I don't care what you eat, really...

I hear people say you should get your head straight before you have WLS.  I don't agree.  Our heads are way to smart, or stupid for that.  I needed physical restraints before I could even begin to deal with my addiction.  And even now, I still need physical restraints, because I will eat until I am full.

It's not all in the head anyway.  The foods that are widely available to us are making us fat because the foods themselves are like drugs.

Yes, I totally agree.  If I waited until I figured out the "magic" thing that makes me a food addict /compulsive over eater / binge eater, I would be waiting 20 more years to get this surgery...if ever!!!  And, I am willing to go to therapy and I am looking for a new one now.  I am willing to do whatever it takes, but I - like you - need the physical restraint and the hunger hormone mostly removed.

I personally think you have to get clean, get off the food, before you can figure anything out.  Is it easier to eat cleanly with a tiny tummy?  Absolutely.  But that's just the physical part, and I still had the monkey on my back.  I absolutely think the food industry is a big part of the problem, but that's a bigger problem than I can solve!

Yes yes yes!!  You can do this.  It is a blessed reprieve, and I have not been as hungry post-op as I was beforehand.  This is wonderful.  Good luck to you!!

I can totally eat a cupcake (or 4) in the bathtub.  LOL!

You've said exactly what I was thinking and planning to write!  It's good to identify why we became addicted, if we can, to be able to recognize when a trigger presents itself and in turn triggers our desire to eat.  However, at this point, whether my addiction is psychological, physiological, or a combination of both, matters little.  No one would recommend to an alcoholic that once he or she is able to understand why he or she became an alcoholic, that it is now okay to drink.  I think whatever work we do, whether through therapy, a 12-step program, forums like this, etc.. is very valuable.  But its value is in helping us to better recognize when the monkey Happy talks about rears its head and starts yapping at us, giving us the tools to not dive into that black hole.  This recognition does not give many of us back (if we ever had it) to eat anything.  For some, that may not be true, but for me, it's my reality. 

So appropriate!  Psychological kudzu!  I have to accept my limitations before I can move beyond them.  Thank you, Rob.  I'm going out to do some gardening...

PERFECT! Thanks, Rob...exactly what I was feeling but didn't put so eloquently :)

I think I might have improved what I was saying.  I do have lots of ideas about why I have food issues.  I just haven't found that knowing what those causes were helped me stop eating.  I believe there is some hard-wired disconnects in me about food, that I can't think my way out of.

Therapy has been very helpful for me, but it's just along the same lines that knowing why I ate compulsively never was enough to help me stop.  I had to work with other people who had my problem and figured a way out. 

It was very important, however, for me to figure out what I was using excess food to do for me, and figure out ways to get that done without food.  Food is not very good at making me feel less lonely or vulnerable, for example.  But I have this kind of knee-jerk reaction to think it will.  I have to stop and say, no, food will not fix this.  Human connections will fix this.  That kind of thing. 

YES!  Absolutely!!!!!!!!!  TRUTH!