WLS support and inspirational information

angelintx

Thank you for that post -- I've screen printed it and put it on my fridge! I'll need to read it a few times over and marinate on it. I really am grateful that I found this site! Thanks everyone for your contributions!

KristieKRN

I'm personally really bad about negative self talk. I beat myself up when I am not consistent with my idea of success in working toward my goals. Predominantly, I think it's more about not letting myself make excuses for not exercising or for eating something that I know is not the best choice. I had a great day yesterday: I ate right, exercised, logged all my food and exercise for the first time in months and I felt good about myself. Then, I ate a small piece of cake. WTH??? :noway: How did I let that happen? I've got a problem and I need to address it. I sabotaged myself and I'm angry about it. So, I guess it's clear -- I'm addicted to food. Why? How do I fix that? :sad:

you cannot beat yourself up over a piece of cake. The way I look at it is this: I am a binge eater. I know this. When I used to "diet" I would deprive myself of things like cake, chips, ice cream... When I did that, I would then get these urges or cravings for those things but still try to not eat them. So, I would binge on the "good" stuff until I was literally in pain from eating too much. I found that if I just allow myself to have that once in a while, I wouldn't binge like that.

I get frustrated at people that say "I can't believe you're eating that after having surgery!" Surgery was not my cure-all. It has only helped me to remember that I need to eat a lot less than I used to. I still have to work on all the head games I have going on. I do eat better because of the knowledge that I now need certain things because of the surgery, like protein, and I need to get that in first. But I will still always want that piece of cake.

Good luck, and quit being so hard on yourself!

angelintx

I'm personally really bad about negative self talk. I beat myself up when I am not consistent with my idea of success in working toward my goals. Predominantly, I think it's more about not letting myself make excuses for not exercising or for eating something that I know is not the best choice. I had a great day yesterday: I ate right, exercised, logged all my food and exercise for the first time in months and I felt good about myself. Then, I ate a small piece of cake. WTH??? :noway: How did I let that happen? I've got a problem and I need to address it. I sabotaged myself and I'm angry about it. So, I guess it's clear -- I'm addicted to food. Why? How do I fix that? :sad:

you cannot beat yourself up over a piece of cake. The way I look at it is this: I am a binge eater. I know this. When I used to "diet" I would deprive myself of things like cake, chips, ice cream... When I did that, I would then get these urges or cravings for those things but still try to not eat them. So, I would binge on the "good" stuff until I was literally in pain from eating too much. I found that if I just allow myself to have that once in a while, I wouldn't binge like that.

I get frustrated at people that say "I can't believe you're eating that after having surgery!" Surgery was not my cure-all. It has only helped me to remember that I need to eat a lot less than I used to. I still have to work on all the head games I have going on. I do eat better because of the knowledge that I now need certain things because of the surgery, like protein, and I need to get that in first. But I will still always want that piece of cake.

Good luck, and quit being so hard on yourself!

I agree that surgery certainly didn't fix the head games and if it was only one piece of cake, maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I've found myself eating stuff I normally am not even interested in because I was so strict about my food habits for about 3 months. The last month I've found myself eating things I don't really want that are bad for me. I've got to get the self-sabotage in check. I'm going to try coming here more, logging my food/exercise routinely and getting support from an accountability partner(s). Hopefully, I will be able to keep a clear head and stay focused -- maybe even keep the negative self-talk down.

IsMollyReallyHungry

Thanks for the chat on negative talk everyone! Awesome stuff!!

I am getting their MacMadame! It is taking longer than I thought but I am surely not stressing when I make poor decisions. Like today I at one item that I really knew better than to even buy it and I did. Why I brought it is the question I ask myself but I did not and it is what it is. So now I know I still have an issue with it and next time I will do better at buying just one serving. I am going to do a workout to make up for the poor choice and go to bed and workout again in the morning and see if I can still have a decent weigh in Saturday!

