Punishment by food, a story of stress eating 1 year post-op

[phatgirl]

[FONT=&quot]Some of you may know that I have had a very stressful week, especially the weekend. I found myself stress eating just like the old me. I was hardly done with what I was currently eating before I started thinking of what I could eat next. I made 2 batches of cookies, low-carb gingerbread & low-carb oatmeal-raisin protein cookies. With a little help from hubby I ate all of them over 4 days! Yes they were low-carb but not calorie free, I shudder to think how many calories I ate. I made so many because I was planning to share them at the Preston meet & with one of my pre-op friends but alas none of them made it out of the house! I also ate a bag of crisps over two days, hubby watched in amazement as I shovelled in the food. Granted if this had been pre-op I would have eaten 20 times more volume but still, I obviously have lingering issues with emotional eating. Yesterday I gave myself a mental slap and decided to think about how to deal with the emotional need to eat. I asked for help from hubby and told him if it is not a piece of fruit, or something with protein (besides the cookies, lol) he should comment. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I asked myself why I was punishing myself with food, because in all honesty I was making my tummy hurt with the volume and with type of foods I was eating. I snapped out of it but it was scary to see how easily those old feelings and urges could resurface. As I say I didn’t get fat by accident, it took years of my life to build up to the size I was and reacting to stress with food was a major contributor. I have kicked so many demons since my surgery, really rid myself of some terrible habits but they are obviously not all gone. Must tread carefully and give some thought to how to cope when the next stressful event happens. One thing I did was I admitted to myself what I was doing. So I then got busy with my hands, I needed to alter a basque that I bought to be tighter so I fiddled with some hand sewing which made it easier to forget about food. And I drank a thick protein shake so I would feel full. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]It worked, I got myself under control but, wow, I was reminded how very much the bypass is a tool which can be used or abused![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Nic[/FONT]

 

[Caroline101061]

I think that counselling should come with this op as a matter of course - well done for getting back on track but its so easily done - honestly Nic, you could do worse than have a session of hypnotherapy - will kill emotional eating in its tracks.

 

[swizzlestick]

Hey Nic tis not really surprising it happened after the week youve had but as I was reading what you were just saying,it was evident that your 'tool' actually worked, it made you uncomfortable, and nudged you back onto track..........This would probably not have happened pre bypass you would have continued 'shovelling it in'.

That you had a blip, then headed straight for the protein shakes after 4 days is testemony to how far you actually have come 'headwise' your head and your tool are working together. albeit after 4 days

Everyone has some kind of emotional crutch, alcohol, ciggies, food, you name it, youve had your crutch removed and still you didnt fall, you stumbled and got back up........really you should be proud of how you subsequently handled the eating issue.

I really hope you enjoyed your biscuits, and I really hope you are not beating yourself up over this, we are none of us saints, hey how boring would that be?

Busy with hands..............I couldnt agree more, I hit the crocheting here. a feast of colours feeds the mind too you know

Hope everything is looking up

Take care Xx

 

[tiarasandtantrums]

Well done for stopping! I know that I can go on and on when I'm in that frame of mind.

It's knitting for me. That or painting my finger nails x

 

[Mark01/05/2009]

Glad things are looking up Nic! And it shows your "tool" is still definately working as you have managed to stop, pre op i am guessing it would have been a different story.....

 

[IRJ]

Nic i'll be suprised if everybody doesnt have this problem after surgery but its your reaction and strength that pulled you away from it my crutch was always alcohol i have a lot of heavy drinking friends and it was easy to have major sessions esp before watching football and to be honest a week after op it still worries me though mentally i am strong and hopefully will overcome any temptation thrust upon me.

 

[Neen]

I still wrangle with that one, I use Brain sync meditation and hypnosis and some Paul Mckenna. I would definately recommend as it breaks the pattern and also helps your mind find new ways to handle uncomfortable emotions.
Physically I whack on some music, close the curtains and get down with my bad self to embarrassing hair metal.

 

[rybens]

Thank you for a great post that shows that by having a bypass does not stop old habits and demons, hopefully as you have nipped it in the bud early on you will continue to stay strong and keep your tool working for you x you have got nearly to goal and this has happened , i wonder how many didnt get as far down the line as you before the demons returned iv not heard of any one of yet that couldnt lose weight even with the bypass , but sure there must be some x

 

[chocchucky]

Yup i agree with what everyone has said so far hun,
the way i see things is that it proves your only human, but what i find amazing is how you managed to get your self on track and how having had the bypass although you had a blip you didnt eat anywhere near as much. That has to be a good thing surely
Keep going hun dont think anyone ever said this was going to be an easy journey
Take care hun.

