Question:
I CAN EAT AND EAT!!!

iM ALMOST 3 YRS POST WLS. i'VE LOST 115 LBS. iM SO DEPRESSED AND DISCOURAGED BECAUSE OF ALL THE PEOPLE I KNOW WHO HAVE HAD THE rny IM THE MOST UNSUCCESSFUL. eVERYONE I KNOW CAN EAT STILL SMALL AMTS,NOT ME I CAN EAT PIZZA LIKE THERES NO TOMMORROW. i THINK IM GRAZING BUT NOT REALLY SURE WHAT IT IS. iM STILL WEARING 2X :( i HAVE NEVER HAD THAT FULL FEELING, NOW IM TRYING TO DIET! BUT I GET HUNGRY IN THE EVENINGS AND START MUNCHING. CAN ANYONE OUT THERE HELP ME?........THANKS bARB    — clarkbar (posted on September 19, 2000)

September 19, 2000
This person sounds like they should ask their doctor to check them for INSULIN RESISTANCE and send them to someone who can counsel them on carbohydrate addiction.
   — SnowWhiteDove459

September 20, 2000
First of all, Barb, congratulations on your fabulous success. 115 is a LOT, and you should be proud. It's hard for us not to compare our progress to each other, but we should try to resist that temptation. Your success can be based upon many things - not all of which are under your control. Write down all the positive things you have experienced since losing all this weight. Try to find old pictures of yourself from 3 years ago. I am sure the difference will be startling. Try to see a nutritionist and review your eating habits. I don't think it would be too difficult to get back into the swing of things - it just needs a little effort on your part. It is NEVER too late to get back to healthy eating. I have heard of a number of people who have had WLS who have joined support groups like Weight Watchers, OA and TOPS so that they have the support they need to use the tools WLS have given us. Are you an emotional eater? Are there other issues in your life that are perhaps saboutaging your efforts? I was given a very good piece of advice that we should consider seeing a counselor before, during and after WLS. This makes sense because we are all going through tremendous changes. You're almost 3 years out. Perhaps you just need to talk to someone about it. Don't be afraid to seek out that option. Hang in there. Don't beat yourself up over past failures. Give yourself a break and start fresh! I wish you the very best. :)
   — Paula G.

September 20, 2000
Barb, First off, your having lost 115 pounds is really great and an awesome achievement in and of itself. I've been doing a lot of research into non-surgical weight loss methods and have found that most studies consider "success" to be 5-10% of starting weight lost in a year and then kept off. For a 300 pound person, that would mean a loss of 15-30 pounds. So you can see that WLS has made a really big difference. The other posters have given you some good advice, so let me mention just one other thing. Our bodies tend to get "used" to a certain weight and want to stay there. This seems to be where you're at now. It's sometimes difficult to break past that point but one thing that can really help is exercise. 6-7 days a week of at least 30 minutes of some form of aerobic may help you get over this hump. I wish you the best.
   — Naomi F.

September 26, 2000
Barb, There is a book that I encourage you to read: Living Low-Carb by Fran McCullough ISBN# 0-316-55768--4 This book should be mandatory reading for all persons morbidly obese, in my humble opinion! Not only is it a great cookbook, but it clearly describes Insulin Resistance & gave me a perfect (& only) explaination as to why I am physically so fat! It is so difficult to realize that an RNY bypass is just that, a temorary bypass of our food issues. It is a tool to help us return our grossly enlarged stomaches to a resonable size. It gives us the opportunity to experience feeling full, while at the same time visually registering what a normal sized portion really looks like. Of all the trespasses that I refuse to allow myself, & I have tested the water I promise, I refuse to ever eat more than 3 oz of food at any given time. I have no doubt that I could eat a lot more, but why? The way I was eating prior to surgery (portion sizewise) wasn't NORMAL so why even try to go there again? I have a fortyeight year track record of abusing my body! But don't be discouraged. If our orginal stomaches could shrink back to normal, then so can your distended pouch.(If that is the problem.)Get out your 2 oz measuring cups (get a 30 cc plastic medical cup from your doctor) & start measuring every bite & that is just about what we should all be eating at every meal...a bite. I read once, that an addiciton psycologist suggested that his obese-food-addicted patients, pay close attention to their bodies while eating slowly, for the first "AH". He was referring to that first deep,settling breath that we take after about the first 3 bites.He reminded his patients that sigh is the bodies way of saying, I AM SATISFIED!!!!! He is correct of course. Unfortunately, what follows is a lot louder, "panic, I haven't had near enough food to sustain me...shovel shovel shovel!" And that voice is correct too. We haven't had enough food to sustain our OBESITY! It isn't easy to be honest enough with ourselves to realize that we are in total control of what and how much actually goes into our body. It is even harder to embrace that panic stricken voice which urges us to keep eating, & as with a small child, quiet the fear and ask what caused that panic to begin with. As for myself, doing just that is what started years of psycotherapy, where I shoveled myself out from under my parents hateful, negative comments, which I stored in the form of tapes that clicked on as the voice of panic, to remind me they had all the control over my life, my mind, even my body. They taught me how to be fat...& it nearly killed me. So are you ready to figure out what it's all about? I hope so!!! Sharon
   — Sharon C.