I have already figured out how many calories I need to burn tonight. I probably will not get that number but something is better than nothing at all.....:-)

Happy hump day everyone!

Katz85340

Working on years of negative self talk and body images takes a lot of hard work to over come. I agree Trudy, sometimes these issues are definetely harder than losing weight, the surgery, eating, etc. Positive mental development is no easy chore and fight food addictions is a mind game also.

The surgery does not fix our heads.

Angel, The piece of cake is just that. One small piece of cake is nothing. Remember the all or nothing thinking is a mistake. Perfection at this is impossible because we are all imperfect. So again I churp, consistency is key, not perfection.

I like what you said, "consistency is key, not perfection." I'm so glad I have a new attitude about what I eat and taking ownership for my own actions. I too am worried about what I will see when I look in the mirror at the end of my weight loss. I've always thought of myself as fat and that's what I used to see. Right now though, I see the weight loss and I'm happy with myself. I just don't want to ever go back to that way of thinking.

MacMadame

I get frustrated at people that say "I can't believe you're eating that after having surgery!"

Me too. There seems to be this attitude that you can't have anything "bad" if you are on a diet (for people who didn't have surgery) or if you've had surgery. There are people in the bariatric community who really push that idea, too. They post things that imply that anyone who has cake will fail or is a failure and that THEY will never eat cake. They say things like "I didn't have this surgery to gain all my weight back" with the implication that anyone who eats cake will gain all their weight back. But it's just not true.

Everyone has to figure out what works for them but plenty of thin people eat cake. So it is possible. You just have to figure out what works for you. Maybe there will be times in our lives when we can't eat cake, any cake, at all because of what it leads to. But there will be other times when we have have a bit and nothing horrible happens because it's a conscious choice and we're willing to deal with the consequences of that choice. And sometimes we eat the cake and it does lead to other bad choices and then we have to pull ourselves up and start over.

I agree that surgery certainly didn't fix the head games and if it was only one piece of cake, maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I've found myself eating stuff I normally am not even interested in because I was so strict about my food habits for about 3 months. The last month I've found myself eating things I don't really want that are bad for me.

It's definitely not easy! I know that when I was early out, I was very strict with myself. I wanted to be because I wanted to lose the weight fast. So I was okay with this most of the time. But at one point, I started dreaming that I dove into a chocolate cake and ate most of it by the fistfulls. The WHOLE cake, not just a piece. The weird thing is: it was a particular kind of cake the admins used to buy to celebrate birthdays and I didn't even like it! But I was dreaming about eating it and eating a lot of it.

So I thought about it a bit and I decided I was being too strict about carbs. So I asked dh to make red potatoes with dinner that night and I had two bites (That's all I could fit in.) I proceeded to eat the potato, 1-2 bites at a time, over the course of the week. And my cake dreams disappeared!

There has to be a balance but I also think that we have to have a mindset that deprivation of food is not bad. After all, we make ourselves do things all the time that we might not want to in the short term in order to get to our long term goals. We might stop going to Starbucks so much so we can save up for a vacation or we make ourselves go to work when we don't want to so we don't get fired. I try to have the same approach to food. It's okay to not have that cake or cookies or brownie now because right now it doesn't fit into my plans. That doesn't mean I won't have it eventually though. At some point, it will either make sense or it will be totally worth it.

I don't really have the answers... I went a little crazy over Christmas eating lots of junk and I wasn't happy about it. I did okay at Thanksgiving though. I am still trying to figure out what the difference was and why I was okay one time and not the other.

angelintx

So true that everyone is different and has to find out what works for them. Hence there are so many skinny people who can eat cake ... frustrating for those of us who can't though it is.

It could very well be that I've been so carb restricted that is causing these excessive cravings for sweets that I wouldn't normally care about. I am doing better this week about getting fruit in and even popcorn and I've noticed the cravings have been a lot better. My focus is going to be making sure I get a good amount of healthy carbs in to keep the sweet monster away. :bigsmile:

Katz85340

Is anyone else having trouble with plateauing, constipation and fatigue?

