Struggling with food in my head

Hi BOTTers

I'm checking in and still trying to iron out how to get and keep myself on track...Being an intelligent mammal who has been thru this process I KNOW what I'm supposed to do, the problem is the seemingly daily struggle to conquer the voices/thoughts/needs/desires in my head...

Physically I do not experience TRUE hunger all that often, it has been like this since early post-op...That would be a good thing if it meant that I didn't eat cuz I'm not hungry...Instead I eat because I know I need to, planned meals & snacks for the most part..,Since I'm not really "hungry" I eat something I think sounds good or will taste good and perhaps satisfy a mental desire for a specific taste...The problem with this, is that, if what I eat does not satisfy the taste I'm wanting, then I  eat something else in my quest to still satisfy that taste...I may actually eat several things not on my planned meal because I have the thought in my head that I need to satisfy that taste craving & usually I still don't find the right food to have satisfaction, I just get so full feeling that I have to stop...

This is a little crazy & I feel "mental" when I do this, but I still struggle often with the need to find and satisfy a taste that I don't even know what it is for in the 1st place...Does this make any sense?  Does anyone else identify?  Can you help

I actually do get hungry, very hungry, so I snack, in the beginning (once I could eat more 'realistically post op) I felt invincible, I wasn't gaining so I allowed myself anything I wanted and could tolerate.  Now, 3.5 years later and 50 lbs later I'm in big trouble.  I've filled my house, office and mind with the "I can eat anything, as long as it's not 'allot' mindset.  Ummmm, hello 50 lbs..... really, yet mentally I'm still struggling daily, it's all mental for me too .

I've dropped working on the mental part of it, no OA, no support groups, no OH....those help the mental part.  Maybe that's the ticket, maybe we both need to work on the mental side of it.

Good luck,

Edie

Edie,

You are right on it...Maintaining & now re-losing a few is definately a head game, tied up in that nice bow is being able to eat some of the no-no foods that I want but don't really need, getting enjoyment out of what I'm eating both -taste & texture, & pouch satisfaction so I won't keep putting food into my mouth when I don't need it ...Plus trying to meet all these things while seeing progress on the scale...

We'll keep working on it you & I...I got some more ideas from others, one I can put out for you from me :  If you are going to allow yourself anything your pouch can handle, just plan for it by making a daily advance menu plan that includes a max number of calories...If you stray and eat something not on the plan, remember to deduct the cals from your total...When you've reached your daily total stop eating for the day...It only took me a few times of not being able to eat anything except plain water after 5pm to do a mental check about what I'm choosing...

Weigh****chers does that 'count' thing, when your out of points your out of food.  I have to become more regimented, I've slacked off way too much in the past 2 years and if after 5 all I could have was water, maybe the next day I'd be better with my choices.

One of my biggest problems is hunger.  I am really good with the 'don't drink after eating rule'.  I never eat for 1 hour after meals, but when I finally drink again I'm starving!  Someone on FB told me that she read about a protocol that said to not drink for 2 hrs after a meal, then slowly sip for the next hour increasing your water intake as you go, then the hour before your next meal drink as much as you want and drink a whole glass of water before the meal so you don't get dehydrated.  I'm going to start doing that, maybe I'll stay full longer and it will help me stay more in control.

Alesia:

I sometimes want something that I know I really do not need.  I then go and try to find a substitute for it and usually eat a lot more than that item would have been by chasing the taste that I am seeking.  Sometimes, it is just better to indulge and get it out of your system then to consume mindlessly and never getting it.  Can't do it often, but sometimes I think would be okay.

Tess,

this approach makes since, I think what I am struggling with, is, I really don't know what the taste I'm chasing is...That's what keeps me trying another bite of this or that...Which then leads to continuing to look to satisfied that taste into the next meal...Vicious cycle, trying to break & thankful for all the insight & suggestions I can get...

I get that some days when I do not eat regular meals.
As long as I eat on schedule, and eat proteins and more proteins - plus some veggies adn maybe a fruit?  I do not get the "craving for taste thing".

That may be another form of hunger - or need for multivitaimins - you body may crave something that may provide you with vitamins or minerals you may be low on... (it can still be normal on the blood test - but either low normal - or too low for it to be optimum for you...). i.e. my B12 needs to be more than 800-900 for me to feel OK. 

Hi Hala,

I agree the "taste" is definately due to lacking something in my diet, or perhaps getting re-addicted to some things that cause other taste cravings...Working on decarb, cutting sweets, & eating protein forward...Think my vits & supps are OK (I take them like clockwork)...My problem seems to be that even though I feel full I'm still reaching for something else to satisfy the "taste" & then eating too much at one sitting or carrying over the search to satisfy to the next meal - which then knocks me off my food plan for the day...

Hi Alesia,

Since getting BOT, when I get that terrible urge, I drink a glass of water and then chew a piece of sugarless gum...  Most of the time this works.   Today I had a terrible urge/craving for salt/carbs and grabbed a couple of wheat crackers that did the trick.

I know that feeling all too well.  For me, its usually a crave for carbs- (even mroe reason to decarb).