My 6 years Post Op & Head Issues (Very Long)

Dawn...thank you for taking time to write and share your thoughts.  As a 6 year vet, your experience and wisdom are greatly appreciated.  I could relate with so much of what you said.  Volume eating, head hunger and especially emotional eating have always been issues for me.  Like you I could never control the amount of food I ate - it was the entire bag of chips for me, most of the bag of cookies, 3/4 of the bag of candy only to go back and fini**** all a few hours later. 

My portion sizes scare me as well.  When I control carbs, I can control my appetite.  When I eat carbs, the struggle is very real.  Like you said the  first year is really amazing.  I remember when I was a month or less out I read a post by someone who said how much she missed the early post op days.  I remember honestly thinking her surgeon must not have done a good job...how could she miss those first months?  It did not take me long to understand what she meant.  It is scary to see how easily the scale moves up but  more so to see how difficult it is to make it move back down.  I will be 3 years post op in Nov, and I have not completely conquered emotional eating.  I'm better but still have work to do.

You have been so successful.  With all you have evolved through you have a lot to offer.  For those of us who have been obese it does not matter if it is 5, 10 ro 20 pounds....to us it is all daunting and can be overwhelming. 

I hope you come to the boards daily and share with us.

Thanks Dasie

I think we all have our own struggles on one level or another.   Carbs are definitely a big piece in all this and keeping blood sugars stable as well.  We learn so much throughout our journey - including about ourselves. 

I should make a point of posting here more often.  I appreciate all the kind words.

Dawn

 I can relate to so many of the things you wrote and I am just coming up on my first year anniversary.  I fear my path is going to get so much harder, due to head issues, unless I get a handle on them now.  

Thank you for taking the time to post your story.  It has given me something to think about.

Congrats on your first year! :) 

I hope it was everything and more!

all the best to you,
Dawn

 Dawn, thank you SOOOO much for posting here! I've struggled with binge eating behavior since my 20s and it has started coming back up in the past few months. Don't feel alone in the "I should know better category": I'm a therapist and I feel like it actually helps me with ED clients because I face my own struggles so it helps me access empathy with the clients. You don't have to be further along than those you guide. Sometimes being the "wounded healer" is a very genuine and useful relationship for clients.

 Ow I'm so impressed that you've shared this. That's fantastic that you do the work that you do.  The perfectionist in me feels like I have to be perfect for my support group that I run-- it's for my confidence for than anything else.  One of the ladies there caught my post on the Ontario board and said I should post it to my support groups online venue.  The response has been wonderful....but at the same time I've never felt so vulnerable in my life!  I posted it on the Ontario board, my support groups board so I figured why not post it at my other fave space --here

Thanks for the nice response 

Dawn

I imagine you are a great therapist.  There is so much to be said about being the "wounded healer."  I love that term.

You are a success. Why, you continue to work on yourself.  You are an excellent role model for any WLS.  I don't find much confort in individuals that meet goal and stay at goal (I am happy for them).  Not everybody can do this without bumps in the road.  If I could have changed my life in a blink of an eye, I would not have needed WLS.  I struggle every day,  Thanks for sharing your story.  Your story is very motivation,

 Thank you.  I always have to work on myself so my fathead doesn't win.  There's stil always the possibly lurking to gain it back. ...


Thanks  for the nice words!


Dawn

Dawn thanks so much for posting this.  I am almost to my 3 year mark and the head issues just seem to get worse as time passes by.  I am getting into therapy because I can't handle all the anxiety that go along with them. 

I have just went through a difficult breakup and this morning as I was driving to work I had the realization that instead of binging on food I was just choosing not to eat.  This too is not good, but I know it is a total control thing...I feel like choosing not to eat is the one thing that I can control in my life because everything else is totally out of control. 

Once again thanks for your post it really is a lifelong battle.

Christy