OK so I admit to emotional eating. I'm working on it but BOY is it hard. I stopped social drinking and seem to haved picked up private eating at the exact same time. I haven't been under 195 since...until now. I have to fight the urge to clean out the ice cream the kids have in the freezer or knock out the cookies in the pantry. Oddly, I don't have the same urge to knock out a bag of raw broccoli or cauliflower. I am cognizant that this isn't related to the size of my stomach or my sleeve. This is all in my head. It starts in the head and manifests in the body. Once I give in and eat a bag of Oreos, I DO feel better for a few minutes then it's worse than before. It ends up taking more and more Oreos to feel better. Classic addiction cycle.

So I'm posting this and if you sit on your couch and fight the urge to kill the bag of Oreos, you're not the only one. It's really a mental switch that I have to flip that I willl NOT eat the junk food. Once I just decide no way Jose, then it does relieve the pressure a bit. The urge starts to fade and then goes away all together. The more often I just say no, the easier it gets. The more weight I lose, the easier it gets. The more I just face it, the easier it gets. The closer I get to a size 10, the easier it gets. The more I condition myself NOT to respond to the urge, the less it occurs. I imagine a life someday where the process is way shorter, way less intense and possibly gone all together.

maybe maoderation works for you,but I am like the OP/ Sugar,esp combines with fat and flour are like crack to me.

Some of us  have to work  an abstinance program because "one is too many and 1000 is not enough>"

You wouldn't tell an alcoholic or a crack addict that "denying themselves will keep them from having more would you?

Glad that approach works for you,but respectfully said,do be careful of giving the idea to ppl who have alreay confessed an addiction the "gree light" to go ahead.

Trust me,most of us who are addicts need very little to move on that desire and It is a struggle every single day,all day long.

 "LIKE"!

There are foods I just can't allow a bite of.  

I don't subscribe to the total deprivation idea BUT I know that some foods, if I try to 'eat just one' it triggers my beast and I get out of control.

For example a week or two back, maybe a little longer, they had chocolate cake for the afternoon snack during a meeting. I declined and explained that I was on a weight loss plan. They kept pressuring and one thin lady told me the same premise, that if she denied herself a bite, she'd overindulge later. I eventually caved and had "just one bite." Before I made the conscious choice, I had downed a whole piece and was licking my fingers and thinking of going back for more. For me, certain foods are my crack, I am incapable of moderation. Knowing what those foods is (chocolate cake, thin mints at the theater, chocolate chip cookies, cheezits, vanilla oreas etc) is a large part of my battle.

 Two things -

You've got to be strong and firm.  You cannot let a coworker pressure you into doing something you don't want - whether it's eating food or sleeping with some guy or whatever!  It doesn't matter if she can't deny herself and will overindulge later - it matters only what you will do.  So in these situations, I say "No thanks" and if pushed, simply change the subject.  

For your trigger foods, man, don't even let them in your house!  That's just setting yourself up for faliure.  If they're in your house, you have to make how many decisions a day to not eat them?  If I'm in the kitchen, and cooking, perhaps I see a bag of cookies twenty times - my eyeballs will glance at that bag twenty times.  So I have to decide correctly, twenty times in a row, to not eat them.  So I'm pretty good at saying "no" seventeen or eighteen times, but there's a few times I might say "yes" and scarf them and regret it.  Just don't even let them be in your house!  Some family member wants to snack on vanilla Oreos?  Tough!  Mom needs support, there's a thousand different snacks they can buy, and they can get snacks for them that's not a trigger food to help you out and support you.  

Good luck!

Amen, Ruggie!  Kids don't *need* that stuff either.  They want it, sure, but if it isn't in the house and they get used to having healthier snacks, they will get over it.  Maybe a team effort to help mom get healthy would be a good idea.

Oh, don't listen to me; I don't have kids.... but they DO need to learn healthy eating :-)

--Dorothy

I totally agree with you there Dorothy!

Next time tell this wench that you can be completely satisfied in having made a positive choice, by her taking YOUR bite For YOU.... tell her that **** works too!!!!

