Anyone not losing due to emotional eating/eating around band?

[brandyII 9]

BabyNicole,

I got into big trouble with a sugar free soft food/liquid part of post-surgery. I got to the point where I preferred the soft food because of the obvious problems you have at first with solids. I got addicted to sugar free/fat free yogurt mixed with sugar free cool whip and sugar free Jello and would even add a tablespoon of sugar free orange marmalade. I know this sounds like a weird combo but for a while it was all I could stomach and craved. Any food can become a problem for "some" people unfortunately. Now I have to stay away from sugar free!!!!

[BabyNicole 0]

BabyNicole,

I got into big trouble with a sugar free soft food/liquid part of post-surgery. I got to the point where I preferred the soft food because of the obvious problems you have at first with solids. I got addicted to sugar free/fat free yogurt mixed with sugar free cool whip and sugar free Jello and would even add a tablespoon of sugar free orange marmalade. I know this sounds like a weird combo but for a while it was all I could stomach and craved. Any food can become a problem for "some" people unfortunately. Now I have to stay away from sugar free!!!!

Was this supposed to be directed toward athinnerdenise. :thumbup: That's okay, we all read it. hehehe Anyway, I know what you mean. Some people have problems with what's in the sugar free foods. My ex's mom (who was diabetic, morbidly obese, and not banded) swore she got sick from sugar free foods. Who knows if she was serious or just wanted regular goodies. :w00t:

[Oregondaisy 2,019]

Yea, I don't go overboard on the sugar free stuff. I hate aspertame. It's

really not good for us and unfortunately, it's in way too much stuff.

I do the sugar free fudgsicles because I am a chocolate addict and sometimes I just have to have something chocolate!

[brandyII 9]

AthinnerDenise,

congrats on your success, I'm really starting to think my problem was that I wasn't eating solids when I was supposed to and just gave up and used soft foods, even the sugar or fat free ones add up when you eat enough of them. They told me I need to stretch my pouch, which sounds funny to me but I'm trying and I feel so much better now that I've actually joined a forum, I should have done this prior to my surgery maybe I wouldn't have screwed up so much! You all are so much more helpful than the medical people we pay, sad but true!

PS Weight Watchers large fudgecicle (sp) bars, one point, are really good but I had a bad habit of putting 2 in a bowl with chocolate shell on it and eating them like a sundae, I'm badddddd!

[coolcrystal 1]

I like the SF Jello chocolate pudding. That's my "naughty" snack I have about once every two days to end temptations of chocolate shakes...

[lifesaver 0]

I am really struggling and I am so disappointed in myself. I was banded in September and have not even lost 30 pounds yet. I have actually gained a few recently and have really only lost around 20 pounds. I am an emotional eater, I knew this before I was banded but had been in therapy almost 2 years and thought I could do it. Well, I was wrong. I have figured out ways to eat around the band and that's exactly what I'm doing. Is anyone else struggling with this? It's an addiction.....I just can't stop myself from the chips, dip, chocolate, cheese, anything fattening or starchy that I can get down. I finally got restriction with my last fill but wound up vomiting several times daily and still, I would eat whenever and whatever I could get down. Now, it's loosened up again and I can eat more even though I haven't lost any weight. I was exercising but have slacked off. However, even when I was exercising (and I was busting my butt in the gym) I still wasn't losing because I can't get control over my eating. I am so embarrassed and ashamed, I know people are thinking "she had weight loss surgery and she's barely lost any weight at all". I'm so humiliated. I'm still in therapy and it's helping me emotionally but I just can't seem to get over my addiction to food. Any suggestions besides "just stop"? I've tried, believe me.

Mandi,

I wonder if you reached out to some other bandsters in your area and created a support group if that would help? I think it would fulfil 3 of the areas where you are struggling. You would surround yourself with others that have the same struggles and goals as you. You would have a place to outflow some of the emotion (instead of emotionally eating) by talking with those that understand what you are going through and third, you would make friends. I think doing this thing alone is very hard.....beleive me I know, cuz that is my MO. I am in the process of reaching out for support in my local area. I just have to get out of my comfort zone and try and make some friends who understand what I am going through. I feel like sabotaging myself almost every day. I wish you the best.

[mandi78 3]

Well, I actually am in a support group for women with eating disorders. Most are compulsive/emotional eaters like me, a couple are bulimic. One is also a fellow bandster. I found out there is also a support group for those who've had bariatric surgery but I emailed 3 different people in the group about it and could not get a response or when I did, it was a very vague response. Some of the stuff they mentioned doing in the group sounded really fun. I don't know why they wouldn't get back with me. Anyway, I'm just going to keep trying and not give up....keep going to my group and individual therapy, reading all the self help books I have accumulated over the years and have never finished, trying to make better choices when I do want something to snack on (like sugar free pudding or Popsicles instead of oreos and doritoes).

I'LL NEVER GIVE UP!!!!

"What Lies Behind Us and What Lies Before Us Are Tiny Matters Compared to What Lies Within Us" —Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Oregondaisy 2,019]

That sounds great Mandi. I think that's fabulous that you're in a support group. I love my support group and I wish it met more often than once a month.

[mandi78 3]

Has anyone been watching "I Can Make You Thin" on TLC? I have recorded them all on the DVR and just watched the first one tonight. The things he says really make sense and I'm looking forward to watching the next 2 which are how to deal w/ emotional eating and how to deal w/ cravings. Those are my 2 biggest struggles.

[Oregondaisy 2,019]

I need to find those. When are they on? I have heard about them but I don't know what time or day they are on. I can record them too.

[mandi78 3]

It's on a lot during the week but the new episodes come on Sunday nights. I bet you could catch all the reruns though. Try this. TLC :: TV Listings :: I Can Make You Thin with Paul McKenna I'm not sure what time zone the times listed are for though.