MacMadame

I get constipated when I don't drink enough water. I drink 64-80 oz. in the winter and 80-100 oz in the summer and that gets my pee to the right color and also keeps constipation at bay.

For fatigue, when I was early out, it was more of an issue. I figured I was still healing and not eating very much so I gave myself a break. Also, I have sleep issues and that was making me tired. I talk to my doctor about it and she gave me a prescription for a mild anti-depressant that has sleepiness as a side effect and told me to take it with melatonin. I resisted for a long time but finally I took it for 2 weeks and it really helped. I had to take it for another two weeks about 2 weeks later but now I almost never take it. I only take it if it takes me more than 45 min. to fall asleep. So maybe once a month.

TrudyLea

I really didn't have issues with stalls - I do know that the closer to the goal I got the slower the weight loss went and I obviously have struggled with regain.

Constipation was an issue. I drank benifiber to make sure I had enough fiber when I really couldn't eat enough to get in the right amount of fiber. It was a daily thing and that seemed to help me stay regular. Then when I could eat more regular - oatmeal and fruits and veggies help me stay regular.

Fatigue - honestly the best thing was to exercise regularly - that sounds odd - I know but it is what helped me most. It energized me and helped. When I didn't (and I don't know) I feel more fatigued. When I'm exercising regularly at a pretty good level I have more energy the rest of the day.

Good luck!

Katz85340

I really didn't have issues with stalls - I do know that the closer to the goal I got the slower the weight loss went and I obviously have struggled with regain.

Constipation was an issue. I drank benifiber to make sure I had enough fiber when I really couldn't eat enough to get in the right amount of fiber. It was a daily thing and that seemed to help me stay regular. Then when I could eat more regular - oatmeal and fruits and veggies help me stay regular.

Fatigue - honestly the best thing was to exercise regularly - that sounds odd - I know but it is what helped me most. It energized me and helped. When I didn't (and I don't know) I feel more fatigued. When I'm exercising regularly at a pretty good level I have more energy the rest of the day.

Good luck!

Thank you for your input. I'll try the more fruit and fiber. That may be where I'm going wrong. The exercise thing I know is a problem.

Katz85340

I get constipated when I don't drink enough water. I drink 64-80 oz. in the winter and 80-100 oz in the summer and that gets my pee to the right color and also keeps constipation at bay.

For fatigue, when I was early out, it was more of an issue. I figured I was still healing and not eating very much so I gave myself a break. Also, I have sleep issues and that was making me tired. I talk to my doctor about it and she gave me a prescription for a mild anti-depressant that has sleepiness as a side effect and told me to take it with melatonin. I resisted for a long time but finally I took it for 2 weeks and it really helped. I had to take it for another two weeks about 2 weeks later but now I almost never take it. I only take it if it takes me more than 45 min. to fall asleep. So maybe once a month.

What does the melatonin do?

angelintx

Is anyone else having trouble with plateauing, constipation and fatigue?

Yes indeed, all of the above. I've posted several places that I'm struggling with a plateau that I've been on essentially for the last 6-8 weeks, even though I have a ton more weight to lose.

I find that the more protein I get in, the harder my stool. When I was taking protein supplement drinks, I really suffered badly from constipation and got impacted twice (horrible!).

As far as fatigue, I'm battling anemia, hypothyroidism and sleep deprivation (not enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done). Also, during my last blood work (run in October), I was referred to a rheumatologist for what appears to be markers for Rheumatoid Arthritis which runs in my family or Lupus. Sadly, my insurance at my new job hasn't kicked in yet, so I can't go get it checked out until mid-February.

Happy_JoJo

Hi there!

Glad to have been "referred" to this board! I'm new to MFP but had my WLS in December of 2008.

