Will I ever get to that turning point? What will it take??
Everyone else has covered therapy, and getting rid of the carbs. There is so much good advice here on these boards from some really amazing people.
I want to offer you a suggestion that has helped me. Substitution. If i'm going to watch a movie. Well pre-op that meant popcorn. I don't do anything with white carbs or corn in any form. So i will make some flax crackers and a dip of some kind. There are many low carb recipes out there. I found low carb friends and there are so many great recipes. The people there have been doing low carb for years. They will make normal food that we crave like cake or ice cream, but they redo it without the carbs. It has literally changed my world.
For my birthday this past year I actually had cake. I made a single serving low carb lemon blueberry cake. It was great. Made a cream cheese icing to top it with. Never even missed the full carb version.
I make flax crackers all the time. Cheese crackers are also great for when you are craving those cheesy salty crunchy bites.
I hope this helps you. I'm just past two years out and I am still losing tho its not like when I was in my honeymoon period...lol. I met my first goal and am now working on my second goal.
I started at 450 lbs. I'm down to 183 right now. My first goal was two hundred. Doctor expected me to only get down to about two thirty five. So I think i'm doing pretty good. If i'm craving something that I cant substitute well then I will eat it but I count those carbs and will eat super low carbs for the rest of the day.
If I deprive myself of something I crave i'll end up eating it anyway and binge on it. Thats terrible. I have caught myself walking down the hall and suddenly realized I was actually eating cookies. Uh oh. So I started making low carb things to keep on hand for those cravings.
Good luck, I know you can do this!!!! You are stronger than you think you are.
I want to offer you a suggestion that has helped me. Substitution. If i'm going to watch a movie. Well pre-op that meant popcorn. I don't do anything with white carbs or corn in any form. So i will make some flax crackers and a dip of some kind. There are many low carb recipes out there. I found low carb friends and there are so many great recipes. The people there have been doing low carb for years. They will make normal food that we crave like cake or ice cream, but they redo it without the carbs. It has literally changed my world.
For my birthday this past year I actually had cake. I made a single serving low carb lemon blueberry cake. It was great. Made a cream cheese icing to top it with. Never even missed the full carb version.
I make flax crackers all the time. Cheese crackers are also great for when you are craving those cheesy salty crunchy bites.
I hope this helps you. I'm just past two years out and I am still losing tho its not like when I was in my honeymoon period...lol. I met my first goal and am now working on my second goal.
I started at 450 lbs. I'm down to 183 right now. My first goal was two hundred. Doctor expected me to only get down to about two thirty five. So I think i'm doing pretty good. If i'm craving something that I cant substitute well then I will eat it but I count those carbs and will eat super low carbs for the rest of the day.
If I deprive myself of something I crave i'll end up eating it anyway and binge on it. Thats terrible. I have caught myself walking down the hall and suddenly realized I was actually eating cookies. Uh oh. So I started making low carb things to keep on hand for those cravings.
Good luck, I know you can do this!!!! You are stronger than you think you are.
Congrats for reaching out! Your words strike home with me... `when will I start taking care of myself``.... this is how I felt when everything was out of control - my dark night.
I would invite you to take exquisite care of yourself. (At one point I found myself taking long hot baths and singing lullabies to myself - and then crying buckets)... You love that little boy right... love yourself like you love that little boy. You don`t have to figure everything out. YOu don`t have to make plans and pull yourself up by your bootstraps. If you are eating poorly - don`t beat yourself up... just keep loving yourself in every way you can think of. At some point, you might find it becomes a little easier to make some better food choices. For me - food was not the issue... it was only the symptom. And it is a symptom of merciless self-loathing.
Keep us posted. Listen for laughter. Celebrate when you can. When we self-abuse it is quite a journey to unlearn that. I`m still a work in progress.
If none of this applies - then forget it! Still, I do hope you will give yourself a big, genuine hug.
I would invite you to take exquisite care of yourself. (At one point I found myself taking long hot baths and singing lullabies to myself - and then crying buckets)... You love that little boy right... love yourself like you love that little boy. You don`t have to figure everything out. YOu don`t have to make plans and pull yourself up by your bootstraps. If you are eating poorly - don`t beat yourself up... just keep loving yourself in every way you can think of. At some point, you might find it becomes a little easier to make some better food choices. For me - food was not the issue... it was only the symptom. And it is a symptom of merciless self-loathing.
Keep us posted. Listen for laughter. Celebrate when you can. When we self-abuse it is quite a journey to unlearn that. I`m still a work in progress.
If none of this applies - then forget it! Still, I do hope you will give yourself a big, genuine hug.
Hi Kristen, everyone has given some really good advice so I will just add that you should look into whether or not your employer offers an EAP (Employee Assistance Program). If so, they can refer you to an addiction specialist or a therapist that may be more supportive or experienced with WLS patients than the one you are seeing now. My work paid for eight sessions with an addiction counselor through my EAP. I go for my first session today. I am a little over a year out and have stalled for several months. Now that I can eat more and different things than I could right after surgery, I am finding some of those old behaviors creeping up and want to get a handle on it now. Check into that and I wish you the best.