Not Running to Food for Coping

[StrongButterfly 8]

For people who are post op, what activities or things do you do to cope during stressful times, boredom, moments of wanting to snack, etc? In other words, what are your coping mechanisms that you use now since you can no longer turn to food? Someone said they learned to knit. I've heard others say they journal, turn to something physical like taking a walk.

Thanks in advance

[New&Improved 1,780]

Rarely even think about food anymore.

but I do keep busy all day when home ive got Netflix or my Xbox one or my Ps4

or you can easily go for a walk around town. Goto a museum or library or botanical gardens.

[Lynnlovesthebeach 626]

I'm not sure if it's because I'm in a better state of mind these days or not because I have finally conquered the "obesity" issue but I find my life much less stressful after surgery. If I get bored I go for a walk or read a book or something other than eat. I actually have very little desire to eat anyway. I still track my food and have to make myself eat because I know I haven't eaten enough for the day. I still have one Protein Shake for Breakfast otherwise I have trouble getting all my Protein in.

[catwoman7 11,213]

I did jigsaw puzzles for awhile and need to do that again. Or something! I need to work on this as well.

[FluffyChix 17,415]

You should join us over on the Doing The Headwork thread in the main lobby! Start on Page 1!

I do a combination of things depending on the situation.

1. Deep breathing (4 square breathing - google it).

2. Relaxation Meditation (5-10 minutes worth)

3. Self talk with dialogues that discuss hunger and how hunger cues to eat pass after 10-20 minutes and get quieter and quieter and pass easier the more times you do not respond to the message to eat.

4. Walk or run.

5. Process the thought, and the feeling/emotion that it elicits.

6. Eat anyway (cuz you know, we're all human and sometimes you fall down. But, you get back up and try something different next time to change the tapes.)

[AJ Tylo 1,399]

Damm fluffy that post is like a calliing - See above She nailed it

For me

Puppy, move, TV and Date! When i get bored and wound up i just go to bed

[Healthy_life2 8,324]

11 hours ago, StrongButterfly said:

For people who are post op, what activities or things do you do to cope during stressful times, boredom, moments of wanting to snack, etc? In other words, what are your coping mechanisms that you use now since you can no longer turn to food? Someone said they learned to knit. I've heard others say they journal, turn to something physical like taking a walk.

Thanks in advance

Fantastic advice above.

None of us get to avoid stress and major life issues (Family/friend’s passing away, Illness, divorce, financial difficulties. etc.) Be prepared and develop a plan.

@FluffyChix post on doing the headwork is a great resource.

[summerset 5,265]

12 hours ago, StrongButterfly said:

In other words, what are your coping mechanisms that you use now since you can no longer turn to food?

First of all: you will be able to turn to food for comfort and that can be a huge problem. Many users on here will describe this as "going back to old habits".

It seems to be a common assumption that one won't be able to turn to food for comfort. Sure, you won't be able to binge on three pizzas in a whole sitting (if you ever did) but you can still use food to regulate emotions. To an extend, that's something all people do, regardless of their weight, but not all of them use so much food that they gain weight or get overweight/obese.

I personally made the experience during the years that "distraction" usually didn't do a real thing for me. It can help, yes, but it usually only postponed emotional eating in the past.

The simplest way to deal with wanting to eat food to regulate emotions is... not eating. First it feels like you absolutely must eat something now and it has to be food xyz! and to sit through this can be hard to bear during the beginning. However, once certain parts of your brain have learnt that you don't have to eat this or that right now! to cope with whatever emotion it's the method that causes the least hassle since it doesn't depend on where you are and what kind of distraction is available right now.

I also made the experience that this "simply not eating" got easier with time. I attribute this both to a learning process and to having reached a desired weight.

There is no foolproof method. You have to try what works best for you. Best of all seems to be to have more than one card to play just in case.

[FluffyChix 17,415]

^^^^This is a really great post.

The only thing I would add, is that I may not be able to eat 3 pizzas at 1 time? But if I really want to binge, I can eat AROUND my tool. And I bet I could eat 3 pizzas in 1 day with concentrated focus. I could eat 2 pieces now as a fully mature pouch. All it would take me is to wait 30minutes to an hour and I would be good to go on another 2 slices-ad infinitum. And god forbid, if I added wine or booze into that mix? I would lower my inhibitions to the point where I could actually mainline pizza and booze together and create quite a problem. food for many of us is out of our pouch very quickly per Dr. Weiner. He says it's as little as 10 minutes with an RNY and even faster with VSG.

So it's very easy to comfort yourself back to MO.

Edited December 5, 2019 by FluffyChix