What I learned at Support Group Tonight

I too have the same disorders and i'm only 2 weeks out today! I chewed up pizza, doritos, and a piece of a cinnimon roll and spit them all out! I guess i've developed a new eatting disorder to add to my list of mental health problems!LOL Thank you for lettin me know that I'm not alone. I'm not ashamed to admit it now. I dont really have a problem with the night time eattin,thank goodness. I haven't done and binge eattin yet either, but I'm sceared that will happen when i'm farther out. One day i did graze (tiny bits of food all day) and i felt like crap that whole day! I even found myself , with the guilt of eattin those sunflour seeds and all, tryin to make myself sick on pourpous! I never thought this surgery would bring out the old bulimic in me. Sorry if this offends or disturbes any of ya'll but if we are being honest here and i hope we can be , It's as true as it gets for me. I will seek professional help if it does become a problem that i cant handle, I've done it before and it helps alot. Thanks again Christine and Missy you two are a lifesaver for me! Thanks for your honesty and freindship, this would be unbearable if i had to go at it alone! LOVE YA, DAWN

I am not ashamed to admit anything. If anyone thinks bad of me then so be it... I dont want to hide it and I dont want to be afraid to talk about it. I applaude you for getting over your bulimia and I hope that we can all band together and get thru all of this! Maybe it has to do with the weather and the humidity. Who knows.. Lets go with that though... We are glad you are here too Dawn... you make us laugh all the time and I think you have brought a lot to this board since you have been here.

aaawwhhh, your so sweet! And i thought i was getting on ya'lls nerves!LOL I dont know if i will ever really get over the bulimia i still fight the urge everyday and its very hard and sometimes i still loose the fight! Not that much though look at me!HAHA I'm glad i can talk about this with ya'll too it's not something the family wants to hear about! DAWN

Luckily, I had a hysterectomy 3 years ago so I don't have the grazing around the period thing, but I do chew things up and spit them out. It is normally just things that I have a hard time chewing up well enough to feel comfortable swallowing it. I eat too many carbs though, that I do know, potatoes are easy on my pouch and I find eating them much easier than some of the other items. I try to eat fruit daily. My problem is that I can't drink those protein shakes so I don't feel that I get anywhere near the protein amount that I need to get in. I am also bad about making myself throw up if my pouch is hurting after eating. I don't do it a whole lot, but if I feel miserable for longer than 30 minutes, I feel I have to do something to help relieve it. You and Melissa are lucky that you have each other close by, I sometimes feel all alone in my battle. I know that I have my support group, but I don't have someone that I see daily or weekly that has been through the same thing that I have, and sometimes you need to be with them to understand that you are not the only one that goes through these things. We all have to stay strong and try to help one another fight these demons! We have come to far for anything to set us back. Love you all! Rhonda

When I first came home from surgery my mother bought me a journal and I wrote in it faithfully for several months. I wrote every feeling in it and I wrote down everything I ate. I only did this for a few months and I think I will get back into it. I need to be accountable. Melissa writes all of hers down and is getting us some food journals today. Yes, I know how very lucky I am to have her. It really does help to have someone close that can relate. I asked Dawn yesterday how close she was to you and if it was possible for yall to get together and do things. I dont throw up.. I have tried though several times after I have gotten really full and miserable. I usually have to lay down and wait it out. Its hard. You are right the soft foods are the worst for us but are so easy on our pouches. Everytime I over eat I swear I wont eat that much again but then dinner comes and if I don****ch it--that last bite will do me in. Eating slower is also going to be a new goal for me. Going back to the basics. Gonna try hard to get protein in first and then plenty of fruits and the right vegetables. I am having a chip craving this morning but am trying to get my mind off of it. I came in this morning and grabbed a notepad with the intention of writing all of my food down. If I knew I wasnt gonna report it I would eat those chips. Somehow knowing that I have to report in is helping me avoid that break room. I dont have a problem with my shakes. I actually enjoy them and my nutritionist told me 4 months ago to get off of them and try to get my protein in from food. I have yet to give them up. My hair still falls out. Not as bad but it still does. The problem I find with my shakes is that I like them so much I will drink them just to drink them. They are 100 calories or so and if I have 4 a day just to drink that is 400 calories on liquid. Its of course 60 grams of protein but I could do fine with 2. I get enough other protein from real food. From now on--potatoes, mac n cheese, bread, and all those other bad foods are eliminated from my diet. Well, we have been talking about our goals for next week...Here are a few we are gonna work on: Lunch out once a week only (start bringing healthy foods to work) More water Less carbonated drinks of any kind Less condiments At least 2 fruits a day No crunchy food unless its a carrot or brocolli (veggies) This is just for starters. I also said I would limit bread to 2 slices per week. That way I can still have some but thats it. We really should plan something for early August when your step kids are gone. You said you were really busy in July... Maybe we can find a water park or all get together and go on and go to Six Flags. I miss seeing yall. I really enjoy yalls company.

yess i resibled everything he talked about except the spitting i might need more of that j/k.i am able to eat certain things(like peanut mms) without dumping and thats bad bc my will is not very strong. its just occasional though but i know i eat more carbs than i should but im working on that.i also work out at least 3 times a week ans sometimes i play tennis twice a day and i think i should be wasting away and im not so that stresses me out and makes me want those mms but im trying to stick to ff sf choc pudding! im only 4lbs from surgeon goal but i want atleast 20 more and not quite 9mos post op am i expecting too much? thanks crissy

i wish I had crashed this one. Christine, you and Missy Lissy, are such brave souls. You are heroines to me. I have lots of food related issues too. i don't chew and spit, I swallow!!! my biggest concern right now is that i will put off eating until the point where when I do eat something, no matter what it is, I get ill. And i have fallen in love with the "slim-a-bears" ice cream treats - no sugar, but i will eat one of those instead of a meal. And of course, they are rough on your tummy with gas and so on. So here I go....my goal is to NOT buy slim-a-bears at all. If I don't have it in my house, I am not as likely to eat it. These slim-a-bears were my entire food group yesterday!!! And i think the day before too. i tend to obsess on one food at a time until i make myself just quit that food. Is there a name for this? After a few days of eating nothing but that particular food, I kinda realize that it has been a while since i ate anything else..... Hang in there ladies and gents, we gonna get thru this. Smoochies ARlies

I wish you would have come. Before we went Melissa and were wondering if we had a speaker and when we realized he was there we were almost kinda bummed cause we kinda wanted group time to talk to other post ops... but I tell you what... THAT WAS A GREAT MEETING. He really touched on some interesting things. He really is a good speaker... You be careful. Doesnt sound like those slim a bears are very nutricious. I cant really spell. I have had a poor day eating. Tonight we will post. I have written down everything.

Christine, Thank you for writing this. I too think I have become a grazer. I binge alittle but not too bad. But to help that I'm gonna try the B6. I am hooked on eating sf sweets like cookies. So starting this week I bought one pack and when its gone thats all for the week no more. I quit buying the sf chocolates because I would just eat them till they were gone. If they are not here I can't eat them. I too knew I have to get this under control now for the surgery to be a true success. Anyway you can do this you have come to far to have troubles now. Becky

Thats how I found myself doing with the SF candies. But.. they still have the calories. I finished off my last sugar free Russell Stover pretend mounds candy bar. They are gone so I dont have to worry about them anymore. We have all come too far. We just need each other for the guidance for a little while.