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Saturday, February 16, 2008

Is Gastric Bypass Surgery the Answer?

Have you felt like diets just don't work for you? Tried them all? You lose weight only to gain it back? Are you looking for an answer? You are not and never will be alone. There are multiple scores of people just like you who want and need an answer to their heath threatening obesity.

Gastric bypass surgery seems to be an 'answer' that many people have chosen. They choose it because it appears to be a permanent fix to what feels like a permanent problem. After all, how can you keep from losing weight if your stomach only holds a tiny amount? Why not have this surgery and be done with this overeating thing for good? Makes sense to me.

Except that it doesn't seem to be that easy or that simple. I have heard several reports about gastric bypass surgery and about the necessary post surgery adjustments, as well as talked with people who have had the procedure done.

It is true that gastric bypass surgery does reduce the amount of food your stomach can hold making it difficult to eat more than only tiny amount of food at a time.....for a while.

The problem is that for many of us, we must have more than gastric bypass surgery. We need 'surgery' on our relationship with food. You see, the reason we cannot permanently lose weight is because we are emotionally tied to our overeating. Food is our friend. It comforts us when we are sad. It calms us when we are upset or nervous. It is almost like a companion when we are lonely. That relationship is much harder to change than the size of our stomach.

I believe that for a person to have a successful gastric bypass surgery that permanently fixes their obesity, counseling and behavior modification is as necessary to the recovery process as sutures are to closing the incisions. Their relationship to food must change or the obesity problem will not change.

I am not saying that gastric bypass surgery is unnecessary or will not work. Actually, I have seen it work well when used in tandem with counseling and/or therapy.

If you are considering having this surgery done, I encourage you to actually begin the counseling before surgery. Don't wait until after surgery, thinking that you can 'go it alone', only to find out that urge, no, drive to overeat is still present, and your newly tiny stomach will expand to accommodate your compulsion.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Lost more.....Won More

My weight had stabalized for a while when my eating habits moderated during the recent Mary Kay Leadership Conference. The worst violations were a couple of hamburgers during the week. When I got back home, I again returned to my previous low/no processed carb and no sugar eating plan, and my weight loss began again.!!! I am sooooooo glad that I didn't delay in getting back on board. In my mind that was an important thing to do. Waiting a few days would have made it harder to transition back.
It feels to good to get on the scales and see another half pound disappear from the total. It feels better than any brownie or hand full of sour cream and onion chips can taste. It feels good to have more energy. It feels good to put on clothes and see the extra roominess in them. It feels good to have people notice my downsized size.
Those are all things that I am winning with every pound I lose. Soooooo worth the effort.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

One of the things that has helped me in my quest for a 'downsized' body, is a little technique I call, "Out of sight, out of mind". If I leave the peanut butter jar, or the bag of chips out on my kitchen counter, then begin to they 'call my name' over and over again every time I walk into my kitchen. Eventually I will decide to have just a handful of chips or a spoonful of peanut better. Then you know what happens. One handful or one spoonful becomes two or three or four. I will just keep eating until one of two things happens. Either they are all gone or I put them away.
If I keep them put in the cabinet with the door closed, then I can't see those foods, and I can't hear them calling me. I won't think about them or want them unless I open the door and see them.
Soooooo my suggestion is this, if there are foods that tempt you to overeat, put them away!!! Don't allow the sight of them to visually stimulate your desire for 'just a taste'. Especially if 'just a taste' can turn into a major over eating moment.

Mary Kay Leadership Conference

It has been several days since I wrote a post for this blog. I have been doing Mary Kay 'things'. Our Leadership Conference, for directors, was in Houston this year. It was an awesome three days with Mary Kay Directors from all over the country. The presentations, the training, the motivation, the inspiration were all wonderful, once again making me very proud to be associated with this company.