WLS (Weight Loss Surgery) for Overeating

[EchelonHunt]

I am seriously complentating seeing an eating disorder clinic that can help me with my overeating habits. As you all may know, over the past few years, I have tried consistently so many times to lose weight, twice I have succeeded losing 10-15kg only to regain it back slowly over time.

I am sick of this vicious cycle. I’m at my wits end, I need help - professional help and possibly surgical intervention because my attempts to eat healthy and exercise are always being sabotaged by my overeating habits. No matter how hard I try to resist the urge and cut out or cut down the food I like, I just end up bingeing.

[Valerie]

You got this! You just took the most important first step into realizing you need help, and that’s huge Strength. Start with clinic first before trying surgery maybe, and then if still struggling give surgery a try

[Trinity]

[Ativan Prescribed]

I've changed my eating habits over the last six months, the last three a lot.
I still binge on crap, but the usual crap I was eating has stopped.
I'm not sure there is a way that I'm doing this, but it's a need to do or die kinda thing.
I don't want to eat the usual I was eating, no desire.
I do like the fruits and vegetables that I an eating and if I'm hungry, I can always eat blueberries, blackberries, strawberries...
I do eat to much ice cream, but that has been cut in half, and I want more, but just don't, I've gotten used to the amount now.
I have to watch everything now, all the sugar is getting to me, diabetic is on the horizon and I take meds for that now, and I eat stuff that is good for it as well, but that only goes so far.
That I'm using small doses of supplements seems to help, my vitamin and stuff levels are way up, I'm sure and I do feel a lot better, but very little exercise ruins that, winter here means very little exercise.
But still, my depression isn't anywhere near what it was for this time of year, less memory loss it seems, but how would I know, really??
And I'm losing weight because I have too, I'm at the top of the BMI phony level thing, and am getting closer to the bottom.
So radically changing my diet by changing what I eat and finding the things that I like, I don't eat as much, especially junk food.
I don't weigh out or measure anything, it's a this is enough kind of thing, if I want more I'll eat more, my life is to short now, so whats a little shorter?
But I am finding that I'm eating a lot less, am losing weight slowly, how much I don't know, I don't weigh myself, but I've lost almost all the belly fat.
I think it's just eating better stuff, just trying to eat healthy and not what I want, cutting out all refined sugar, being careful of buying stuff that has fructose in it, artificial sweeteners, all those are a no, I don't and won't, I think that has a lot to do with feeling better.
But I'm not controlling my intake, I eat when and what I want, and only buy the healthy stuff I can afford, no portion control.
I slowly noticed I'm eating less, and it's probably about half to three quarters of what I normally was eating calories wise.
Odd thing, I can see a lot better in the dark, I mean a lot, and adjusting from strong light to dark is really a lot faster than it was, odd thing to notice.
but weight wise, I know I've lost a lot of weight and my knees are much better going up three flights of stairs a few times a day.
Smoking in almost none, I'm going to go have the first one in a minute, was going to a few hours ago and it doesn't bother me much.
That also helps in feeling better, but like I had to go over three months in the hospital, no smoking and ate a lot, gained a lot and felt like crap from it.
So switching things up with just foods that in general are a lot better for you, not to lose weight but to just be healthier, has led to weight loss.
I could stand to lose more and I think I will at the way I think I am looking, my belly being the thing that I guage it by, I wanted to lose it, weight I don't care about, but to lose that much has got to mean I lost weight, I'll find out in a couple days, seeing the dreaded Dr of bad news all the time, she just won't let me live it out, she has to scare me into doing the right things to live longer.
As it turns out, she might be right, I do feel better or is that the calm before the storm?

[Leena]

I've basically been stuck at a plateau for the last few years myself. Like you, I've lost a bit a few times, but ended up gaining it back. The way I see it though, over the longer term, I'm basically eating at maintenance, and that isn't really that hard for me.

Weight issues are that much harder being trans or non-binary, I'm not sure that most of the resources available to overweight cis people really address a lot of the issues, like fat distribution patterns or that weight is likely not the only body issues. Many of the resources I used to try to stay in shape back when I was in denial about being trans are toxic to me now.

