If you were a binge eater before

[amytug 996]

Hello, I am a binge eater at times. I'm not a grazer, I just have a problem with Portion Control. One cookie is too many and 100 Cookies is never enough, ya know?

I'd love to hear from former binge eaters. How are you now? What were your biggest hurdles? Do you feel free from it?

[TheGamer 406]

I was every joke ever written about fat kids and cake, though really it just applied to food in general. I never met food I didn't like (or want to eat) and I would eat whatever was in front of me, portion size be damned. If I bought a gallon of ice cream, it was gone in a day or two. Same for any sweets, really. Or not sweets. I really wasn't picky about what I'd eat. Mentally I still have the desire to EAT ALL THE THINGS! (insert meme here) which has led to a few incidents of over portioning which lead to some sliming and discomfort, though never outright vomiting. That sensation was reserved for Bariatric Advantage Vitamins, may they rot, vile things.

I have a lifetime of not knowing what full really feels like coming in to this with me, so it is still something I'm trying to figure out. I have no idea what being reasonably full feels like because to me, overly full was what full felt like. For me, the surgery changed my relationship with food. I am so scared of screwing up that I stick to my eating plan no matter what. I guess being terrified of failure is a pretty big motivator for me because if this doesn't work, what else am I going to do? There's nothing left to go to after this.

I've turned in to a pretty regulated eater, eating 5 times a day, or 3 meals and 2 Snacks, however you want to play that out. It helps that by eating every few hours it helps me avoid that inherent sense of deprivation that I would otherwise have. Mentally, though, it's always a challenge. During the holidays I was picking up the box of chocolates in the office and just smelling them because the idea that they were sitting there drove me crazy. I've said before that I don't think I'll ever have a really healthy relationship with food. Right now, for me, food is always going to be the enemy. I don't know if that will change.

[Babysteppin 165]

Thanks for posting this question...I don't have much feedback since I'm pre-op, and still struggle a bit with binge eating (and have a greater capacity to binge).

But...I just signed up for a course on "Mindful Eating" strategies. I think it might help to research this topic as a means of centering myself while eating -- and to strengthen my ability to either prevent a binge, or stop one in it's tracks and move on. We'll see how this class goes! But I think there are also a lot of books on the topic in case it's something of interest.

[Losin4good 689]

I was a binge eater. My best friend is my food scale. Or for lighter things, my measuring cup. I measure or weigh everything before i eat.

Another thing for me is to make a meal an event. That way it isnt mindless eating. Its planned.

So even if its on the go, its thought out, planned, And weighed, so i cant overeat. i eat 2-3 ounces every 3-4 hours. I am 4 1/2 months out and my favorite thing about the surgery is its pretty impossible to binge eat, at least for me. When i get to 2 ounces, i am usually satisfied and its time to stop. I do not like the restriction feeling, so i will not eat until i feel restriction. Only until satisfied.

I hope this helps. Good luck on your surgery!

[TheCurvyJones 721]

Binge eater here. I always said any program that tackled 'being hungry' wouldn't work for me because I don't eat out of hunger.

I am just about two weeks out. Occasionally I think about food. i want to snack more than anything... but it's true how things change after surgery. My mom had some Cheetos when she visited me over break. The smell of them was nauseating. They left three huge slices of gooey chocolate cake... I threw them away. Crunch and Munch in my cabinet? Not a temptation. I measure what I am going to eat because I found out last night what eating too much/too quickly brings. My sleeve was unimpressed with my need to keep eating.

I am sure it'll be more difficult as time goes on but for the moment I don't seem to have the same impulses or triggers. In fact, I suffer from S.A.D (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and really since I decided to have the surgery, I haven't had a mopey, crying day. I think doing something good for me and knowing that I am working toward solving my weight problem has really helped battle it.

[Chimera 644]

I was a serious binger - the surgery has helped tremendously! I do get head hunger and can eat more now that I am further out from surgery but it simply is not physically possible to eat the way I used to. I still tend to put waaay too much on my plate - so measuring is my friend.

