Switching addictions

Hello everyone, I'm researching the band. I'm a food addict. Did any of you find yourselves switching to a different type of obsessive/compulsive behavior after being banded?  If so, would you mind sharing about that? Thanks!!

Hi cdoss,

I didn't realize I had a food addiction until I lost my weight, then I was forced to " deal" with myself. I see a Professional Counselor who specializes in food addictions she was a weigh****cher leader who would binge over the weekends on food. She is wonderful ! . I wish I had seen someone sooner. She lost her weight but without surgery.



But like so many, the layers were stripped away And I came to realize how I had used food to numb my feelings.



No matter what WLS you choose, it all begins in your head! Surgery is just a "tool", as so many here will tell you.



Good luck,

Prek3

I find that I bully myself I have bad food anxiety. I basically cannot go out to eat, I feel pressure to picking something that will go down, that is healthy, and that I actually want! All with this dumb waiter and husband waiting for me to choose!

If I make a bad choice I beat myself up over it big time, I never let myself rest I always feel fat.

I am scared to death of gaining the weight back, I think so much that I don't let myself relax and realized how far I have come and be happy with where I am.

I really wish I could be happy with my weight and how I look, but I am scared to get to comfortable...

Transfer addiction with any substance --- and with every type of WLS.

I got involved with OA immediately before my surgery and then weigh****chers immediately after it -- and have used both of those groups to help me live life with addictive behaviors.

I chose to make a list of 'trigger foods' --- and to abstain from those foods.  I sometimes add new foods to the list, but once something is on there, it is never removed -- it is just 'not my food'.

For me -- I cannot eat cake or cookies or ice cream or any type of baked sweet -- because 1 bite leads to hundreds.

Also, the band is no deterrent to those foods -- in fact, the sweeter and softer a food is, the easier it is to eat it -- and have it slide right past the band with no problem.

The band will not cure or moderate a food addiction --- with my band, I can't eat very much at 1 sitting, but I could eat all day long if I let myself --- my lower stomach is still the size it was before surgery -- and it can hold a lot of food.

If I feed myself lean, solid protein in small amounts, that food 'sits' above the band and puts enough pressure on my upper stomach/pouch to signal satiety ---- so I don't have to eat again in a few minutes, but I COULD eat again in just a few minutes.

It is important to get some help with whatever you consider to be your 'food addiction' before considering a banded  lifestyle