5 oz of protein OR 10 cookies

[jellybean12 65]

I am only 2 months out from sleeve surgery. My experience has been positive so far. I've lost a good chunk of weight. I'm feeling good, eating pretty well and looking good.

But, my personality has always been to to follow instructions 90% of the way. Never 100%. A teacher, a doctor, a boss.... I feel the need to have to have a little bit of control so I do things "mostly" right, or "mostly" the way I'm instructed. Always a rule follower but never exactly. LOL.

And it turns out I'm doing this program the same way. I get in my Protein and my Water and my veggies, but I tried a little bit of sweets after about a month and enjoyed the fact that I didn't overeat them, just had a nibble.

So over the holidays, the nibble turned into eating about 10 of my favorite Cookies over the course of a day. And doing this multiple days in a row. It turns out that for me, 4-5 oz of protein fills me up to where I stop eating so I don't get over full. However, a homemade chocolate chip cookie doesn't fill me up at all. Neither does 3-4 of them. That is VERY disappointing as I now realize that it is up to ME, not the surgery, to control my overeating of sweets. Ice cream. Chocolate. My two favorites. And they go down easy.

I am very aware of the importance of focusing on my emotional eating / eating for soothing, etc. and doing the work there. But I confess that it's disappointing to me (and a bit scary) to realize that I can already put away 10 cookies in a short period of time, and that I better get my act together around this NOW.

Guess I just wanted to share this and get it out there. I would benefit from just taking sugar out of my diet completely.

[highfunctioningfatman 2,675]

Dense Protein will leave you full and nourished. Slider foods like the ice cream, chocolate and Cookies that you mentioned never will. This is a mental game as much as anything else. If your mindset isn't on eating in a healthy way, you WILL lose at this game and the weight will come back. Your choices dictate your success.

[suzzzzz 1,005]

Yep. The sleeve is only a tool. We have to do our part.

[jellybean12 65]

Yes, you guys are 100% right. I guess I am surprised how much those "slider foods" don't fill me up. Bummer! LOL. I'm re-focused! Thank you.

[ShelterDog64 2,364]

@@jellybean12 You mention that you never follow the rules 100% because you like to have a little control...this surgery should be GREAT for you, then, because you truly control whether it works for you or not! Just like you found out with the Cookies, you can eat what you want...or you can take control and eat the Protein that you need instead of the Cookies your head tells you to eat.

This surgery has given me back control of my life and my weight, in a way I didn't have previously. I literally COULD NOT stop eating before. Now I can, and it's the most satisfying thing I've ever experienced in the realm of weight loss.

Congratulations on figuring out the cookies vs Protein thing...some WLS patients never really do, I'm afraid

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

Whoa. I couldn't eat 10 Cookies now. I definitely couldn't eat them that early. And I dumped at that point. I don't dump now. And I dumped after eating get out and the chicken salad have sugar in it.

If you can eat like this, this soon post-op you are in real danger.

Please find a therapist and work on your food issues.

[LittleBill 2,231]

Speaking of dumping... They call them slider foods, and not just because they slide through your sleeve. You may very well find they keep right on sliding out the other end. With force. All that is left behind is a sore butt, calories infesting your system, and a feeling of guilt. You need to get some help with the mental and emotional aspect if you want to win at this. Good luck with it.

[jwinters19 124]

I am about a month out, and in Christmas Eve and Christmas, allowed myself some Cookies. I had the exact same experience, except I could only do one at a time. But over the course of the day, it added up. I love sweets too and noticed that I when I cut them out completely on my month of liquids, my cravings went away. Sugar can be very physically addicting in my experience. So jump on that motivation to cut it out and get back to the plan! I need to do that too!

HW 285.8 SW 272.8 CW 264.6 GW 140 Sleeved 11/23

[jellybean12 65]

I am about a month out, and in Christmas Eve and Christmas, allowed myself some Cookies. I had the exact same experience, except I could only do one at a time. But over the course of the day, it added up. I love sweets too and noticed that I when I cut them out completely on my month of liquids, my cravings went away. Sugar can be very physically addicting in my experience. So jump on that motivation to cut it out and get back to the plan! I need to do that too!

