What is your addiction after WLS

I can't live without sugar free Popsicles. I eat more now then I did as a kid.

food. is still my addiction. its in my brain 24/7. always has been, always will be.

Could I ask a favor? You don't have to do this but I am trying to sort of usher in a bit of awareness and maybe sensitivity about addiction.

What you have is a vice, not an addiction. Vices are a propensity to really like (and sometimes overdo) something. An addiction is a disease. It is when you are powerless over something and cannot stop. Addictions destroy lives. When you are truly an addict your addiction takes precedence over everything else and things like your family, job, values take second seat.

I don't think you feel that way about sugar-free popsicles.

In the end I ain't picky. Use the word addiction. I guess I was just a bit taken aback because I opened this thread thinking it was really about addiction and once again was about a vice. So maybe that was just me and maybe I need to go somewhere and sit down!

Ok, nevermind. I think this is too big of a change in wording to expect. Have a good day.

Nik....really good point.  I'm glad you raised it, though I think you're right that folks aren't going to change the casual way they use the word.  Still, at least , it may make people realize that it is an exaggeration and not a literal addiction. I think today we all use language very loosely...most of the time with no ill effects. But it can be   misinterpreted and can lead to a gradual erosion of understanding and respect for  the true meaning.

I don't think it's too big a change to ever happen, but on a message board...yeah, maybe.

But folks don't go around calling annoyances in their lives "cancers" (or at least not in casual reference from my experience) so I hold out hope that maybe one day the world will see addiction for what it is and all the requisite cultural and linguistics adjustments will follow.

I'm with you, Nik.  I am all the time posting in response to these kinds of posts, but people persist in calling anything they like a lot an addiction.

I agree with Nik, I came into the thread to do my "not everyone who had WLS is addicted to food" ramble - cos that assumption irks me as much as using the word "addiction" loosely irks Nik!

My "thing" for chocolate hasn't changed from pre-WLS - I just consume it in smaller quantities now!

Right you are. WLS patient does not automatically = food addict.

And as I've said many, many times, non-food addicts of any variety mystify me. Oh, how I wish I were like you!

I am glad you posted this reply, Nik.  I also have the same reaction when someone posts about "addiction".  Part of it, of course, is the counselor in me being picky, but part of it is that I. think that when people use the word addiction when they are talking about a vice, the overall effect is to minimize the true addiction that some people have (and food addiction can be every bit as difficult to deal with as a drug addiction).

Lora