Confession!

Hi Everyone, I had to come here and confess that I ate quite a bit today. I only 3 weeks out today and I sort of grazed all day long. I just felt upset about it and I just had to confess my poor choices so I could let go and move on to making better choices for myself. I am looking forward to weighing in tomorrow at my support group not only literally, but emotionally as well. Thanks for being here for me and taking the time to read this Any suggestions on how to deal with the urge to eat when I am not hungry would also be greatly appreciated! Hugs, Sara

Goodmorning Sara, Don't be too hard on yourself. You are only 3 weeks post-op. If I remember right I was still battling my "head-hunger" at that time. It took awhile before food released its hold on me. In the beginning my brain still wanted to eat my huge meals. It took awhile before my small portions looked "normal". Once you get to that stage dealing with food becomes less of an issue. One thing you certainly do not want to do is take up a new "bad habit". Let me ask you this... were you a "grazer" pre-op? If you were then you are going to need to relearn a new habit to replace that one. If you were not than you just had a bad day, which is only 1 day so don't freak out. Were you able to determine what was making you eat all day?? Were you bored?? Lonely??? Stressed?? What were the feelings? Usually recognizing and dealing with the cause of the feelings creating your bad behavior is the first step to curing it. Figure that out and you will be okay. And sometimes you can even try replacing the behaviour you are trying to change with a negative action... i.e. I bite my tongue and lip when I am concentrating, mad, happy, sad (you get the picture?). I don't want to do it because to be honest it is down right ugly when I do it. So now to break myself of this LIFELONG habit every time I catch myself doing it I run down the front stairs (about 20 stairs) and back up. Trust me when I say... I get plain tired. But I certainly am doing it less. Now I many times think in advance.. NO... and I only think that because I don't want to run down the stairs!! Craziness or what?? Sending you love and strength! You can do this Sara!! Best Regards, Sharon -120#

Goodmorning Sara, Don't be too hard on yourself. You are only 3 weeks post-op. If I remember right I was still battling my "head-hunger" at that time. It took awhile before food released its hold on me. In the beginning my brain still wanted to eat my huge meals. It took awhile before my small portions looked "normal". Once you get to that stage dealing with food becomes less of an issue. One thing you certainly do not want to do is take up a new "bad habit". Let me ask you this... were you a "grazer" pre-op? If you were then you are going to need to relearn a new habit to replace that one. If you were not than you just had a bad day, which is only 1 day so don't freak out. Were you able to determine what was making you eat all day?? Were you bored?? Lonely??? Stressed?? What were the feelings? Usually recognizing and dealing with the cause of the feelings creating your bad behavior is the first step to curing it. Figure that out and you will be okay. And sometimes you can even try replacing the behaviour you are trying to change with a negative action... i.e. I bite my tongue and lip when I am concentrating, mad, happy, sad (you get the picture?). I don't want to do it because to be honest it is down right ugly when I do it. So now to break myself of this LIFELONG habit every time I catch myself doing it I run down the front stairs (about 20 stairs) and back up. Trust me when I say... I get plain tired. But I certainly am doing it less. Now I many times think in advance.. NO... and I only think that because I don't want to run down the stairs!! Craziness or what?? Sending you love and strength! You can do this Sara!! Best Regards, Sharon -120#

Sara, You definitely need to find some other way to occupy your time! I notice that when I'm busy...I don't even have time to think about food...and then I don't miss it either. Like Sharon said...find a hobby, go out and do something. Or, find what is drawing you to the food and try to change it, or I've come to avoid it actually. I don't keep snacky stuff or junk food in the house...so there's nothing easy to grab. And, you've got to exercise!! ~Kim VBG 9/1/04 -36