Tracking my food, liquids, meds, Vitamins, exercise etc help keep things on track. Honestly I feel so much better emotionally that the urge to stuff is very faint - and honestly, if I want to feel over stuffed like i always used to when I would eat - I just need to eat a couple of extra bites of chicken or brocolli now, a much healthier state of affairs

[Nicolanz 1,484]

2 months out and I'm starting to struggle with this again. I got a food scale for Christmas and I'm going start using it and timing my meals.

[NerdyMHC 76]

I am the quintessential binge eater. I would order two meals from a fast food restaurant, and get two drinks just so the person at the window would think the two meals were for me and another person. They weren't. I would eat one on the way home and have the other when I got there. If I made a meal at home, I would eat all of it in one sitting (boxes of shells and cheese macaroni never stood a chance!) I am actually surprised that I didn't weigh more than I did!

I am 10 weeks out and I have had the crazy head hunger only a couple of times where I am not hungry, but I want to eat. It is usually at night so I will either have a sugar free Jello cup, a glass of Water, or I'll just go to bed. As far as the urge to binge eat; I do not have a problem stopping when I feel satisfied. In fact, I never knew what the "satisfied"feeling was until after my surgery. Like TheGamer said, the full feeling I knew was bursting. Now, I feel satiated and I stop. It is the greatest feeling in the world!

[MsVeDub 32]

HI there. I am a serious binge eater (or was). I had surgery on 12/20 and since then, I have had to force myself to eat. I just have no interest in it. However, this past Monday, I was eating Tomato Bisque (from Mimi's - best place ever)...and I lost my mind and ate too fast AND too much. I was in SO much pain!! I tried to throw up and couldn't. I tried walking it off and then rocked myself...it was a dissaster. It did, however, scar me from over eating again. Now I'm really taking things slow - and taking more time between bites.

Are you post op?

[amytug 996]

Thanks for all the replies!

No, I'm still PRE op. I just stuffed myself on leftover cold rice pudding for Breakfast and felt awful. I can't wait to experience all of this! So SO excited. As long as all goes as planned, I'll be sleeved on the 18th

[TheCurvyJones 721]

There is a YouTuber called SecretSleeve that was a binge eater as well and she talks at length about VSG as a Binge eater.

[Nicolanz 1,484]

Thanks, CurvyJ! I will check that out.

Good luck, Amy! It's an ongoing battle but we can defeat this!

[Ballermom 803]

I am just about two weeks out. Occasionally I think about food. My mom had some Cheetos when she visited me over break. The smell of them was nauseating. They left three huge slices of gooey chocolate cake... I threw them away. Crunch and Munch in my cabinet? Not a temptation. I think doing something good for me and knowing that I am working toward solving my weight problem has really helped battle it.

Absolutely Wonderful.

Wishing you all continued blessing.

Congrats

[SweetnCurvy 112]

Hello' date=' I am a binge eater at times. I'm not a grazer, I just have a problem with Portion Control. One cookie is too many and 100 Cookies is never enough, ya know?

I'd love to hear from former binge eaters. How are you now? What were your biggest hurdles? Do you feel free from it?[/quote']

I definitely struggle with binge eating. Its safe to say that binge eating is tied to unresolved emotions. I think its best to just focus on losing weight and looking at food as a means to survive and not as ur bestfriend who comforts u thru everything. Think of this as the time YOU begin to comfort and be there for YOU. Work thru whatever is the reason u feel u need to binge eat. No longer can we hid behind food. It is an everyday struggle to not binge eat but u have to realize ur worth everyday. U have to see that u deserve more than hiding in a room stuffing ur face with Cookies or cake or whatever (my personal experience).Good luck!

[clk 3,519]

As usual, my response will be a novella. Bear with me!

I think the biggest thing to be aware of is that the sleeve is going to help immediately (and forever) with Portion Control. You will never sit down and eat an entire pie, pizza or box of Cookies in one sitting again. That said, the emotional and habitual triggers will not be resolved. I think a lot of people transition from binge eating into grazing because that's what their sleeve will allow.

I was completely in denial about my overeating and binge eating until I was forced to confront it post op. I had really, really convinced myself that my weight and inability to lose it was entirely due to my diabetes, my hormones, my metabolism, whatever. I really thought that simply controlling my portion size would be this miracle solution and that for the first time in my life the weight would just fly off and I'd be skinny.

