Anonymous wrote:I had the gastric sleeve. It completely changed my life for the better. I'm no longer on any medications. I have so much energy and feel in control of my eating.

A friend did this. Best decision she’s ever made.

Why would you guys recommend gastric sleeve to OP instead of traditional weight loss surgery? Just curious

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I have thought about the gastric sleeve. But surgery has its own risks and complications. I have the money for it. It just feels just such a cheat way to go. I could lose their weight if I could just control myself.

I am afraid that the surgery won’t change my habits. I do need some psych help here. This is addiction. And no I don’t binge, but I sneak all day. I will go to the market, get a piece of pizza and eat it in the car. Or McDonald’s and do the same. Grab a cheeses sandwich at me.I do this all the time.
FYI, I have NEVER admitted the last paragraph to ANYONE. Obviously if I stopped doing that I would lose weight! But I don’t. I can’t.

I’m the same age and need to lose the same amount (a little more, actually) and most of it piled on in perimenopause which throws hormones seriously out of whack and causes the feeling of insatiable hunger, so that on top of any preexisting emotional eating issues spells disaster!

After trying a lot of approaches, I have recently found some reliable success with intermittent fasting. It took me a few weeks to get rolling with it, but once my body acclimate I found my hunger much diminished as well as obsessive thinking about food. I recommend Fast. Feast. Repeat. by Gin Stephens

I have also considered bariatric surgery, but most doctors require that you lose some weight to prove you can before surgery, and if you can, it’s better for your long term health to do it that way. Rapid weight loss like from surgery results in bigger excess skin issues, most folks after surgery struggle with absorption of vitamins which is already an issue in middle age and can cause a lot of health issues so that requires careful monitoring and supplementation, plus you can fail at weight loss surgery too, so you might as well try natural weight loss first.

Dialectical behavior therapy is good for disordered eating. Support groups help a lot - you can get involved with overeaters anonymous online and attend meetings virtually in pandemic times. Find a good support buddy.

What I like about IF is that you can eat ANYTHING, but only in a window of time. Delay, don’t deny. I still try to limit certain foods that trigger cravings, but I’m not restricting a whole category of foods all the time which is an impossible approach for me - I’ve lost a lot of weight on keto but hated side effects and just couldn’t maintain it long term. On IF you don’t have to restrict any categories of food - just how long you let yourself eat every day so your body can get into ketosis from fasting and autophagy can kick in, which not only burns fat but cleans up all kinds of crap in your body.

It can’t hurt to try. You can always do surgery later if you decide that’s your path.

OP- if you're hungry all the time, I think you should try the keto/low carb/paleo route combined with intermittent fasting before trying surgery.

I am 50+ so didn't lose more than 10 lbs on keto, but the amazing way it took away my all my lifetime hunger/shakiness when I would try to not eat is still astonishing to me! And I'm still surprised I can go do some 16/8, 20/4 or 24 hour fasting periods. I don't do longer than 24 hours.

Keto does have a cult like following, but maybe that will help to get you started and stay motivated? TBH after 5 years, I am now just semi-low carb and trying to maintain my weight since Covid. I eat some carbs on weekends, try to limit alcohol to that time too and just try to be really good during the week and workout as much as I can.
Good luck to you!

OP here. Any diet nutritionists I should work with? Not sure I want to go down the surgery route.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I have thought about the gastric sleeve. But surgery has its own risks and complications. I have the money for it. It just feels just such a cheat way to go. I could lose their weight if I could just control myself.

I am afraid that the surgery won’t change my habits. I do need some psych help here. This is addiction. And no I don’t binge, but I sneak all day. I will go to the market, get a piece of pizza and eat it in the car. Or McDonald’s and do the same. Grab a cheeses sandwich at me.I do this all the time.

FYI, I have NEVER admitted the last paragraph to ANYONE. Obviously if I stopped doing that I would lose weight! But I don’t. I can’t.

My husband had the gastric sleeve almost 10 years ago. There is nothing “cheat” about it. It does two things - restricts the amount you can eat, and also seems to remove the drive and hunger to eat. They aren’t sure entirely why, but it has something to do with hormones produced in the stomach. The surgery alters them. The surgery is a tool, and it forcibly breaks your habits for long enough (about a year) that you can make new ones. After two to three years you do have to make an effort to not gain weight. My husband lost 130 lbs or so, and has regained about 40. He now has to do weight watchers and fuss about his diet like the rest of us, but he is no longer a compulsive over eater who has no ability to control his weight. He’s just an average chubby guy, and that is an incredible gift. Good luck, OP. Look into surgery. It is literally the only weight loss intervention (including all the diets and pills) with any evidence of long term efficacy. It isn’t about cheating - it’s about doing what science says works.

OP here. I have thought about the gastric sleeve. But surgery has its own risks and complications. I have the money for it. It just feels just such a cheat way to go. I could lose their weight if I could just control myself.

