Obsessing about food

Just a week short of 5 months out now. Found myself obsessing about food many times a day the last 2 weeks. Crazy thoughts that are frankly very much the same as before I started this journey. Still watching the program closely but this obsessive thinking is one hell of a road block? Its scary! Not sure how to get past this?

In case anyone is wondering? I am getting help from a Phycologist but that's isn't helping a great deal on this recent issue?

I think you are doing great!  I think we all probably have our crazy food thoughts at times, I know I do.  I will tell my hubby I want a hot fudge Sunday or a box of Oreo's then we both laugh.  It seems to help me when I verbalize my food fantasies! I have given in a time or two but then its done and I am back on plan. No, I haven't had afore mentioned foods!  

I will try vocalizing It? anything is worth a shot? As long as I don't talk myself into it? Talking about it may work???

Overeaters Anonymous does a great job of controlling the emotional aspects of compulsive food cravings and overeating. We sleevers follow our surgeon's plan for food and physical activity. OA puts you on a plan for emotional health. Try going to a meeting or two and see if it helps. The meetings are held just about everywhere.

psychoticparrot

See if you can identify when the thoughts start up. I have been able identify transition times as a trigger, e.g. Coming home from work, settling down for some TV, finishing one task and switching to another, bedtime. All of these times were times that good helped navigate. These are also the times I find myself wanting to graze or thinking about some off plan food. 

I think if you work on identifying the trigger of the obsessive thought, the food obsession might be easier to understand & deal with. Once you get a handle on it, the obsession might ease up. 

I think we all do this from time to time. We all just have such an emotional connection to food and the way we THINK it made us feel when we ate those things. I have obsessive moments a couple of times a week. I've been trying to work through it by diverting my attention to finding a new recipe to try and get excited about. A lot of the time when I'm craving something or thinking about food heavily, I head to allrecipes.com or pinterest and look for low carb recipes, and suddenly I'm thinking about healthy foods I want to cook and no longer thinking about all the bad foods I shouldn't be eating! So far its been a great tool for me. 

I have been thinking about starting to see a therapist or psychologist about treating my emotional eating from the source, but I'm just a bit wary of it. I tried Overeaters Anonymous and I wasn't a fan. However it is a tool that has helped many people so that can't be discounted. I just have a difficult time rectifying with the philosophy. Maybe its because I'm an Atheist, maybe its because I've sat through tons of AA and ACOA meetings with my sister. Whatever the reason, I just can't come to terms with it. But I do think that most of us need to eventually, probably sooner rather than later, find a way to work on our brains as well as our bodies.

In my opinion, a psychologist isn't going to help with this.  You need to be working with a therapist that specializes in eating disorders. You should look for a licensed clinical social worker or licensed mental health professional with a specialization in this area.  

You are experiencing what we all do -- once the blissful excitement of the first few months are past the realities of our eating disorder/food obsession come roaring back.  The mental obsession is deep-seated and you'll need tools other than this surgery to fight it.  Please look into a different therapist and Overeater's Anonymous.  OA has groups online, by phone and hopefully in person in your area.  It's been a life saver for me.  

P.S.  You don't ever get "past this"...hopefully you just learn new skills to cope with it.  

I am actually seeing a psychologist that specializes in eating disorders. Cognitive behavior disorder therapy is what she calls it.

Is it helping? A little? I can see that it holds promise of a help down the road. Just can't seem to break the obsessions yet. Bored times and when I leave the house for any reason (other than work). These are the difficult times for me.

Social situations and dinning out are both other times this becomes an issue, but to a magnitude smaller an effect