Can Not Stop Eating

[Bedhead 158]

Ever since I decided to get surgery (no date set yet, should be getting it soon!) my relationship with food has gone from overindulgence to flat out addicted. Tonight I was driving home from a DR's appointment and I stopped by McDonald's (a place that I used to NEVER EVER EVER GO!) and got a fish sandwich. AND a double cheeseburger!!!

Before I decided on surgery I ate more than I should have, but it was during family meal time. Now I find myself sneaking into the kitchen to shovel Snacks down my throat, or sneaking out for fast food and hiding the wrappers.

This is SO NOT ME and I don't understand it! I'm skulking around like a desperate meth head. How on earth am I going to lose my preop weight (13lbs) if I can't get this under control?? Could it just be the fear of having the surgery and not feeling as though I'll ever be able to eat these foods again?? If you experienced this, how did you work through it?

[SrHogan 6]

I totally feel you in that. I went to the information session dec 15th, still waiting to hear from the doc. I find myself eating more, and mine is sneaking at night when everyone else is asleep. I am trying to break bad habit before surgery to make things easier. I hope we can get this under control!

[ocean_ophelia 31]

yup, me too. I'm out of control. I had dinner tonight then stopped at McD after I took my daughters to dance. It's shameful. I think I'm just living it up now before I can't.

[Bedhead 158]

I'm so relieved it's not just me!!

[illgeturhairdid 176]

I thought that was me prior to surgery. Now, looking back- it really wasn't a new thing. It was sort of how I was doing things all along and just wasn't paying attention to it. Did I go out to eat more? Yes, because I knew it would be a long time before I was able to eat at my favorite places again. Take it from someone who has very recently (12/5) been there, done that- use this time wisely. It will allow you to have an easier time adjusting post op.

Good luck!

[peacequeen 434]

What you're doing are food funerals, last suppers..whatever you want to call them. Your mind is telling you that you will have surgery anyway so you might as well eat. It's telling you that you won't be able to eat certain foods or at certain restaurants to go ahead and get them over with. I went through this for almost a year and gained about 20 pounds. Now I'm on my pre op diet (surgery dec 27th) and when they start you on that, you go into full gear dieting,,I've finally gotten real serious and lost 9 of the 20 so far. I can only recommend getting a handle on it or you'll regret it.

[ILKrista 36]

I just wanted to chime in.... I did the exact same thing. My surgery was delayed by about 4 months because a coworker was on maternity leave & we both couldn't be off. I ate out more & in larger quantities than I had ever done in my life. I gained about 15 pounds & truely almost started feeling ill from all the rich food. This is a common thing to go through. Do I wish I hadn't done it... yes, because that would have been 15 lbs less to work off. However, dont' feel like this will negatively affect your results. Some of us just have a harder time letting go of the relationship we have with food. Best of luck!

[rhondarina 13]

I was the same way. I had my first presurgical appointment with my surgeon in early October. He told me to lose about 10-20lbs before surgery. Then I got the insurance approval process started. Once I was approved in late October to have my surgery on December 19, I went on a binge. I had everything.Everyday I would tell myself I was going to stop drinking pop and start my diet. I had wanted to loose down to about 300 by my surgery day. But it didn't happen. I got in the habit of ordering a 10 piece nugget, large fry, a Mcdouble, ice cream at McDonalds everynight. This is on top of about $10-$12 dollars worth of snack cakes, candy bars and pops everyday I would get from the gas station. At the time of my first appt I was 315 by early december I had gained to about 323.

Then two weeks before surgery I knew I had to cut it out, I definitely didn't want to weigh more than I did at my first surgical appointment on my day of surgery. but I still couldn't manage a full liquid diet. I tried everyday to just drink liquids but I ended up doing two shakes in the morning and Soup or eggs at night. Then two days before my surgery I went to Burger King and got a jr. whopper and large fry, and later had some cheesecake and 2 big cream puffs. I'm truly addicted to food. But on my surgery day I was 313, so I had lost some of the binge weight. food addiction will always be a struggle but since I've had my surgery, I've been totally compliant.

[Lissa 2,631]

It's called a food funeral as others have said. I did it too, but don't take that as encouragement to continue. What's sad is that I have found I can eat anywhere and anything I could eat before, just not in the quantities I used to eat.

