[Leigh Ann]

Hi All! It has been several months since I have posted – my computer died and I am having to borrow someone else’s from time to time. I want to share with you something I have been doing over the past 3 ½ weeks, but first I want to give you some background as to why I am doing it. Emotional eating over the past 4 or so years has led to me regaining almost half the weight I lost after my WLS. This year has been awful, and I ended up gaining almost 30 pounds since January. I firmly decided that I had to do something to get back on track, and during this summer I did the 5 day pouch reset. It was good, but 5 days wasn’t enough time to undo 4 years of bad habits. I had read an article in the Meridian Star newspaper that it takes 21 days to form a habit, so I decided to use this to help me get back on track. I took out the 5dpt, and took out my WLS info, especially my food diary pages, and said – Okay! What can I do to get back to here? What I decided was to rework the 5dpt so that it more closely mimicked the eating plan I had to follow in the weeks immediately after my WLS, and to do it long enough to reform the “habit” of healthy eating.
What I decided to do was this – do each day of the 5dpt for a week, with a few minor modifications. I started this on Monday, November 2, 3 ½ weeks ago. For the 1st week I had liquids, and raw fruit. I used protein supplements and took all my vitamins. The 2nd week I went up to soft protein, with added raw fruit and veggies, and one serving of whole grain carbs. Last week, I went up to firm protein, with the same fruits, veggies and carbs, and this week I am up to solid protein, with the same fruit, veggies and carbs. The goal of this was not to loose weight, (although that has happened), but to be able to replace bad eating habits with good ones.
5 days was simply not long enough to reset my body or my way of thinking. I am happy to say that after 3 ½ weeks I am doing great! It has again become 2nd nature to weigh or measure my food, and to automatically say no to taboo foods. My body feels clean and energized, and my mind feels fresh and confident. During the 1st week I noticed that I was getting full sooner than usual, but the big change came during the 2nd week when I replaced the liquids with solid foods. Through my new food diary, I saw that I was only eating about a third of what I was previously, and that I was much more satisfied! I have once again learned to pay attention to the difference between head hunger and real hunger, and as a result I am not even eating all of the food allotted for each day.
I know that there are some who may feel that this was an extreme thing to do, but I had to try something that would work for me personally. I do better with a strict plan to follow, and even though WLS gives strict rules, I had migrated away from them. I needed something strict but do-able that would let me get back to the WLS rules, foods, and amounts. I know this may not work for everyone, but it has done wonders for me. I just wanted to share it with you all. Thanks!!

[wannabe skinny]

leigh ann ~ welcome back to the group and congratulations on getting back on track. sometimes drastic action is needed to get us mentally back where we need to be in this journey

[BreeChick]

thank God for you girl! it's that good reminder that we have the tool for always if it's still intact.

I needed this post to read as I've been re-thinking a lot about how I'm eating. Although I've been doing so good healthwise..I got sick, really sick several weeks ago and hardly ate..which for ME made me go UP in weight..so frustrating. But being in bed for 2 weeks and nearly half a week more has given me a lot of time to think.

This sickness has weakened me so much and I have to totally start over on my working out as my respiratory system took a huge hit. With scarred lungs as it is it is going to be slow going. So I'd been thinking about and looking over old food diaries too. I want to get back to where I was at my most active and strong body wise and healthwise.

I think you are totally on track with the 21 days and reworking it back into new habits.

Awesome!

[dixieladybug]

You go girl. I knew you could and would do this. That sounds like a great plan. I will keep that in mind in case I ever need it. Stay around here it sure does help. Good luck now that you are back on track.

[Perfesser]

Sounds like we have a new tool to get folks back on track - the 21-day Leigh Ann reset program!! It's been well thought-out and field-tested for success! Good job, Leigh Ann!! Creativity and perseverance wins once more!!



CT

[ChristineR]

That took a lot of discipline and strength. You should be proud of yourself for doing what you needed to for you to get back on track!

[DocSanae]

Gald to hear from you, and glad that you were able to get your pouch back into working order.
I'm sure you'll do well, and your experience will help carry you though the rest of your life.

