Question:
Looking forward to eating

I am 15 months post op from gastric bypass surgery and I have lost 145 pounds. I started at 278. My problem lately is I am looking forward to eating all the time. It seems like that is all I think about latley. How do I get out of that mind set? I have been picking lately and I have not done that much since I had the surgery. I am so scared I am going to get back into my old habits. Any advice would be greatful.    — minyana3 (posted on April 8, 2009)

April 8, 2009
Whenever I begin thinking about food "all the time", I make myself insane! I know what you are going through. The trick is to find something to take your mind off of eating. I began a HUGE hobby restoring all my families old black and white photographs! For the holidays I had taken some of the old faded and scratched photos from all different family members and scanned and enhanced them. I blew up the small photos to make them look different and new. I made a giant photo show for my grandparents and gave everyone a memory card of all the repaired photos for Yule/Christmas. They saw photos that they thought they never saw before because of how big and sharp they were. It was such a wonderful gift to give two 90 year people...See? Did you think of food at all while reading that? LOL That's the idea! Find a hobby that interests you! It's spring! Take up gardening...Plant a flower bed or herb garden...Take walks with a pet or child...Take a yoga class or find a local pool or lake to swim at. Scrapebooking, photography, art, crafts...sewing...paint/redecorate a room...clean the garage...start going to yard sales...ANYTHING your heart desires...I also started going to the book stores/library and sitting in the lounge areas reading and getting cool recipe ideas and reading magazines and gardening/landscape ideas...There is sooo much stuff to take your mind off food or focus on HEALTHY recipes and try really awesome new ways to make old food healthy...Or decadent recipes lighter and more WLS friendly! I LOVE DOING THAT! Then I get my butt up and out and go searching for the freshest ingredients and make a gorgeous light meal all while thinking about food all day and not actually eating until it was ready! Boredom is my BIGGEST trigger to eat...So I totally relate to your question...Find ANYTHING to do even if it involves food, but PLAN it and work it into your daily calories so it's not EXTRA, but needed! Look forward to food but don't obsess about it or you'll make yourself insane like I do and then eat when I am bored...
   — .Anita R.