You are NOT giving up food forever. You'll be on a liquids, full liquid, mushies diet until your surgeon feels your stomach has healed, then you can eat whatever you want after that. Your sleeve won't hold as much, but that's how we got to the point that we needed surgery to beat the weight.

At 4 months out, I don't miss anything I used to eat, because I allow myself to eat what I want to eat. My only guidelines I follow are to get my Protein and Water into my body. Once those are in, if I have room, I can have something else. Guess what, I don't want lots of junk. I just want to eat veggies usually.

I've lost 70 pounds so far, and I'm still losing, still seeing changes in my body day by day. I think my plan works for me... and your plan will work for you. Hopefully, we'll all end up at our goal weight, laughing, smiling and enjoying our new lives!!

Good luck on your journey!!

[plyman 13]

I too am waiting for the insurance approval and surgery date. I thought it was just me with these feelings. So greatful to have the encouragement of everyone on this site. I also have gained about 5 pounds and I know that I need to lose that and more. I think I will be very serious about it when I have a date. I just want to have a goal date.

[christin 54]

It is a little funny that we all do this and think we are the only ones. lol

I gotta tell you though... I finally stopped a few weeks back. It must be a mental process that we all go through because I finally woke up from that silliness! Now that I am 2 weeks away from surgery, I am mentally taking this very seriously and there will be not one morsel of bad food going into my mouth in the next 14 days. It is like a switch has gone off in my brain.

[Tenshi 34]

I am going through the same thing... my insurance approval came through about two weeks ago and I'm scheduled for January 23rd.... I gave myself "freedom" through Christmas (freedom meaning absolute food insanity, much along the lines of what I see above - eating dinner, then stopping at McDonald's anyway; ordering enough for two or three people, then sitting in my car and secret-eating it myself, etc).

I have felt terrible, physically, doing this, but I also say to myself "Think how good you'll feel when you're being good, then!!" Like I need this crappy food binge addiction period to make the comparison between now and January 24th that much starker.

Also, I'm very glad to see that I'm not the only one going through this... I, too, felt alone in this behavior!

[Bedhead 158]

I'm sorry that so many of us have dealt with this- but I won't lie, I love that I'm not alone in this!

[Escape_Pod 358]

As you can tell from all the responses, this is very common, but I also think it would do you a world of good to spend some serious time thinking / reading / talking to someone about emotional eating, and ways to cope with it after surgery. I went through a personal rough period for about a year, and my emotional binge eating got WAY out of control, to the point where I was worried enough to find a therapist to work with. I'm sure I'll never be "cured", but I did get back to a better balance point and developed some strategies before I started the process of working towards surgery.

As so many people talk about, the surgery only fixes your stomach, not your mind, and a lot of overeating is the head stuff. If you read the post-op forums, you'll see many people admitting to cheating, even very early after surgery, and expressing guilt and worry about whether they've hurt their new sleeve. The early weeks and months bring their own stresses, and if you're used to eating to dealing with feelings, it can be hard to stay on track. Granted, even a binge isn't nearly the quantity it is pre-op, but they're bad habits that can sidetrack you long term, and you want not just to get to goal, but to be able to stay there!!

You can beat this, and get yourself back on track again, and it will be so worth it!

[yecats 109]

Since I have decided to be sleeved ( I am not yet) I have gained about 15 lbs. It really is the "worst" and "hardest" 15 lbs. I regret it terrible. I had no physical ailments related to weight except for my appearence yet since my recent weight gain, my feet ache, my back hurts and now finally my wedding rings no longer fit. You would think that would halt it as this stage considering I need to prepare myself.

I have asked myself why, I can not come up with an obvious answer why I continue to sabatage when I am so gong ho and excited about being sleeved. I can say there is a fear behind it for I feel it but can not quite say it is because I will no longer have food. I realize I can eat in the future,

I read read read on here. Look up all types of info on being sleeved but continue to just eat. I know this surgery is not magic fix it all surgery. It is hard work and dedication. I just keep saying -this to shall pass..... focus, focus, focus. Being aware is part of growing out of it right.

I am surprised but not really so many are doing this. I am so glad I seen this post. Somehow it gives me hope.