Hi everyone, I had my surgery on the 19th Dec and have lost a total of 34lbs pre and post... it was all going really well until I started travelling loads for work and lost the plot... I started finding ways around the band - ice cream and m&m's seem to go down really well. Thankfully I haven't been able to binge too much due to my restriction, and I haven't gained any weight, but I'm certainly not losing. I've been at 210 for about 6 weeks...

Has anyone else experienced this??

I think this is an example of the emotional and behavioural side of my weight problem - I can't eat the quantities that I used to, but I'm finding ways to feed my addiction despite the band.

I'd love some suggestions on things to do to overcome the problem and kickstart my weight loss again.

Shelli

Hi,

I understand your struggle, I am a recovering binge eater and emotional eater. I am getting banded on the 16th of April and I completely empathize with your situation.

Some advice:

*PLAN - meaning plan your meals when you travel, keep a small cooler lunch pale with you so if you get hungry you can eat your food. This is what I call a "safety net" this pretty much guarantees you will not dine on sugary high caloric foods. The reason you crave the high fatty and high sugary foods is because your body needs to spike its insulin back up to a normal level and the fastest way to do that is with candy. If you stay constant on your meals and PLAN this should help.

As for the emotional part, that is something unfortunately only you can be pro active on. I have been in therapy for years and I am finally coming along with putting together the pieces behind my emotional eating and how to move past them. It's differant for everyone as we've all come from differant experiences, traumas and abuse. All I can tell you regarding emotional eating is support, food journaling no matter WHAT it is, and being honest with yourself. I will totally be here for you to help you out if you ever need any kind of support as we're pretty similar in that department. There is some reason why you are subconciously sabatoging yourself, it is good that you have recognized this before you end up at your starting weight.

I have a friend and ex co worker that has the band and she is heavier then her starting weight as she gave up and cannot control her eating. I'd hate for that to happen and I would like nothing more then for you to have success. The best thing you can do is get to the root of the problem behind your emotional eating and start digging.

Let me know if I can help.

Good luck!

Stephanie

No butt kicking here, how about a hug? No one was more addicted to ice cream and chocolate than me! I use protein smoothies once a day for lunch (bariatric advantage or unjury, 8 oz of skim milk 2 -21/2 cups of frozen strawberries and some sweet n low mixed in a blender) That stops me from eating ice cream. It really makes a large amount for about 350 calories or less. (remember it is a meal replacement) To feed my chocolate addiction I use swiss miss sugar fee hot chocolate. 25 calories per cup. I do get tempted but think about how much work I need to do in the gym to burn it off. Believe me that helps! Good luck and don't give up!

Hi everyone, I had my surgery on the 19th Dec and have lost a total of 34lbs pre and post... it was all going really well until I started travelling loads for work and lost the plot... I started finding ways around the band - ice cream and m&m's seem to go down really well. Thankfully I haven't been able to binge too much due to my restriction, and I haven't gained any weight, but I'm certainly not losing. I've been at 210 for about 6 weeks...

Has anyone else experienced this??

I think this is an example of the emotional and behavioural side of my weight problem - I can't eat the quantities that I used to, but I'm finding ways to feed my addiction despite the band.

I'd love some suggestions on things to do to overcome the problem and kickstart my weight loss again.

Shelli

I am a naturally lazy person so I am going to copy/paste what is on my profile for another message board. It was originally a response to another person looking for a butt kicking. ;o)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm going to get hammered for writing this but that has never stopped me before. ;o) You know these people that eat pizza and tacos a few days after surgery and they come to the boards asking if they just messed up? You know those people that pat them on the head, tell them it's okay, and to "try" to do better tomorrow? Yeah, I'm not one of those people. I tell them to knock it off, they are risking their band and why? For a lousy taco?? Are they serious? I don't suggest they TRY to do better the next day, I tell them to DO better right now.

I think we often times don't give ourselves enough credit. We think we are weak willed and powerless over the world. That simply isn't true. We have been living a life of fat for many years. You tell me the weak willed and powerless can do that, I won't believe you. Being fat in today's society is no easy task. It's really damned hard. Yet we survive it and if we can survive that, we can survive passing up a donut. Let's face it, it is much easier to pass up a donut than it is to have to buy two airlines seats because our butts are too big for one seat. It's much easier to pass up a single donut than it is to face ourselves in the mirror of Lane Giant after realizing we are yet... a bigger size than the last time we were there. We face humiliation and embarrassment every single day just due to our size. I think sometimes we tend to get used to it and forget that humiliation and embarrassment are NOT normal and a part of life. We also pretend it does not hurt as much as it does.

