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Emotional eating strategies

A

Allison Thomas

Member
Hello! I am currently going through pre-surgery requirements and while I haven't had the appointment with the surgeon, am leaning towards gastric bypass. The social worker recommended that I begin working with a therapist to explore my relationship with food and emotional eating. I had my first therapy appointment today and we explored developing a nightly ritual to reduce my nighttime snacking, portion control of my trigger foods, proactively using meditation and exercise to help me feel better and increase my resiliency at times of stress.
So I'm curious what sort of strategies any of you have identified or discovered that you can share?
 
I've had the sleeve in Jan. I still fight Fat Brain - the insidious snake trying to get me to eat compulsively. I've been studying mindful eating - in the kitchen, no distractions, try to feel when I'm satisfied. It's a struggle, with mostly good days. After your surgery, you will be full after eating very little food. In some ways, the pouch will take care of overeating - you can't. You'll probably have 5 small meals per day. No snacking in between. As time goes by, everyone faces the journey of not putting weight back on. It becomes easier to do so as your body heals - I'm talking a year or so out.

My other advice would be get rid of snacks and trigger foods. Eat low carb; that helps cravings go away. Meditation sounds like a good strategy.

Good luck. You will find it a life-changing experience.
 
mmitti said:
I've had the sleeve in Jan. I still fight Fat Brain - the insidious snake trying to get me to eat compulsively. I've been studying mindful eating - in the kitchen, no distractions, try to feel when I'm satisfied. It's a struggle, with mostly good days. After your surgery, you will be full after eating very little food. In some ways, the pouch will take care of overeating - you can't. You'll probably have 5 small meals per day. No snacking in between. As time goes by, everyone faces the journey of not putting weight back on. It becomes easier to do so as your body heals - I'm talking a year or so out.

My other advice would be get rid of snacks and trigger foods. Eat low carb; that helps cravings go away. Meditation sounds like a good strategy.

Good luck. You will find it a life-changing experience.
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Thank you, this is very helpful and reassuring!
 
Allison Thomas said:
Hello! I am currently going through pre-surgery requirements and while I haven't had the appointment with the surgeon, am leaning towards gastric bypass. The social worker recommended that I begin working with a therapist to explore my relationship with food and emotional eating. I had my first therapy appointment today and we explored developing a nightly ritual to reduce my nighttime snacking, portion control of my trigger foods, proactively using meditation and exercise to help me feel better and increase my resiliency at times of stress.
So I'm curious what sort of strategies any of you have identified or discovered that you can share?
Click to expand...

That's great that you're working with a therapist to learn more about your relationship with food. I know that I need to do this myself. I never let myself forget that the "honeymoon phase" is going to end and it will get harder to fight cravings and the desire to comfort-eat. It's going to be a lifelong battle for many of us but surgery is the tool that gives us the chance to win! :)
 
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