Sometimes completely changing up your exercise program can get you past a plateau.

[EchelonHunt]

I've hit rock bottom.

I'm sure I've got an addictive personality. My mother is addicted to smoking, my father is addicted to alcohol, my sister is addicted to alcohol. I used to be addicted to alcohol but not anymore, thankfully.

I got addicted to online shopping when I lived with my (then) partner in the US. I easily brought 50 items in the course of 1 and a half months. I brought so many things that I lost track of what I brought and what was arriving to the house next.

When I used to drink, I was into binge-drinking. Got myself in a situation where I was sexually coerced into sex I didn't want, ruined a few friendships and a relationship in the process. Luckily, drinking stopped being an escape and just started being an awful reminder of all the bad things that happened to me so it was easy to stop drinking. Being an introvert and withdrawing from social activities where drinking would be involved helped as well. I can't have a little bit to drink, it's got to be an excessive amount or none at all.

The same is with food, I can't have a little bit, I need excessive amount of food. My body doesn't have a switch that flips saying "You're 50%, 60%, 70% full, stop eating." I only stop when I feel like I'm gonna be sick, the feeling of my stomach going to burst from being excessively full is the only time I know I should stop eating.

I tried counting calories, but I got obsessed with the numbers game, it became less about enjoying food and more about making sure I hit my calorie limit and if I hit below my calorie limit, I would get a high from it. It became unhealthy and I stopped counting calories.

I tried low carb (I really thought low carb was my saving grace) but cutting out carbs/sugars makes me crave it more and I thought cutting down carbs/sugars would help but no matter what I did, it just made me crave it more.

I tried using distractions to distract myself from thinking about food, this was short-lived because then I would consumed by blogs, FB groups and thoughts about phalloplasty and I can't have that surgery anytime soon so there's no point thinking about it, so I go back to thinking about food.

I comfort eat, this doesn't help either.

I have no healthy medium with food. It's either nothing (and I can't eat nothing because one's body needs food for survival) or extreme amounts of food. I've always had an unhealthy relationship with food since I was a kid. I never ate vegetables and always wanted frozen chips and chicken nuggets for dinner. I was what you'd call a "fussy eater". When high school came around, I would skip breakfast, throw my lunch away because I didn't want people to see me eating and I would binge as soon as I got home. When I graduated high school, I was at home all the time so all I did was eat all day, this contributed to me gaining to the highest I've ever been, which was 115kg, I think. I lost 15-20kg before starting HRT to prove I could lose weight, when I began HRT, I slowly gained weight back. I lost 15kg before top surgery, slowly gained it back after surgery. I lost 15kg again before hysterectomy and slowly gained it back after.

I have these "goals" to lose weight for. I don't want to throw myself into a weight loss regime for phalloplasty in the future, only to gain it back afterwards. I honestly wish my psychiatrist helped me with my weight issues before giving me HRT but I didn't realise how severe my relationship with food was back then, I was in denial.

My parents both take medication for high cholesterol and high blood pressure, they are both obese. I used to have high cholesterol levels (6.0) but last test result I had, it was a nice 4.9 - I don't know how because I was still eating crap, just adding vegetables to it! I used to have the beginnings of fatty liver disease but that has since cleared up when I stopped drinking. My blood pressure is completely fine and healthy for my age, thankfully. My mum has type 2 diabetes and she's done nothing to control it, she blames it on being lazy or having no self-control. I don't want to grow old and end up being like my parents, to be poor examples of health.

I'm going to give myself a year with therapy to reteach my brain to stop overeating. If this, for whatever reason, doesn't work, I will go ahead with bariatric surgery. I'm not taking this lightly as I really DON'T want to have bariatric surgery but I WILL do it as a last resort.

[Leena]

Feb 1, 2018 19:55:42 GMT 8 EchelonHunt said:

I've hit rock bottom.