I'm not trying to be a skank about this but you know, WLS is our last shot at WL. This is a big deal, we have choices and too many times we are all making the wrong ones. I don't eat a lot of junk because I don't need it. Neither do you. I disagree with those that say ANYTHING in moderation is okay. The reason I disagree is because ALL of us did not get fat because we can do moderation well. With a band or any WLS our caloric intake is cut drastically and we need every calorie for food we actually need and use. The only thing cake, Pasta, or crap food will do for your body is make it more plump.

This is a lifestyle change and a lifestyle change does not mean eating the same load of crap but just less of it, that means overhauling your diet and eating food that your body needs and does something positive for it. What "value" does chocolate cake have for your body?

So does this mean that you can never have a piece of birthday cake again? Of course not. It means that eating junk on a regular basis serves no value. We don't know what moderation is so we have to go searching for it. Moderation does not mean limiting ourselves to crap food just one time daily or one time weekly, it means more along the lines of on birthdays, special occasions. When we "plan" on eating junk weekly, what does that make our thinking? That means we are *still* planning our lives around food and poor choices. Thin people don't set out to plan on when they will eat a load of crap, they don't even think about it until the birthday party or social meeting is there staring them in the face. Yet we fatties actually plan a date and time to eat bad food. See the difference in thinking between a fat person and a normal size person?

The lifestyle change is not planning on WHEN we will have loads of crap food, lifestyle change means actually going out there and living what we claim we want. Life as a normal size person.

If you can face the humiliation of being obese in society, can you honestly sit there and tell yourself that passing up junk food is harder than being the fat girl walking into a room where being MO is socially unacceptable? I mean, I think there comes a time when we have to put things in their proper perspective and this is one of those times. Next time you want junk food get real and get honest with yourself. Get a photo of that food item and a photo of a person that is the size you want to be. Which do you want more, do you want the cake more than you want to be thin and healthy? Be verrry honest with yourself. If you prefer the cake over thin then just go for it and have the darn band removed. But I'll bet you'd rather have thin over a piece of cake when you really get honest with yourself. It's all about perspective and self awareness of what you want out of this life. We have a choice, and it IS a choice. We can be fat or we can be thin. With a band thin IS within grasp.

The thing about us fat folks is that traditional diet and exercise is too hard, we just can't do it. We cannot lose and maintain at a normal size weight. Call it a lack of self control, call it anything you want. I'll cop to it, I'll be one to stand right up there and admit that I can't do it. But with a band it is still hard but it is the kind of hard WE can do, OUR population. Losing weight with a band is the kind of hard we can do but without a band, nope... we can't do it.

Sometimes, maybe often times, maybe 20x a day when we are justifying more grazing behaviors and opening the frig to see what unnecessary food is in there, there comes a time when you just have to tell yourself no. We tell our children "no" daily. No, you can't play with razor blades in the middle of a busy street. No, you can't eat rat poison. No, you can't fail to look both ways when crossing a street. No, you can't do drugs. No, you can't go out with that drug abuser who just got out of juvvy. Sometimes we have to tell ourselves no as well.

If you are like me, not sure you are, but if you are like me I can't stop at one Frito, or one bite of this or that. For me it is all or none. If I eat white carbs I can't quit. I lose self control. If I stay away from them completely I have no problem. The more I eat the more I crave. I am a person that wanted bread so bad about 3 months after banding I actually broke into the bread crumbs I use for cooking and ate the whole can. Then I started in on dry stuffing mix. It wasn't even something that tasted good (pretty rank, actually) but I couldn't stand the carb cravings anymore. That was my moment when I realized when and how I lose self control. So I avoid those situations.

You can come over to my house right now and look through my house. You won't find any flour, pasta, bread, Fritos, or other foods that are my triggers. There are no bread crumbs, stuffing mix, cake mixes, cookie mixes... none of it. I don't even keep it in the house. There is not a person that has ever once been in my home that even needs those foods. My husband doesn't need them and he doesn't get them if he is here. Why would your family NEED cakes, Cookies, etc? We are not punishing our family members by denying them food habits WE have, it really is okay if you don't load your cupboards full of crap your kids do not need. I think that is another mindset we have to change. I've seen people post on these very boards that they can't pass up the cookies in the cupboard but they can't punish their children by not having cookies in the house. Since when it is a punishment to decline to feed a growing child cookies to the point you can't have a day without them in your home?

