What's in your ToolKit?

I'm not sure anybody really "loves" therapy. Most of the time, I don't want to go. Just like when you don't want to go exercise. But, if you find a good therapist and commit to the process, you feel better when you leave.

I would argue most people who get to a big enough size to qualify for surgery struggle with some emotional eating issues. Addressing the underlying reasons for emotional eating in therapy and doing your best to resolve them will help (in my opinion) a lot more in the long run than a fancy exercise program, recipes, etc.

We all have a period time after surgery where our restriction is the tightest, our motivation is the highest, and our hunger is the lowest. What's left when all of that passes? The same demons that got you to morbid obesity in the first place. Resolve them during the process - or at least improve them, and you're left with better and healthier coping mechanisms.

This is a great response. I also don't "love" therapy, but I definitely love the benefit I get from it.

Very good response Nikke! Right on point, especially the part regarding the demons still hanging around after the weight is gone. I dread therapy from the day before it until I walk through the door. When I leave I wonder why I dreaded it so bad, silly. I mentally and physically feel lighter when the session is over.

At one point I went through a period where I wondered, before therapy, "Why am I still doing this? I feel pretty solid." I'd wonder this before ever session. After every session I'd be thinking, "I wish I could do this TWICE a week!"

:D

Exactly!

MyFitnessPal, Apple Watch, My Weight App, therapy, OH!

1. Daily food tracking on MFP
2. Lots of water flavored with Crystal Light in RTIC, YETI or similar cups
3. Planning what I think I am going to eat (at minimum using it as a guideline) and posting it on OH menu threads
4. Vitamins and calcium
5. Timers on my phone to remind me when to take vitamins and when I can resume eating after a meal
6. Food scale
7. People scale with daily weighing in maintenance
8. Spreadsheet tracking of weight and calories
9. Lots of new recipes, many suggested in OH postings
10. OH!!!! Including daily posting on 2 menu threads plus posting in the VSG support group. I really enjoy all the support and good ideas all my new friends bring to the table. Though this is the last in my list, I think it is probably one of the most important (more than my in-person support group)
11. Monthly attendance at an in-person support group
12. Daily exercise of some sort (at minimum walking or swimming)

1. Food Scale
2. MFP
3. Fit*****arge
4. My kitchen scale
5. My bathroom scale!
6. Tiny plates
7. Planet Fitness (The premium membership, gotta love those massage chairs.)

Keith- awesome post, & amazing responses. Thanks all, so helpful for this newbie!