I am pre-op and I want to go ahead and incorporate changes into my lifestyle that I'll be making with the sleeve.  Yesterday I did pretty good with my protein and water and definitely ate less calories and more fruits and veggies than I have in quite a while.  Today, I dropped my stepson off at school and all I could think of on the way home was wanting fast food for breakfast.  I resisted and had an egg and turkey sausage on a flatbread when I got home.  I was supposed to have a protein shake for breakfast but I really wanted something more.  So I told myself I would have the shake for lunch.  I work from home and all morning I have been sitting here thinking about food. I am so hungry but I think its head hunger.  Why does food make me so happy??? Why am I sitting here thinking about it so much? Why can't I just realize food is just fuel and be as happy with a protein shake as I am with that bag of chex mix that is stashed in my desk drawer? I have been eating anything and everything these past few months and as soon as I start to reign myself in, I can't take my mind off all the wonderful food I could be eating.

I know if I can get through these first few days, I will be ok and it won't be quite as hard.  Has anyone ever gone to OA meetings? I think I might try and check those out in my area if I can make them.  I know I have to change my relationship with food for the surgery to really work.

Thanks for listening!

It does get easier, but it doesn't go away. But once you have surgery you don't have a lot of choice. You can't just eat and eat and eat. You will get a smack down. But the head and bad decisions don't just go away. You have to constantly think about why am I doing this and is what I want to do in the best interest of that program. So you are on the right track. I would say don't be too hard on yourself when you are pre-op your life is about to get more complicated but in a good way. I would also tell you to enjoy the things you like while you can because you can't eat some of those things later.

This book has a LOT of interesting research and strategies to deal with this sort of hunger/obsession:

The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/The-End-Overeating-Insatiable-American /dp/B004NSVE32/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

 

 

 

Dr. David A. Kessler, the dynamic and controversial former FDA commissioner known for his crusade against the tobacco industry, is taking on another business that’s making Americans sick: the food industry. In The End of Overeating, Dr. Kessler shows us how our brain chemistry has been hijacked by the foods we most love to eat: those that contain stimulating combinations of fat, sugar, and salt.
Drawn from the latest brain science as well as interviews with top physicians and food industry insiders, The End of Overeating exposes the food industry’s aggressive marketing tactics and reveals shocking facts about how we lost control over food—and what we can do to get it back. For the millions of people struggling with their weight as well as those of us who simply can’t seem to eat our favorite foods in moderation, Dr. Kessler’s cutting-edge investigation offers valuable insights and practical answers for America’s largest-ever public health crisis. There has never been a more thorough, compelling, or in-depth analysis of why we eat the way we do.   My comment:

The first sections of the book discuss why our internal systems of rewards are working against us in developing head hunger, the last sections lay out some strategies to work on improving our responses.

 

I rail against reintroducing fast food,sugar and other processed foods after VSG partly based on the insights I gained from this book and other similar research.  People tell me that they can eat these foods in moderation, but my experience and much of todays research shows this to be untrue.

 

To the OP, this gets much easier after VSG.  You will get a window of time when your hunger hopefully is reduced significantly or disappears altogether.  It is up to you to use this time to clean up your eating and develop new long term habits and strategies.  Your long term success depends on it.   Meanwhile, you might consider detoxing from sugar, fast foods and processed foods completely.  This means only shop around the perimeter of the grocery store, where meats, eggs, daily and vegetables are kept.  Instead of trying to limit quantity right now you might want to focus on quality.  The quantity will be reduced after the VSG.  If it's not already clear from my early explanation, I don't believe in moderation in this, I think you have to go cold turkey and quite vigorously and thoroughly cut the foods out that are engineered to make you crave more food.

The questions you raise about the meaning of food for you are great questions for anyone to ask themselves on this weight loss journey. When you find your answers (and they are your answers because each of us has a different answer as to why food is so important to us), you will have an easier time eating n a healthy manner. When you figure out what it is that you really want from the Chex mix or any other food (what is going on in your head and heart that), you will be able to get what you really want from something other than food that is not good for you.

To answer these questions, OA can be quite useful, as can counseling, WLS support groups and keeping a food diary that reflects not only what you are eating but also what you are feeling as you want to eat.