So obviously I understood I was undertaking a huge life change but I have to say it has been particularly harder on me than I ever expected. Staying on my pills and vitamin routine would have to be my number one struggle. Followed in a close second with finding a protien drink that works for me. But third would have to be the foods I miss! I miss them so I look up recipes that allow me to have a similar taste. Pinterest is my new p0rn. Lol! And I have tried some- but most just don't "do it" for me. So then I resolve to just believe that the change is worth giving it all up... Until the next temptation. It's a struggle- not one that I give into, but it really stinks! 

So so here is my list-

cookie dough and hot gooey cookies

brownies

frozen yogurt

peanut butter (most specifically pb and banana. In a tortilla drizzles lightly with fresh honey). 

Chips and dip

french fries 

so here's where you can help... Do you have an recipes or ideas on how to incorporate these foods in ever again (or a similar feeling tasting food). I use pb2 but it's "not the same." Thanks!!

First- I hear ya. I really really hear ya. And our list of "missed" foods looks similar.

For years, especially during my WW years, I looked for substitutes. Good substitutes..and was often disappointed.

When I decided to have WLS surgery, I decided that those foods would no longer be for me. Why?  Because I am different now. I decided to do an extreme thing (surgery) to get an outcome that I needed (smaller body mass, better health, better numbers).

I knew from prior experience, that having substitutes for foods that did not meet my main goal (i.e. smaller BMI and improved health), "just kept the memory alive" for the foods that didnt match my goals.  For me, it was better just to "let them die."

Did it suck-oh yes.  Do I still occasionally crave or miss those foods- yep. See last weeks post about Werther's originals.

But-as I adhered to the surgeons plan, and eating foods that matched my goals. A weird thing happened.  The surgery, for the first time ever, gave me weight loss results that matched my effort.  I ate well and I had good weight loss.  If I ate too sloppily -then my weightloss slowed down.  For the first time ever, I was actually rewarded with an outcome that matched my efforts. With this, it became easier and easier to "forget about brownies, chips and dip"

Soon, they literally became these "foreign foods" (i.e. things that I recognized but arent a part of my  diet.  Literally food that "other people" eat.  Kind of like Lutefisk...food that swedes eat!). Now, I can walk into a bakery/deli and look at the big cases of beautifully decorated cakes, huge cookies, generously sliced pies, and etc and it sort of takes on a "muesuem experience" for me. I can acknowledge them for the beautiful pieces of artwork that they are.  Appreciate them for their beauty and the time the pastry chef put into them, maybe even take a walk down memory lane, but those aren't MY desserts. Those desserts belong to someone else and they are merely being housed in "the muesuem" (i.e. the deli's glass case) for me and others to appreciate until the real owner comes along to claim them.

I have the same experience with the vending machine at work. Sometimes, I go to it, stand in front of it, just to see what is there. I like how the selection changes and sometimes how there is a bag that got "hung up" and others have bought food over it in an attempt to "knock down" the hung up product (getting a 2 for 1 deal). It is sort of like an interactive art exhibit or something that I can watch.  

I go to these "musuems" about once a quarter (i.e. once a month) so..it is not something I fixate on.

It is HARD now, but perhaps you should consider "saying goodbye" to these foods for your honeymoon (i.e. just ONE year. What is a year?  It will be gone in a blink of an eye) and THEN consider whether you really want to bring these things back after your year is up.

I think when you year is over, you might not care to.  You will probably have had a very successful year and decide that they are no longer "worth it" to you. For example, You may find that you got other things to do other than bake brownies (e.g. figure skating), and your pouch real estate may be better with other things (i.e. a big yummy "greek" steak to get you through body pump class; greek steak for me is a chunk of steak, low feta cheese, black olives and a drizzle of light balsamic vinegar over it...yum).

Just give it a thought. Not saming I am right, I am saying that give your taste buds and priorities a chance to change along with your body!

I totally get what your saying and I am trying with all my will to just avoid avoid! I made it through my sons birthday and daughters kinder promotion and several end of the year potlucks without indulging. So I just keep on chugging. My problem is I suck at cooking- and I won't use a recipe because 9/10 I need to go buy a ton of ingredients that I don't have and that means going to a store and being tempted AGAIN. I also struggle with quick and easy. I need variety and flavor but struggle to find that in things I can eat (tuna or turkey meat or cheese or chicken... Blahhh). I am so new so it is hard but I hope it gets easier. I think all of it is so hard AT ONCE. Learning how to eat and cook and missing the old foods. It's a lot to process. 

I understand this too.

Our NUT had bariatric cookbooks on hand for us to learn how to cook with. Perhaps at one of your classes, ask to borrow one, and explain it has to be easy and contain no more than 5 ingredients.

