Katsuri

I'm interested to know what other struggling bandsters thoughts are on food addiction and emotional eating. Some background on me: I was banded in 2006 @ 343 lbs. I'm 48yrs old and have been overweight since childhood. I had pretty good success at first & ended up losing 98lbs by mid 2008 and kept if off for a year. I felt good..I was more outgoing and active and life seemed to be going well...but inside I struggled to find something to replace the food. My anxiety level was through the roof so my Dr. added antidepressant medications to the mix. I really started to gain the weight then. To make a long story short, old habits of using food started coming back and I began eating around the band and gaining weight steadily. Rather than look a why I was eating and what, I decided I needed more fills. Eventually, I got too tight and couldn't even get Soup down. My dr. recommended a 2cc unfill and wait a month before slowly filling again. I got two .25 cc fills and then stopped getting fills because I didn't want to go through the pain anymore. At some point after that, just gave up on my band and gave in to food. The last 2 years I have been numbing myself out with food and have been unable to sustain any attempts to stop myself. The good news is I have not overeaten all week. I have decided to start over and begin again by making some positive changes in my life and relationships to facilitate my success. I also began reading a book called "Shrink Yourself", by Roger Gould, MD. about the reasons why people overeat. I have to say, if I didn't know better I'd think this book was written about me. Has anyone else read this book? Some of it is hard to read, the truth is sometimes painful...but I wish I had read this book and been more proactive in learning about why I use food back when I first got banded. I find the information really eye opening and helpful to me. I'm one of those types that wants to know how things work and this guy really breaks it down and makes me really think and understand why I am doing this to myself. I know that when I'm under stress I eat..and I shouldn't. Breaking that coping mechanism learned and reinforced since childhood is going to take a long hard look in the mirror. So finally, to my question: Does anyone have any tips, advice or care to share your story about how emotional eating has affected your life and your sucess with the band? ..oh and one last thing; I really don't like to see people say they have "failed" or are "failures" with the band. Just getting a Lap and dealing with all the related issues is a huge accomplishment and step toward getting healthy, and every single person who has tried it, win or lose..is a success. Don't ever forget that. Keep the faith and know that you don't struggle alone. Thanks in advance for any input. Katsuri

45lbs is great success, congratulations. It sounds like you have hit a plateau and that can be so frustrating when you are working so hard. You might want to try interval training on your treamill workouts (if you're not not doing that already) That can sometimes break a plateau and get the scale heading down again. I also remember a period right about 50lbs lost that my weight loss stopped..but I lost inches. Kind of like my body was catching up or something...I don't know, it's a strange phenomenon but it happens. Maybe that's whats happening for you. You said you can't get satisfied at night. I have always been "night eater"..having intense cravings for food in the evening and it is tough to break that habit. That just might be a trigger time for you and a good time to plan some distractions for when you feel like overeating in the evening. Feeling like a failure can also make you want to over eat...and when you do, it then causes you to feel like more of a failure. It's a viscious cycle. I doubt that anyone here would share your opinion that you are a failure. When you're feeling like you've failed, it might help to remind yourself of your successes and that you are not carrying around 45 lbs that you were before! Katsuri

Hi Buffy, I can understand your dissapointment, but your band sounds like it's doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing; restricting your intake so that you can barely eat solid food. But you must eat solid foods to lose weight. You have to chew it up to liquid then stop as soon as you feel full. If you continue eating soft "slider foods", you won't lose weight, in fact you will eventually gain weight. Learning to eat with your new band is hard..and it is pretty new for you, so give yourself a break. It takes time. I hope you don't give up and try for a bypass at this point. You just might be trading one set of problems for another. Whatever you decide..I do hope you do lots of research before you proceed. Best of luck to you.. Katsuri