BINGING... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 Since Im just about 3months to insr approval. I finally have a question for you all. I have been on this sprvs diet since late May and have done really well. To be honest here and there I have given into temptation once or twice. Maybe a cube of cheese, a slice of bread w/butter, a donut, a chip now and then. But, honestly I have been able to resist temptation for the most part. I am down as I said since the start of the sprvs plan 49 pounds. TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I dont know that happened. I lost control. I binged.. I havent done that since starting this thing and its TICKING ME OFF. I feel guilty, I feel MAD as H*** at myself for doing it and I know tomorrow, I will just start right back where I was. Right now though Im terrified to get on the scale next week at the PCPs office and REALLY worried about getting on the scale at Weigh****chers.  I have already made up my mind that this is not going to be my down fall. But, I was wondering does the urge to binge go away after surgery?? Or is it still something you need to control from with in??? I think I already know the answer to my question.. Im just hoping someone might tell me that surgery will turn off or at least turn down that switch a few natches.

Great question, I'm one week into my 2 week pre-op liquid diet. It's killing me. A guy can only eat so much broth and yogurt after a life time of fast food and pizza's. So, Saturday I fell off the wagon. My wife was rushed to the hospital for an issue we have been dealing with for over 5 months now. They ended up keeping her over night. So on the ride home I just could'nt stop myself from pulling into Mc D's and visiting my old friend the drive thru. The angel on my left shoulder kept telling me to drive on, but the devil on my right conviced me that a cheese burger would'nt kill me. Well, the devil wins again!!
Please tell me it will get easier to resist after my sugery next week.

I do hope your wife is okay...... Thank you for responding.. Nice to know Im not alone.. Im still quite TICKED at myself for yesterday. BUT, today is a new day. They need to out law drive thrus... Of course why not out law fast food for that matter. Could you imagine how the rest of the country would respond to that?? We're SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO addicted.

You are going to fight this urge forever, even after surgery, it's just a different type of urge.  Post op for about 6 months or maybe 8 you honestly will not be able to binge and you will not feel real hunger.  It's just too hard and the feeling you get from stuffing a small pouch with too much will not be a good one.  Then there's dumping, which will further enforce you to NOT binge.
 
The best defense you will have is to build new eating habits, which it sounds like you have been doing quite well.  If you establish these habits early in the program, it will make it much easier to fall into the trap.  Even then, if you want to "binge", you will be more likely to eat foods that are better for your body, like proteins.  Here's an example:  I consider a 5 oz filet steak and a small amount of potatoes (no butter but maybe some light ranch dressing) a very large meal.  Calorie and nutrition wise,  this is very low, maybe 350-400 at worst.  After I eat this much, there's not much chance I'm stuffing anything more into the pie hole.  I will not be hungry either and that's the benefit of the surgery.

Good luck and stick to your plan.  

Guy

Rest assured the binging knob will be turned off for the first several months but then it will turn back up slowing through the rest of your first year post-WLS. By then, you'll have to have mastered control over your head and stomach. That's my experience anyhow.

I binge every now and then including last night after my bike ride but the difference for me now is my binges are for only one day and then the next day, I say NOT TODAY. Before WLS, my binges seemed to be every day so the weight climbed and climbed and......

After a binge, I also try to amp up my exercise to try to burn off the extra calories. Kind of my way of paying back for giving in.

You're on the right path....stay with the program and you'll be fine. It's impressive you're going through this prior to WLS cause most don't. 

Boner

It has been my experience just 6mths post-op that you get increasingly able to eat as you go along. Obviously that's normal, but what is of some concern is that you may one day down the road eat a piece of bread with butter again and that might be your "trigger" so to speak. I try my damndest to stay away from my trigger foods, those that make me just want to eat the entire thing. Take cereal, before surgery I was a cereal ***** and would eat these huge bowls full. But now I don't really crave cereal and when I tried to eat it once it tasted disgusting. My tastes have changed since surgery also. Another trigger food of mine is fried chicken. I could eat you under the table with some fried chicken but since surgery I just stay very clear of that area. I feel like you will only binge eat if you keep the items that you were used to grabbing in a hurry and just eating a lot of in your house. Get the chips and cakes and little debbies out the house before your surgery and it will be that much easier afterwards. And even though you may feel like you want to binge eat it's really not even possible for a long while or you will most surely vomit. Good luck to you and don't sweat the small stuff! You will likely lose a severe amount of weight before you have to start worrying about binge eating.

I'm 9.5 months out and harboring the same questions. Up to this point binging hasn't been to big of an issue for me simply because A) I formed good eating habits during the first 3 - 4 months when it was impossible to eat very much at one setting, and B) I learned back in those early days that when I ate slow enough (again I didn't have a choice back then), the hunger would subside by the time I was physically full, and C) The hunger pains are somewhat more manageable now. I'm not saying  that I don't get hungry, I do, I'm just saying that it's more of a sense that you need to fill up the empty space as opposed to the school of ravenous piranhas that used to eat my guts out.

I say all that and then I'll say this: I'm very concerned about the future. My restriction is no longer much of a restriction. I can easily eat 1000 calories at one setting if I want to, and I have on occasion. I don't dump or even come close to it. There's no question in my mind that I'll continue to struggle with eating right the rest of my life. (Yesterday I ate a sleeve of Ritz crackers while watching the Cowboys game. Ought to have my ass kicked.) But the beauty of this surgery is that it gives you a chance to get your weight down to a manageable level, and it gives you a chance to reset the norm in terms of how and what you eat. IF YOU WILL DO IT. It sounds to me like you have been practicing some pretty serious self discipline for quite some time now, so you ought to be in great shape as far as getting over the hump mentally after surgery. The ladies over at the RNY board like to say, "They operated on my stomach, not my head."

JFish is right about binging. I'm nearly a year and a half past surgery now. I occasionally eat what I really think now is to much but I have flashbacks of eating a pint of ice cream every night with all the trimmings. Drinking several Cokes each day. Going to Sirloin Stockaid for lunch and dinner and eating what any normal 350 pounder would eat. You just can't do it any more and I really don't miss it. Don't get me wrong I do eat Blue Bell but Sugar Free maby twice a week, I still now eat what I feel like but in small quanities and I feel great. I went on vacation for about a week in June and gained about three pounds and was pissed off; then immediatly lost it upon return. Normally that would have 10-12 pounds and it would have stayed on until I gained some More. Good Luck Randy Winn

Smack smack smack smack

Not for the bingeing but for the getting into the cycle of self defeat. It happened. It's over. If you keep obsessing you'll drag yourself down further.

We myself included get into this ALL or NOthing mentality. It has got to be perfect.

It doesn't have to be perfect. . Just go further from here. It's new today.  Drink some water to help flush out carbs.

I struggle with carbs. Good carbs like veggies and bad carbs. It is a jjourney not a race.,

Now, Don't make me pull this message over and come back and smack your ass again

Great advice Snick! I'm fasting today to "tell my stomach" that I'm in control. Hope I can make it through the day cause I'm getting pretty hungry. 

As you suggested, I'm amping up my water to clear out the carbs I put in my body loading up for yesterday's 100 mile bike race. I burnt up around 8000 calories but, when I weighed this morning, I actually gained 2 pounds. I suppose it's from all the carbs I ate and water I drank during the ride. This weight stuff is pretty tough to figure out sometimes.

Boner