I visit the post-op pregnancy board often, and it's pretty good, but sometimes there is drama. I never visit the main board. I was just thinking the other day that it is great the May board is open and willing to listen. I don't think I've ever seen drama here. I love it! Angie

Know I'm thinking of you. You've got my phone number if you need to talk.

PreB: Protein shake made w/ chilled coffee B: Cup o' joe, deli turkey and 2 pieces provolone L: Chicken cutlet S: Protein shake, 1 slice provolone D: Chicken cutlet, green beans S: Protein shake and maybe a SF ice cream Vitamins: All but 1 dose of calcium in will have that with night shake Water: Working on 60 oz Exercise: Not a thang

Thanks, Mary! I ended up eating what I would normally eat in an evening so I managed well. Think I'll end up the same tonight. Given the stressor, I'll take that with open arms. Trying to keep focused on other things... more productive things. Appreciate the thoughts! Time will heal all. And I've got time. Hugs, Kathy

Well, c'mon now, you KNOW I'm in for the long haul. Our local hospital run support group has had a few psychologists come in and they are asking one to come in on a somewhat (quarterly perhaps) basis. Not sure if they'll add her to their staff in some capacity or just for the support group. It is a great idea. As far as support groups (3D), I attend 3 monthly. One is run by the hospital nutritionists and bariatric coordinator. Another was run by the same folks but is now back in the hand's of one of the hospital's surgeon's nutritionists who started the group before moving out of state. She is back now and it is back to being hers. She is very opinionated and differs from the hospital staff on some points. I do not share the surgeon but everyone is welcome to attend. I get from it so I go. The other support group is based out of a local yahoogroup based here in the DC area. I found it online through yahoogroups. We get together once a month at Paneras on a Saturday morning. It is more a social group. One gal often brings articles to share. If anyone has plastics done we crowd the handicapped stall and look at boobs, butts, arms, bellies, and thighs. We Ooo and Ahhh over the plastic surgeon's handiwork. As for OH, I sometimes post on the main board and on the "light-weights" board. I participated on the VA state board off and on and a couple times a year go to weekends planned with those folks. Mind you, many of the folks from the VA state board, also participate in my other 3 support groups. Lots of overlapping there. I recently started participating on the WLS-grads board on OH. Think that is a good resource for access directly to longer-term post-ops. And most of all, I'm here on the May boards - my home away from home. Finally for online, I have the yahoogroup that is physically local to me here. I am also a member of several of the OSSG yahoogroups - Grads, Protein and Nutrition mostly. I do post on them now and then. And a new on fitness that just started up. I cannot say that I have any magic cure for grazing, BLTs, shovelling, bingeing or other unhealthy destructive behaviors. Lately, I have used the following: 1. Water. I do not allow myself to eat until I finish my bottle of water. I tend not to drink much in the evenings so this definitely slows me down and keeps me from food. Plus after I drink, I don't want to eat immediately. 2. Exercise. I have been doing an exercise DVD every other evening 3 days a week (chicometrics). That takes 45 minutes of my idle evening time and puts it to constructive use. Last night was an off night from the DVD so I brought out the stability ball and did 100 push-ups (not in a row but total) and a few other things. Good diversion from food. 3. Eat something. Sometimes just a piece of cheese or something like that will satisfy me enough to get my mind off compulsively eating. It's got taste, texture, fat, salt... good things that keep ya going. 4. A small project. The other night was simply a few bills or items that needed to be copied and made ready to mail. Took 30 minutes or so. Another distraction. I try not to start big projects but something smaller scale where I can start and finish in a reasonable time can keep me away from food. As for food being an addiction. Well, I'm just not convinced I'm a true addict. Or maybe I'm not convinced that I want to have the AA mindset regarding food. I admit to having bad coping mechanisms for stressors (stress, boredom, emotions, etc) but I'm not sure I'm an addict. I think my rebellion against labeling myself an addict comes from being in my one support group and hearing the one gal talk about herself and her relationship with food. Mind you, this woman was an alcoholic much younger in life and when she talks about her relationship with food she talks about it in AA terms. I guess I don't see myself admitting that I have zero power over food. I don't feel that. Having studied psychological counseling for several years, I did learn about addictions. Addictions are not about doing something even everyday but it is about the behaviors that surround the activity. I learned in that class that an old beau of mine was an alcoholic. He didn't drink every day or even every week but his behaviors surrounding the drinking were destructive. He drank with a goal of getting drunk (mind you, he was much more fun drunk then sober but I digress...) I figured out that his mentality level was stuck to when his drinking issues started - college. He couldn't understand why old college buddies didn't want to hang out when they get together and visit and down a 24 pack. Well, they were married and had families and had grown beyond the college drinking mentality where he didn't. That being said... I know that in my much younger days I had horrid eating behaviors - sneaking food, hoarding food, gorging myself, etc. All things that I would definitely point towards an addiction. But to be honest, those behaviors have disappeared over the years. Perhaps it was going to counseling for a long time. I didn't necessarily work on eating issues that much with my counselor but I think the trickle down effect of the work we did improved many aspects of my life. Yes, prior to WLS I was as heavy as I had ever been but I was there not from sneaking food, hoarding food, gorging myself... it was mostly from having way way too large an appetitie, eating foods that triggered cravings and that were physically addictive to my body and kept adding weight on to me and not having good coping skills for my stressors. Now that I'm post-op, I don't have the large appetite anymore - I eat every 3-4 hours or so between my protein drinks and meals and I never get to the point of being super hungry, ravenous or starving. I limit my carbs and don't eat sugar so my cravings are truly gone. I mean that sincerely. I tend to eat differently than most of you... very little carbs. Need to improve that and add more complex carbs in to the mix. But I'm very carb sensitive hence the recent 7 lb gain from having 1 Power Crunch bar every day. I'm now down 5.5 lbs of that since last Saturday. I told you... my body works weirdly. So to me, what I have left to work on is the channeling of my stressor into productive things rather than non-productive destructive stuff. I am more aware of this than ever in my life. I do not have it mastered. I am a work in progress. I am far from perfect. Most of the time I do well. Some of the time, it gets the best of me. Best thing is that I pick myself up, dust myself off and move on to another day. Hope that made sense... Love the discussion! Love you guys! Kathy