Emotional Eating 6 Weeks Post-Op

Hey Everyone!

My baby bother passed away unexpectedly last week, and I am pretty devastated. I did well planning my meals around an erratic schedule of running around all last week to help with funeral arrangements. But the past 2 days for the viewing and burial I found myself really hungry despite packing a hard boiled egg and protein bar to tide me over until the 3pm luncheon.

I ate breakfast at 8am before leaving our house, the egg after the church service at 11am, and the protein bar bar on the way to the cemetery at 1pm. However, I was starving...not head hunger...by the time we arrived at the luncheon. I ate my chicken and vegetables, but still was hungry so I stupidly took some of my husband's chocolate cake! Ugh...felt like I would explode.

But instead of learning I ate 2 oatmeal cookies later at my sister's house knowing I had exceeded my calories, etc. This slip up makes me wonder 1) why I felt physical hunger so strongly despite having my snacks & water, 2) how I can handle other emotional situations better in future and 3) why my sleeve didn't seem to work after 2 dense oatmeal cookies?

Any advice from vets would be appreciated!

So very sorry for your loss. You realize you have been stressed and your probably not feeling so hot after eating so much. You can still fix things, just remember to try to plan your meals and stay away from the sugar. I hate having sugar stuff in the house but with a family it is almost impossible.  Sugar makes me want to eat more and more.  Hang tight! You got this! You haven't worked this hard to stop now! Have a good cry and know we are here for you! Everything will be okay. Hugs.

I am so sorry for your loss.  I think you should be gentle with yourself on the lapses in your eating plan.  Some times are just too painful, and we need to make space for ourselves to be human. In my mind,  as long as you don't let it become a habit, these lapses are just part of the process. 

I've been working on developing alternative ways to sooth myself when I'm under stress, but listening to music, or buying myself a book, or whatever else I try doesn't do it when major losses happen.  I think we need to give ourselves the room to be human.  We just can't  let it become the norm.

best wishes,

Carol

First, I am deeply sorry for your loss.  Condolences to you and your family. 

I'm only just over 2 months out myself, and the veterans may have other thoughts, but I'll give it a go:

1) Physical hunger - often acid masks itself as hunger.  Are you taking anything for this?  My doctor has me on Omeprazole.  But I wouldn't discount emotional/mental hunger in this situation.  

2) Emotional challenges - this is going to be one of our most challenging battles.  We have relied on food as a coping mechanisms, and by having surgery, we have tried to take that mechanism away.  This leaves many of us with no coping skills.  Part of my journey is to develop new coping mechanisms.  I'm working with a therapist to do this, and doing a lot of self discovery in the process.  I will say Bravo to you for recognizing that you need help with this.  I'm hoping the veterans will have some ideas here as well...

3) Restriction issues - I'm definitely going to need a vet to chime in here, but my understanding is that our sleeves will hold more of certain foods.  For example, I can eat 4 oz of greek yogurt, but still haven't been able to eat 4oz of dense protein.  So perhaps the types of foods you ate meant you could eat more?

Hang in there!

so sorry to hear of losing your baby brother.  I think you did great maintaining what you did eat. I am just over 2mths out, but don't think I could do as well as you.  don't beat yourself up to bad- death of a loved one is  a big shock to our system.  I am sure someone with just the right advice/experience  will be on to help you figure this out.  Hugs Dee

I'm so sorry for your loss. Please be very gentle with your self right now. I think what you were experiencing was strong emotional hunger, it can be hard to tell physical hunger from emotional. Give your self a break, your brother just passed away. If you go off the diet plan for a day or two, it will not derail your weight loss. Just don't make a habit of it.

sorry for your loss. Your sleeve did work BUT cookies aren't dense and neither is choc cake. I find if I eat anything Cathy like this, the more I want to eat and i can eat a lot more of everything.emotional eating is hard to overcome. We just have to do the best we can . For future, you could eat mor chicken and vegetables if you still feel hungry. Your sleeve will let you know if you are really needing more food or it is emotional hunger.

I'm sorry for your loss. Learning new behaviors for how to cope with stress and emotional eating is not something everyone can do alone. For me, I sought out a therapist to help with this and I found the experience to be invaluable. For now, the sleeve will restrict your intake, but eventually you will be surprised how many cookies or pieces of cake you can fit into your smaller stomach. Take care of yourself in whatever what you need to!!

First off I want to say sorry for your loss. 6 weeks post op really isn't that far off & it looks like you were eating good, but the head stuff can at times overcome the physical stuff. I'm not sure if at 6 weeks you're fully healed up from surgery but I can tell ya being a year+ out from surgery that I can eat a boatload of cookies & cake & it wouldn't bother my sleeve one bit! Plus protein bars are not filling at all & is a snack to me.

I'm not sure if what you was feeling was physical hunger or maybe too much acid. Acid mimicks hunger, maybe you need a ppi? Emotional issues will always come up, you've been thru/going thru a trauma, that can throw anybody off their game. Perhaps talking with a therapist will help you turn to something other than food to get you thru the next emotional pitfall. I'm not a vet, but I hope this helps.

My condolences on the death of your baby brother. I have a baby brother, and I don't know what I would do without him.

I think you can give yourself a pass for today. At an extremely difficult time like this, don't worry too much about what you eat. You have other, more important things on your mind.

psychoticparrot