The Mental Preparation

When I first found out that I had to complete a 9 month supervised diet I wanted to throw in the towel. I had already decided what surgery to get...done all my research...been fat for WAY too long - I  was ready to have this surgery NOW!

BUT - this 9 month wait has been a blessing in disguise. It's given me time to educate myself more and prepare myself mentally. It has actually gone pretty fast and I only have 3 more months left of it.

Which leads me to AH-HA #2: Preparation
We all know that WLS is only a tool...not an answer. But, I have to be honest,when I first made the decision to start the required 9 month diet for surgery I didn't really want to think about lifestyle changes. I just figured I would stuff my face and exercise when I felt like it (which was rare) and it wouldn't matter if I lost or gained any weight before the surgery, because the surgery would take care of it for me. I was also counting on the surgery to change a lot of other things too:

"When I have surgery I won't have any cravings, so I won't worry about them now."
UMM....NOPE! According to most post-op surgery folks they say they have to overcome a lot of "mental hunger/mental cravings" after surgery. Most cravings are mental, and often a response to an emotion we are feeling (even if we don't realize it). That's why I've been recently working on distracting myself when I get a craving...I got that from my Binge Eating Group. First, when I have a craving (or "think" I'm hungry) I have to wait 10 minutes to see if the craving/hunger is still there. I have to evaulate when I last ate to determine if I'm actually hungry or if it's a mental hunger. During those 10 min I find something else to keep my mind occupied (brush teeth, do some stretches, change rooms or activities, etc). Most of the time it works for me. In the beginning it was hard. First few days I gave into the craving. Next few days I would give into the craving, but replace the junk food with a healthy one. I usually crave sweets, so instead of going for cookies or sweet cereal I would grab a piece of fruit. After about 2 weeks I found I was craving things less and less. Maybe due to awareness? Maybe due to avoiding trigger foods? Maybe a combination of both.
(Side Note: my psychologist required me to attend 4 weekly sessions of a Binge Eating Support Group. When she told me that I thought to myself, "Right...like that is really going to benefit me." It has really helped me to be more concientious and gave me coping strategies)

"When I have surgery all of my old eating habits will just go away."
AGAIN...NOPE! I'm an emotional eater and a habitual eater. Meaning I eat when I'm down or upset...for comfort, and I eat out of habit - even if I'm not hungry. My worst habit is eating at night...around 8pm. It's my unwind time in front of the TV. It's like whenver I sit in front of the TV I feel like I need to have something to eat. Most of the time I'm not really even hungry...it's just this habit...this behavior of TV and food going hand-in-hand. This has been a hard one for me to break. I have good and bad days. Right now I'm just trying to focus on eating a healthy, portion-controlled snack...as I wean myself off of this behavior.
As far as the emotional eating, I'm also working on that. One coping strategy (learned in my Binge Group) is relaxation. When I'm emotional I sometimes don't think clearly...and I sometimes prefer not to think at all, which is why I end up eating until I'm so uncomfortably stuffed. By practicing my relaxation techniques it really clears my mind. It's kind of like a "restart" button when your mind is just overloaded. It works REALLY well when I do it. The part I'm having to learn is recognizing when I need to step back and take a chill pill before I self-medicate with food. It's a work in progress.

"When I have my surgery exercise will be so much easier."
Well, YES and NO. Yes, it will be easier on the body because I won't be carrying around all of that weight. But, I don't think getting into the habit of exercise will be much easier than now. Why not try and get into the habit NOW?  Right now I'm trying these walking dvd's at home. They are perfect, because I get moving, but they aren't so hard that I never want to do them again.

Anyway, I've come to realize that if I truly want to be successful in using my WLS tool, then I need to prepare myself NOW and not count on the surgery to take care of it all for me. I'm glad I've had 9 months to figure this out and prepare myself. I'm glad I have a really good bariatric program that provides me with the tools to succeed after WLS.