It seems there are 2 trains of thought about life with VSG- Deep Thoughts?

So I've been on here a couple months now and to me it seems there are two camps when it comes to eating after the sleeve.

There are the "total diet overhaul" people- who don't eat carbs, never eat something like pizza, or cake.

then there are the "live life like before just eating waaay less" people who seem to be ok with eating something unhealthy once in a while cause they are just eating a fraction of what they ate before.

I have to say, one of the deciding factors for me for this surgery was that I would be able to enjoy the foods I love just in tiny portions. I would not be restricted from any foods (as long as body allows it). I am still thinking this is how I will handle this new life but then again, is it still the same sick pathology that got me obese in the beginning?? Just on a 'smaller' scale??

Where do you fall??

Thoughts?

I fall in the lo-carb camp, but not because of the surgery.. just because over the last couple years, and especially right before and after surgery I started reading a lot of information about how our body systems are effected metabolically and hormonally by carbs, their effect on insulin (among other hormones) and it's effect on how our body will utilize energy and how it stores it.. Our fat is not metabolically dormant. Many folks just assume we store it and that's it's a calories in/out deal.. 

Edited to add: For me, the surgery makes sticking with what I consider a healthier lifestyle for my metabolic needs/shortcomings much easier.. it's just a good fit!

Regardless of the size of my stomach and my britches, I am a person who STILL has trigger foods, old habits of disordered thinking/behaviors with food.

I have to have structure about what I eat and why.

I 90% of the time make choices that are nutrition based.  Its delicious, but its not party food.  I have a structure so that at other times, I have whatever I like. the 10%? Its ANYTHING I want, but generally OUT of my house and NOT more than once a month and its a MEAL as a general rule.  The only day of pure D crap eating is my spring party at my house, but before the night is over, all trigger foods are destroyed, covered with a noxious substance and put out in the big garbage, cuz too many times I have woken up in the middle of the night in my previous life and demolished whatever crap was there.  Know yourself, set yourself up for success.

For me.. If I COULD have handled a little bit of everything before then I wouldnt have needed surgery. 

IF I had a reasonable relationship with food, I wouldnt have needed surgery.

IF I only ate for nutritional purposes I wouldnt have needed surgery.

ME? 

I risked my LIFE and my relationship on an ELECTIVE surgery because it was my last bastion of hope to relieve my insane hunger and give me a CHANCE to be able to adhere to a nutritious way of eating and have SOME be enough.

When I make non nutritive choices I can eat ****POTS of that food.  It doesnt make me full, and honestly, depending on the food, I *get* to white knuckle the chick in my head wispering that old diet mentality (NOW YOU CAN EAT ANYTHING FOR A WHILE!!  YOUUU CAAANN DOOO ITTT).

That ***** is a liar.  I want my health more than anything. 

Some folks *can* eat some of anything (AND I MEAN ANYTHING!!) and that is way cool for them.

Some of us need a bit more structure and to remember moderation.

Some of us need the structure, moderation, and to consistently deal with the leftover stuff in our psyches that we used food to change our body chemistry/mood.

Me?  I bet everything I had on the VSG so some could be enough.  I am not enough of a betting bran to bet that even 2 years, 4 years, 6 years down the line I can not be accountable about the food I put in my mouth.

Just like its so easy to go back to smoking, gambling, lying, hiding, cheating, stealing, drinking when it has been a bad habit for so long.. the path back to who I was/how I acted with/about food may LOOK grown over, but its insidious, like toad boiling.  If I don****ch me and my behavior, I could be back to my bad habits in a heartbeat without life squeezing me.

And when life squeezes?  In a flash you can be back to where you were, some substance's ***** telling other people LISTEN TO ME..DONT DO WHAT I DID.. PLEASE!!

And that flash of a possible future me?  It keeps me on the structured and dealing with the mental path.

I dont begrudge folks who can do it any way they like, but I am not willing to go back to hurting all the time and feeling bad, and inviting medical issues like I was before.

Knowing myself, setting myself up for success, not freaking out about stuff, and remaining moderate, those along with structure and my arsenal of mental chatter tools and remembering why I risked my life for surgery.. those things are my saving graces. 

And that's that about that for me!  :}

Yes yes yes. That's me, too.

Looka you go, mz Jacque!!

I have to say, for me? Knowing how I am and who I am, and not trying to force me to fit into anybody else's personality traits about food has been so liberating.  I am kind to me like I would be kind to a loved one if they had weaknesses and sensitivities.

After all, its not good or bad, its just how we are!

Hooray for knowing ourselves! 

MUWAH!!

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i could not agree more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im with you every step of the way wow this is so true and how i feel thanks for keeping  it real . 

This is awesome, thanks!

I am in the second camp. I was put there squarely by my surgeon, who during my preop told me in no uncertain terms that I would be able to eat like a completely normal person after the first month- only rule, don't drink your calories.. It may be different for other people, but for ME, normal means carbs at every meal and junk food too. There is not a single person I know in real life, either thin or heavy, that doesn't eat carbs, or fats, or dessert.. That just would never have worked for me, period.

My plan is very similar. I do not have trigger foods, and have found with deprivation that I often go off track after time. So I do not treat my plan like a diet. I treat it like my life plan. All foods are available to me but I must choose to eat healthy. If I want chocolate though (I have cravings sometimes) I will have a bit of chocolate - but I don't eat a full piece of cake like I may have before. I might just take a bite. Most things are too sweet now, which is nice. My only trouble food is salty, crunchy. But even that I allow in my plan as long as I stay within my calorie limits for the day. Never before in my life have I lost weight and I have lost steadily since surgery. 

I believe the answer to this question will be different for each of us. No one knows us like we do. I know what caused my weight gain now and know how to get to goal. No I just need to make sure I continue on the right path.   

I am with Stillfawn and Mystic Blue. My trigger is deprivation. When I tell myself I can't have something, I will sabatoge myself till I get it...and then it is a very bad thing.
I can eat small amounts of anything. I never was a sweet eater, and still am not. Frankly, those white carbs don't do a whole lot for me these days so they are taken in minute amounts. I am talking bread, potatoes, pasta & rice. I definitely FEEL better with the protein and veggie side of things....so now I tend to lean towards that. That being said, I DO have those things occ. Then I find I don't feel the need to eat them daily or even weekly most times.
We are all different. I read about those who trigger on foods. So you have to find what works for you. I feel NO GUILT these days whenever I eat. That is such a foreign thing to me. I no longer beat myself up over what I eat....and that's because 99% of the time, I am making choices to feel good overall, not just for a minute.
Just my 2cents.
:)
Linda B