Triggers foods - artifical sweeteners

Hello, thanks in advance for your kind help to my question :- Is it possible that artifically sweetened foods can cause sugar and/or carb cravings ? I have some Robinsons "only 5 cals" cordial and if I drink this I want more and more....Crystal light same deal - drink it and want more and more and then start wanting more food - any kind ! I am 11 months out, 102lbs down but am on a stall/maybe gaining as I want to eat and eat every night just like "before WLS". Is there a medical/nutritional reason for this and what is your suggestion. Frankly I have little idea about how much food I should be eating at each meal now. Zero support from doctor and no NUT as live in ****et Thailand and they just don't exist here. thanks again so much and Merry Christmas.  Kay !

Cravings are just not an area of much science - I can't tell you if your cravings are triggered by the food, or maybe just your brain. What it sounds like to me is that you are letting some of those pre-op habits slip back into your routine. It's true that at around the year mark, you start to feel more normal, hunger can return, old bad habits sneak in - and this is precisely when you have to be strict with yourself! The people *****gain all of their weight usually start gaining at about 1 year post. So go back to basics. Small protions, strict meal times, 4-6 oz per meal (and not more) 3 meals per day - and 2 snacks if you need them.  Sit down for meals and enjoy your food. No mindless TV watching munchies. Don't drink with meals Keep your protein at the beginning of your meals Eat complex carbs (brown rice, please! and lots of veggies) Exercise every day - even during monsoon! Keep moving! If you need me to coach you more or wave my pom-poms, let me know. Your success is determined by your daily decisions. Good Luck!

Dear Danielle, Thank you for your response. Frankly I am scared witless about what is happening as I have zero control in the evenings...again...it was like this before the surgery. Eat breakfast, eat lunch, manage fine all through the day, maybe a snack mid morning/late afternoon and when I get home it's like open season on food. Yesterday I went shopping and got all sorts of tastes/flavours to add to the plain chicken, meat etc I have to eat and when I got home I was almost in a state of confusionand over-excited about what I could eat when etc. I told myself I had to forget it all - I had a cup of tea and like a food "time out" to get my brain back into a reasonable mode. If there was a psychologist around I would run to see them but there just isn't. Today I had a 2 egg omlette with 1 oz hard cheese and 1/4 teaspoon butter in the pan. Lunch was unfortunately skipped due to bad time pressures so I had a Swiss Miss diet chocolate hot drink made with water and about 1oz 2% milk.Got home earlish - 5pm had a bag of mixed lettuces with 2 tablespoons of tsaziki (yogurt/garlic/a little oil/lemon- delicious -  a new find in the supermarket !) Then got busy on eating...1 small bag of salted almonds, 2 apricots...then had dinner around 7.30pm whicvh was 4-5oz of turkey ith a little bisto chicken gravy.  Then made some custard with 2% milk, 1 serve chocolate drink mix (swiss miss diet) and 3 sachets of equal sugar substitute - around 8oz milk...ate 1/2 and the other half is in the fridge calling my name. I actually feel full now, the first time all day...and as I continue to write this I am starting to feel too full and uncomfortable. Most days now I don't feel full. Mostly I eat solid protein eg a steak, some roast pork no fat, chicken breast, eggs, cheese...I am not doing well on the veg at all and fruit is too limited. I am scared when I don't eat just protein that I will eat too much but I am eating too much any way. My brain is kaput...I am really sad that the pouch seems to have stretched or my stoma stretched. About 3 weeks ago I had some large US grapes and I didn;t chew one enough. I felt it in my stomach and I had a bad pain when it was pushing its way through the stoma (i could actually feel it...like a very very sharp pain , if that makes any sense/is feasible ?) Since then I have rarely felt full. I am meant to be a rationale human being. I am 52 in a few weeks, have a managerial position running 2 diving liveaboard boats (am a dive instructor myself) but I am behaving poorly... I have a treadmill and was walking 45-60 minutes every morning but ion the past 2-3 eeks am not doing so well here either - even though I feel better after the alk, even go for walks in the street and feel super fit but then don't go...even though part of me wants to it seems another part won't... Please help Danielle. I know you run an online Nutrion service - is this correct ? Maybe I could sign up for a while or something - I need more than pom poms. Sorry for the ravings like a mad woman but thats kind of how I think I am at the moment. Thanks for listening. I will print out your response and stick it on the fridge and surround myself ith the "sucess is determined by daily decisions" addage.