Sunday, September 9, 2007

Get your head in the game!!

I cannot stress enough to anyone looking to get any type of Weight Loss surgery done to "get your head in the game" aka do your emotional homework. Someone told me to take stock of my "emotional inventory". I was like "what?!"

So, what does that mean?. Being overweight at any size (20lbs, 50lbs, 100lbs, 200lbs and up) there is usually an emotional component connected to it. The program that I am in at Duke is very serious about psychology. I think some people are scared to death of the Psychiatrists. Some are worried that they won't "pass" the psychological tests and they won't get to move through the program. I see so many people want to race through the process and click off the "to-do" list to get to surgery.

I will admit that when they told me that they were putting me on "hold" until I went to weekly therapy sessions. I was like "what? I have done therapy before...this is not going to help". I felt like it was red tape. But, then when I started going....and I have been every week....it has been a HUGE part of my life now. I really understood how my past, and my current way of living can be traced all the way back to my past. I realize that I have used food as my friend. I play with it as a child would with their favorite toy, then the next thing came along...and they threw the old toy away. It is something that I know from childhood through habits, through modeling my parents, and use it as away to escape from stress.


If I could say anything to anyone even starting to look into surgery....DON'T DO IT until you have really worked through some of your past, your reasons for dieting, are you an emotional eater? If so, why? Are you addicted? Asking the painful question....How did you get fat? and how did you get there? You are going to have to be ready to have a plan for when the food is gone. It is this whole new way of looking at it. Be ready to change your whole world. This is the toughest part on me. I haven't even had surgery yet. But, I know this is going to be my toughest part of the journey. I know for me that I am going to have to really stop and think about my actions (i.e. grabbing that candy bar when my sugar drops). Instead look for protein when I have a sugar low. When I am upset, lonely, sad, any emotional feeling...get outside. Take the kids and walk.....exercise, write...find something else to do. I just want to be with honest with everyone out there. Most of obesity is from our head. We take out all of our emotions, feelings and put it in our mouth via food.

Ice cream for me (the homemade kind) is like a bottle of vodka for an alcoholic. When the kids (I have 3 under 7) screaming all at the same time...the old way was for me to grab a tub of ice cream and stand in the kitchen with a HUGE spoon and eat it practically all the way to the bottom. Not even noticing. It became such a habit. Now, when the rest of my family wants a dessert...I find an alternative...a sugar free Popsicle. Or I go to another room.

This will take a very long time as it took a long time to get to where you are. All I am saying...make sure you have your "head in the game".

2 comments:

JUST JEN said...

You've got that right!

Dagny said...

Wow, you have already taken a step I think is HUGE! You are so lucky to be able to do this with professional guidance. I have said a million times, it isn't about WHAT you eat, it's about WHY you eat and figuring out how to undermine your triggers when you are re-learning eating after you have the surgery. The new habits are the ignition key to make the whole thing WORK!

Get your head wrapped around this and you will do so great! Please be sure to read my blog today and let me know what you think if you like.
Dagny