Food addictions and lap band!

[Deidra 0]

So first off I want to say Hi. I am a new member here and I have just recently started looking into getting a band. I am 24 years old 5'5 and 287lbs. I have struggled with weight issues my entire life it seems, and always end up on the loosing end. I first started weight watchers when I was 14 and I started at 167lbs and got down to 124lbs. That by far was the smallest I had ever been in my life. After having my child (he is now 4..turning 5 this September ) my weight went way out of control. So now I am to the breaking point and after re-trying WW and failing miserably I have decided to look up and research other options.

My question is, can food addiction and eating disorders cause me to fail at lap band as well. I know I read several posts before I decided to post, but I am fairly sure I have a eating disorder by overeating. So I was wondering on the posts where people are saying they are not full, is it because they really arn't full, or is it because they have a eating addition as well? I eat when I know I should be full, by my brain just tells me I'm not. So i was just curious if anyone else has ever had to deal with a problem like mine and seen a specialist on eating disorders before having lap band surgery?

I hope I made sense in this thread and didn't do a whole lot of rambling!

Thanks for reading,

Deidra

[Edivel 0]

I know exactly what you are talking about and I am too wondering about this. I am reading a book i found on this topic (just started) and i guess i will see what I learn and I will share whatever information I get from it. But this is my miserable existence also, and I cant bear it anymore. Sometimes I wonder if I should go to overeaters anonymous but I cant make myself. The thought of doing a 12 step program like im a drunk or a junkie does not sit well with me. But I have a couple of months (four) to figure out how to manage my self destructive eating habits before presenting to my insurance. I need this surgery I feel like it will help me to not eat as much and give me time to change my bad habit of overeating

[Deidra 0]

I know exactly what you are talking about and I am too wondering about this. I am reading a book i found on this topic (just started) and i guess i will see what I learn and I will share whatever information I get from it. But this is my miserable existence also, and I cant bear it anymore. Sometimes I wonder if I should go to overeaters anonymous but I cant make myself. The thought of doing a 12 step program like im a drunk or a junkie does not sit well with me. But I have a couple of months (four) to figure out how to manage my self destructive eating habits before presenting to my insurance. I need this surgery I feel like it will help me to not eat as much and give me time to change my bad habit of overeating

Well please share whatever information you find. I can't really bring my-self to going to a O.A either, lol. I will be going to see a specialist in eating disorders as soon as I can get an appointment (i am going to call tomorrow) and I guess I will update this thread with any information I find out. (:

[HeatherinCA 10]

Yes it can.

The band helps me eat less, and my hunger level is virtually zero (after my fill), but it doesn't stop me from eating. I can still eat because I want food. I can eat between meals, I can "drink" calories, I can eat candy... I can easily fit in food that is bad for me...there are plenty of ways to eat around your band. It's still all about the choices you make.

I feel like my desire to eat is much less, since my hunger is gone. It's really hard to binge when you aren't hungry. Some days I go into my kitchen to eat something for a snack, and I just can't because I physically am not hungry at all.

I would think all overweight people are overeaters... it's hard to change your habits. But, with the band there is physically only so much food that can fit at one time. So that is SOME help, but you still have to control what you chose to eat. For example, the other day I had a Lean Cuisine pizza for dinner (which is quite small), then i wanted a bowl of Cereal so I had it right after, and I felt like CRAP for a few hours, full of gas, and my tummy hurt. That was my lesson to not overeat!

There are band support groups, maybe you could do that? Trust me the days of eating 5 slices of pizza and 2 large sodas and 5 breadsticks are over. There is physically no way you can even eat that! I could eat that much in 3 days haha.

[ElizabethNYC 1]

Although I am still kinda new at the lap band thing I can tell you this, right now I have no fill and I was feeling hungry at the end of my liquid diet phase (all liquids 2 weeks after surgery) now that I've moved onto my mushy phase I actually don't feel as hungry. I'm guessing as I move onto solids and get the right adjustment I will not feel hungry either. I would definitely do your research and maybe even talk to some people who have been banded longer than me.

[54Shirley 105]

The one key thing that I was taught, was to eat very, very slow. And of course chew, and chew. When I asked why so slow? It was explained to me that your brain has to get a chance to catch up with what you are eating. So if you chow it down, your brain doesn't even realise that you ate so much,,, so your still hungry. If you take your time. While you are eating, your brain will already be catching up. As a result,,, you can actually be satisfied without over doing it. Hope this make sense to you, because it does work.

[Cocoabean 430]

It can help with physical hunger, which can in turn help you battle other appetites. But, if you are bound and determined to eat when you are not physically hungry, you can find a way.

Highly processed foods go down very easily! Even if you are not hungry, you can eat them. You should really address the food addiction at your psych eval, if you have one.

[Llyra 3]

Sometimes I wonder if I should go to overeaters anonymous but I cant make myself. The thought of doing a 12 step program like im a drunk or a junkie does not sit well with me.

Hey, there, back up a minute. Do you really consider a problem with food somehow superior or more socially acceptable to a problem with drugs or alcohol? Addiction is addiction. Some of the finest people I know are veterans of twelve step programs, and yes, I met them while sitting in the rooms myself.

The lap band is not a miracle worker; it won't change your attitude, your mental processes, or your addiction. You have to do that yourself and a twelve step program gives you a plan to follow and support along the way from people who understand exactly what you are going through.

