What is wrong with me?!

[Ang1982 4]

Hey all!

First of all let me say that I luv these forums and all of you. It is so great to be able to participate and learn from people who have had the surgery and people who, like me, are waiting to get it done. This forum has been the best place for me to learn and find out about it firsthand which is way different then reading an article or a study.

Now, on to "what is wrong with me?"....

Did anyone else have this before they had their surgery... I have already made the decision to have WLS, I've had my consult with my surgeon that I will be going with, I've got my financing lined up and actually made up my mind a few months ago about getting this done. I will not be able to get it done until into early next year some time due to work schedule. Sooo... I know that my eating habits will have to change (I'm a total junk food addict) yet I am having the hardest time changing them right now. Knowing that I am going into this and will have to change doesn't seem to stop me from eating a chocolate bar or piece of cake or having Burger King right now. And as I put it in my mouth I'm like "what the heck are you doin? You don't need this" yet I still eat it. I don't cook the best meals at home either because I HAAAAATE cooking, it is the bane of my existance.

Does this get better? Am I completely crazy? :help:

Angela

[ParaGirl 71]

I was the same way. I had no will power to give up the junk I was eating before the surgery. Please know that after the surgery, it will be easier to make good choices. Not that you dont have to work at it, you do, but it is easier once that band is in place.

[wombat712 2]

I would agree with Paragirl.

It's also thinking of giving it up or not having it again that keeps you eating poorly before the surgery. My son was so worried about all the things that I'd not be able to have again that he kept insisting we go to all these different places before I had it done. I did not have a pre-op diet to follow. I got to the point that I just couldn't eat any more!!

I willingly gave up diet coke a week before the surgery because I knew that would be the hardest for me. After the surgery, I was terrified of messing it up after all that money I spent that I followed all the post-op rules!!

I also only had 1 1/2 weeks from starting point to surgery so not a lot of time to play too many head games.

Good luck to you!!

[juliegeraci 7]

Angela, I completely understand how you are feeling. There are 2 way to approach this. One is to count calories. Try to stay between 1k and 1500 a day. Bandsters typically eat 800-1k calories a day. The other way is to enjoy the food you are consuming right now and not worry about it. My doctor didn't put me on a post op diet. Without the band is is hard to lose weight. Be good to yourself and enjoy food right now if that is what you would like to do. Weight loss will follow. Good luck.

[losingjusme 12]

hi Angela,

sounds like "last meal syndrome"... with your banding being early next year, it may make it more difficult or you can start the 'pre-pre op diet' sooner and drop some of the liver fat ..

i know i am going to catch hell for this, but...

my suggestion. have a week. ONE week and eat whatever you want. if you want to get burger king 2 times a day, do it. if you want a piece of chocolate cake for Breakfast, do it.

BUT (big but) you must find 30 minutes to do some sort of constant physical activity. if it is marching in place for 30 mins so be it.

AFTER THAT WEEK - start a semi-restrictive way of eating. dont fully restrict yourself from everything to nothing. talk about a mind game! pick a plan and stick to it. whether it be low fat, low carb, whatever ... stick to it until you have to start your pre-op diet.

that one week of whatever you want is mostly mental. but it will get the 'last meal syndrome' out of your head.

i was petrified that i would no longer be able to eat X after surgery. i can eat X even now ... but its about 1/4 of the amount i used to be able to eat.

good luck, keep us posted.

[stacy73 2]

I had the same problem-what I did was I stopped drinking soda immediately-but I admit until I went on my liquid diet I really had a problem stopping my fast food addiction (taco bell)-what i can say is now 3 mo after being banded I do eat out but it is in no comparison to what I used to do.I think if you take baby steps towards this you will be fine-just start cutting things out every week, then by the time your surgery comes up you will be good to go!

[TulipStar 2]

Yeah, I think we all have it. I called it "last supper syndrome" and trust me...I had it bad. I gained 23lbs in the 2 months leading up to my surgery. Of course I was on a diet the week before and lost 7 lbs.

I am mad that I did that, bc now that is just more weight for me to lose. Also, I have had some problems and have been unfilled for 2 weeks. My eating has not been the best, but I haven't gained any weight...but I haven't lost either.

Try to gradually ease off of some of the foods. Trust me, you will be able to eat all of the same food, if you choose to. It will just be smaller portions.

[OH Juli 15]

I had from January 1st to March 8th to eat any way I wanted to. Insurance was approved but it was going to be 9 weeks to surgery.

At some point it dawned on me that I was going to need to be accountable after the band, so why not start before the band.