It wasn't until I stumbled upon the book "Hungry" by Allen Zadoff that I acknowledged the behavior I'd been denying and realized why I was struggling with my emotions post op.

The most important thing to do is track your food. I tracked every single bite religiously, to the point of ridiculousness, actually. Six M&Ms and a sip of soda? I'd do the math and add them into MyFitnessPal rather than ignore them. This was the first big step in acknowledging what I was eating.

The next step was to force myself into a set caloric/nutritional window. If I didn't have "slack" to indulge on any given day, I did not do it. That was tough and many a night I went to bed thinking about food. But it was so important to me that I learn to control my eating instead of continuing to be a slave to my desire for food. I LUSTED after food. I had to break those habits and the easiest way was taking advantage of that window where I had zero physical hunger and using it to overcome the habit of eating.

From that point, I evaluated my emotions and feelings every time I found myself thinking about food or opening the door to the fridge. Once I pinpointed my triggers I was able to stop the behavior. The sleeve made this so much easier for me, because I really wasn't experiencing any hunger. The only time I ever struggle with this is during my cycle, when my hormones are wacky and I feel like I could eat paint chips off the wall (all despite feeling ZERO actual, physical hunger) but I still keep myself under control.

Once I was able to tackle those three things, I had to learn moderation. I could not treat the sleeve like a diet. I could not approach the sleeve as the other half of a life on Atkins. For me to succeed and feel happy about my success, I needed to feel like I wasn't denying myself or like I was fencing off an entire world of food forever.

This is different for everyone, because some people have serious trigger foods like white sugar or white flour that make it incredibly difficult to incorporate them in moderation. My only real trigger at this point is popcorn. I could eat it every day. Every other food that used to set me off has no control over me these days. So my experience in this won't work for everyone.

But basically, I found that around six to nine months post op that I was able to incorporate a more reasonable amount of carbs and good, quality fats into my diet. All at once my mood improved and I stopped dreaming about food at night. I was able to indulge myself occasionally without feeling the compulsion to eat myself sick. From that point forward I started eating about 40% Protein, 30% carbs and 30% fat as my diet.

I try to make good quality food choices 90% of the time but I allow myself 10% of give where I'll eat whatever strikes my fancy. If I feel like I'm slipping I immediately start tracking every calorie again and find out if I really am slipping or if it's all in my head. Usually it's in my head, to be honest. There's a huge amount of baggage that goes with a lifetime of negative body image, crazy diets and generally poor eating habits. There were times when eating a few bites of cake could make me feel guilty but if I counted up my calories for the day I'd see that there's nothing wrong with a few extra calories and carbs.

And I'll admit that those days are mostly behind me at two and a half years out. I have now ingrained the habit of healthier eating and the desire to binge and graze endlessly is gone. Most of the emotional baggage has been worked through and shelved, and I don't question my choices like I used to do. It really is a huge relief to feel this way - I imagine this is how people that never had food issues or a weight problem feel about food. It's just food. I enjoy it, sure, but it doesn't control me or make me feel guilty or send me into fantasies where I eat it all anymore.

All of that aside, I did not whip down to goal quickly. I was still a slow loser, even sleeved and doing my best to be healthy mentally and physically. It took me 17 months to reach goal but when I got there I was ready for it. Maintenance was a breeze for me once I accepted my body's happy weight was going to be a few pounds more than I wanted. This is why you will see me repeat the same things over and over again here - it's important to learn moderation and stumble on your way to healthy BEFORE you reach goal. Do not save up all of the issues that caused your obesity until that point and then try to live a normal life while unpacking your baggage!

I could not have done this without my sleeve. I urge anyone that's working through this to really address it as something you can fix, something you can control. You really are in charge of your body. Make the sleeve, and the fact that you removed most of your stomach, count. It is a struggle. It is hard. Those compulsions, cravings and desires are seriously hard to break, but we can do it. I'd say we HAVE to do it if we want to live life at goal as a happy and healthy person.

Best of luck to everyone struggling with this.

~Cheri