Do you "diet"?

Through my reading I see people who have had WLS and now "diet" or what I call "diet" to get to goal. No Carbs No Refine Sugars No Fat Low Carbs Low Fat Atkins South Beach Yada yada diet plan lol You know them you have been on them lol. What I wonder is do you feel you are "dieting" now or are you learning to eat better? For me I eat Low Carb / Good Carb. What does this mean? I choose to limit what I consider bad carbs. Basically *they come in a box* type carbs. Do I eat them on occasion? YUP! But I feel better when I limit them. I feel like (again this is for me) that if I go back on the "diet roller coaster" I am setting myself up for failure. Why is it bad to eat a piece of chocolate? We didn't get fat eating ONE piece of chocolate we got fat eating the whole bag of chocolate over and over. I agree there are trigger foods for people. There still are for me ( CRUNCHY ANYTHING LOL) but I am working really hard at retraining my brain to say "this much is enough" and walk away instead of "I can not have that" and then long for it endlessly till I have it ( and eventually way more then I should have had). I read on the main message board the other day where one person was proud of the fact that they had, had no "real" sugar since surgery. Why is this something to be proud of? Are we now to punish ourselves? I have to wonder what will happen by once again going on the "I am not allowed to have that" diet what the end result will be if they ever falter... They then went on to state that although they had cut out sugar from their diet but still was eating high carb processed foods such as chips, pretzels etc... Doesn't this just defeat the point? Isn't it the changing and limiting and controlling of what we eat now more then the "I am not allowed to have that or will never have that again" type behavior? I am "proud" of the fact that I am learning to LIVE a new life style with my food. I do eat anything I want but for me I now never say "I am not allowed to have that". I found that once I adopted this, the things I thought I "had to have and lots of" do not bother me anymore. For example. I LOVE LOVE LOVE rice crackers. OMG I used to eat them by the bag full daily. Now I have a bag of them sitting on the shelf that has been there for the last month as I slowly ENJOY the occasional munching on them. I used to think "Ok eat as much as you can cuz this is the last time you will be allowed to have them". Now I don't do that anymore and they don't talk to me anymore lol. I feel like I have *changed my mind* about food and how I think about it. I feel like because I put food in its proper place it no longer invades the rest of my life. I don't know. Just rambling here I guess but I just wondered what you all thought about "dieting". Do you do it? What "food plan" have you chosen for not only weight loss but life? *huggles* Felicia =0)

Hey Felicia, I eat what I want. I just like you, don't choose to eat more than what a nomal serving would be. I have never once since surgery thrown up. I can eat small amounts of sugar without dumping. I allow myself to eat what I want, also because I now exercise, I never did when I was obese. I still loose when I eat carbs. I really believe the key is smaller portion. Thats just me though. I have alot of respect for people that choose to never eat sugar or carbs. I think it takes tons of willpower (that I dont have.) Well have a great day. Amy

"I have allot of respect for people that choose to never eat sugar or carbs. I think it takes tons of willpower (that I don't have.)" I totally agree. It was ( for me ) so much easier to learn to just eat smaller portions. To learn that 1 or 2 bites really was enough to satisfy. That the whole bag didn't make it taste better lol. I have had a whole bag of dark chocolate candy's in my frig for 2 months. It would never have lasted an hour before let alone months. Even Dale and Joshua have learned that 1 is enough. Things that used to be just devoured now last and last. Its fun. The other weekend I ate fresh figs. O M G they were heavenly. We only get them up here once a year and every year I soooooooooooooooooo look forward to them. Normally I would eat flat after flat of them. This year I had a couple a day till they were gone. Took me about a week to get through them. I couldn't get over how much better they tasted this year lol. Maybe its because I took the TIME to actually TASTE them for once. If my son has an ice cream ( which is few and far between as I dont keep it in the house or hubby inhales it lol ) I have a bite. I am satisfied as I still got to enjoy it. I guess I just wondered what others where doing too. Glad to see I am not the only one "living it " the way I am. *huggles* Felicia =0)

I do NOT diet. I also portion control. Like you all know, I have binged on choc. licorice in the past week which I finally got back in control. Having a few bites of something does curve the craving. I don't want to diet anymore. I make good food choices for the most part. I am human and do "treat" myself once in a while except for those damn licorice!!!! LOL

I think that is the thing though. Before we wouldn't have recognized the binging and even if we did we would not have had the ability to get it back under control. Now look at you. You saw it and stopped it. Its not "I am not going to have that again". Its putting the "treat" back into what it really means. Its a treat.. not our last chance at ever having it again. Good for you at taking charge! I so agree with you. Portion control really will be the key in the long run. *HUGGLES* Felicia =0)

I guess that I am one of the proud ones that hasn't had refined sugar since surgery. My decision has been based solely on the fact that I know sugar was my downfall. I cannot handle even small amounts, or I'm triggered to eat more. I still don't want to know if I can tolerate sugar. I don't consider that dieting or denying myself. I just treat sugar like it will make me ill. I focus on what I can have, not what I can't. I never feel deprived. I do know that some day I will try sugar. Probably in the near future. I'm hoping that a small amount will be enough for me.

I love your new pic! Allison

Allison, Look at yours! You look gorgeous!! Jenn

I am glad that you found something that works for you. Guess for me its just different. I don't want ANY type of food to ever control me again and by "avoiding it" I feel that I am giving that food a position in my life to still have power over me instead of me being the one in control of it. I will never let any type of food have that kind of power over me again. I allowed all kinds of bad for me foods to be trigger foods. But for me I found it wasn't actually the food that was the trigger it was why I was eating that food at that time, that was actually the problem. Again though this is how it worked out for me. I am sure that your plan is working great for you. After all just look at your amazing avatar... Felicia =0)

Thank you so much, Felicia, about the avatar! I guess I'm afraid to unleash the "beast". I know it is nearly impossible to not eat some form of sugar since it's in so many foods. I'm pretty sure I've eaten it and haven't reacted to it. It still scares the crap out of me. I haven't found anything that has tempted me so much that I decided to take the plunge. But I'm sure if I was around ice cream.... I have also been caffeine and diet soda free since before surgery. I'm pretty proud of that fact. I was so addicted to diet soda that I would have never dreamed I'd be able to kick it. I haven't missed it a bit. I'm very proud of you and your amazing accomplishments. You have inspired a whole month full of WLS patients. You rock! Jenn