Question:
Does anyone have any tips for curtailing the binge while waiting?

I have a first appointment with a surgeon coming up in a few days. It took me a long time to get the appointment. I realize I am on a binge and have been since before trying to get the appointment. I feel like a bottomless pit - way out of control. This is after working out nearly two years and loosing about 75 lbs which is mostly all back now. Please share anything that might help to curtail this binge. Thanks so much.    — [Anonymous] (posted on April 8, 2000)

April 8, 2000
My attitude was "go for it"! I did not want to go into surgery feeling deprived or like I missed something (like at 280 lbs I actually missed eating anything). There is a pre-surgery period where many of us feel we are 'binging'. I ate anything I could get my hands on! It was temporary. Some people actually want to weigh more before their first appointment to raise their BMI's! If you feel out of control and miserable about it (if you are not enjoying eating everything in sight!) maybe speak with your surgeon about assisting you in controlling your appetite pre-surgery. Before surgery I took Meridia. I've heard it doesn't work for everyone, but it did get my appetite under control. My doc wanted me to lose a minimum of 10 lbs before surgery (I've heard here that this shrinks the liver which is beneficial in surgery). Drinking 8-10 glasses of water, walking daily, and measuring out portions of low fat foods are the other 'tips' I was given pre-surgery. I hope this helps.
   — Toni B.

April 8, 2000
Hang in there! It will get better! Obviously you are under a great deal of stress, and unfortunately food is something that we often use to deal with stress. Talk to your doctor, but also realize a lot of us go through it. I have to admit that I have made a "Last Supper" list of things I want to eat before the surgery. And yes, I know it's completely silly, and eventually down the road I will be able to eat most normal foods (just in small quantities and with much healthier choices). But nonetheless I feel this need get in certain "last" meals. One day last week I had this obsessive compulsiveness to eat eat and eat some more. Luckily it went away! Just hang tough - you will get through it!!! Best of luck to you:)
   — Paula G.

April 8, 2000
I had my first appointment with the surgeon last Tuesday. I learned a lot at that appointment, and I think it may help you so I will share it. First of all, the surgery is not going automatically make your urge to binge and overeat disappear. If you overeat and binge after the surgery, the surgery will not work. You can damage your staple line and cause complications. Behavior modification must be in place before surgery. My doctor gave me a booklet of information about the gastroplasty diet (you need to follow these guidelines for any procedure, VBG or RNY so as not to damage your staple line). These guidelines help to train you how to eat. It isn't easy at first, but it gets easier. I am only 4 days into it, but it is getting easier. First, you take small bites of food, chew each at least 20 times and wait 5 minutes in between bites. He told me that it takes the brain 20 minutes to know when you are full and this will help me to recognize when I am full. Also, no beverages for 45 minutes before or after meals. Adding liquid to food makes it expand, thus your pouch could stretch. Now, it takes me 45 minutes to eat a slice of toast, and an hour for my average dinner, which both are much less than I used to eat, but I don't have 2 hours to sit and eat. After surgery, the pouch will only hold 5 or 6 bites of food, so it will take less than 1/2 hour to eat. If you eat to fast you will vomit. My doctor will not do surgery on anybody who can't adhere to these guidelines. He said if they can't change their habits now, they won't be able to after the surgery and the surgery will fail. I know this sound strange, but I do understand what he is saying. It is hard, because only 1 slice of toast doesn't alway fill me up right now, but getting used to not inhaling my food and fighting through the urges to binge is a learned behavior. I compare it to when I was quitting smoking and fighting off that urge. I have to keep a diary of everything I eat and how long it took to eat it. If I do it right I expect to have a modest weight loss in 2 weeks when I go back. That can only help, and I will be eating this way for the rest of my life, so why not start now. As for the last supper, I plan to have one also, but I will eat it slowly, chewing 20 or more times and waiting 5 minutes between bites. It may take me a while to finish it, and maybe I will feel full and I won't finish it, but that is OK because at least I will be around longer to enjoy life! E-mail me if you have questions about the guidelines, and good luck to you!
   — Paula F.

April 8, 2000
I am of the opposite opinion. I knew that I had to follow a strict regimen after the surgery so I let myself go once I had the surgery date. I ate at 24 different restaurants in 3o days. I am now 6 weeks out and have lost 50lbs. I have plenty of willpower. I had been on diets for months and months at a time before. Now I have to maintain control till my newly shaped stomach gradually stretches but am doing it with confidence.
   — Mark R.