Give yourself a break. Don't knock OA till you try it. I wish you the best.

[54Shirley 105]

If anyone has had the experience of swapping one addiction for another.

ie: food to alcohol Post it O.K....

This is really quite common for some people "NOT ALL".

Point is these are people that have known addiction all there life, "FOOD"

so when they get over the food addiction, lose a great deal of weight.,

they have already picked up another addiction. This way it keeps them from

going back to their food addiction. The pattern continues.

I have a son who has given up the bottle, only to discover that he loves to eat

everything. He's 36, and has been very thin, and a very picky eater all his life.

But the bottle was a great life to him. Now he totally loves food. I keep telling him,

remember me! I no what a food addiction is... He agrees, he said he would rather be fat then a Drunk. I agree to that thought, but,,, I told him don't get to fat !

It's to hard to get off. He doesn't look fat, just thickened out. But still you have to watch...

What's not fare about a food addiction "I THINK" is you need food to live, it's a must. So to tempt you every day is rough!

Booze and Drugs are your own choice.

You don't need them to live.

I met a lot of people like this at Band Meetings. The one I will never forget

was a man that lost over 400LBS. with the Band. He was also a memember

of A A & N A. He was my first experience as to swapping addictions..

[Rainydayz 3]

Shirley you are right. I tend to swap addictions. I used to smoke. Then I quit and I've gained almost 90 pounds since then! I'm hoping that I can become addicted to being healthy and exercising. When I was young I loved running and playing sports. I really hope I can get back to that kind of "addiction."

And as far as food being an addiction like alcohol or drugs - well can you imagine a drug addict just taking a little drug every day or an alcoholic taking one drink a day? I've known recovered drug addicts that don't even take pain meds because they're afraid of becoming addicted again. But food addicts can't do that. We have to eat everyday. Maybe a program would help. I don't think it's a horrible thing to do a program if you're addicted to something. It shows that you admit you need help. And we all need help or we wouldn't be here getting the band right? So, like pp said don't knock it. It may be just what you need.

[54Shirley 105]

Ogh I'm not nockin it at all. I just say that you must eat food to live. That alone is enough to throw you off. So addictions are swapped sometimes.

Since we have a addictive personality, we need to learn not to go to another addiction, just to keep you fingers out of your mouth.

Some how, we have to understand that when we seek help for a problem. We can't let something else get out of control, before we have another problem.

Hope that makes sense.

[Rainydayz 3]

Ogh I'm not nockin it at all. I just say that you must eat food to live. That alone is enough to throw you off. So addictions are swapped sometimes..

Sorry Shirley, I didn't mean that last part toward you. I was talking about the poster who said they didn't want to go to meetings like a junkie. Actually, we kind of are junkies. I'm hoping the support meetings will help me enough but if not, I plan to try WW or TOPS or something like that for the accountability if nothing else.

[54Shirley 105]

Sorry Shirley, I didn't mean that last part toward you. I was talking about the poster who said they didn't want to go to meetings like a junkie. Actually, we kind of are junkies. I'm hoping the support meetings will help me enough but if not, I plan to try WW or TOPS or something like that for the accountability if nothing else.

Meetings are always good. Good Luck with whatever you do.

[Llyra 3]

What's not fare about a food addiction "I THINK" is you need food to live, it's a must. So to tempt you every day is rough!

Booze and Drugs are your own choice.

You don't need them to live.

Food is not the addiction- overeating is the addiction. Overeating is one's own choice and one does not need to overeat to live.

That's why it is called "Overeaters Anonymous" and not "Food Anonymous."

[ElfiePoo 109]

Deidra,

The truth is that the band works differently for everyone, and we all have different reasons for why we eat, so there's just no way of knowing whether it will or won't work for you.

You need to find out *why* you eat. You say you eat when you're full because your brain tells you that you aren't full. How does it do that? Do you have real hunger...or just a desire/compulsion to eat?

When we are truly hungry, it is because the stomach is producing ghrelin, the hunger hormone. The band helps with that in most cases by putting pressure on the vagus nerves which tell the stomach to quit producing ghrelin. Unfortunately, some people never get this cessation of hunger no matter how many fills they get...and that's something the surgeons just aren't sharing. The band does fail people and you won't no whether you're one of them until you go through the process.

If you're eating out of a desire/compulsion to eat that has nothing to do with hunger, the band most likely won't help you with that. Some people think the band will help by physically restricting how much they can eat. Again, unfortunately, it just doesn't seem to work that way with many people and they can continue to eat in unlimited quantities until they're so overfilled they can only eat slider foods...and continue to eat unlimited quantities of them as well.

Many people think they have a food addiction and I think perhaps some do...but I also think some of these food addicts might find, as I did, that they don't have an addiction at all. Instead they're dealing with an actual physical response to the carbs in their food, which their bodies are unable to process correctly. This isn't an addiction. It is a very real metabolic disorder.

In any event, the band (if it works the way it should) will help with the hunger. You might be lucky enough to find that it even works with physically restricting how much you eat. It will still be up to you to choose to eat the right foods and choose to put the fork down...and if you don't, then the band will be no more help than Weight Watchers or any other weight loss method.

Good luck with whatever your decision.

.