Mrs. Pac-Man syndrome???

[LJ1971 0]

Does anyone else feel the way I do? I am currently going through the nutrition portion of my preop. I have 2 more sessions to go. Initially, I did really well with losing the required weight that I needed to. Now I have crept back up and gained some but did manage to drop down 2 pounds to basically my starting point.

I feel like Mrs. Pac-Man -- I know I have to follow my eating guidelines, but it is almost like I am in a panic to eat everything I can so that I don't miss anything. The problem is that I don't feel good about it afterwards and I am down on myself for acting like this. I keep saying today is a new day, but I end up messing up either with Portion Control or eating the wrong stuff.

I wonder if I will every be able to get back on track.

Is this a normal feeling or am I the only one who is doing this??????

Please help!

Thank you,

Lori:unsure:

[midwestchickie 0]

Wow! I came on today, to express the same feelings!! I am hoping to be banded in late September..I actually have my preop nutrition, PT, psych eval tommorow! And I put my down payment down...hooray! I have to wait a couple weeks to set my surgery date though.

Anyway...since I found it all was good and I would be having the surgery, I've been eating worse than ever...EVER! I feel horrible. One good thing about my program is that they will not allow you to gain more than 5-10 pounds from you initial weigh in at the seminar till surgery time. I haven't gained anything, but my overall choices have been 100% HORRIBLE.

It's almost like a panic state that I need to eat everything I will not eat the rest of my life. I've been eating out more than ever and even if I haven't gained, I feel like a slug. I think I feel like that dude who ate mcdonalds for a month straight!!!

I'm completely ready and commited to the change that will happen in my life next month, but I'm completely out of control at this moment. One positive is that I'm going to start weining myself off carbanoted beverages and coffee before my preop liquid diet starts...less soda seems to make me feel better.

Just wanted to let you know you are not alone, and I'm glad I'm not the only one. I think it's a pychological issue...knowing you are making these total life changes and it's almost like you are scared and rebelling while you can.

[LJ1971 0]

Thank you for sharing with me. I feel a little better now knowing I am not alone.

[Maribelle 0]

That name, Mrs. Pac Man, says it all for me! I am having the "Long Farewell to Food." I've gained 10 lbs. since my initial appointment July.2:eek:. I know very well that I will still be able to have many of the foods I am pretending to say goodbye to now after the surgery, but really it is more than that. I'm tired of the years of trying to control my weight. I'm being very lazy now. I will put up a great effort when the low-cal prediet starts, but until then, I am being a slug. I suppose it will irritate me when I have to relose those pounds soon, but I've stopped trying to understand my reasons for why I do what I do. I don't want to go into this experience already worn out and mentally starved. Stupid reasons, maybe, but I am just being honest. The good news is that my Medifast begins next week, so my screw up days are limited and I will have some structure again in my life, which will be a good thing. Good luck to you!

[lamvmomof4 0]

OMGosh that is me! I keep telling my husband places we have to eat at ONE more time so I get it out of my system! I feel like I know I have gained 5lbs and the weekend is not even here! I do however find myself not eating as much as I use to so I get use to the fact that there is going to be some food left on my plate and it IS OK!

[ShrinkyDink 0]

Mrs. Pac Man is the perfect description, I know exactly how that feels. I had that same panic feeling of wanting to have all those things before and I reeled myself in by limiting it to one meal per day. Breakfast and lunch I had Slim Fast or a Lean Cuisine and then I allowed myself whatever I wanted for dinner. For the first few days after I decided to get the band we went to my favorite restaurants and I cooked my favorite things. I held steady during those days, no gain or loss, and I felt satisfied with my goodbye tour. I kept reminding myself that it wasn't really goodbye forever, it was goodbye for now, because really I'll be able to eat those things after the band, just more carefully and in smaller portions. It got it out of my system enough to be good on the preop diet and today I hit the 20 pounds off mark! I did Atkins for 2 weeks and now I'm 5 days into 10 days of Protein Shakes and one small meal per day.

