Really.... why do you test it?

Ok... so I see over and over on here people stating that they do not have any reactions to the intake of high sugar foods, high fat foods, and that they can eat everything... and oh my the surgery didn't work and they are gaining weight...?  My question, and granted I am only 4 months post op, is why the heck would you have tried all the foods you struggled with addictions to before surgery, just to see if you could still have them?  ANd moreover, once you found out you could eat your addictive foods, why did you continue to eat them regularly? And further, why do you complain about weight gain in the same sentence as "I can eat chocolate and fatty foods... I know because I do it regularly"?  I know I am an addict, I don't "test" myself because I know if I fail to have a major dumping post sugar binge, the whole thing starts over and boom... I will gain weight.  This to me seems an obvious conclusion, and one I made before being gifted with my new stomach... anyone else find testing your pouch on the very things that brought you to require major surgery, to be illogical?

"I am only 4 months post op"

Come back in 6-20 more months. Seriously. I don't mean that in a rude way... but we all got to the point of needing weight loss surgery because we all have "issues" with food. Surgery doesn't not change that and a lot of people seek therapy, in addition to surgery, to learn to find other coping mechanisms besides food.

But, many people do not address these core issues. And... when the scale slows down and you get less satisfaction from your losses, more time passes and people tell you that you "don't need to lose anymore" and the large amount of motivation you felt in the beginning begins to wane, it becomes easier and easier to test the limits and boundaries. People that never had a good self awareness and sense of accountability to begin with end up gaining weight back when the surgery stops doing all the work for them. 

Humans are not always rational or logical either. All of us do/feel/think things all the time that aren't rational or logical. 

Interesting. I don't doubt that I will make mistakes, but yes I will come back to this issue in 6-20 months and readdress.  I am fortunate enough to have realized and continue to realize that the issues which brought me to obesity needed and continue to need to be addressed and I am proactive in dealing with those things.  I also have developed a number of healthy relationships with my post op community, people in all stages of the process and whom have fallen, gotten up, been wise enough not to jump into the pit of addiction again, and some who have had to did themselves out.  I realize that life is full of tempations and that I have to be vigilant to maintain my sobriety.  What bothers me is that many people who got this surgery who seem to have less than a modicum of insight into themselves and their food issues are permitted to have a life changing surgery which requires a major life change, and are not given even a wake up conversation beforehand to prepare them for the journey.  It seems cruel to set up an addict by offering them a band aid when what they need is a revelation

I think I probably mostly misinterpreted what you were saying. I don't know why people eat things "just to see IF you can tolerate them" as if this is some kind of game. I don't really understand that mentality either. Though, I still say it's all part of a mental/emotional issue with food that isn't being addressed. But, we all eventually will eat the things that got us to be obese in the first place. Some of it is a lack of awareness, lack of education, and some people just think surgery is a magic fix.

I would encourage you to not look at them as "mistakes" though, unless we're talking about all out binges or something. I think it sounds like you've done a lot of the reflection and mental work to get you in a better place. Congrats on that! I think these things will serve you well in the long run for sure!

You are very wise, Grasshopper.  I see success in your future.

It's truly amazing how people go through the whole process of having surgery, and then a week later they are eating fast food or chips, cookies, etc.  WHY?  What's the sense of it?  It just makes me shake my head.  That's not to say I've been perfect myself.  Very few can say they stay on plan 100% -- but to purposely go "off plan" to "test" yourself........uh-uh.  

Congratuations on your surgery.  I wish you great success.

Thanks Mary C.  I guess it is the very realization of just how imperfect I am that will keep me from testing myself with things that I have proven to myself in a lifetime of experience are bigger than my will.  I honestly just don't get it.  I don't mean just people who taste a piece of cake months or years post surgery, but people who openly express that they sat down and ate chocolate until they did feel sick, and then they knew what there limits were, or in some cases were not.  Who does that?

I have no idea why, except that all those things are delicious. Why did we eat so much of that stuff to get morbidly obese to begin with?

The ones that get me most, though, are those newly postop, eating sugary stuff, "just to test, to see if they'll dump." What the hell? Let's put my hand on this stove, just to test and see if I'll get burnt.

Exactly... it defies logic.  I know there will be mistakes made on my part, but since the day I left the hospital post surgery until today and forward, I assume that sweets and fats will make me deathly ill, and that makes life a lot easier. 

Because we are humans. I did not become MO while being very strict with my diet, even knowing that it would make me fat. 

Even now, 7 years post op ~ and not only i do dump, but i also get severe RH...i still have moments when i eat food that i know i should not. And get sick....  

The big difference now that my slip~ups are very short ~ maybe one snack every few months, beacuse i really hate how i feel after. 

I don't think that eating something that you know is extremely harmful to oneself is part of the human condition at all. If a non MO person knew that if they ate a certain food it would have horrible consequences to them, the non MO person would not eat it.  I could go with it is part of the addiction to food, it is a result of unchecked issues etc.  It's like an alcoholic thinking that because they shrunk his liver he can have one drink.