Sharon

 

[gillabean]

Well done Nic, pulling back from the brink! And good advice from Swizzle, as always.

 

[tesmaralda]

Well done Nic you have realised what you were doing is bad and have stopped. I can totally sympathize with you on this one, and have had to tell hubby to take things off me that I shouldn't be eating. One biscuit every now and again is no longer doing the trick and whilst I am sitting working hard and getting stressed the hand wonders an dbefore I know it one has turned into 7. Yes before the op I agree it would have been the whole packet, followed by choc. If only the op altered our brain and emotional thinking.

You are one smart cookie (excuse the pun) and you are aware of what you are doing and are now back in control. I am here if you need to chat at any time (you have always been there for me )pm me if you want my mobile number. Sending you big hugs and lots of luv and positive vibes x x x x x

 

[shazbrad]

[FONT=&quot]Some of you may know that I have had a very stressful week, especially the weekend. I found myself stress eating just like the old me. I was hardly done with what I was currently eating before I started thinking of what I could eat next. I made 2 batches of cookies, low-carb gingerbread & low-carb oatmeal-raisin protein cookies. With a little help from hubby I ate all of them over 4 days! Yes they were low-carb but not calorie free, I shudder to think how many calories I ate. I made so many because I was planning to share them at the Preston meet & with one of my pre-op friends but alas none of them made it out of the house! I also ate a bag of crisps over two days, hubby watched in amazement as I shovelled in the food. Granted if this had been pre-op I would have eaten 20 times more volume but still, I obviously have lingering issues with emotional eating. Yesterday I gave myself a mental slap and decided to think about how to deal with the emotional need to eat. I asked for help from hubby and told him if it is not a piece of fruit, or something with protein (besides the cookies, lol) he should comment. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I asked myself why I was punishing myself with food, because in all honesty I was making my tummy hurt with the volume and with type of foods I was eating. I snapped out of it but it was scary to see how easily those old feelings and urges could resurface. As I say I didn’t get fat by accident, it took years of my life to build up to the size I was and reacting to stress with food was a major contributor. I have kicked so many demons since my surgery, really rid myself of some terrible habits but they are obviously not all gone. Must tread carefully and give some thought to how to cope when the next stressful event happens. One thing I did was I admitted to myself what I was doing. So I then got busy with my hands, I needed to alter a basque that I bought to be tighter so I fiddled with some hand sewing which made it easier to forget about food. And I drank a thick protein shake so I would feel full. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]It worked, I got myself under control but, wow, I was reminded how very much the bypass is a tool which can be used or abused![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Nic[/FONT]

:cry::cry::cry: Thankyou for sharing this, i am 1 yr post op also and i am struggling to get myself back on track and eating the right things. I am so fed up with myself at the moment everyday i say to myself "right today i am going to eat properly and not eat crap" and i do start well but then things rapidly go down hill and i just don't seem to be able to stop myself :sigh:. To be honest i don't know what to do anymore, i have read the 5 day pouch test and Rules of the pouch and have been trying to take on board some of these points but i feel like a failure everyone seems to be doing so well, i know a few have had problems but the rest of you all seem to have done much better than me and i feel such a let down.
I know i am definately not drinking enough water or eating enough protein, i was never told about protein drinks or shakes but would like to give them a go if someone could tell me which ones are best etc.
I'm sorry for sounding so negative but thats how i feel at the moment. I just don't know what to do. :cry::cry::cry:
Sharon

 

[phatgirl]

Sharon, I posted this for a reason because I want to be in control and I want to be accountable for it when I have gone wrong. I think that is why you don't see many long term post-ops posting about struggle, it isn't because we don't struggle, it is because the people who really struggle sometimes feel bad/sad/mad about admitting that they find it tough. So I wanted to make a point of saying I go off the path but I am eager to join it again. You can too!

Congrats on being 1 year post-op, it is never to late to get back on track! The pouch test is awesome and I feel like I may need it again just to curb my carb lust. As far as protein supplements I have a few that I really love:

BSN Lean Desserts, they come in these flavours:
Banana Cream Pudding
*Banana Nut Bread
*Whipped Vanilla Creme
*Chocolate Coconut Candy Bar
*Chocolate Fudge Pudding
*Fresh Cinnamon Roll

*ones that I have tried, love them all

Here is a link of where to buy, http://www.cheapuksupplements.com/sh...essert_protein

2nd type I suggest is Dymatize Elite Whey which comes in:
Berry Blast
Butter Cafe Mocha
Cream Toffee
Chocolate
Chocolate Fudge
*Chocolate Mint
*Gourmet Vanilla
Green Apple
Orange
Pina Colada
Smooth Banana
http://www.dolphinfitness.co.uk/en/d...whey-908g/3376

Any help or support I can give you please let me know. That is what this forum is all about after all, we all need a little help sometimes.

