Help! Food addiction and compulsive = failure?

[AquarianCrab 8]

I bought my Vitamins in really yummy Gummy form. I call them my candy and eat them every night a couple hours after dinner as a "treat". My only other indulgence is Revival Protein chips I bought from Bariatric Eating. I get them in sour cream & onion and honey mustard flavors. They have about 100 calories per pack, about 7 grams of protein, and taste just like potato chips (my only nemesis besides ice cream). All other Snacks are non-existent. They don't enter the house. If my husband craves something he goes to the store, buys it and eats it in the car - he doesn't bring it in the house. We both know better - if it's within reach, I'll eat it. He also does all of the convenience store runs so I won't be tempted.

[HeatherinCA 10]

Of course, that is why we are all fat, beause we eat for no reason. I'm working on it, but it's still a struggle!

[Birinak 19]

Hi All!

Has anyone had the band and then realized that their food addiction and compulsive eating (for me, nighttime eating) has helped them to sabotage their band success? My band helps me when out, and all day, but at night, at home, I continue to stuff my emotions down with "slider foods." I sit at my computer, in front of the TV, and alternate between sweet and salty foods (cheese doodles, cheez-its, chocolate, repeat) until I take a shot of nyquil and crawl into bed feeling ill. I finally realized I am like any other addict (if you've ever seen the show Intervention, you know what I mean), and if I don't address the addiction, I will never be healthy.

Has anyone experienced this? If so, how are you doing? Has anyone overcome this? I am looking into therapy, but would love to hear from anyone with any thoughts, ideas, etc.

As background, I had surgery in May of 2008. My high weight was 335, my surgery day weight was 312.5, and I now weigh about 290. I am 5'6" female.

Thanks!!!

Karen

It's really good that you acknowledge a problem that you have and that most of us can sympathize with.

As for bad foods, try to control yourself at the grocery store rather than at home. Like other bandsters, I find this to be the easiest point to control your behaviour. It's much easier to just tell yourself "no" when you're thinking of placing something bad in your cart, than when you have constant and private access to the food in your cupboard. You may still try to rationalize your way into buying a bad food (i.e. "I swear, I'll only eat one cookie a day"), but once it's in your house, you might find that those kinds of multiple-portion foods are calling out to you throughout the day, or when you feel that you can't control yourself (you're feeling emotionally down or when you're tired and hungry (etc)).

My way of controlling myself from eating the one bad food that I really like (chocolate) is to only go grocery shopping once in the week. I plan before hand, so that I know to buy absolutely all the ingredients that I need to make every meal and snack for the week. This way, I know that I won't really have an excuse of needing to stop by the store for a single necessary item.

If you can, only put yourself in that temptation once in an extended period. Once at the store, commit to buying no more than TWO items that you really enjoy and that are MEANT to be consumed in only 1-2 servings (not a large bag of chips). That way, no matter if you pig out on two chocolate bars in one sitting, or on two single-serving bags of chips, you know that, in reality, it only amounts to two chocolate bars or two small bags of chips a week (since you won't go shopping for another week). I find that buying two chocolate bars satisfies my temptation at the time to buy something bad at the store, and yet, the items won't take a huge toll over my weekly calorie intake. If you stick to only buying healthy Snacks as a replacement, you may feel deprived and feel the temptation of those foods at the grocery store even more.

Make those two, single or double-serving, cheat-items really count by not just buying anything; buy something you love, no matter how fattening. While at the grocery store, make sure that you also stock up on exactly enough of varied healthy Snacks to last you after the bad foods run out (buy your favourite fruit and low-calorie fruit yogurt for when you're craving sweets, dip and veggies for something more savoury, and maybe salted peanuts for something salty (as long as it's just enough for a week and not too much)). The healthy snacks that I eat vary depending on whether I'm having a sweet or salty craving. One kind of food won't satify a craving of another kind and it will only leave me thinking about the foods that would!

This is a struggle for all of us. These are things that work for me. Maybe you won't find these tips useful or maybe you've already tried these. The advice about seeking therapy is also really good. But, I should say that even admitting that you have a problem, like an addiction or a genetic susceptibility, can end up becoming an excuse for giving in to temptation. If you fixate too much on the power of your addiction, you might end up believing that you're utterly powerless against your temptation, and "well, I just can't help it anyway." Every person has free will and we ultimately choose to find strategies that circumvent our very real problems or we allow those problems to control us for the rest of our lives.