Sugar hell

(MM adds this graphic, and says, DON'T *I* WISH!!!!)

From Jeannette:  As I said previously, I wish the band came with dumping.

I think this may need a little explanation. I am sure there are people who do dump and think I am nuts. From what I hear, it’s not fun to go through. And that’s my point. If I had that kind of reaction to sugar laden foods, I would probably be slightly less inclined to eat them. Ideally. You know that old saying about the grass being greener? I am in one of those situations. The thing is, I have always had a sweet tooth. I have tried to limit sweets to once a day. But that honestly doesn’t always happen. I did really well for the 10 day liquid pre-op diet, and probably a month or two post-op. Because I HAD to. I did not want to risk anything that would cause my surgery to be canceled, or to cause a complication. But then I started getting brave. I started trying cookies. Brownies. Candy. Cake. You name it, if it had sugar in it I ate it. If I chewed well enough and ate them slowly enough they did not cause a problem. And damn it, with the exception of cake, I can pretty eat them all ‘normally’ and they go down too easily. For the band, 1-2 pounds lost a week is the goal. So at 40 weeks out I have lost 63 pounds according to my home scale.

According to the doctor’s office, it’s a little less because the starting weight they use was not my heaviest, but from my first appointment with them. So I am considered successful so far. Of course I would like to be down more. I KNOW my slow weight loss is because of the sugar. I feel like I have pretty decent restriction. Here’s the chart the docs use to help us determine if we need a fill or not. For the most part, I remain satisfied for about 3 hours, sometimes less. And I can usually eat about a cup at a time, sometimes more, sometimes less. No, I wasn’t exercising like I should have been. But I have recently seriously started. And I don’t want to have the complications (see chart above) associated with being overfilled if I can avoid it.  (Would anyone??)

Rather than sit here and whine about this, I would like to DO something about it. So here’s my plan:

·         Listen to my nut’s advice and have a glass of milk in between meals or as snack replacements. I do ok between breakfast and lunch, but struggle in the afternoon and after dinner, so this is when I would have them.  The problem is that I don’t like plain milk. Of course I like sugar filled chocolate milk. And the sugar free chocolate mixes are gross.

·         Find some ‘not as bad’ sweet treats. Sugar free pudding snacks, maybe some baked goods made with Splenda, or some meringue cookies. I would have to convince my head they are as good as the real thing.

·         PLAN. I do pretty well about thinking about what I am going to have for my 3 meals, but not snacks. The second step would be to stick to the plan, and try to avoid temptations when they do come up.

·         Be HONEST with my nut at my appointment on September 3. She needs to know that I am not just snacking on cheese sticks and almonds. She probably has some really good ideas I could try.

In combination with that, talk to the nut and the PA about a fill. Even a slight fill can make a big difference. If it helps me remain satisfied longer, I may be able to avoid the temptations easier. I need to remember that it's going to take tweaking to truly reach that 'sweet spot' (ha ha pun intended!!) and one of the reasons I chose to get the band is for it's adjust-ability. If I do happen to get overfilled, it's not permanent. I can get an un-fill if needed.