Also, someone asked me, "If I told you that people who adopt a healthier lifestyle by exercising and eating better before surgery are 20% more successful than people who wait for weight loss surgery would you start now?"

I answered, "I don't know."

They went on to ask me why not? I didn't have a good answer. I was planning on having surgery so I could be 100% successful, not just so so...I pretty much ran out of excuses not to do it.

The conversation planted a seed that took a bit to sprout, but it did and I slowly got started to do better by my self...losing 23 pounds pre surgery was nice.

Just an idea.

[Ang1982 4]

Thank you so much for your support and I'm glad to know I'm not the only one struggling with this. Thank you for the suggestions they are very good ideas. I am going to get a "plan" put in place as I've already gained enough wait these past few months that I do not want to make it even more to lose later.

[Ang1982 4]

Thanks Jack, and everyone else. I really do think that the hardest part/the part that gets me the most is that I *HATE* cooking and the idea of planning dinner, etc. drives me crazy. Hmmm... I shall conquer the beast lol.

[losingjusme 12]

Thanks Jack, and everyone else. I really do think that the hardest part/the part that gets me the most is that I *HATE* cooking and the idea of planning dinner, etc. drives me crazy. Hmmm... I shall conquer the beast lol.

what about the healthy choices from Schwans or something like that?

[Ang1982 4]

what about the healthy choices from Schwans or something like that?

Actually recently what I'm trying to get myself into is every morning for Breakfast I make a slim fast shake and take it to go, drinking it on my drive to work. I bought one of those "Magic Bullett" (not exactly, knock off brand but same idea) blenders and it's awesome. I use my non-fat milk, slim fast optima vanilla Meal Replacement powder with a small shot of vanilla extract, and some frozen berries, blend it up and good to go. And for dinner trying to get more into eating the things like "Lean cuisine" type meals.

[steph_co 9]

Ang - I'm so right there with you on this one. The only pre-op diet I had was 3-days pre-op Clear Liquids. So you better believe from the time I scheduled the surgery until I had to be on clear liquids, I was eating all kinds of bad stuff. And yes - I had the thought, "What am I doing? I need to start making better choices NOW to make it easier afterwards!" I finally gave that up because I was tired of the guilt for just enjoying myself.

I had the 3-day clear liquid diet and the only "bad" food I've had since then was maybe 3 tiny bites of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. I really haven't had a physical craving for them. I have always LOVED bread. Don't really miss it. Really, being stuck on a structured diet has this great effect of cleansing your body of the junk such that your body doesn't feel like it HAS to have it. It does get much easier to make good food choices when you have to make sure that the food you're putting in there is going to give your body the nutrients it needs, rather than empty calories filling up first. I'm 2 weeks post-op and I get full a lot easier than I used to. So if I filled up on junk, I'd be feeling the pain a couple hours later when my body is STARVING again because I didn't give it true nutrition!

Don't be so hard on yourself. If we were all so good at keeping the bad eating habits away, we wouldn't be here!

[thundandlight 0]

I'm also waiting to be banded and it's Dec 27th, less than a month away and I am so happy!</p> <p>We all get to the point, while waiting for the surgery, to go crazy with food, and I mean uncontrollably really crazy! I used to stop for KFC twice a week, Taco Bell, McD's, Wendy's, chocolates, bread & butter, you name it I ate it! I couldn't stop myself! I was worse then before I even knew about banding. So now, one month before surgery I realized I was feeling really sick of poisoning my body with all this food. My body told me to STOP!!! My mind knew if I didn't, not only would I gain more weight but I could have a heart attack before the surgery! So I stopped. What forced me and helped me also is that I have my Pre-op app't with the surgeon Dec. 3rd and I was so afraid that I would have gained weight since my 1st visit with him and now that I've been approved for the surgery. How embarrassing that would be for me I thought. So I put myself for one week on the pre-op high Protein liquid diet. I'm on day four now of the liquid diet and I know everyone is different, but I think my body is really thanking me. I feel better already, physically and mentally and I don't feel it being difficult at all. I'm also very busy at this time of the year, but the key is to have everything you need at home and at work and know what you can have to eat and drink and sticking to it - my diet is very simple and doable. I'm not hungry either! It all works out to about 1000 cals/day. I'm losing the sugar and starch cravings. It feels great. It helps me realize that I can be sucessful. Good luck, you know when it will be your time. Everyone gets to their success their own way at their own time, and you will too. That's my story.</p>

[bandster_1007 1]

i couldn't do it before (i didn't have to) and i struggled with it afterward. if we could control our eating habits, we wouldn't need the band.

i am still struggling, but i am luckily making progress.