[NanaRenan 0]

I was only banded a little while before you, but I've been dieting seriously since you were in diapers!

It is very, VERY hard to break those chains of emotional eating. Mine is more of a stress thing, than other emotions. But it's so in-grained in us that it is very hard to even RECOGNIZE it.

I agree with keeping the tempting foods out of reach. And every now and then I run across a NEW foodstuff that is not good for me -- and have to add it to my BANNED for the BANDED list.

Last week it was these little ice cream miniatures from Schwans, like pinkie-sized Eskimo Pies! I ate a whole box in three days!

They were WONDERFUL.

They will never cross my threshold again!!!!!!

So, when I do something like that, I don't beat myself up about it. I consider it a 'test period' -- "Yes, I've thoroughly TESTED that product and determined that it is beyond my capacity to resist, therefore, it must not be touched again." -- and go on. The GOOD NEWS, is that I didn't finish each day I succumbed to its merry wonders with a Whopper and fries or a Enchillada Combo plate.....my other meals are appropriately healthy and well-proportioned for my band.

[Montana Pam 0]

emotional eating? and eating and eating. i'm depressed i guess and doing everything wrong. hope i haven't ruined my band. i've actually thrown up. i know that's bad. actually i've lost 40.lb, but only lost 2 lbs at first fill date because i'm doing it all wrong! now i've gained 3!

i really don't want to mess this up. i tried to chat, but never have b4. no one chatted back. is there anyone out there who can give me a good stiff kick in the a__?

i need a buddy -- someone who'se had like problems, or still does -- to give me a good jump start.

PLEASE, HELP!

Pam

[brandyII 9]

The bad thing is if you take all the junk food out of the house anything can be turned into junk food if you want it. Maybe you're craving something sweet but you don't have ice cream or Cookies etc... I've taken Peanut Butter and mixed it with powder sugar before, it's a very complicated issue and different for everyone. It's not like quitting smoking or drinking where you just take it out of the house you have to eat and that's why it's such a difficult thing to resolve.

I've been on Weight Watchers since 1972 or 1973 so I was pretty much a "chubby" kid all my life. When I was 18 and went away to college I found that I had an easier time because I had to leave my dorm to go get food and if I didn't leave I didn't eat. I also had a "pharmacist" in the dorm room next to mine. That was the 70s and that helped and also I was a smoker and young and it was so much easier. So I lost 100 pounds and was thin for the first time in my life and got all the good that went along with it!

Then something happened, not sure what but I was in a content phase with my boyfriend-now husband of 25+ years and it started to creep back on. It was like a a snowball rolling down a mountain and I couldn't control it and went back up 100+ pounds. Felt worse being fat then because I had lost it all and got all the "good" attention and compliements etc... and when you put it all back on you get the "what happened to you" looks and comments. Which you don't really need because you give them to yourself anyway.

Then I got engage and said to myself I'm not going to be a fat bride and did it again. Lost the 100 pounds and was a thin bride. Guess what, I bet you can, yep, I felt that snow ball again. I actually remember back then that I had to do something to stop it but I didn't know what. I heard some friend of mine had gone to OEA so I thought I'd give it a try. I went and found it so damn depressing that I left and drove crying all the way home. Then since I was a veteran of Weight Watchers I said I'll go there. Now we're talking early 80s and I get on the scale with clothes and shoes, I'm 5'6" and the scale said 126 lbs. They're like I think you might be too thin to join, and they kind looked at paperwork and stuff and said okay you can join. Now that I look back at that I think what the bleep! Anyway it didn't stop that snowball effect either and it started to come back on but only about 40 lbs. Eventually after two children I went past the 100 lb mark and got up to about 253 lbs and am about 10 pounds short of that now since starting this program.

Sorry I have been rambling but I've done everything from every diet, the pregnant woman urine injection to various drugs to lose weight and that all started at an early age of about 13 and I'll be turning 48 in April.

I basically got the lap band to try to lose some weight and to keep the snowball from turning into an avalanche of sorts. I've complained about it and have screwed up a bit but am not giving up on getting to a healthy weight/size. I'm about a size 24 now depending on top or bottoms and would love to be a 14/16 in a world that seems to worship the size 0. And believe me when I was a size 9 it probably was a zero back in the 70s!

So anyway thanks for listening to my story and my venting whatever, I like to feel like I'm a part of something even though we're all different, races, nationalities, sexes, religions, etc... we have this one thing in common and in a way it may be one of the first things I still tend to identify with. I'm sure there are a lot of you who think it's terrible to identify with being a "fat" person but I am and may always be and I have to love my self for me:w00t:, thanks brandyII

[Daisalana 33]

Just another tidbit, you said you buy the junk food without thinking.. anytime you go shopping, take a family member to make you accountable. Tell them you're going junk free 'this trip', then the next.

I did really well for a while, then got junk food crazy for a minute in time and I ate it all. Boo, so back to no junk.. I don't have self control!!!

And I don't like diety sugar-free crap. It's not for everyone (like me!). But I do find good Snacks that are low-cal like the 90-100 calorie packs.. no weird sweeteners, just small yummy portions (Sandies shortbread cookes & the one with choco chips).. and Quaker oatmeal bites, and the new Cinnamon Streusel packs.. all 90 calories. And do you live with someone? Room mate, spouse, etc? If so, have them hide your snacks. I'm not above that myself, DH didn't want to give up cokes completely and I WILL drink them if they're in our house.. so he hides them. Have them hide your 90-100c snacks, and only get you ONE bag when you ask for it, so you can't gourge.

Just some ideas, I hope you figure out what works for you!! Everyone is different.