Sugar addict, grazing and Lap Band

[mich 74]

This site is amazing, I have learned so much by reading all your wonderful and candid threads and posts. I am not banded yet and my biggest fear is that it will not work.

I read on the Lap Band site that people who crave sweets do not do as well as others. I have had a major sweet tooth my whole life. I am now 34 years old and 240 (at 5'3"). I have never been a successful dieter, the most I ever lost was 10 pounds, the longest I stuck with anything a week or two. Untill I went no white sugar/flour and attended OA meetings. Then I was able to loose 30 but could not keep up the super strict food plan and regained the lost weight.

My question is can anyone here relate? Would you say you are a sweets lover and did the band work or not work for you? Did anyone have a habit of grazing (eating a little every hour sometimes) and were you able to be successfull with the band?

I think my bigest change would be that I would have to stop the grazing habit. Set eating times, 3 meals- one snack type of thing.

Anyway, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!

[Fort Bend Band 0]

I am a sugar junkie and I can say that it has gotten in the way of my success. I am still losing slowly am I am much less hungry than I used to be so I am totally happy I got the band. The band can only do so much. We still have our unhealthy eating habits that we have to battle as well as over- eating as a coping mechanism. The band does not make that stuff go away. However, the band does make you not be able to eat as much when you are trying to overeat as well as not be able to eat some of the foods you used to graze on. The band is a tool that you have to try to make work for you.

[cathgr8 1]

I am huge sugar junkie, I used to live for Valentine's Day and Easter because of all the bagged candy I could set next to my computer and munch on while I surfed the Internet. My day was not complete without dessert and sweet Snacks. But when I went into this surgery, I did the head work. I committed to following the band rules, and then, if I had eaten my Protein, then veggies, and was still hungry, I would allow myself a carb, which could be a sweet. I'd say that 90% of the time, my "sweet" for the day has been a sugar free, fat free pudding cup, sometimes a 100 calorie snack bag of Cookies, rarely a true dessert (cake, candy, ice cream or pie). The fact that I'm usually not only not hungry, but actually full, really keeps me from being preoccupied with where my next snack is coming from. So I haven't eliminated the need for sweets, but it seems very manageable.

[Fort Bend Band 0]

I am huge sugar junkie, I used to live for Valentine's Day and Easter because of all the bagged candy I could set next to my computer and munch on while I surfed the Internet. My day was not complete without dessert and sweet Snacks. But when I went into this surgery, I did the head work. I committed to following the band rules, and then, if I had eaten my Protein, then veggies, and was still hungry, I would allow myself a carb, which could be a sweet. I'd say that 90% of the time, my "sweet" for the day has been a sugar free, fat free pudding cup, sometimes a 100 calorie snack bag of Cookies, rarely a true dessert (cake, candy, ice cream or pie). The fact that I'm usually not only not hungry, but actually full, really keeps me from being preoccupied with where my next snack is coming from. So I haven't eliminated the need for sweets, but it seems very manageable.

Keep up the good work! You are an inspiration to us all!

[vessa 1]

I have always had huge problem with sweets. I remember as a kid hiding a bowl of sugar and kool-aid in my dresser and eating it at night. I used to eat frosting, plain, out of the container, for "fun" - or whatever you'd call it. I read a book called "Sugar Blues", by William Duffy, super awesome about sugar being a drug as addictive as cocaine, could be contraversial to some...

I am very lucky to have a husband who doesn't like sweets, so we basically keep them out of the house altogether, and that seems to help.

Also, I have been having great success with my hunger, understanding it, I mean, and it was really easy. (but can be a challenge to go through process) I seen this list on other website, and tweeked it to my personality, it's just a piece of paper on my refridgerator that says in big black letters,

AM I...

...STRESSED?

...TIRED?

...BORED?

...TEMPTED?

...or hungry?

It works so well for me! I don't know why, but I won't overeat when I see it, because when I want too, I get sick and puk-ey and I HATE that, feel like a failure. p.s. hungry is in small letter because it was always big huge letters that overwhelmed everything before, now I know, only about 5% of the time I am actually hungry. Hope this helps, good luck with the sugar monster, it's not allowed in my house no more, once an awhile we visit, but it's not much fun no more.

[Jachut 487]

Yeah, I'm a sweet lover. Not lollies, but sweet carbs - Cookies, etc. But I'm eating chocolate right now.

The band has worked brilliantly for me, as I also overate just in general. But mainly becuase I sat down and thought about it prior to banding and I"ve taken responsibility for my actions and although I can eat chocolate by the block still, I choose not to. I also decided to exercise, I run 5 times a week for an hour. I've changed enough habits that I have now got good control of my weight, I'm at goal and plan to stay there.

I still turn to chocolate or Cookies in times of stress, I still have some bad habits, I dont eat perfectly. To be honest, that's never what I thought the band would achieve, and it wasnt what I was aiming for. I wanted to be NORMAL in that I ate what I wanted when I wanted like normal people do and that the what and when would not always be so horribly inappropriate for me as they had been. Now I have no desire to eat chocolate for Breakfast, nor do I want to eat again at 9 am just because the kids have all been deposited at various schools and kindergartens so why not eat something?

So it doenst bother me that I have the occasional chocolate splurge. Overall my diet is healthy and my exercise regime is good and my weight is staying rock steady.

[mich 74]

Thank you so much for all the replies!!

I'm so nervous that I am just doomed to be fat forever, but I keep trying new things. Will the lap band be another failed attempt? I hope not!

But I suppose, whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are always right.

[Daisalana 33]

I'm a sweet junkie too.. But first thing I did was get rid of the ridiculously high calorie count sweets in my house (including my beloved cokes!!). I replaced any candy bars/cookies/etc.. with 100 calorie pack stuff.

Now, a 'bad night' is when I eat 2 100 calorie packs.. that's less than most candy bars. And pre-band, I couldn't tell you how many candy bars I could pack in one sitting if I was having a 'bad night'. I also realized, after being banded, another big problem for me.. We wouldn't eat 3 normal meals a day, we'd eat 1 or 2 big ones--which consisted 100% of fast food. We lived in a house that had a crap kitchen, stove was broken, no dish washer or garbage disposal, so I wasn't going to cook. We moved 2 months ago into a nice new house and big kitchen, so fast food is no longer in my life either. But pre-band, I could eat 3-5 mcdonald meals at ONE TIME. And if you look at calories of ONE mcdonald meal, it's disturbing. So now that I've become obsessed with calorie counting, it's no wonder I have had problems my whole life. My parents work(ed) while I grew up and it was fast food and lunch room food for me.

I haven't given up sweets, I've just given myself better options. But you do have to make those choices. Eating normal (bad!) candy bars and what not, isn't going to cause anything to happen to your band to help reinforce you.