Food Habit Musings

One of the first things I tell most people about life after WLS is that we had surgery on our stomachs not our brains. The reason I say this is that all the problems we carry into surgery, we carry out of it.

For many of us, we ate our way through life. It was our favorite solution to any problem we had. It was everything we needed when we needed it.    But, it was also a fickle friend. That weight problem we had? It wasn't fixed with food. The relationship problem we had? It wasn't fixed with food either if that food made us overweight and that was causing a problem in our relationship (or getting a date).  Those health problems? Same thing. The food we ate as our problem solver was usually creating problems for us too. A relationship like that with food was a lot like a relationship with an abusive partner. We may have loved it but it didn't love us back (at least not the way it should have).   

I bring all this up because we go out into the post-world not realizing that we don't always have the tools to cope with our lives once we cut out food as our problem-solver. We need something else to get through it and we don't always have the support or understanding that we need support.   It's important to recognize that what you want to do now is what got you here today. That saying about the definition of insanity is appropriate--continuing to do the same thing and expecting different results is insanity.    

WLS is not an instant fix. It is HARD WORK. It is taking each moment for what it is and getting through it. It is being aware of your habits and through awareness making different choices.   Because the way we used to be---that was habit. New habits can be made and you can thrive in this new world you are living in.   

I use an app on my iPhone called "Lift" and I use it to track items I want to become second-nature/habits. Two of the ones I track are "Eat 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes" and "Eat 30 grams of protein" --- basically I wake up each day and get 48 grams of protein in right away (within 30 minutes to an hour) and I check off that box and I log that I did it. In the afternoon, I get another 48 gram shake in the afternoon. CHECK CHECK!   

Wanna know how many days in a row I've done the morning habit? 121 days. I still look forward to checking it off.    I bring this up because it takes different thinking to get to a new/different place. If you don't think you can give up soda, get a habit tracker and make "stop drinking soda" a habit, or make "give up candy" as an item to track daily. If you bring attention to it and stop giving it power over you, you can break that habit and stinkin' thinkin'.   

Please feel free, any of you, to PM me if you want to talk outside of the forums. I'm always available to help coach you along this path.