[BreeChick]

I think it is a credit to you for posting about your struggle with emotional eating. So many totally denigrate us longer posties when we bring up that life steps in and this CAN happen! Life happens, hurts happen, we turn back to what worked, or seemed to, before to comfort ourselves.

I just want to give you a huge ole HUG to let you know I am absolutely with you on this whole thing of resetting. In fact I think it's a great idea and something I'd been playing with in my mind. Doing the 5 day as a 21 day reset makes sense as it gets back to the beginning. Although for me I never had to do the soft foods bit as our surgeon had us on reg food right out of surgery!

That said...I think back after looking over old food diaries and workout books while I've been sick. I was brought up hard when I noticed that with regular 6-8 week intervals I would do a 3 day protein drinks and bars ONLY. I wonder now if that had a lot to do with my pouch continuing to stay the one ounce size even after all this time. But with the wide open stoma the food just moves down.

So to get back to where I WANT to be in my body, in my health..I have to look hard at what I was doing then that is different than NOW?

I know a lot of the girls get weird over the weigh every day thing, but really in some ways it IS a good tool to help you make the RIGHT choices each day.

For me, the longest time beyond goal weight I didn't weigh except at the gym. At home I had a small pair of jeans that were my ones that IF they still fit? I knew that my 'fat thinking' was all in my head. Because these were teeny boys jeans!!!

We learn so much as we go along and I think it is a good thing tonight to give you

-----CUDOS!!!---

for coming out and sharing what you've dealt with and HOW you got back on track. You just never know who you'll give encouragement to!

[Leigh Ann]

You all can't imagine what a boost it is to hear your positive reinforcement! That was another huge part of my success that I forgot to tell you about. A big piece of weight loss advice we are often told is to tell someone (outside your family) what changes you are trying to make. I have several friends from church and the community that I am friends with on Facebook. I sent a "thread" type e-mail to about 12 of them detailing what I was planning to do and why. I immediately had people encouraging me, and one precious lady even invited me to spend my first day of the program at her house visiting, to help keep my mind off of food. They check on my progress at church and online, and it is a huge motivator. That coupled with your comments and having such good results just has my determination going through the roof! I weigh every day because even just to see a few ounces gone helps. I am down 12 pounds from starting the program 3 1/2 weeks ago, but the biggest change is that I hear my pouch again. I feel like hollering "YEAH BABY!!!" everytime I get full and there is still food on my plate. (I'm eating off of saucers again too, by the way.) It is like a victory walk everytime I walk to the trash can to throw the leftover food away.
The program is actually 28 days. The article I read said that it takes 21 days to form a habit, but I am doing the 4 phases from the 5dpt for a week each, so I am still actually in week 4. The way I said all that in my original post did make it sound like a 21 day thing. Sorry.
I am just so excited and anxious to see what is GOING to happen over the next few months. I feel like somehow I have been granted a do-over, and this time I don't plan to mess it up. Stay in touch guys! It helps so much. Love to you all!

[Perfesser]

I'm kind of a private person, so I didn't tell anyone about WLS because a) it's none of their blanking business and b) I wanted to spare myself the potential negativity. My wife knew, but no one else. I tried a couple of on-line support groups, but the only thing I ever got out of them was a referral to this list (which was a wonderful thing, but the other lists didn't do a thing for me.) I tried a face-to-face support group in a town 30 miles away, but that was a fiasco in itself. Three-quarters of the members were bragging on the things they were doing wrong that they were getting away with.

Until I hooked up here, 5 months post-op, I had essentially zero positive reinforcement except at the surgeon's office when I went for checkups. Because of who I am and the things I've gone through, I was able to work with that, but it would have been soooo much easier with good strokes from folks who mattered. When Peanut had hers 15 months later, she told everyone who would listen. Partially because I had set the example, and everyone at church and in the family by that time knew about the surgery and had seen its positive effects in me, Peanut had clear sailing and all the good feedback she could handle, and she still gets it.

It can be done alone, but it is much preferred to have outside support as Leigh Ann says. This isn't the easiest journey on earth, and anything we can do to make it easier and more rewarding ... well ... it just makes it easier and more rewarding!!

Leigh Ann, it sounds like you are well on your way to a resounding success!!! What a great story you have to share!!!

CT