Food Addictions

Hi,

I am sure you have been told this.  But do this one day at a time. Talk to yourself and ask--do I just want to eat or do I really NEED to eat some thing.  Most of the time it is you want to eat.  Don't have things in your home that you shouldn't be eating.  If they aren't there you can't have them. 

Sometimes if I write a meal plan out for the next day the evening before, that is really helpful to me.  Remember the WLS is only your "tool".  You will find out in time how to make that tool work almost everyday for you!  NO one is perfect! 

Don't beat yourself up over the days that aren't so good.  Just remember there is always tomorrow.  Do the best you can and learn to love who you are and what you are doing.  You have taken a BIG step forward just having the WLS. Congrats to you for having WLS.

I am always here for you when ever you are having a bad day or just want to vent or ask questions.

Hugs,
Suzanne

 I havent had my wls yet, well, my 2nd one anyways.  I had lap band in 08.. Waste of time.  Anyways, after seeking professional counseling, I realized am a food addict.   I am at the point that I worry about what will take the place of this addiction after my bypass?  I cant even imagine what I will think about after the last 20 years of food addiction?  Will I grieve the loss of food?  I read all these wonderful success stories, but no one really ever talks about what you have done to replace those cravings?binges?  Will I be like other women and start to worry about wrinkles????  That was always my joke, fat chicks don't wrinkle!!  ha ha   also, does it ever go away?  if so, how long??

Hi,

I am here to tell you it does get a lot easier.  Why bypass surgery and not a "sleeve?"  You have to take it one day at a time.  Learn to make the WLS work for you because it is only a tool.

I laughed when you said will you worry about wrinkles?  I am 66 years old and people ask me if I have had to have skin removed. My answer to them is NO.  And I would rather have wrinkles than to die from being fat.  You will never die from wrinkles! I do know what you are saying, but it did make me smile. 

Exercise is something I used to hate, until I found out all the benefits from it.  It really does help with the food addiction.  Try walking that is what I do. It doesn't cost anything to walk, I walk inside a local Mall when the weather is bad.  You can start out easy and just walk a short distance--then increase it as time goes on.  I am always here to ask questions or help in any way I can.

The only problem I have seen people have with bypass is that they stretch out that pouch and never make a lifestyle change.  That is not being on a diet, but change how you are going to eat for the rest of your life and include exercise. You have to make some healthy food choices--you have a restriction--so use it and learn the signals when you are full and STOP eating when you get the signal.  For me my noise starts to run or I get the hiccups--strange but true.  You have to be willing to do this and have your head in the right place.  If not it is not going to work.

I have seen too many people that I know that bypass did not work and that is why I asked about why not a VGS "Sleeve".  It works much better and you chance for success is so much greater with the sleeve.

Hugs,
Suzanne

Beautiful post!!! Thank you so much!

Maybe not everyone does, but I sure find it helps to work with my attachment to food as an addiction. Actually, research shows that there are similar brain circuits created with drug and alcohol and food addiction.

Learning to live in the present and reprogram those brain patterns are where the cutting edge is, I think...

Hi Ann,

That was very interesting information.  I always love learning something new everyday.  I know the brain plays a BIG part in our thinking process when it comes to food.  We all have battled the "head games" that our old thinking brain has tried to play on us.  At first right after WLS it would try to tell me I had not eaten enough--and some place inside of me I knew that was wrong because I was full with my new small stomach. Some for me in time my brain and stomach learned to work together and new habits were being formed in my brain.

We each deal with this issue the best way we know how.  For me I have developed some new habits and I learning to stop eating the minute I feel full.  There is nothing wrong with tossing out food that is on my place--I grew up always being told to clean up your plate--hard habit to break.  I have learned to share meals with my husband when we go out and eat too.  If I want a French fry, I eat a few of his and don't put them on my plate.

So for each of us, it will be something that we have to learn new healthy habits. 

Hugs,
Suzanne

 One of the most useful things I learned  at OA was that it takes a mere six weeks of  total abstinence for the body to  unlearn  WHATEVER  craving or bad eating habit that is  currently seeming way too strong to conquer .

This is why  12 step meetings DO work very well....  and if you commit to making one meeting a day for sixty days you WILL find that despite yourself ... the support and encouragement and the ability to speak freely about that days struggle to a group  who understands ... will allow you to put down whatever seems impossible to do alone ...  in that time.  

You WILL have 45 days free of  ( sugar , or eating at night , or snacking , or just adhering  to a food plan of your choice )  ... faster than you can count to  ninety ( if not sixty ) .

Now STAYING firm is much harder because we all have that little devil sitting on our shoulder saying test the waters NOW .. eat just one ... 

 HES a destructive self-sabotaging chatterbox thats a LOT harder to turn off... 

 But truly the BODY's  profound cravings  go away 100%  after 6 weeks of consecutive non-indulgence ..TRULY .  Its amazing acually to be free from struggling ...! 

I have learned a TON at OA, al-anon ( which is about  fixing destructive relationships and  ourselves who may tend to choose the wrong people to best support US )   and vision meetings at DA  ( which is about finances and achieving your dreams in a concrete, supported , step-by-step fashion) and I am NOT  a rabid 12 stepper by any means !  

big hugs to all of us for trying / daring to improve our lives ! 

Hi,

Wow a lot of great information.  I am thrilled that you shared it with us.  I am also very happy that you have found something that works for you. It feels good when we find what works for us.  I do believe that the food cravings DO go away once they have not been in your body for 6 weeks.

For me I never feel deprived.  I know that honestly there isn't anything I can't eat----ONLY in small amounts.  I understand that is not the answer for everyone. You know that just because this works for me doesn't mean it will work for you. 

It is an individual thing, and we have to find the skills that makes our new restriction work for us.  Thanks bunches for sharing this, this just might be the answer for many of you.

Hugs,
Suzanne