Pamela Mekuz Professional Certified Food Addiction Counselor

I had been overweight since childhood. And I hated it. All I ever wanted was to be skinny. Like many of you, I tried everything to lose weight. Diet after diet, pills, therapy… I tried it all while continuing to gain weight. Eventually, I turned to bariatric surgery as a last resort.

While surgery did allow me to lose weight rapidly, after about a year I noticed my poor eating habits returned, along with increased emotional agony.

Wasn’t this surgery supposed to fix me? Why couldn’t I stop thinking about food? Why couldn’t I stop eating even when full? Why, when I was so successful in every aspect of my life, could I not stick to my food plan?

I ate in secrecy and I ate in shame. I ate long after food could even offer any enjoyment. I learned, like many of you, that while bariatric surgery changes our stomachs, it does not change our brains. I felt hopeless and despaired having to live in a body that was so uncomfortable to me.

But, I am here now, to offer you hope. I am happily maintaining a healthy body size, without hunger, without dieting, and without obsessing about food.

I learned that I am not lazy, undisciplined, or dumb. I am a food addict. I learned that my brain reacts differently towards some foods than other people. There are certain foods that I just CAN’T stop eating and craving no matter how much I try. I can’t eat just one cookie, not if my life depended on it! Once I recognized I was a food addict, my life changed.

I studied everything I could about food addiction. I developed a plan of eating and LIVING that works with my bariatric surgery and helps me live my best life. I eventually became certified as a Food Addiction Counselor through the world’s leading school. I left my job in education and am now a full time Food Addiction Counselor specializing in working with bariatric surgery clients.

Bariatric surgery can be a really great tool for weight loss. But, it’s only a tool and it won’t do the work for us forever. A plan that addresses food addiction may be the additional key you need to make your tool as effective as possible.

Now I am happily living the life I deserve. I love yoga, swimming in the ocean and running around with my kids. My passion and my calling in life is helping people who are still struggling after bariatric surgery to achieve and maintain their goal weight for good.

ObesityHelp Contributing Author

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