Sugar Addiction
Height:5'1.5 RNY:11/30/11 HW:307 SW:234 CW:136 GW:140 (LOST 73 Lbs. PRE-OP)
You have to find something else to curb that craving. Something else that is sweet but sugar free. Popsicles are a great choice, or fruit. I always have fruit when I want something sweet.
My biggest problem is salty stuff. I LOVEEEE chips and popcorn. SO SO SO much. I just don't allow myself to enter that aisle of the grocery store. If I want salty I will eat some nuts and that curbs the craving. My husband is also not allowed to bring any of this stuff into our house. He follows my rules pretty well ;)
If you really think you have an addiction, you need to get treatment for it. Surgery does not cure addiction.
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
I've got a crazy, crazy sweet tooth. Now, I'm not your surgeon so I don't know what the plan is for you, so please bear in mind that I'm talking purely about what has worked for me. I eat a pretty balanced diet at 9 years out, and have sweets here and there. So for me it wasn't a "never again" sort of thing. I knew going into surgery that once the initial honeymoon period was over, that maintenance would be all about the restriction and portion control (as opposed to malabsorption). I think that helped me a lot through the first 1.5 years where I avoided sweets almost entirely.
When I *did* bring sweets back into my diet, it was not until I felt confident in my ability to regulate. I was a pretty bad sugar "addict" prior to surgery, so I knew that I had to be completely, undoubtedly confident in my ability to stick to a plan before ever going near them again. By that point, I'd become very used to my lifestyle and eating habits. Real sweets tasted very sweet to me and a lot of them are still too cloying. But I love to bake, so my general rule is to make it, save two pieces for me, and bring the rest to work (unless my husband wants it--he won't part with my shortbread cookies).
This is what worked for me, but that's not the case for everyone. You won't know until your post-op what kind of things will bother your pouch, and you might decide you never want to have sugar again. You'll also find that once you've gone a few weeks without sugar, you don't crave it or things like bread/crackers with nearly the same intensity. Hopefully that will help you feel more like you are the one in control and not the food. Remember, food is not the boss of you! Only you decide what goes in your mouth. Your surgeon has a plan and if you stick with it, you'll succeed. I've been in maintenance for a long time, and can even drop a few pounds when I need to do so for a race. This journey is lifelong and you will evolve with it.
Best of luck!
Long-term post-ops with regain struggles, click here to see some steps for getting back on track (without the 5-day pouch fad or liquid diet): http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/bananafish711/blog/2013/04/05/don-t-panic--believe-and-you-will-succeed-/
Always cooking at www.neensnotes.com!
Need a pick-me-up? Read this: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/10/it-will-be-sunny-one-day.html
I am a sugar addict. I could eat cake and cookies for every meal. As a matter of fact I probably did and that is how I got to be as big as I am. I followed a cookie by pop by candy, by more pop and a whole box of Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls! I am four months post op and it is so hard to look at my son's birthday cake sitting on my kitchen counter right now. The funny thing is the cake is from last Saturday and in my pre-op days that cake would have lasted three days not a whole week. I told my son today that we are throwing the rest of the cake away tomorrow because it is getting stale.
I had one dumping episode and I fear another so that is the only thing keeping me away from sugar. I hope it gets easier with time...kind of like when I quit smoking 4.5 years ago. I no longer crave nicotine and cigarettes but it took a good three years to get past those cravings.
250 day of surgery
150 current weight
135 goal weight