Building a healthy reward system post VSG

Hey guys!

A post someone made the other day sparked this post.  It was mentioned that they lost a good amount of weight and were proud of themself and rewarded themself with a food treat (and got sick from it, hope you are feeling better if you are reading this!)   .

I think the food reward is something most of us have done or do regularly. In the past, we associated good feelings with food..It's a seemingly normal thing, you do something good, and you reward yourself with a treat and in many of our cases that treat is food. But I think it is difficult for us who have a had a food addiction to balance making the necessary changes post VSG and still seeing food as the ultimate reward. How can we change our way of thinking?

I wanted to give some suggestions and an example of things we can do other than eat to reward ourselves with doing a good job with our weight loss or anything in general.

Some things that I enjoyed were treating myself to a manicure/pedicure, a massage, going on a nice hike, shopping for smaller sizes, etc.

I just passed my first set of vet school exams with flying colors..and instead of reaching for the booze like most of the students, i arranged a 3 hour paddle board tour up the penninsula, with reef snorkeling at the end. A blissful, healthy experience that wasnt over in 2 minutes like eating cake or cookies.

As you get further out, try and rely more on healthy alternatives ie going for a walk instead of eating as a method of handling stress or to celebrate your milestones.

Very good post!

Shopping works for me. It is overwhelming to replace a whole wardrobe from top to bottom. Even if I just got socks it was a treat!

I saw this on pinterest and thought it sounded so "true".

" You are NOT a dog, stop rewarding yourself with food"

Whispering to USAF ...... Where is you surgiversary post?

I know I know. . . I need to do it, but I just updated with the baby info and don't want to overload on the updates. I'll work one up later on this afternoon once Tot goes down for her long nap and the mister out at the gun show.

And where did you disappear to on Facebook???

I had to back away for a bit. Hubby was feeling neglected. I actually deactivated for 2wks.

I'm back but posting less. That group is still a mess. I posted yesterday that you can take NSAIDS post VSG and some girl went haywire on me. I just don't want to be bothered w that kind of drama anymore.

I left the group completely because the false information was just too much for me. I also deleted 150 people from my list. I hate the fact that most are so misinformed and refuse to be educated with factual information. They can continue to do their Woman's World magazine diets and their justification of **** poor habits and behaviors. I just couldn't do it anymore.

The NSAID thing cracks me up. Everytime. You won't pop an Aleve, but you'll down vodka and cranberry juice every weekend.

haha! someone on here put that as their avatar, i think. too funny.

oh and congrats on #2!!! So happy for you!!

I love this thread!

In fact, Onederland is right around the corner for me... I'm thinking some non-food reward might be in order when I get there? Hmm...