Hello:

I'm a week out of surgery and I'm feeling abnormal.  The abnormal feeling is coming from me not being able to eat and literally starving myself from within, but my body is able to maintain because of the stored fat.  I understand that not eating much is about 90% of the surgery so with this know fact, I'm trying to discover my "new normalcy"  I feel like I'm having a melt down, I just don't feel normal.  I went today to Appelbee's and had a cup of soup and a glass of water just to feel "Normal"  I mean the surgery has food restrictions, but I feel like because I'm not indulging in food and eating "normal sized portions" that I'm not normal.  If anyone out there has some encouraging words or has also experience this please contact me with some direction.  Thanks a bunch...

Yolanda

I know that my relationship with food was very different pre-op and even in the post op period when I was losing weight than it is now. Pre-op, I really used food to deal with anger, frustration, loneliness, and celebrations. While I was losing weight post op, I had more of an idealist, almost adolescent relationship with food, meaning that things seemed to be good or bad, right or wrong, without much gray area. Now that I'm 3 yrs post op, I find that I seemed to have found a generally healthy balance. I don't deny myself any type of food, but I now have an awareness of the value of what I'm eating and do a much better job of maintaining a balance that helps me maintain my weight. I think that balance is what I was missing pre-op and to an extent, but necessarily so for the first year post op. 

So no matter where you are in your journey, have you looked at your relationship with food? If so, has it changed at all and how?