I am here to loose my last 40 pounds and will gladly take and give all the support I can here!!!!

frogmama

bump

MacMadame

What does the melatonin do?

It's a hormone that your body produces naturally when it gets dark. It's like a vampire in that it only comes out at night and it's believed that artificial light is enough light to keep it from being produced, at least in some people. So, by taking some right before bedtime, it's supposed to help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Apparently it works really well with jet lag and shift workers.

angelintx

Hi there!

Glad to have been "referred" to this board! I'm new to MFP but had my WLS in December of 2008.

I am here to loose my last 40 pounds and will gladly take and give all the support I can here!!!!

Welcome Joanne! Glad to see you made it!

valj77

i had 2 wls...had the band in 2008 and was revised to a sleeve in 2010. im down about 100 lbs. ive been on mfp for a bit but havent logged in regulary, but i have been trying to log my foods better. so here i am...lol

Katz85340

What does the melatonin do?

It's a hormone that your body produces naturally when it gets dark. It's like a vampire in that it only comes out at night and it's believed that artificial light is enough light to keep it from being produced, at least in some people. So, by taking some right before bedtime, it's supposed to help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Apparently it works really well with jet lag and shift workers.

Hmmmm... I'll check it out! Thanks!

frogmama

I guess I have lots of that hormone because I fall fast asleep within minutes (maybe 2) of closing my eyes! LOL

IsMollyReallyHungry

Welcome Joann and Val!! You have come at a good time. It seems like this thread is finally alive. I knew if I just be patient that there we many of us out there on MFP who needed a place to vent and get support!!

Regarding items discussed.

I take Meletonin from time to time also. If I exercise regularly I usually fall right to sleep. Still every blue moon I will take some to get to sleep.

I had constipationin the honeymoon period only. Now that I can tolerate just about anything as long as I eat fruits and veggies I am good. I took smooth groove tea and use fiber powder in milk, and hot soups.

MacMadame

My sleep issues seem to be age related. We make less melatonin as we get older.

Happy_JoJo

Good morning....

can anyone here answer me this from our experiences with wls. I hate hate hate how when I track my daily food if I don't hit my 1200 goal it tells me I am sending my body into starvation mode blah blah blah. Then I see people on other boards talking about DONT do it, (go under 1200). Anywho...since we've had wls....in the very beginning we were waaaaaay under 1200 maybe 400 or 500.. Sometimes it's a struggle to get the 1200 in now and I bet im not the only one saying that. if eating under 1200 really put the body into starvation mode, how is it then that bariatric surgery works?? just my musings for the day.... :flowerforyou:

jenX1174

bump, so I can come back and read through later

Katz85340

Good morning....

can anyone here answer me this from our experiences with wls. I hate hate hate how when I track my daily food if I don't hit my 1200 goal it tells me I am sending my body into starvation mode blah blah blah. Then I see people on other boards talking about DONT do it, (go under 1200). Anywho...since we've had wls....in the very beginning we were waaaaaay under 1200 maybe 400 or 500.. Sometimes it's a struggle to get the 1200 in now and I bet im not the only one saying that. if eating under 1200 really put the body into starvation mode, how is it then that bariatric surgery works?? just my musings for the day.... :flowerforyou:

I've been wondering that myself since I've been plateauing for a few weeks now. I upped my calories from 1200 to 1303 but still can barely make it to 1200, so not sure how that is helping. I'd love to hear how others have overcome this problem.

