Compulsive eating: spiritual or biological.

Like I said in my original post " Notice I said "eat their way".  Nothing to do with medication reaction or metabolic disorder. "
I was just talking about people who ate too much.  As in burying their feelings with food.  I understand that there are many who probably eat a whole lot less then I do that still gain weight.  And I also agree that even for people such as myself who ate too much that the overeating may have (and probably did) come from a physiological response, basically that some are biologically predisposed to turning to food as a way to deal with things.  It's not always emotional, although I believe in my case it was.  As well as physical and spiritual.

Then why did you claim that no one gets to be 100 pounds overweight without having an eating disorder if you were only talking about yourself?

Maybe I misstated what I was trying to say.  What I was trying to say is that in my opinion people don't usually overeat to the point of being 100 lbs overweight if they don't have some kind of issues with food.  Of course that isn't true for everyone.  I realize that many people have medical problems that cause weight gain.  I am just talking about people like myself who overate to that point.

Yehuda-

I personally am so glad that you feel better after revising your Fobi pouch.  You seem so much happier and calmer.  :-)

I agree with Lady Taz that no WLS can permanantly fix our issues with food.

I'm glad you are issue-less 8 weeks out of your surgery-  I hope it continues.

Pupcake

Amen, sister....it doesn't "cure" anything...just gives us some hope that we have found a tool that will work with us in taming the obesity demon.

thanks for bringing up a great subject and your experience. I believe that obesity has roots in the physical, emotional and spiritual. I'm glad you are doing well and found something that worked. But, it is work no matter what and I think that is something we all dislike. Its hard not giving into the food cravings. K

Yehuda,
Thanks for posting this to the MB. I totally understand the broken satiety switch.. I either broke mine at a very young age or never had one.. chubby toddler, fat kid, fat family, so I'm sure family lifestyle early on did not help either..

I was never full unless I ate to the point of discomfort. Now I feel satisfied (well before stuffed). I could lose on 1200cals (very slowly) so here's to hoping the metabolism isn't totally shot.. but i'm sure it's impaired. I couldn't ever sustain that restricted intake for too long (excepting a miraculous 5 year stretch by sheer white knuckling before something pushed me over the edge.) Yes, I knew of the DS, just chose the sleeve for my own personal reasons.. I knew I was not a great candidate for it long-term.

I eat the same foods (if not healthier) than my 6' 155lb husband, but in quantities too large for my needs and thus was able to maintain 250-280 for years.. Not denying I'm in the honeymoon phase, but the feeling of finding that satisfaction feeling, of losing that empty pit is wonderful. Yes, there is a definite strong biological/hormonal aspect to all this, at least for me- without a doubt.

Food was/is not my drug, I don't miss it, never did while dieting. Don't get me wrong , socially food is entertainment, and I participated in that too.. but overall I feel I was broken, and the VSG fixed what was broken, I have some peace now to work on other issues.

As I've said to others on the VSG board, I had constant head-chatter of hunger, more, more more.. that was impossible to ignore for any long time period. With that gone from the moment I woke, there is an ability to actually work on the other things.. Without the VSG there was too much noise to be able to concentrate on anything else.. no awareness other than the biological imperative. So fixing the biological part, allows you some peace to work on the rest. It would have been impossible to do it the other way around, and I think that is the case for many.

Thanks for your response. I know that many do have emotional ties to food, but I know without a doubt that I did not and still do not. Throughout my childhood and teenage years I went to many psychotherapists and psychiatrists, and even they couldn't figure out what was wrong. One psychiatrist that I went to even said something along the lines of, "You appear to be a typical teenager, with no mental health/emotional problems, except for the fact that you are severely obese. It must be something biological. " And he went on to say that he really couldn't help me and referred me to an endocrinologist. 

Not everyone needs a DS to turn that broken hunger switch off, but I believe that those of us who have more extreme hunger issues and become extremely severely obese, as I did, are much more likely going to require a DS to fix that broken hunger switch. I know many others who after having RNY or the VSG have never had the hunger return.

I 100% agree with, "So fixing the biological part, allows you some peace to work on the rest." ...I know that my DS does a lot of the work, but I still have to be really careful with my carb intake, but I do enjoy a treat here and there. I've never really been big on sweets anyways, so a few bites  satisfies me. When I was preop and binging, I binged on real food. That is very different than someone who sits in the corner with a crate of twinkies and eats away their sorrows:-)

Yep, not a sweets person either.. not even chocolate, I prefer the bitter dark stuff, and a bar of that lasts months in the house (pre-op.)
 
I just ate too much real food, and likely way too many carbs like most people. Thankfully I love meat, so this is easy for me. I'm also not hooked emotionally on the food thing, but the cravings (non-specific, just general must eat cravings) disappeared when they took most of my stomach.. interestingly enough a significant amount of anxiety in general did too.. I found an interesting study post-surgery that ghrelin is anxiogenic.. at least in rodents.. They are discovering all the time the roles that hormones play in our behaviors and urges.. 

"...but the cravings (non-specific, just general must eat cravings) ..."

EXACTLY! I must remember that phrase.

I DO still have specific cravings---just shortly after surgery i craved pickles and deviled eggs like there was a shortage on. And pre-op, I didn't even LIKE deviled eggs! I suspect these sorts of cravings are also biologically driven, probably by deficiencies. Anecdotal story here---my niece ate DIRT as a child. They couldn't keep her out of it. Peditrician said "Feed her pickles." Sure enough, Megan stopped eating dirt---but she's in her late 20s now, and you STILL can't trust you alone with your pickles.