[Maribelle 0]

Well, I needed to correct my last post. I must have been majorly retaining Water the first time I weighed myself b/c I checked again and I have gained 3 lbs., not 10. Whew!

[wickedme 0]

I too had some feelings of getting it all in till I went to a lap band support group.. it was a real eye opener about how you REALLY need to break old habits to be successful. You can read the stories in here, but seeing someone face to face and watching them tell their story and discuss their difficulties was a great motivation to me.. There were many in my particular group who still eat the things they enjoyed for the most part.. There are days they said they revert back to the shakes just because food is hard to get down, maybey they drank too much Fluid??? I went to a family BBQ yesterday and pondered whether to bring a veggie or turkey burger,, didn't, and ended up eating burger only to kick myself 100 times.. I took the bun out of bad habit and started eating it before I was consious of it. I brought the dessert,, tried to keep it as healthy as possible.. Tirimisu Trifle with fat free vanilla yogurt in stead of the custard, with strawberries and slivered almonds...I served it in 8 oz cups which kept us all from overeating!!

I am going to try to hit a few more support groups over the next month to keep a reality check!!

[heartfire 4]

Yep, doing the same thing. Not so much the food tour but I'm starving! Or it seems like I am! I think it really started when I got my surgery date. They told me over the phone that I would be on a 10 day, full liquid, high Protein diet (starts the 15th) and since then, I've been soo hungry. I know it's a psychological thing, although my stomach doesn't help with the growling it's making (feels like the lion on the dumb band ad!). Another problem for me is that they also told me in that phone call that they would cancel my surgery if I gained ANY weight! Okay, does that mean an ounce, a pound, 5, 10? Has me in a panic since I tend to fluctuate some on a daily basis anyway! Also wondering if I'm not sub-consciously sabotaging myself, which also scares

So, yes, I know where you all are at b/c I'm there too!! Can we term a new phrase? Pre-op HELL!!

Oh and if I think about it too hard it freaks me out b/c with the 10 day pre-op liquids and the 4 weeks of liquids post-op, that means almost 6 weeks of liquids only!!!! UGH!!!!

[Florida Pete 1]

It's almost like a panic state that I need to eat everything I will not eat the rest of my life. I've been eating out more than ever and even if I haven't gained, I feel like a slug. I think I feel like that dude who ate mcdonalds for a month straight!!!

This is me right now so badly. Ever since my pmc referred me to the surgeon for this it has become so real to me and I have been making a lot of bad choices.

[LJ1971 0]

I sincerely appreciate your honesty! I have gotten myself back on track and I am trying hard to keep that binge behavior in the past. Thanks for responding and letting me know I am not alone.

[Maribelle 0]

Good job! Your date will be here soon enough.

[trinidad83 0]

My goodness thats me too! I feel horrible afterward but can't seem to stop I got approved and now I'm just waiting to have my surgery so now that I've lost 17lbs I just checked the scale and gained back 12lbs!!!! Now I feel like I can't even face surgeon knowing that I couldn't even keep that weight loss off...but I keep saying "it's just this one last time". Yeah well that mentality is getting me nowhere :thumbup:

[*slim* 2]

It makes me feel so much better to know that I am not the only one going through this. I have been just eating everything that I can think of that I might not be able to eat later. Thankfully, I haven't gained any weight but I also haven't lost any either. It was like my stomach (my brain really) went into over drive when I saw that liquid diet that they want me to follow for two weeks before my surgery. Since I don't know when that is going to be, I have been eating anything that is not glued or nailed down. I feel so pathetic afterwards because I know that I was not hungry enough to have eaten whatever it was.

All of this to say, I feel your pain.

[travelinsnorkel 0]

I have been doing the exact same thing, glad I'm not the only one! I don't know why I can't stop, I feel horrible and stuffed all the time. I know that eating healthier will make me feel better, but I also am scared to death about losing my lifelong relationship with food. I'm also very excited to not be tied down by it any more. Since I'm not being banded until October 13, I know that I need to get my act together soon because I can't feel this way until then. My program doesn't require a pre-op diet so that makes it worse! Good luck to all of you!