binge eaters??

I have only posted here a few times.  I am Jacqui's friend and I had checked into doing WLS as a self pay, but decided I really did not want to go that route.  We are changing health insurance effective Aug 1 and I will start the process since it is not excluded on the new plan. My question is this.  I am/have always been a binge eater.  I don't eat because I'm hungry.  I eat because the food is there.  I have made a pan of brownies, eaten the whole thing and then made another pan, eaten one brownie out of it just so noone would know I had eaten the whole thing.  I have done alot of reading and binge eaters are the ones most likely to be WLS failures.  Have any of you been binge eaters?  How does WLS change that for you?  What are the specific challenges you face in dealing with binge eating? Thanks Denise

Guilty as charged! And do not think for a minute you are the only one to do that! I used to eat cheetos by the bag...peanut m&m too! I am talking the one pound bags too!...Pizza---no problem to eat a medium in one sitting.  But...now I do not do it. If I eat sf/ff frozen yogurt..that is a binge. A carmel from the place at the mall...that is my binge.  I  do not deprive myself, I have just learned not to overindulge! I get sick if I do, plus the guilt is horible. I never had that before. I tell myself aftet all I went through for this surgery...how can I throw it all away for this??? It works for me....everyone has to find their own way of coping with it I guess.

I had been a binge eater too. Heck, I ate for any and every reason. Make sure you get counseling to help you deal with your eating issues. I had my surgery 2 1/2 years ago and some of my past issues are coming back. I don't binge on brownies anymore, but I have been known to devour quite a few helpless fishy crackers. My husband says it's not too much, but it scares me that my old habits are coming back. I start wandering around the kitchen looking for things to munch. My snacks are no longer sweets, but for the first 18 months after my surgery, I didn't snack at all, and didn't miss it. Now I'm starting too again. The first year of WLS was easy, it's after that the willpower needs a little help.

I ate like that too,.. because it was there. The big benefit of surgery? 1) I was a sweets eater, and with RNY you just can't do that. IT will make you feel sick. That's behavior modification. 2) IF you start mindlessly eating something, you just don't have room for much of it! I would bet they might be less likely to be successful if they didn't have supports to get on the right track. I have had my support group here and IRL, and my counseling.

I just wondered because I mean surgery is kind of a last option.  What happens if your last ditch effort fails?

Denise my love, I am so there.  I was/am a binge eater.  I eat to eat not to nourish myself.  I've found that I still do it even after my surgery.  I can't eat the things I used to nor the amount I used to but I eat.  I still eat.  Especially when Troy goes to get him a bedtime snack.  I'm not hungry but he's eating.  I might as well too.  I am making better choices now.  Just the night before last I fixed me a bowl of cereal.  It was a small bowl of rice checks.  I puked it all up after I was finished.  Last night I had a cup of hot chocolate and a sf popcicle instead.  Was I hungry?  Nope.  Was I satisfied?  Yep.  We just learn as we go.

Now the brownie story, shoot, that's nothing!  I used to stop in Corydon each time I went for a meeting in Indy.  I would get a large pepperoni pizza at Papa Johns and eat it on the way home.  Now picture this huge lady, flying down the interstate with a big ole folded piece of pizza dripping with garlic butter.  Not a pretty site.  I'd stop by the office and put the pizza box in the dumpster so no one would know.  We've all been where you are.

It will be even better when you have your surgery so we can support each other!  I feel soooo alone in this.  If it wasn't for the people on this board, I'd feel totally isolated.  We'll get through this together.

Know I love you my dear sweet friend!

Jacqui