And cooking from scratch and this lifestyle IS more time consuming. For example, to make a quiche with cauliflower crust from scratch takes me about 4 hours. If I could have started with a premade pie shell, maybe 1.5 hours.

Spiralizing zucchini into noodles (rather than eating pasta) is time consuming. 

What I do, is: a) break things up (i.e. chop the cauliflower/spiralize the zucchini one day, roast the cauliflower over another evening. Process it in the blender and bake the crust on a third evening.  Actually bake the quiche on night 3-4. My family has not died of food poisoning...yet). I also enlist in the help of others (my FIL and husband find the spiralizer to be fun toy...so have at it.).  I cook, Groomy does the dishes (because I just spent 4 horus in the kitchen).

It is time consuming..but it is worth it.  It really is. You have less calories and more fiber going in by using caulflower crusts and zucchini noodles than the carby alternatives.

This weekend I made Tuna-No noodle casserole. It contained spiralized zucchini and carrot noodles, 2 cans of drained tuna, one can of creamed corn, one can of drained peas, one can of cream of mushroom soup (98% FF) and shredded queryere cheese. I got Groomy to make the noodles and it was done within 2 horus after that. The 60 minute cooking time was continous and I could do other things for that hour (like pay bills). 

Well said!!!  I am 2 mos out and appreciate you sharing your way of looking at things!!

is it best to start working on the cutting out the "craving list" before the surgery, or wait until after the surgery?

does it get easier once you start?

In my opinion it's never easy! So I say enjoy it while you can in moderation. 

I had food funerals about a month before surgery. So I just started immediately prior to. Earlier than that, I would fall of the wagon because I really wasn't surgically adjusted.

However, once operated, that really changed my psyche. I guess I became more hard-line about it because every day I wake up and see the scars and am reminded about "what I had to do" to lose weight. With that mentality (i.e. looking at/being reminded of "the cost") every day, it keeps/kept me in line.

ON does it get easier-NO.  It gets different. First, YOU get stronger for the reasons set forward above (i.e. you are motivated, you have had surgery and got the scars to remind you and constriction to remind you). Second, after you have been away, things that used to taste freakishly good just taste so-so because you arent addicted to them anymore (i.e. your tastes have changed).  

Because of these, my experience has been I get intense cravings initially, they pretty much go away, and MAYBE i get cravings again once a week...like when I get my period..

I tried for years to find acceptable substitutes for thinsg I loved and was willing to give up... but only if I absolutely had to give them up entirely.  The substitutes were NEVER good enough.  The only thing PB2 was good for was adding peanut flavor to a choloate protein powder.  Protein bars (in addition to being nothing but a bunch of chemicals with sugar alcohols) were never even close to a candy bar or a real brownie. (Those people who swear that the Quest brownie protein bar tastes just like a brownie have obviously gone a long time without a real brownie!)

I can only tell you what has worked for me. It doesn't work for some people and it may not work for you. It definitely isn't going to work for you right now, but it may help you "hang on" and give yourself the chance to get more used to a healthier diet (you will likely find that you miss these foods less and less the farther out you get). I knew that the sense of deprivation was the death rattle of every single diet I had ever been on pre-surgery and that in order for me to be successful long-term after surgery, I would have to find a way to avoid feeling like I was on a perpetual diet and was being deprived of things that I loved.  That meant that I absolutely had to find a way to make moderation "work" for me. I decided that once I got to goal -- do NOT try to allow yourself these things before you get the weight off! -- I would allow myself the occasional special small treat. That meant I could have a couple of small bites of dessert when out to dinner at a nice restaurant with the family, or have a few M&Ms to enjoy when a chocolate craving hit, or have a teaspoon of peanut butter.

I found that I could be happy with those small amounts. I found that I was actually significantly happier with a single spoonful of my favorite Strawberry Haagen Dazs ice cream than I was with half a cup or more of NSA "ice cream"... or even worse, that disgusting Arti**** stuff or whatever it is called! I found that 6 M&Ms, if eaten one by one rather than half a handful at a time (!) could satisfy a chocolate craving as well as a whole bag had before surgery. (I confess, though, that at almost 8 years out, I have increased it to 10 M&Ms... Which is still just a small portion of a normal bag... But you will have to beware of "portion creep".)

I was able to keep myself (mostly) on track while I was losing by comforting myself with the promise that I would be able to have the things I missed -- in my case it was chocolate, ice cream, and mashed potatoes with butter and salt (or milk-based gravy) -- in very small amounts, eventually.

Hang in there. It does get easier for almost everyone as time passes. 

Lora