Nic

 

[shazbrad]

thanks for that Nic, it's nice to know that i'm not alone in having these lapses, it's nice to have people who can give me advice and encouragement when i need it, yes i get this from family of course but it's not the same as getting it from people who have/are going through what we are going through and so know from experience. :thankyou:

 

[swizzlestick]

Shaz

I am only 5 weeks post op and worry about how I will sustain weightloss or my willpower not to eat the things I ought not too. Please dont feel a failure, you are faced with foods all day everyday. Im sure a recovering alcoholics resolve would not be so strong were they faced constantly with alcohol.

We are human beings, we are programmed to eat to survive, we cannot abstain from food for the rest of our lives unlike those who have addictions to other substances. We are bombarded each day with advertising, special offers on junk, aisles of nutritionally dubious foodstuffs. I am terrified that I will taste fresh bread again one day and be hooked, or that I taste a bit of choc, dont dump and then my intake would sneak up.

At the moment I have convinced myself that I have kissed goodbye to these foods forever, I hope my brain doesnt wake up one day and realise I have been deceiving it a little lol.

You have done amazing to get where you are, have you tried looking at why you are eating these foods, is it just because you like them or are there other reasons that maybe you could try to tackle? I really hope you manage to get back on track again soon, you have to, I need to feel that should I be in your situation in the future, that it can be overcome Hows that for further pressure to succeed lol

Xx

 

[sukay]

Hi guys - thanks for these awesome posts and the vital information in them

I am just 2 weeks post op and still feel nausea when I eat.

One thing I am curious about is the biscuits - how come peeps aren't dumping?

 

[phatgirl]

For me, I made no-sugar low carb biscuits so it was near to impossible to dump on them. Some people, especially as far out as I am (over a year) can eat some sugar and not dump, it is a quirk of the bypass that some people end up as really sensitive dumpers and others really have a high tolerance for sugar. Go figure, also your sugar tolerance increases slightly the further post-op you are so be wary and careful.

Nic

 

[Caroline101061]

I think that from a personal perspective, Im going to work on the premise that anything with a high sugar content ie chocolate, biscuits, cake etc, is going to make me ill so I need to stay away from it for ever - I have my sugar free substitutes if I need them which at the moment is on an ad hoc basis - I have found that Atkins bars are a great cure for constipation though! Too much artifical sweetner in them for my delicate pouch and new body! Mind you, ask me again in 12 months time and my resolve may have weakened but I hope not. I looked upon this radical enforced change of eating as the end of the old me (been there, done it and look where it got me) and Im so thrilled with the weight loss and my change of body shape that Im terrified of jeopardising it.

 

[shazbrad]

For me, I made no-sugar low carb biscuits so it was near to impossible to dump on them. Some people, especially as far out as I am (over a year) can eat some sugar and not dump, it is a quirk of the bypass that some people end up as really sensitive dumpers and others really have a high tolerance for sugar. Go figure, also your sugar tolerance increases slightly the further post-op you are so be wary and careful.

Nic

:sign0007: oh dear it seems i might be one of those people who has a high tolerance for sugar although i do dump with certain things but i haven't worked out a pattern yet. I have such a sweet tooth all i want to eat is sweet stuff at the moment. This worries me because someone mentioned that i might be at higher risk of diabetes because of the op. I do try to satisfy my sweet tooth by eating fruit but sometimes it just isn't satisfying enough.
Nic i never thought about making your cookies maybe you could post the recipe on here. I always have sweetener with tea and coffee and if i have weetabix or ready brek type porridge (can't stand normal porridge)
Some days are worse than others and i have managed to curb the big chocolate craving that i had and have cut down to only the occcasional bit. At the moment i am feeling a bit rough cos my glands are up and feels like i got golf balls in my throat lol.
Anyway everyday i try to get back on track and will keep doing this because i need to and want to get to my goal.
Sharon

 

[hopelesscase]

Hi nic
Sorry to hear of yr struggles. J is so supportive of you and loves you dearly knowing that you have given him permission to say hey nic should you be doing that i know he will and you will also accept him saying it.
You have come so far and addressed so many issues you will get through this and come out stronger for it.
As you know im not and have never been an emotional eater and all i can say at the moment is thank god for lattes as i just dont have the urge to eat at the mo.
my intake today has been a slice of cheese, an apple, 1/2 scone and half a tuna butty and about 10 skinny lattes.
i dont know which is the lesser of the two evils as neither are good for us.
you know where i am if you want a chat
speak soon
carole