There WILL be a tomorrow...

I am having head game issues right now and am trying to work them out. One that I've realized is that I can't seem to not overeat at meal time (especially dinner). I've come to the conclusion that I eat as if I will NEVER be able to eat again... as if there's some kind of a lock on the fridge for four hours and I can't eat until then.

Starting today, I am going to eat my allowed portion (1 to 1 1/2 cups) and then just leave it. IF I get super hungry in an hour, I will allow myself more... but I need to get over this head game quickly!

I think MY biggest issue is mindless snacking.  If I have it, I want to eat it.  If there is a bowl of chocolate chips on the counter for the family (which there is), my hand will find it's way in there for a few - a few times.   At work, I try to keep a few healthy snacks available - but dang it, if I know they're there, I want 'em !  I'm not hungry, I'm not craving anything in particular, it's just that if it's there, I feel the need!

So MY trick is to rid my workplace of unnecessary snack items.  Just my yogurt and seeds for breakfast, whatever I bring for lunch, and loads of drink mixers. 

At home?  That's rough.  I need to stay away from temptation, but guess who does more work in the kitchen than anyone else?  MOM.  (Not MY mom, but ME!)  So I guess my family is going to have to find a different place for their chocolate fix.

And this year, I've made myself a promise.  NOT ONE *BLEEPING* GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SHALL PASS THESE LIPS!!!  ... except for the SF Chocolate Chip ones I bought just for me.  And then, no more than 2 a day, and NOT every day...

What do the rest of you struggle with? 

Snacking is hard... but I never got the bug. My mom always kept snacks and food out of sight. It would be really tough to have snacks out. I realized this when I brought carrots with me to work one day... had them out in front of me and munched almost the whole bag. Then when I put them away, I reached for NOTHING...thinking they were there still there. Wow.. that was a reality check.

My elderly mother-in-law lives with us, which has been fine because I have always gotten along with her, but she likes to have a lot of crap foods around the house.  She has donuts for breakfast every morning (I haven't eaten any of those in a year), she wants Kool Aid for lunch (yuk), chips, Little Debbie desserts and other snacky things to munch on during the day (thankfully, these are a rare indulgence for me), she likes to have potatoes or rice for every dinner meal (I skip those things), and her other kids keep sending over homemade baked goods (peanut butter cookies and lemon bars at the moment).  I have taken to substituting healthy snacks when I am tempted to sneak some of her stuff, but getting into the habit of snacking is not a good long-term strategy for me.  My wife has tried to keep as much of it out of the kitchen as possible, which helps a lot, but I must admit I am getting frustrated with just how much is around all the damn time.

I struggle with something very similar, Elena.  It's as if I am afraid that I'll never get to eat again.  I almost hoard food at times.  Other times I eat long after I'm already full just because I'm scared the food will go away.  I have never gone without food or had food kept from me, so I don't have a good explanation of why I am compelled to overeat.  It's only me and my husband at home, and he doesn't eat the foods I like, so it's not as if he'll eat the food I want.  But if there's something in the house that I like, I eat it until it's gone.  I could just as easily keep it around because no one else is there to take it, but if I know it's there, I HAVE to eat it right away.  I haven't gained yet, but I'm sure I will unless I get this under control.  I did see a counselor for a while after surgery, and attended OA meetings, so I will likely do one or both again.  It's so true that this surgery doesn't fix our heads!!

Wow....if only WLS would fix our heads.  Give yourself some time....it takes a while to un-do all of our self defeating habits.  I never really had the "never going to eat again" deal, but my mother does and it leads her to binge eat.  She can't have a bag of candy in the house, because she'll eat it all in one sitting thinking it will be the last candy on earth.

Now for me, it has taken a LONG time for me to get over sneaking food.  Since I was forced on a diet at the age of 9, and was on goofy diets all through high school, I used to sneak food so my Mom wouldn't know about it.  Of course it showed up on the scale....but then it was too late.  I wonder how many candy bars I've eaten in the bathroom?  We never had snacky foods in the house since Mom and I were constantly dieting, but I found it elsewhere.  After I got married, I found myself doing the same thing all over again.  Now, my husband has never given me crap about what I ate even when I was 300 lbs.  So why sneak it from him?  I finally told myself I'm a grown up and if I want to eat stupid....I'll eat stupid and pay the piper.  No more sneaking.  After WLS, of course if I am an idiot I may dump from my stupidity and wish for the bullet...but you know...it's ok as long as I'm not skulking around eating candy in the bathroom.  It's a free country, I'm an adult, and I have to take responsibility for my actions.

Hang in there Elena...the head games are tough, but you can beat them into submission.  It just takes time and effort and it won't happen overnight.  Everyone has "emotional baggage"...a person just has to work to make sure it will fit in the overhead bin.

 One of the advantages of having tried almost every diet in the book prior to WLS is that there seems to be a little jewel in each of them.  I have one from the Weigh Down Workshop that worked for me and maybe some of you will get some success out of it.  I, too, have the issue of thinking I have to have some of whatever gets brought into the house,  There's a mind game going on in my head that that if I don't get some of it, it will be gone too, and it will be too late - as if the grocery store will run out.  So, in order to ensure I'll get some (or at least that's what I did prior to WLS), I had a plastic container with a lid on it that said "Mom's - keep out."  Actually, I had one for the cupboard, one for the fridge and one for the freezer.  Then I took some of what I wanted, put it in a baggie, and put it in the box.  There!  Some for me whenever I want it.  Truth is, many times, I never did, and it would get old and stale before I threw it out.  But at least in my pea brain, IT WAS THERE JUST FOR ME! I hope, if you try it, it works for you.

That's a very good way of going about it! Thanks for sharing!

I am experiencing the head games right now too!  I buy all those 100 calorie snacks but that doesn't really help if you have 2 or 3 a day that is like 300 extra calories I don't need.  I know my snacking and over eating is related to anxiety.  If I have anxiety I like to avoid the issue about why I'm anxious and eating lets me avoid those feelings at least temporarly.  ITs so frustrating how our brains work sometimes. 

I've never bought a 100 calorie pack of ANYTHING.

Why?   'cuz I'm a monumental TIGHTWAD!  The cost per oz. or per serving on those is ridiculous!  I'd rather buy the full-size original box of whatever it is!  Only I won't allow myself to buy those things either, 'cuz I'd be afraid I'd go nuts and scarf the whole thing down!

Being cheap works for me