Show of hands, how many of us did this before surgery? Do you see that you've changed post surgery? If so, to what (or whom) do you attribute the change and when did you first start noticing doing things differently? Also, HOW did you change this thinking?

Love the analogies!

Since the surgery, eating is more mindful. I can't just eat something and not think about it because I think for most of us food and nutrients and macros are always on our minds a bit.

And since surgery my cravings are completely manageable. It's like my brain is in the driving seat now, or it's like The Matrix where everything slows down and I can pause and weigh up the pros and cons, and make a real decision about what I'm going to eat, instead of acting on a compulsion.

Like, the other night I was going to have some chocolate. I had planned it, and already entered it in MFP - it was a treat for Eurovision night (don't ask). I took it out of the fridge, put it on the counter, walked away to let the cat in, came back, looked at it, then put it back in the fridge and took some light Baby Bel cheeses instead. I had wanted the chocolate, but didn't have to have it... then realised I didn't actually want it that much anyway.

I read a NY Times article that touched upon this:

"It has become clear that bariatric surgery changes the entire setting of a complex, interlocking system. There is no one place to tweak it. To show what is involved, Dr. Kaplan reports that surgery immediately alters the activity of more than 5,000 of the 22,000 genes in the human body.

“You have to think of it as a whole network of activity,” Dr. Kaplan said. It’s a network that responds to the environment as well as to genes, he added. Today’s environment probably pushed that network into a state that increased the set point for many people: Their brains insist on a certain amount of body fat and resist diets meant to bring them to a lower weight and keep them there.

“Surgery moves the network back,” Dr. Kaplan said.

But surgery only alters the intestinal tract. That tells you, Dr. Kaplan says, that there are whole classes of signals coming from the gut and going to the brain and that they interact to control hunger, satiety, how quickly calories are burned and how much fat is on the body."

51 minutes ago, Boldilocks said:

The Matrix

This was all I needed to read to know how much I ? you..

Edited May 23, 20197 yr by GreenTealael

57 minutes ago, GreenTealael said:

This was all I needed to read to know how much I ? you..

Hahahaha! IKR!? She had me at hello!

1 hour ago, Boldilocks said:

Love the analogies!

Since the surgery, eating is more mindful. I can't just eat something and not think about it because I think for most of us food and nutrients and macros are always on our minds a bit.

And since surgery my cravings are completely manageable. It's like my brain is in the driving seat now, or it's like The Matrix where everything slows down and I can pause and weigh up the pros and cons, and make a real decision about what I'm going to eat, instead of acting on a compulsion.

Like, the other night I was going to have some chocolate. I had planned it, and already entered it in MFP - it was a treat for Eurovision night (don't ask). I took it out of the fridge, put it on the counter, walked away to let the cat in, came back, looked at it, then put it back in the fridge and took some light Baby Bel cheeses instead. I had wanted the chocolate, but didn't have to have it... then realised I didn't actually want it that much anyway.

I read a NY Times article that touched upon this:

"It has become clear that bariatric surgery changes the entire setting of a complex, interlocking system. There is no one place to tweak it. To show what is involved, Dr. Kaplan reports that surgery immediately alters the activity of more than 5,000 of the 22,000 genes in the human body.

“You have to think of it as a whole network of activity,” Dr. Kaplan said. It’s a network that responds to the environment as well as to genes, he added. Today’s environment probably pushed that network into a state that increased the set point for many people: Their brains insist on a certain amount of body fat and resist diets meant to bring them to a lower weight and keep them there.

“Surgery moves the network back,” Dr. Kaplan said.

But surgery only alters the intestinal tract. That tells you, Dr. Kaplan says, that there are whole classes of signals coming from the gut and going to the brain and that they interact to control hunger, satiety, how quickly calories are burned and how much fat is on the body."

This is an awesome post!! I'd read that too about the gene sequencing! That is gonna forever after be my argument for why WLS. It isn't about restriction. It's about the hormonal reset.

Cracking up over "The Matrix!!" You won the internet.

This is an awesome post!! I'd read that too about the gene sequencing! That is gonna forever after be my argument for why WLS. It isn't about restriction. It's about the hormonal reset.
Cracking up over "The Matrix!!" You won the internet.

All that about altering genes really caught me too. I've been pondering it all afternoon.

Sent from my SM-G960W using BariatricPal mobile app

Let me just post the whole article then - I really should have cited it as the source, doh! It's not the newest - but all the different aspects of WLS really resonated with me. It works on a deeper level than restriction, and they still don;t understand it totally. It was one of the articles I used to convince my husband about the surgery - remember he was negative and judgemental? But anything in the NY Times is gospel to him, LOL.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/health/bariatric-surgery.html

1 hour ago, GreenTealael said:

This was all I needed to read to know how much I ? you..

Back at you! @FluffyChix too!

I was one of those people. Post-op now I feel like I have more control of both my emotions and hunger and although I've had some stress and been tempted to eat an entire box of doughnuts or something, I was able to say "No, I don't need it and it's not going to make anything better."

Well I read that New York Times article, thank you for telli,ng us about it. I'm still evaluating what it means to me out here in Ohio, an " over the edge area of a East Coast Persons view of a Flat world" Yeah there are sure areas the resonate with me!