Do you get sick of showering and brushing your teeth?

OK, the title's a bit of a tease - this isn't a post about personal hygiene, it's about outlook.

I'm 21 1/2 months post op, and have long since realized that I will need to self-monitor the rest of my life. The sleeve made it easier to control my portions, but it can't control how often I eat or what kinds of foods. Certain foods will allow me to eat a lot more calories **** cream is an example) or make me crave and want to eat continuously (most simple carbs). So there are two things I've committed to do for the rest of my life: plan & track my food and weigh regularly.

I've read so many times, both here and on myfitnesspal, that folks get 'tired of the program' and are ready for it to be over. Guess what: it will never be over.

That's the bad news. Here's the good news: it gets a WHOLE lot easier if you just change the way you look at it. How strange would you think I was if I wrote the following:

I take a shower every day, and the next day I'm all dirty and have to do it again. Sometimes I even need two showers in the same day! I'm so ready for this showering to be over!"

Sounds crazy, right? Because we don't think of showering, brushing our teeth, shaving for many of us as burdens, they're things we routinely do to take care of ourselves. They're just a normal part of our day-to-day lives. If you can build a routine so that the logging and weighing become part of your every day life, and the new style of eating simply becomes your normal it will all become so much easier.

But you have to decide to make that change in your thinking. And that's not easy. But it is worth it.

So I have to admit that the catchy title got my curiosity up quite a bit wondering 'what the heck?' LOL  You are absolutely right! There are things that we do routinely and never question and we should make a conscious effort to put eating, counting and logging right into that same category! Thanks for the post. I've never been one to wonder when it will be over because I guess I went into this knowing in my heart and in my mind that it would be something I would have to do for the rest of my life. BUT I would gladly trade this over the worrying about being overweight, worrying about my health and what other people see and think ANYDAY!! Thanks for the eye-opening post!!!

I agree. Weighing and measuring my food is just what i do now. I've done it for over a year now and it has become second nature. I don't even register it as a chore anymore. It's just something I do like flossing and brushing or washing the dishes when I'm done with dinner. I credit this habit as one of the main reasons I've been able to keep my portions down and my sleeve fairly "tight". I think of this as a life habit.

I loved reading your post.  It is what I keep saying, in different ways, over and over again.  I think people really need to see this as a life long commitment and not a temporary thing to help them lose the weight.  The truth is that it will always have to be done, every day, for the rest of our lives, to one extent or another.  Only people that sign up for that level of dedication get to keep their weight loss for life.  Thank you for your post.  I really needed to read it this morning.

Yesterday, I worked late into the night and when I came home, tired and drained, I notices that my mother had brought over her famous home made cookies.  They are truly unique and come from an old family recipe and you can't get anything like in any other bakery.  So there I was, tired, warn out and hungry, looking at my Mom's cookies.  I was alone in the house, the kids were asleep and the TV was on.  The perfect recipe for my personal disaster.  I gave in last night, and had a cookie.  As I sat there eating this scrumptious thing, the thought that kept going through my mind was, "After I eat this one, there are five more on the table, so I can have one more and save the four to be divided by my children".  My cookie monster was on overdrive.  I wanted the next cookie before I even finished the first one.  Then, I hungrily lunged at the counter to grab a second cookie. As I was devouring the second (and they are good sized cookies) one, I thought, "Well, the kids must have already had quite a few of these, if only six were left on the counter, so even if I FINISHED them, the kids would understand".  That means that I was sitting there rationalizing eating six, huge cookies.  And guess what, everyone, I could eat six, huge cookies, without my restriction kicking in or feeling ill.  Think about that.

After the second cookie, I got up and hid the other cookies and went to bed. This morning I put the cookies in my children's lunches and got them out of the house. I am telling you all this to illustrate the point that this is a life long battle.  Today I have some thinking and planning and talking to my Mother to do and I will not have those cookies left on the counter again.  I will come up with a better strategy, like asking my mother to only bring the cookies that my kids would finish and take the rest home with her when she leaves. Even down the road, or more specifically, especially down the road, we need to be extra vigilant or else there is not doubt in my mind that we will put our weight back on.

Crackers are aptly named for me, as they are my crack!

I've avoided simple carbs so diligently that it took me until month 20 to learn that I dump. But I find it's easier not harder to just have some rules and follow them than to have to make decisions on the fly constantly. If I tried that I'd fall on my face.

Great post!!!

Bottom line...... if you want this..... suck it up and accept it and do what you gotta do.... if you don't, you get fat again......

Portions and content...... speaking for myself.....I can tell pretty close on what's up from across the room......

Navigate and maneuver to protect your skinny......

frisco

Navigate and maneuver to protect your skinny. My new words to live by!  

Thanks to THIS post this was my FB status

For ALL my peeps who are trying to watch what you eat and/or exercise and you get tired and want to know when eating right and exercising with be OVER and don't want to do the process. 

READ THIS: "I take a shower every day, and the next day I'm all dirty and have to do it again. Sometimes I even need two showers in the same day! I'm so ready for this showering to be over!"

Made me realize there are things I do ALMOST every day. Do I get tired and wanna stop (of course) but I don't STOP for like months at a time like I've done my diet and exercise routine. So yeah stop *****ing and like Nike says "Just do it"

I will say I KNOW there are going to be times on this road to my health that I give into temptation, but before it would be months down the line and oh several pounds before I STOPPED the behavior.  While there are days when I wouldn't want to be around me because I don't get out of bed which means no shower or teeth brush BUT that does NOT go on for LONG.  So neither should be attitude about diet and exercise!!!

Thank you for your post!!

Mom4Jazz is this post is awesome and right on!!!!

Once I decided to have WLS, I already instilled it in my head that if I was going to the extreme measure of removing 80% of my stomach, I was going to do everything in my power to make this work ... forever!!!  I just cannot go back to the way I was before, ever!!!  Yes, this is a way of life and we just have to make the best of it.  This is not rocket science; we all know what do do.

Nothing to add but that you pretty much nailed my line of thinking. It's no more an essential step of a normal day for me than any other- and whether I stay with my original plan or veer off into some indulgence or no- it gets logged with no guilt, judgment.. just an observation of what I consumed/am planning to consume. Sometimes I have it, sometimes I change my mind.. and the next meal/day what-have-you, I am back on my own track.. no wild swing from going overboard to under-board, just a realistic return to my normal.

Weirdly enough, all this tracking over the past 2 years has led to more of a feeling of peace than all the free-wheeling, eat whatever-whenever days.