Bad Eating Habits.

Needing to be written now on the palm of my hand. "You have a tool, only a tool." I marked my 2 month post op the other day. & yesterday, I broke down. I became my overweight, hungry headed person again, and boy do I feel like a major failure, that can't pick herself back up. I grazed all day long, and I probably consumed 1700 calories or better and a 80grams of carbs. I made it to 121 grams of protein, but thats minute. I grazed on a couple chocolates & lots of cheese. I know it was the cheese that pushed it over the edge. I recognize it, and I'm beating myself up hardcore. I can't get past it. I am back on track today for sure, and will continue that way. It's a huge eye opener to know what can happen. Its an eye opener to know with the sleeve, I could eat all day, whatever I desire. It actually sucks, but if I don't recognize it, it could be a huge downward spiral, just as to what has got me this heavy. What if I can't break the funk, I can eat better, but its the hatred I'm having towards myself today thats bringing me down. Hate away.

So you had a day in which you ate more than you had planned. It happens. Frankly, it was neither bad nor good what you did. You just ate. All people have days when they are a little more hungry and eat more. Acknowledge that. Also, you probably were grazing for a reason. What was the reason? High emotions, stress, boredom? If you can figure that out you'll be ahead.

You're steeped in what I call a diet mentality. You're holding yourself accountable to your own rules of what diet perfection ought to be. None of us can ever be that perfect all of the time. Remember, you're trying to make sustainable life changes for your health and subsequently your weight. That can take time.

It's great that you are on track today. Celebrate that and put yesterday behind you where it belongs.

Hey, it happens.  The worst part of going off plan into "carbland" is that is screws with your blood sugar levels and can affect your emotional state as well as set off food cravings that can last for days.

So don't be too hard on yourself and be prepared to have a bit of a struggle getting back on track.  I have been there and my advise is to spend the next few days weighing your food and sticking to simple, plain protein.

I agree with Kairk that the old diet and perfection mentality is our biggest obstacle.  It is so hard to get rid of the old tapes that play in our heads - "I ate this, so I'm bad, worhtless, blah, blah, blah".  If those tapes worked, none of us would need WLS, as we'd all be at our desired weight.  For me, they just seem to perpetuate the problems.  My goals now, which I am working imperfectly toward, are to try to figure out what's going on with me when I want to overeat, and to learn from situations that will and do occur where the way I ate may not have been the healthiest.  It is so hard to overcome a lifetime of food issues, but if I'm going to sustain my weight loss and recover from or at least keep the food issues at a workable distance, I have to work on erasing those tapes and changing my mindset.  As Kairk said, you ate yesterday, today you're not - it's neither good nor bad, it just is.  Try to be kind to yourself, Molly, as in the longrun, the results are much better.  Hugs!  Mary

So you screwed up, big deal, it happens, move on. At least you know you screwed up & didn't use it as an excuse to keep screwing up. Try to get behind why you fell off the wagon in the first place & come up with ways to deal with it so maybe it won't happen again, or maybe you can head it off b4 you get to 1700 calories or whatever.

Tapes?, who uses tapes, chuck that bad boy & get u a CD! LOL, or heck download/stream the song Conqueror from Empire,When I screw up, I keep thinking of the verse you might fall down on your face but ya gotta get up, I am a conqueror & I won't accept defeat. You can get past this! Good Luck!

  I guess I'm showing my age!  I love that line from Conqueror you quoted.  I'll have to remember it.

Yeah it's from the show Empire, loved it when I heard it & downloaded it from iTunes, I keep it in mind when I screw up & my mind starts berating me with negative thoughts, I play the song over n over in my head,then move along & get rt back up.

Forgive yourself.  Don't beat yourself up.  One day won't ruin what you're working to achieve for a lifetime. Acknowledge the fact that, yes, you screwed up but that YOU ARE NOT A SCREW UP.  You're a great person who can get on track and stick to your plan.  

And if you're not seeing a therapist already, find one.  

There's an analogy that's helped me a lot and it goes something like this: If you're washing dishes and you break a dish, do you smash all the others and say, "What's the use? I already broke one," or do you sweep it up and keep on moving?

Don't smash all the dishes because you had a bad moment or a bad day. Pick up the pieces. Examine them if you need to. But keep moving forward. Learn from this, forgive yourself and then get your **** together. 

You're not alone. And you can do this.