I am afraid that the surgery won’t change my habits. I do need some psych help here. This is addiction. And no I don’t binge, but I sneak all day. I will go to the market, get a piece of pizza and eat it in the car. Or McDonald’s and do the same. Grab a cheeses sandwich at me.I do this all the time.

FYI, I have NEVER admitted the last paragraph to ANYONE. Obviously if I stopped doing that I would lose weight! But I don’t. I can’t.

Ideal Protein, it’s offered at my drs office, I have a coach and there is a weight loss and maintenance program.
I’ve always struggled with staying accountable to my weight loss goals and this plan is easy to follow!

You can do it the Bravo way with Teddi Mellencamp’s program https://allinbyteddi.com/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you not think that your body is constantly craving food because it is not getting something it needs? When I eat a lot of carbs, I'm literally hungry all the time. There is no limit. But when I eat protein and fat and take supplements like Iron and Magnesium, I am rarely hungry. I'm constantly surprised by the weight loss talk here about how you have no control or will power. Extreme weight gain is a physical problem not a mental problem.

Also, you might look into Metformin which is great for evening out your blood sugar so that if you do eat sugar, you won't get that shaky hungry feeling (at least, that I do). It's a relatively safe medicine that is over the counter in most countries.

But not in this country.

No but ask your doctor for it. No doctor is going to say no.

I'm 7:25 PP and I've never been able to get Metformin from a doctor despite specifically asking more than one and having a BMI in the mid-30s.

Keep shopping. Honestly, doctors in this country treat people - women especially - like children.

Anonymous wrote:I also don't have suggestions, OP, but am in the same boat after gaining 50 lbs in the first 6 months of last year (I'm very short, so very negative effect). Years ago when I was only slightly overweight, I tried an internal medicine doctor focused on weight loss, a weight loss center (that prescribed me pills that did nothing for me, but freaked me out so I only went for a month or two), and an eating program (Jenny Craig/Nutrisystem/Medifast) on which I lost weight but found it hard to resume eating regular food.

I believe I, too, suffer from a food addiction, mainly sugar. I just switched from tracking everything in My Fitness Pal to the Fitbit app so am very aware of what I'm eating. I don't drink alcohol, soda, or juice, and don't eat out. Due to my height and age (50s) my caloric intake should be about 1100-1200 calories, less if I want to lose, and I find it hard to maintain that while working and parenting two young children. I just started listening to the Weight Loss for Busy Physicians podcast (am only on episode 4) for motivation. In the past when I've lost weight, the key has been accountability to someone. I'd love to hire a diet coach, like the doctor in the podcast, but think that would likely be out of my financial reach. Being accountable to myself clearly hasn't worked.

To this PP, I can be your accountability partner if you really want one. I’m a bored SAHM who works out regularly and has finally figured out healthy eating that doesn’t leave me craving sugar nonstop. I can send you photos of what I’m eating and you can check in daily on your food log, etc. I used to help run nutrition groups at a fitness center and am not trying to sell anything, just willing to help virtually since this stuff can get expensive and I get the struggle. Post an anonymous email and I will reach out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you not think that your body is constantly craving food because it is not getting something it needs? When I eat a lot of carbs, I'm literally hungry all the time. There is no limit. But when I eat protein and fat and take supplements like Iron and Magnesium, I am rarely hungry. I'm constantly surprised by the weight loss talk here about how you have no control or will power. Extreme weight gain is a physical problem not a mental problem.

Also, you might look into Metformin which is great for evening out your blood sugar so that if you do eat sugar, you won't get that shaky hungry feeling (at least, that I do). It's a relatively safe medicine that is over the counter in most countries.

But not in this country.

No but ask your doctor for it. No doctor is going to say no.

I'm 7:25 PP and I've never been able to get Metformin from a doctor despite specifically asking more than one and having a BMI in the mid-30s.

And, pp here, it's cheap. The point is you are fat because your body is starving.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you not think that your body is constantly craving food because it is not getting something it needs? When I eat a lot of carbs, I'm literally hungry all the time. There is no limit. But when I eat protein and fat and take supplements like Iron and Magnesium, I am rarely hungry. I'm constantly surprised by the weight loss talk here about how you have no control or will power. Extreme weight gain is a physical problem not a mental problem.

Also, you might look into Metformin which is great for evening out your blood sugar so that if you do eat sugar, you won't get that shaky hungry feeling (at least, that I do). It's a relatively safe medicine that is over the counter in most countries.

But not in this country.

No but ask your doctor for it. No doctor is going to say no.

Anonymous wrote:Do you not think that your body is constantly craving food because it is not getting something it needs? When I eat a lot of carbs, I'm literally hungry all the time. There is no limit. But when I eat protein and fat and take supplements like Iron and Magnesium, I am rarely hungry. I'm constantly surprised by the weight loss talk here about how you have no control or will power. Extreme weight gain is a physical problem not a mental problem.

Also, you might look into Metformin which is great for evening out your blood sugar so that if you do eat sugar, you won't get that shaky hungry feeling (at least, that I do). It's a relatively safe medicine that is over the counter in most countries.

But not in this country.