Weight Loss Surgery Help

Tips if you are bingeing following your surgery:

I've noticed that a number of people have posted regarding difficulties with Bingeing.

First and foremost Bingeing is NOT A SIGN OF FAILURE - it is just a sign. Most people going through any WLS will experience bingeing at some point in time during their weight loss journey.

Bingeing can be caused by a number of factors including physically based specific hungers for certain foods. Today, I want to talk a little about the psychological reasons that can be the source of bingeing.

Keep in mind that our relationship with food is very complex. This is particularly true in the United States. We live in a culture that has far too many food choices, where almost all social events involve food, and where many people self-medicate with food. This makes it very difficult to have a simple and straightforward relationship with food. Let's face it; our culture does not view food as simply fuel for the body.

Just go to the grocery store and look around, keeping in mind that the food industry is not about healthy eating - It's about being profitable. Unfortunately for us there is a greater profit margin in junk food. "Do we really need that many choices in potato chips, soft drinks, etc?"

So first and foremost take into consideration the enormous cultural influences you are confronted with every single day of your life. It's somewhat like asking an alcoholic to work as a bartender, but not to succumb to the temptations to drink.

Now let's move on to some of the other factors that can lead to bingeing. For anyone, who has ever used food as a stress reliever it is going to take some time to develop new strategies for coping with the stressors of everyday life. Keep in mind that stress can be caused by either positive or negative changes. For example, it is stressful winning the lottery (granted, one most of us would welcome) and stressful going through bankruptcy.

Another factor that is often overlooked and rarely addressed is what different body weights represent in our lives. I have observed, too many times to mention, what happens to people in therapy (particularly women) when they lose weight. If you have a traumatic event in your life that occurred at a certain body weight old memories/emotions can be triggered when you reach that weight again during your weight loss effort.

The emergence of repressed memories is often overlooked or never understood by many "weight loss experts".  For this reason I strongly support keeping a journal during your weight loss journey. Journals can be invaluable tools for identifying when emotional upheaval is related to again reaching a weight that may be emotionally tied to a previous traumatic event or time in your life.

Weight loss, as much as it is desired, can also be a frightening prospect for Women who have anxieties about becoming more sexually attractive. I have worked with countless Women who have such ambivalent feelings about their sexuality that they will sabotage their own weight loss efforts to keep from confronting that part of themselves.

As always, I hope that these thoughts and ramblings are helpful and provide food (pardon the pun) for thought.

Above all NEVER FEEL THAT BINGEING  IS A SIGN OF FAILURE WHEN IT CAN BE AN INVALUABLE TOOL FOR LEARNING. In my own life I tend to learn much more from my mistakes than when everything is going right.