Exercise... you know, we have physical and emotional reasons for overeating. Those issues we have to overcome and find ways to deal with them. But exercise? Nahhh, we have no excuse. That is just plain lazy behavior. You don't like exercise? Neither do I. But it's like cleaning the toilet. Who DOES like to do it? We do it because we have to. It's just a responsibility. We are all great at justifying eating too much and not exercising but the reality comes down to sheer lazy behaviors. If you can't run then power walk. If you can't power walk then walk. If you can't walk then do chair exercises. We have the energy to get up and run to the frig 20 times a day yet we can't find the time nor the motivation to do the SAME walking outside and away from food. How does that work? ;o)

There are people who LOVE exercise, zog bless their little hearts! It's like a transfer addiction. They go from eating to exercising. They love it. Personally, I think they are sick and twisted human beings. ;o) I exercise but I hate it. Never have enjoyed it, not even a little. The person who invented weight resistance cannot possibly be anything but a lover of S&M. They should be shot. But you know what? It really really works. The motivation for me was not busting my butt on a treadmill when I would have much preferred doing my nails. The motivation was that the more I exercised the more weight I lost. THAT was my addiction, losing weight and getting thin. The more you lose the more motivation you get.

What if you do this, just for ONE week... one week only. Cut out ALL white carbs. Yep, you'll be climbing the walls, you'll be dealing with head hunger full force. Every single TV commercial for food will be calling your name. You'll cus and swear at me and everyone else that is around you in real time or the boards. Start exercising. Even ten minutes of brisk walking. Work up a sweat, bust your butt. Just 10 minutes. That's nothing, that is the same as a couple of TV commercials. That is about the same amount of time to read a single thread on OH. Just take 10 simple minutes and go out for a hard walk. Then you are done exercising for the day. Honestly, 10 minutes is NOTHING. We have 144 10 minute blocks in a day, it really is nothing.

Then tomorrow do 11 minutes. And yes, time it from the time your walk is a brisk one, not when you start thinking it's time to go outside for your walk. When your pace is up to brisk then start timing. Daily add a single minute to it. Push yourself to do better each day, just a single minute added.

So for a week eat what you want, don't count calories, don't count fat grams. Don't worry about calories in the least. Eat what you want but do limit WHITE carbs to 20 a day. I'm just talking for a week. Do the 10 minutes of exercise while adding one minute daily. See what that does for you. You want 20 chicken breasts? Eat them. You want zucchini, yellow squash, any other carbs except fruit? Eat them. Lots of them. Don't even count carbs from veggies. Just count white carbs and limit those drastically to 20gms daily. The idea here is not to get you into ketosis, the idea is to get you eating the right carbs. Have unlimited VEGGIE carbs. You'll poop like a champ too. ;o)

I'll bet you that you lose weight.

Then as the motivation kicks in and the stomach hunger dies down you will be able to cut those 20 chicken breasts down to 10. Then 5, then 1 daily. Understand what is head hunger and what is true stomach hunger. Just focus on white carbs and minimal exercise. I'll bet you it works.

If you can live the life and frustration as a fat person, you can do this. Being fat is MUCH harder than better food choices. Again, it's all perspective.

What about your fill level? Are you at good restricton? If not, get thy butt to the doc and take care of it.

There, that's yer' butt kicking. ;o) Just remember, you CAN do this, you have survived much much harder as a fat person and you have survived a life that is no walk in the park. If you can survive fat life you can easily survive the above plan for the next week.

And BTW, this means start the whole plan tomorrow, not on Sunday at the beginning of the week. If you have already eaten a load of carbs today you will be hungry for the rest of the day. It's a blood sugar thing. So start tomorrow and keep remembering, you can do this.

Good luck to you!

WOW.... WASA.... I gotta say.. I quite frankly like most of what you said... Some of it was very inspirational and I can see you had a great mind set with you weight loss..I have have lost 83 lbs in less then 6 months... I have worked my butt off for it and I will let you I have give up a LOT of things I used to love, but I gotta tell you.. If I want 1/2 a cup of my favorite ice cream once every other day then I am going to have it I think sometimes knowing I am going to have my ice creams helps me pass up EVERYTHING else that i DO NOT NEED... People just have to find the right mindset for them... It is not easy, but we can all tell Shelley our opinions, but honestly what she needs to do is take a little bit from all of them and find her own mind set that will help her make through each day...

However, I just wanted to say good writing.. I wish everyone the best in their journey and like all previous posters.. This is an AMAZING life journey.. take advantage up.. Best wishes