. But sometimes I will sniff it and thst is heaven for me - magically without any desire to taste it. I don’t know why this has changed for me. But it is wonderful. I get pleasure from smelling foods I used to want to eat! For real. I told you it was weird. I still “love food” and getting my hands in it and making it and serving it. And smelling it. But I don’t even want to put it in my mouth. And as weird as thst is, I am very happy about it.