Do you obsess over food?

Hi Freddie, 

It is really good to see you post.. I have not seen you in forever. I hope you are doing well….

This is a great topic.

I don’t know if I obsess about food or not,,, let me try to explain,

I was morbidly obese, had RNY WLS over two years ago, during this time I have worked at life style changes and healing my negative relationship with food. My loving husband of over 24 years has been right by my side through every grueling second of this (guess that part of the vows where they make you say for better or for worse kind of stuck with him)… But everyday gets better, I lost 165 pounds, I am very conscious about what I eat and when I eat it and I am a label reading fanatic…

As for my husband Kevin, he struggles greatly with his weight and obesity. He always has. He loves to eat, he loves to cook, and he loves to tell people what to cook him to eat… And even though he has been and is very supportive of my Weight Loss Surgery decision for myself when I ask him repeatedly would he like to have the surgery he adamantly states to me NO and wants me to quit asking. So I don’t ask him anymore. I respect that. But I have to be very mindful of what I buy for him at the Grocery store. I am worried about his blood pressure, I am worried about the onset of Diabetes, I am worried about him having a stroke or heart attack and at the same time I have to remember he has not had WLS like me so I have to always try to monitor his portions (that is very hard to do) and he does enjoy his desert. Although he is a good sport about sugar free options I prefer fresh fruit and sugar free whip cream and he always ask me “well, what else we got?"

Now for another mix in the equation. My youngest child my son has recently returned home for the summer from him freshman year away at college. YAY!! I AM A PROUD AGGIE MOM!!! Oh, and as a proud mom I have to say that my baby made a 120 on his Honors Chemistry Class Final!!! This even after the entire city of Galveston was devastated by Hurricane Ike…. He braved it through the storm and being so far away from home… anyway, he comes home and hands me several canisters of what looked like to me to be Creatine, handed me a list of what he would be needing from the grocery store because he states to me he needs to GAIN some weight and will be required to eat off some program that his personal trainer gave him that includes eating meals about every two hours through out the day. So I am standing looking at his 6’ 1" lanky frame saying out loud “SAY WHAT?" YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!

So this brings us back to the original question. And I have to say I don’t know if I obsess about food or not. I put thought into my eating lifestyle and have to plan way ahead and pack way ahead to stay on track. I try very hard to eat fresh foods and what is in season and this can be challenging because the stuff goes bad in like 30 seconds… So I always feel like I am at the store. Plus I am constantly trying to learn new things about food and nutrition that I didn’t know before.

I have to put a lot of thought into Kevin’s eating lifestyle. I try to make it more conducive to mine but also trying to be very conscious of the fact that he does not have WLS tools like I do. I have to prepare his breakfast and lunch to go. If I do not do this I know that his vehicle will be driving thru the first Mc Donald’s that he comes to. So my morning has to start pretty darn early to take care of this groups dietary needs. I work a full time job plus some and I feel like all I do is think about food, look at food, read about food, prepare food and then what little bit of short time I get to spend with my WLS support group peeps, seems like all we do is talk about food.

Am I obsessed? I Dunno… Okay gotta go, I can hear my son calling out to me that he is hungry and what is there to eat???