psychological impact

[3momchaos]

Hello all! I’m seeing the counselor at my surgery center tomorrow. I’m just wondering if you’ve had surgery, what the psychological impacts were for you, were any of them surprising, and how you are dealing with them? If you haven’t had surgery, what are your concerns? I guess my biggest concern is that I don’t have many concerns. I’m not a binge or sneak eater. While I LOVE food, I love the process of food. I love cooking, and I find that after surgery I will still love it, and embrace the challenge of finding new ways to make food satisfying within the restrictions. I love a good challenge. I have a sweet tooth, but I’ve already told my family I’m not doing any holiday baking, so I can be mentally prepared for dozens of cookies and candies surrounding me. I baked 20 dozen cookie this past year. I’m happy taking a year off! I’m not a soda drinker, I’m already giving up caffeine, and I’ve stopped adding sugar to my decaf coffee. I still drink the occasional wine, but I’m good going without. I’m doing as much as I can before the surgery, so I’m not as tempted or feel as sad about losing out on something. I’m just more excited about gaining health freedoms.

 

[WazzuCoug]

I've been doing the same thing and try to emulate my eating now so it compares to eating after surgery. I think my concerns are that I love cooking, and taste, but I also have a history of eating past my fullness feeling because I just love how something tastes and I get a dopamine hit from it. I like textures too. I also eat too fast. You'd think I'd slow down and enjoy each bite, but I don't. I've been putting in a lot of effort to slow down. That hasn't been easy for me.

I feel some of the things you do, in that I don't have a plethora of concerns, but I know in my case the weight didn't just pile on because I enjoy food and didn't exercise enough. I think there are other food habits that need to be broken. "Unconscious eating" throughout the day because I'm bored, or thinking I'm hungry when my body really needs water, and perhaps not admitting to myself that sometimes my eating is tied to emotion. I think my concerns are the the things that I'm unaware of (or not acknowledging) that influenced my weight gain over the years.

I know there will be challenges, but I'm also confident this is the right thing for me to reach my goals.

 

[3momchaos]

I've been doing the same thing and try to emulate my eating now so it compares to eating after surgery. I think my concerns are that I love cooking, and taste, but I also have a history of eating past my fullness feeling because I just love how something tastes and I get a dopamine hit from it. I like textures too. I also eat too fast. You'd think I'd slow down and enjoy each bite, but I don't. I've been putting in a lot of effort to slow down. That hasn't been easy for me.

I feel some of the things you do, in that I don't have a plethora of concerns, but I know in my case the weight didn't just pile on because I enjoy food and didn't exercise enough. I think there are other food habits that need to be broken. "Unconscious eating" throughout the day because I'm bored, or thinking I'm hungry when my body really needs water, and perhaps not admitting to myself that sometimes my eating is tied to emotion. I think my concerns are the the things that I'm unaware of (or not acknowledging) that influenced my weight gain over the years.

I know there will be challenges, but I'm also confident this is the right thing for me to reach my goals.

Eating past my full point-that’s a big one for me. I tend not to eat lunch, so I eat a really big dinner, which I then eat more than I should have. I don’t eat very often after dinner, so I guess that’s a good thing.
One thing I know I’m going to miss is a good Chinese buffet. I don’t like regular buffets, but I LOVE Chinese food and take out. But, I also know that staying away from those types of places and out of those situations for a while will help me mentally prepare for when I do have a food event. I will miss certain foods, but I’m going to miss out on life a whole lot more if I don’t make a major change.