Why would you eat that?!

Ok, so there are SEVERAL people at my company that have recently had WLS by my very own surgeon.  I am going to mention 2 in particular.  One had her surgery in Oct 2011 and has been sucessfull in loosing a considerable amount of weight thus far, yet what I see her eat 6 months post op is kind of alarming.  She tends to "graze" all day...I have seen her eat cookies, cheetos, those big taco salads with the shells, soda....  Granted she can't eat a LOT in one sitting, but it's the THINGS she chooses to eat, then prances around work like she has been given her get out of jail free card.  The other woman (the one that actually prompted me to write this rant) had her surgery 2/14/11.  Today in the cafe at work while I am ordering my meager salad, she ordered a fried chicken cutlet sandwich with cheese and bacon and french fries!!  WHERE THE HECK IS SHE PUTTING IT?!  (Both women had RNY I should mention.)
Aren't they scared they are setting themselves up to possibly gain all their weight back by not changing their habits now while they can?

This scares me because I am still pre-op and I want to make sure I am sticking to the rules to set myself up for success after surgery.  I have heard that you are usually not hungry for about a year post op.  Have you all found this to be true of your journey?  I am wondering if they are really hungry and are making bad choices, or if their head is just craving them the same as always?

Thoughts??

 Here's my honest opinion;

Stop watching/worrying about what they are eating.  It truly has nothing to do with you and the choices you will make.  By using the words "prancing around work...."   you are showing a judgement you are not entitled to make about someone else's choices.  Everyone will have to travel down this road on their own and make their own decisions on how they'll travel it.

Now having said that;   I would agree with you that those are not choices I would have made at those early stages.  You say you want to stick to the rules so you are a success after surgery, so definitely do so! :D   Follow your surgeon's rules, work your own surgery your way, and enjoy the results! :)

You ask about not being hungry for a year after surgery. This is different for everyone. Yes, some people will still have "head hunger", and will have to find ways to deal with it.  Yes, some people will not be hungry at all for a while afterwards (I fell into this category).   I don't know if that lasts a year for anyone, but maybe.  For me it was about 3-4 months until I really felt "hunger" again.  I just wasn't physically interested in food before that, and so I made sure I ate enough protein and kept track so I was staying healthy until my appetite returned.   After that, I still kept track, so I wouldn't over do anything. (we all know it is possible to out eat any surgery, so keep track)  

However the surgery affects you, sticking to your surgeon's food plan is usually the best plan (unless they seem really, really unusual :)          Don't be scared, but focus on you, and not anyone else.   You are the important one in your journey. Good luck!

Remember this, people will watch you eat too and make judgements exactly as you are.  How is that going to make you feel, to know every morsel of food you put on your plate will be weighed and balanced by others eyes.  Sucks.  Stop doing it.  Care about making the changes to your own life and not that of others, you know they're gonna gain it all back so learn from their mistakes now.  If you don't change you will be crying in a few years how did you get 50lbs back.  But being the food police just sucks.

Well, as my surgeon told me, he did surgery on my stomach, not my head.  WLS is not a cure all end all to obesity.  It gives you a window of opportunity to lose the weight while changing your eating habits and getting some therapy for why you ate the way you did that got you to a place to need WLS.  I took those words to heart and got my ass in a support group and therapy prior to having my insides rearranged.  Maybe those two women you work with didn't work on the emotional/psycological aspect of their obesity and just hoped surgery would be it.  Don't focus on them too much but do learn from what you have seen them doing.  Focus on you and what you need to do to make this work for you for the rest of your life.  Good luck to you.  I hope you have a smooth road to health. 

Who knows why they are making the choices they make?  There could be lots of reasons.

But why does it matter so much to you?  Do you want your coworkers to be monitoring your food intake so carefully after your surgery?

Well, my first thought is that you should not worry about what other people buy or eat.

My second thought is that there is something to be learned from everyone .....so, maybe what you need to learn here is that the surgery happens on our guts and not on our psyche.
You can spend your pre op time planning how you will cope with cafeteria lunches and other food situations.

And also hope that no one follows you around taking notes about what you eat in 6 months.

 I appreciate everyone's responses. No, I was not following anyone around work keeping track of what they were eating on a daily basis, and no, my intention was never to be the "food police" not would I want anyone to track every morsel I put into my mouth.  I suppose I came off sounding judgemental when indeed that was not my intention. I suppose more or less I was speaking out loud because I have an inner fear that I could have the same reaction as they are following surgery and I fear I won't be able to change the bad habits I currently have and not repeat them the rest of my life. I was venting, but using them as examples of my own inner fear if that makes sense. I have thought about this surgery for many years and now it's so close I can taste it. (no pun intended). ;) like all of you I'm sure, I want to be healthy and successful for the rest of my life... Not just for a few years, and i suppose I'm a bit nervous that I could slip into the old patterns. 
Again, if I offended any of you that wasn't my intention. I was just thinking out loud. 

Not offended, realistic, you are judging as will be everyone who ever sees you eat a cookie that knows you had wls.  Its a double edged sword, I used that to my advantage because I was never going to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing me fail, others may opt to not tell so as not be judged.  I don't eat in front of people at work, ever, period.  When I am eating at work, which I am currently fasting, I only eat protein bars.  The truth is this isn't easy after your body starts to regain some of the malabsorption you lost in the beginning, so eating the same things can cause gain instead of maintenance.  Its hard to always walk away, my feeling is this life is a pact with the devil, once you sign ( or they cut), your life is never the same and you are forced to do many things to stay healthy you probably couldn't successfully do before.  It can be done, but it will take determination to last for the long haul.

Good Luck.

 I haven't had surgery yet, so take this with a grain of salt.

As I've started this process, I've become much more aware of what others are eating.  I'm not judging them, just noticing with clearer eyes, because I know that too was me and could easily be me again.  The more aware I become of my former bad habits, the more I notice the same bad habits in others.  I'm observing with open eyes for a change, both my own behaviors and others.

While we can't know what their journeys are, you can decide for yourself if that's the path you want to follow or if you want to make lifetime changes in your patterns.  If you don't want to eat the same way ever again, then don't.  Use their habits as "horrible warnings" and not "good examples".    

Noticing others habits versus your own is natural but no one wants the food police...

I had already spent 13 years with the food police (diabetes)...now they are there for my weight loss...I'm tired of them.

Thankfully my husband is NOT a member of the food police.

Liz