2 weeks out and daydreaming about carbs

[Holly McQuillan 6]

Hi - I'm so ashamed of myself and disappointed and frustrated. Hoping some people out there can give me some hope that not all is lost. I'm 2 weeks past surgery today and am supposed to do liquid diet for 1 more week...then 4 weeks of pureed food and then finally on to solid foods. I've MOSTLY been sticking to the Protein shakes/liquids/jello, but I have had a few moments where when trying to eat only the broth of some chicken noodle Soup, I snuck a few noodles and small chicken chunks. And then over the weekend I had my first restaurant experience (to soupplantation) where I not only had some small amounts of soup, but also a couple spoonfuls of chocolate soft-serve, some mashed up kidney Beans and crushed hard-boiled egg pieces, and about 3 nibbles of white bread. I didn't go overboard in quantity, but I know I shouldn't have had any solids and definitely shouldn't have gone near the bread or soup noodles.

The bigger problem is that from a week prior to surgery, I've been daydreaming about pancakes (they weren't even my biggest food love pre-surgery...usually it was ice cream or anything chocolate), but now pancakes seem like the end-all be-all. And Pasta with marinara sauce is the other food that keeps creeping into my mind. I don't want all this effort and pain to be for nothing. Does anyone have any good/helpful suggestions on how to quit obsessing about food so much and based on my cheating behavior this week, do you think I'm doomed or is this fairly normal and are there a lot of stories about people self-correcting and still succeeding after giving in to temptation?

[daisy63 36]

I am 2 weeks out as well. My rough time is 1 - 3 in the afternoon..that when I did my eating....today, my desire was a Big Mac...haven't had one in 6 mos, but oh today...I could taste it, feel it...and could not for the life of me get it out of my mind. I think we are grieving. Seriously grieving. I think most people go through it. This is the hard part...the surgery was a piece of cake compared to the head games.

I have not cheated much, once I had my daughters mashed potatoes..a bite, and was sick to my stomach after, then once I took a bite of chicked and then spit it out. Tasted terrible!

Don't beat yourself up. I think we are just adjusting and need to pat ourselves on the back for all the things that are going right.

[blizair09 3,250]

@@Holly McQuillan

If I were you, I'd ask my surgeon's staff to recommend a psychologist who has experience working with bariatric patients. If you want to be successful on this journey, you will have to change your relationship with food. And that means eating what you are supposed to when you are supposed to. Now that you are post-op, these are even more important decisions than they were before because they can seriously affect your health. Maybe talking with a professional can give you some strategies that can help you understand your current relationship with food and where you need to be.

Trust me, tough decisions are never going to go away. In fact, they become more numerous as time goes on.

Good luck.