I'm sure I've got an addictive personality. My mother is addicted to smoking, my father is addicted to alcohol, my sister is addicted to alcohol. I used to be addicted to alcohol but not anymore, thankfully.

I got addicted to online shopping when I lived with my (then) partner in the US. I easily brought 50 items in the course of 1 and a half months. I brought so many things that I lost track of what I brought and what was arriving to the house next.

When I used to drink, I was into binge-drinking. Got myself in a situation where I was sexually coerced into sex I didn't want, ruined a few friendships and a relationship in the process. Luckily, drinking stopped being an escape and just started being an awful reminder of all the bad things that happened to me so it was easy to stop drinking. Being an introvert and withdrawing from social activities where drinking would be involved helped as well. I can't have a little bit to drink, it's got to be an excessive amount or none at all.

The same is with food, I can't have a little bit, I need excessive amount of food. My body doesn't have a switch that flips saying "You're 50%, 60%, 70% full, stop eating." I only stop when I feel like I'm gonna be sick, the feeling of my stomach going to burst from being excessively full is the only time I know I should stop eating.

I tried counting calories, but I got obsessed with the numbers game, it became less about enjoying food and more about making sure I hit my calorie limit and if I hit below my calorie limit, I would get a high from it. It became unhealthy and I stopped counting calories.

I tried low carb (I really thought low carb was my saving grace) but cutting out carbs/sugars makes me crave it more and I thought cutting down carbs/sugars would help but no matter what I did, it just made me crave it more.

I tried using distractions to distract myself from thinking about food, this was short-lived because then I would consumed by blogs, FB groups and thoughts about phalloplasty and I can't have that surgery anytime soon so there's no point thinking about it, so I go back to thinking about food.

I comfort eat, this doesn't help either.

I have no healthy medium with food. It's either nothing (and I can't eat nothing because one's body needs food for survival) or extreme amounts of food. I've always had an unhealthy relationship with food since I was a kid. I never ate vegetables and always wanted frozen chips and chicken nuggets for dinner. I was what you'd call a "fussy eater". When high school came around, I would skip breakfast, throw my lunch away because I didn't want people to see me eating and I would binge as soon as I got home. When I graduated high school, I was at home all the time so all I did was eat all day, this contributed to me gaining to the highest I've ever been, which was 115kg, I think. I lost 15-20kg before starting HRT to prove I could lose weight, when I began HRT, I slowly gained weight back. I lost 15kg before top surgery, slowly gained it back after surgery. I lost 15kg again before hysterectomy and slowly gained it back after.

*hugs*

I'm not so sure there's anyone without an addictive personality. If someone can do one addictive thing moderately, it's often because they do something else in excess.

I used to eat like that when I was in high school, other than my reason for not eating lunch was to hide somewhere and smoke cigarettes and spent my lunch money on that also. I do think eating so much for dinner really stretched my stomach out though. I gained the dreaded freshman 15 and then some in college when I started having breakfast and lunch, and still ate my huge dinners.

I certainly have my own problems with addiction. I actually did get myself down to my target weight back when I was in my last year of college, but also developed a drinking habit there that eventually grew and made it impossible for me to stay thin. I have that a bit more under control, but yeah I won't just have a drink or two either if I'm going to drink.

Try not to throw out tools that work even if they sometimes bother you. Counting calories does work, but you don't have to obsess over it. It's really mostly about being aware of how much calories are in some foods. A lot of foods have a lot of calories and aren't even that tasty. Low carb works mainly because carbs have a lot of calories, not because ketosis is some sort of magic calorie burning state like bro science seems to make it out to be. You don't have to stay in ketosis to lose weight, but it is hard to lose weight if you eat a lot of carbs, because a lot of carbs is going to be a lot of calories.

I have trouble staying on my programs also, and let cheat meals end up being cheat days, and then cheat weekends and so on. I'm really disappointed in myself that I'm not even close to my target weight, and I was really hoping to be at that weight when I finished electrolysis, so I can really tell if that will be enough for me, or if I need HRT.

I know this is really tough for you, I wish there was something more I could say that could really motivate you...