HW 285.8 SW 272.8 CW 264.6 GW 140 Sleeved 11/23

I have/had the same experience. I've always thought of myself as addicted to sugar and only until it was out of my diet completely did the cravings go away. I'm doing better but still feel like I've good a few more days of major temptation to get through before it will be easier (but still hard!!!) to ignore all the sweets around me. Thanks everyone for the support.

[trekker954 421]

I lost control Xmas day. Had about 20 chocolate covered almonds. I've been away on holiday for 2 weeks without a scale. Praying I didn't gain. I see my NUT Wednesday morning.

Sent from my SM-N910T using the BariatricPal App

[clasheljac2 9]

I was practically dying post operatively,so I was glad I could eat a cookie and get calories. I was passing out. Then I bought Protein bars and chewed them up thoroughly and that and increasing Water helped. I went out and bought OTC Omeprazole magnesium and have been taking two a day,doctor said good to taking two so good. I read a lot of the lecturing messages on here and decided to try harder. Eating the carbs stopped my weight loss. So I started a little exercise and now I am losing a pound a day. This is a tough adjustment,and I think it is hard to figure out how to succeed. It is funny watching the serial dieters interact with the people who have never been able to control their diet. I think this is most likely due to the ghrelin hormone. I read somewhere that there is ghrelin in your body for weeks after the surgery,so you are still craving etc. I wonder if the good dieters on here are lower ghrelin secreters. I really think that people who do not have an elevated amount of ghrelin in their bodies cannot understand what it is like to be this way. It is like some one gave you prednisone every day.

So if you just had surgery,be warned you have to be very strict because you have a load of the hormone that causes uncontrolled eating and a tiny stomach with a huge incision line that could rupture and kill you. So fellow ghrelin secreters,be very careful postoperatively not to eat a huge amount. Your life depends on it.

Sent from my N9518 using the BariatricPal App

[81Kellogram 101]

It's so frustrating that the two things I MUST have, Water and Protein, are the hardest. I ate cheesecake and mac and cheese yesterday. It was so easy. Fortunately, I felt a little sick after a few bites of the CC. im only four weeks out, and I'm horrified at the realization that I had 80% of my HEALTHY stomach removed, yet it won't make a difference if I don't get a mental handle on this. Im still plenty restricted but it's getting easier every day. I'm looking for a therapist this week.

[rolosmom7 740]

My little cousins made sugar Cookies at Christmas. Frosted ones, my favorite. And my little 2 year old cousin was giving everyone a cookie. Well, I was eating my 2nd one of Christmas day and my mom called me out and that was that.

But, looking back, it was scary how easily they went down.

[highfunctioningfatman 2,675]

I was practically dying post operatively,so I was glad I could eat a cookie and get calories. I was passing out. Then I bought Protein Bars and chewed them up thoroughly and that and increasing Water helped. I went out and bought OTC Omeprazole magnesium and have been taking two a day,doctor said good to taking two so good. I read a lot of the lecturing messages on here and decided to try harder. Eating the carbs stopped my weight loss. So I started a little exercise and now I am losing a pound a day. This is a tough adjustment,and I think it is hard to figure out how to succeed. It is funny watching the serial dieters interact with the people who have never been able to control their diet. I think this is most likely due to the ghrelin hormone. I read somewhere that there is ghrelin in your body for weeks after the surgery,so you are still craving etc. I wonder if the good dieters on here are lower ghrelin secreters. I really think that people who do not have an elevated amount of ghrelin in their bodies cannot understand what it is like to be this way. It is like some one gave you prednisone every day.

So if you just had surgery,be warned you have to be very strict because you have a load of the hormone that causes uncontrolled eating and a tiny stomach with a huge incision line that could rupture and kill you. So fellow ghrelin secreters,be very careful postoperatively not to eat a huge amount. Your life depends on it.

Sent from my N9518 using the BariatricPal App

My ghrelin levels were 8-10 times higher than normal when fasting and 26-28 times higher 30 minutes after a normal Breakfast. I'm one of the low carb, low sugar and high Protein people. It works for me.

[Aggiemae 739]

Well, I had my first "slip" a few days ago. We had company or went out every night this week plus house if full to the rafters with chocolate but I managed through to the 7th night of Hanukkah when I ate six pieces of chocolate, I promised myself it was a one off and I was DONE, then had two Lindor truffles. About 15 minutes later I was in the shower getting ready for bed and burped and up came most of not all the chocolate. Gross.