KateMT

Hi, everyone. I am about three and a half months out from the sleeve and I feel like I'm doing really poorly. I've lost about 35 pounds and considering that I lost 20 a week after surgery I'm feeling really discouraged at how slowly the rest is coming off. The problem is - I can eat! I'm really regretting choosing the sleeve over the bypass. I can not eat large quantities of the food I am supposed to be eating like proteins, but I can eat larger quantities of the foods I am NOT supposed to have like snacks. They just go down easier and I can tolerate more of them. I feel every bit as food-obsessed as before my surgery. For instance, this morning I had a packet of instant oatmeal before I came to work. But when I got to work all I could think about was, what can I start munching on? I was definitely NOT hungry - but I was so obsessed thinking about food I finally had to go get some pretzels and munch on them. I am grazing throughout the day.

I know I need to exercise. I have only been walking sporadically and last week I really made an effort to start at least fitting in a walk at work every day. I know I need to do something more strenuous, but I have just been giving myself excuses why I can't fit it in. The truth is, I'm just not committing myself to it.

I probably wasn't as ready to start losing weight as I should have been. Maybe I thought the surgery would be an easy fix. I didn't take the diet as seriously as I should have. I started trying solid foods right after the surgery. I had it easier than most - I didn't need to be followed by a physician before my surgery and I had total, instant insurance approval. I know many people work for months to have this surgery and I feel like I am wasting my opportunity. I know I need to "start over" but I feel like I can't get a handle on my food cravings and get motivated to exercise. Tomorrow we are having a support group and the topic is obsessing over food, so that will be good. But any advice or encouragement would be appreciated!