19 days out -- Sticking up for myself

It has been an interesting journey so far, i have taken classes in the past about body image and how to manage the emotions and mental side of losing weight.  I did optifast 5 times with Kaiser and had to go thru hours and hours of coursework, art therapy and group.

Somehow I forgot the drastic changes that happen emotionally and mentally when you stop stuffing and eating all those carbs and fat. 

My first week out of surgery, i would describe myself as edgy...  If someone said something negative or perceived as negative, i reacted right away. 
I find myself as the 2 weeks have gone by since that my mind is clearing up, if something is bothering me, i address it with the person, I am standing up for myself. 

I am also working on self soothing, since i am no longer soothing myself with food.  Walking, (cant wait to start swimming), listening to music, dancing in my house, going to the movies, gardening, riding my motorcycle.  walking my dogs on the beach at 7 am. 

I live in San Diego and went to the beach for the first time in years last Saturday. 
I am excited about my new life, my new energy and my new outlook.

 Fabulous!

Keep it up and keep sharing please!

jude

Zac, it sound like you're doing so well!  As, I've been on my pre-op food plan and I'm getting closer to my surgery date, I'm finding that I'm thinking more and more about the emotional changes.  Your post is really helpful in giving me a heads up about what I can look forward to and plan for.

I do tend to appear that I just let all kinds of negative things roll right over me and then my pattern has been to just stuff the emotions away by eating.  Just stickiing to the pre-op diet for so long has been highlighting my need to "deal" with all kinds of things in healthier ways.  

Thanks for your post and keep up the good work!!!!

Nadine

Thanks Nadine..

Since losing th weight, and the crutch of binge eating, I have found that I am a bit more moody too.  It definately seems like I am quicker to "fire off". I have started to learn to put myself in check more when that happens.

 I think in this area, we have to be careful of transfer addictions.  what once gave us comfort is no longer there so by our own nature, we switch to something else be it smoking, coffee, alcohol, etc.  We have to watch that too.  I know early out from my surgery, I snapped and almost tried to commit suicide but one thing I did was reach out here to the board and then i got help.  I've been on anti-depressants ever since and they seem to help at least take the edge off of things.  Now they don't make me into a zombie or anything like that LOL.  they are just a little help for me to deal with things.  what you feel is real and often times I wish they would have operated on my brain the same time as my guts LOL  but we know that this is a life change and unfortunately our brains change MUCH slower than our bodies.

I'm excited for you! Did you have the surgery through Kaiser? I'm taking the 5 month course right now that Kaiser provides before surgery...

My problem's been the "greys", what I call a state where all my emotions are somewhat muted.  I don't really feel bad about any of the negative things happening, but I don't really feel amazing about the good things, either.  At least it doesn't drive me to eat.

almost 9 months out I'm finally getting some emotional feeling back.  It's nice.

ISN'T LIFE GRAND??  I love my WLS and my journey, hang on tight, your's has just begun.

Zac, Good post! As time has past since my surgery, I become more aware of the power that food had over my life. Moving past that and finding other things that comfort you will happen sooner than you think. -- Tom