Powerful Reminder that WLS is just a Physical Tool...

"Most of these techniques fail because they cannot relieve the aching of a soul crying for food to soothe the pain."

This really hits home with me. Now that I have this tool, how do I stop the pain?

Hugs, Karen, I, too, have that pain. I'm in counseling but my main means of recovery is SUPPORT. Support groups, friends I have met through OBHelp, and this Forum. There is an amazing book I read many years ago; I think perhaps I'll re-visit it. It is called: Feeding the Hungry Heart: The Experience of Compulsive Eating Here is the link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Feeding-Hungry-Heart-Experience-Compul sive/dp/0452270839 Also excellent is a woman named Geneen Roth:  http://www.geneenroth.com/ Yearsssss back when I went to counseling for eating disorders, we used her literature and tapes. I may invest in my own now. Maybe we could go in on them together and share?? Just a thought. I recall listening to "When Food is Love". It was powerful. Anyway...glad you liked the post. It hit home to the point of tears. That *IS* me...and those old habits lie lurking. Hugs, Karen

Karen my dear,
No truer words were ever spoken. I am humbled all the time by the enormity of how obesity gets a hold of an otherwise high functioning person, and wreaks havoc. I have also become recently aware of the biophysical power of carbs and how damanging they can be to anyone, but particularly those who struggle with their weight. Obesity is such a compex syndrome of emotional, behavioral, cultural, biophysical, genetic influences, no wonder so many of us have fallen victim to it's grips. 
Thank god for WLS, psychotherapy, and the South Beach Diet!!!!
xoxoAmy

But what happens when you have no support? What happens when you hate yoursel fand its a battle to just push that hate away enough so that you're not constantly mentally attacking yourself and your flaws that seem to be etched into your skin for the world to see? I'm not a compulsive eater, but how do you find hope when everything in your life just helps to kill it and smother any sparks of it? Im just a downer I suppose, but I honestly do wonder this. When life beats you down for so long alot of things don't matter besides that one moment of comfort that lets you, even if only momentarily, forget. I'm not a compulsive eater, but I think I can understand why one would be like that. I enjoy certain foods, relish their taste, but I'm not irresistably drawn to them. Sometimes I wish I could be perfectly logical instead of emotional.