pattrny

I haven't been compliant! No secret. Sweets, pastry, inconsistant exercise and a delay in my first banding has kept me from the 1lb plus per week weightloss. Even so since my second banding I have lost and am more online with the the full plan needed to make this work. :wink_smile:

The whole notion of eating while doing something else can lull me into a state of unconscious habits. These old habits, which are very familiar rise up and find no prohibitions from the plate to my mouth until that food hits the band. Shame, fear, frustration ,pain, loss of power. Here's the visual, walking around hands and arms in the air above my head as I try to stretch my food canal (behind closed doors), inhaling and exhailing trying to move the lump, getting relief on the inhale and feeling the pressure of it on the exhale, nose running, eyes watering, mouth open, looking at the toilet bowl for relief, vowing that "I will not hurl!", praying I have the courage to hurl and then without any power over it the food passes. That'll happen twice a month if I am eating and driving or at a desk and "tasking". I learn from each time. That old comfort I got from "stuffing" myself is not available anymore. It just ain't, except with soft dough cookies and hot coffee and there's another price to pay for that...poundage! If my habits were easy to change, I wouldn't be banded, but like the rest of you all at least I found the good sense and courage to make this step. The others will follow. Banded in 2006 , down 43 pounds, adjusted twice.

In a similar situation. The pastries are simply easier to get down. Less work to eat! The sugar, flour, and fat melt in my mouth and are familiar to me. BUT, when I am in this pattern I have to deconstruct it bit by bit. "I'll (self talk)avoid the convenience store (drive/walk the other way) today, replace the cookies with a fruit cup and prepare myself to be humbled by the need to keep this at the front of my mind. This is not second nature stuff for me. I hope that was helpful. Coming off the sweets makes me moody, even shaky. The slow metabolizing fruit sugars do help. The science is plain, eat less,exercise, lose weight. The mind really needs to be an advocate for your goals. I am going to try saying mine out loud and writing them down just to create a positive memory. It's going to happen! Peace

Eating and Drinking at the Same Time. I'd like to break this habit, but it is ancient. I am chipping away at it supported by the discomfort I get when food and drink expand within the band. I am not really volunteering for the pain of this, so any suggestions, mind-sets or constructive habits to get me out of eating and drinking in the New Year would be appreciated. I was banded August 20th and I am down 31 pounds.

Got banded on 8/20. The newness of the experience and the great weight loss (how-could-it not-be) under the post op week of liquids, had me inspired. Week two, I am slowing down in loss and adding protein shakes,etc. I became anxious for some type of texture so I ate some croutons and a pinch of dry cereal all on the "down-low", unseen, unreported. But there it was:hungry: the ghost of my old life waiting to be fueled by secret eating and the rest. Mind you, the calories I consumed were of little consequence. Perhaps I had 200 calories over the course of the week. But it was the realization of more work to be done that frightened me. Thank you for allowing me to say this out loud. I see an adventure ahead. I think that is the best way for me to look at it right now. Anyone had similar?

It really is a new life isn't it? I'll practice looking forward! Thanks!