IsMollyReallyHungry

Good morning....

can anyone here answer me this from our experiences with wls. I hate hate hate how when I track my daily food if I don't hit my 1200 goal it tells me I am sending my body into starvation mode blah blah blah. Then I see people on other boards talking about DONT do it, (go under 1200). Anywho...since we've had wls....in the very beginning we were waaaaaay under 1200 maybe 400 or 500.. Sometimes it's a struggle to get the 1200 in now and I bet im not the only one saying that. if eating under 1200 really put the body into starvation mode, how is it then that bariatric surgery works?? just my musings for the day.... :flowerforyou:

Joanne,
I would not try to get to 1200 calories, especially if you are less than 18 months post op and not at goal. I would stick to not eating if not hungry and sticking with 600 to 800 calories or whatever. You can't go by MFP because the site is not set up for WLS patients and people are not aware of it either. So my advice to you is to ignore the recommendations for now. The weight will come off if you continue to eat less than 800 calories. As you mention that is the whole beauty of the WLS is for you to lose the weight faster than the norm.

Continue to go by your doctors recommendations. Your surgeon's recommendations. We taked about starvation mode on this thread earlier in the week if you go back a few pages.

MacMadame

Yeah, it bugged me a lot too. It was a pet peeve of mine and really pushed my buttons. But now I'm on maintenance so a lot of it rolls off my back since it doesn't apply to me in any way any more.

The reasons not to go under 1200 calories are many, some good and a lot dumb. But even the good ones don't really apply to us.

The main thing I point out when people say not to go under 1200 calories is that this advice is actually supposed to be "don't go under 1200 calories unless you are under a doctor's supervision" and we are under a doctor's supervision.

Oh and the reason why people sometimes eat more calories and break a stall? Water weight. Well, sometimes they were going to show the loss anyway and it's just a coincidence. :laugh: But, a lot of times what happens is that we start to eat less so our body takes calories from the glycogen stored in our muscles to make up the deficit. For every pound of glycogen, it take FOUR pounds of water to store it. So that's an easy 5-10 pound "loss" right there. (We can store 1-2 pounds of glycogen in our muscles.)

But, as we continue to eat at a deficit and the body realizes it's not a short term energy deficit (which is what glycogen is for), it puts the glycogen back and starts pulling from the fat stores instead. This shows on the scale as whatever we've lost that week in fat plus 4-8 pounds of extra water. Unless you've lost more fat than water, the scales will show no loss or even a gain!

Then when you get sick of the scale not showing a loss for a few weeks and eat more calories, your body thinks "famine's over! I can use glycogen for quick energy next time it's needed." And, you lose the 1-2 pounds of glycogen and 4-8 pounds of water again. Ohmigod, it works. If I eat MORE, I LOSE WEIGHT, right?

Well, as you can see, you haven't really lost fat. It's mostly water and, when you continue to eat that new higher amount which is still a deficit but not as much of one as before, your body (a) loses less fat than it would if you stayed at the lower amount and (b) puts the glycogen and water back which starts the whole process over again!

And this doesn't even take into account our monthly cycles and how they make us retain water and lose it on a regular basis and how that can hid real loses of fat from the scale.

frogmama

Wow MacMadame, that whole glycogen/water thing seems pretty complicated to me. I'll just aim for 1200. I usually can get close but I do not eat additional exercise calories.

Happy_JoJo

Thanks for all the answers/suggestions/advice on my question. I really appreciate it!! I am just about 18 months
out now, and I am using MFP primarily to keep track of what I snack on and hold myself accountable.
I can't wait to get back to the gym next week and burn off a storm on the elliptical...my FAVORITE!!!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!

TrudyLea

I think the whole don't go under 1200 is UNLESS YOU ARE UNDER THE CARE OF A PHYSICIAN.

I also do believe that our bodies right after WLS are in somewhat of a starvation mode. That is why often time there is hair loss and other side effects that go along with the WLS. The thing is part of "starvation mode" is... well starvation and weight loss. The bottom line is ... when I weigh over 300 pounds I can starve for a year or two and as long as I am getting some nutrients (vitamins prescribed by doctor) and protein and water ... i won'd starve to death!

I think you just have to learn to ignore the little notes from MFP that say you need to eat more...I don't know if you have ever tracked what you eat on obesityhelp but they have a tracker too... you might try it. I doubt they have any such automatic reminders to eat more.