And as for you, its been my experience that three days of abstaining from all Carbs, makes my physical and mental hunger pangs, that the carbs cause in the first place....just go awaaaaayyyyy.   Give it a try, you can choose that rest that comes from, not having cravings and you don't have to call it deprivation.....  start thinking...REST... a safe place...sanctuary.... and shelter from the storm...

Boy, your story sure rings true here!  And what is it with those STUPID Oreos???  I absolutely gave in to them about 2 weeks ago.  They need to be outlawed .... and now!!

I am pre-op and doing pretty well getting my head together.  And I totally understand about what I call the sugar demon.  I have always found that if I decide to do a low-carb diet, I am very successful.  And then something happens and I open that door.  And then that door gets blown away and I lose all control.  Sugar is my main enemy. 

Right now I am in control .... and am completely determined to stay that way.  How many more times do I have to tell myself that "sure I can have that one _________ and still be okay" ??  I am sugar/flour free right now and plan on staying that way.

omg, I started literally getting the 'foamies' while reading this!  I think I am thinking about that chocolate cake.   OK, I thought the sleeve would restrict and prevent me/us from eating that much?   It would only let
you eat  1 or 2 oreo's, not the entire package?  Am I missing something important here?

I am four months out and have always had very little restriction. I can eat a whole package at 2-3 cookies at a time, if I eat some every 20 mins or so. If you drink (Truly do NOT every drink while you eat) you can consume more. Oreos dissolve in your mouth mostly. Thin mints dissolve. Your saliva increases (at least mine did over time) and then you can dissolve more in your mouth. Its better in my opinion to NOT pu**** and NOT see what you CAN eat and rather make an emotional decision right after surgery as to what you WILL eat. I wish someone had advised me of that.

You will read people post about how they eat "just anything they want" in small amounts and the "weight just falls off." That wasn't my experience. Some people have to work harder at it. That would be moi.

OK, you might be.  Your new tiny tummy won't be able to stop you from eating lots of crap food and never losing any weight.  Seriously.  And your new tiny tummy won't stop you from obsessing about all those sugary foods and eating almost as much as you could before, because those kinds of foods move quickly through our stomachs, leave lots of room for more.

What the surgery will do for you is give you a smaller capacity that can be satisfied with less food - IF you eat the right things.

If you can eat 1 or 2 Oreos and not want more, then bless you.  I cannot. 

`thebsleeve *really* only prevents us from eating a lot of dense food like met/eggs.

My sleeve will let me eat as many cookiies aS i WANT TO WITH VERY LITTLE RESTRICTION. wHY? BECAUSE COOKIES AND THE LIKE TURN TO MUSH THE MINUTE THEY HIT THE SALIVA IN YOUR MOUTH.,WHERE DIGESTION STARTS. BY THE TIME THAT MUSH GETS TO YOUR STOMACH It whoops sorry for shouting...is like soup and soup just passes right on thru,with no real restriction. Most carby,sugary things do that,chip type foods get mushy too and mushy gives you no restriction.

I could definately eat the whole package,it *would* take me longer than before but I could definately eat a whole package or a whole cake,if I was a mind to do it.

OK, I'm sure you know what I think!  That those urges or cravings are normal and experience shows that they will PASS, if we don't act on them.  The further out I get from bad eating, they easier good eating becomes.

Trying to control that kind of food is like dancing with a gorilla.  He's in charge, it isn't pretty and it doesn't end well.  Go you!!

 Dang, I wish we had a like button!!!

--Dorothy

Sorry Steph,

I don't buy into it for one second. Everyone of us has/had similar issues.

When you think you have it bad.... Somebody else has it worse......

This whole thing is about commitment and compliance......without it your depending on luck.......

My opinion.... Not asking you or anyone to agree....

frisco

I just wanted to say that I AM NOT a wench and was trying to offer help.  I'm sorry that so many of you offended by what I said but really you do not have to be so nasty.  I'm on here because I need help too.  Thanks for making me feel like total crap and that I deserve to be alone and fat for the rest of my life.

Huh?? Say what? Did I miss something?

Sorry - no, not you - one of the others that responded.