As part of my band adjustment I also had an appointment with a dietitian. Who knew learning to eat again would be so hard? She had several good ideas for me. I have been tracking my calories and she encouraged me to stop doing that and instead concentrate on just listening to my body to tell me when I am satisfied. She said counting calories is a dieter's mentality and I am not on a diet. Good advice, but it is going to be a little challenging.I think too often in the past I was eating the wrong foods, the wrong amounts and eating too often, so I don't really trust my own instincts to be able to know when I am getting the right nutrition and calories. Even today, my first instinct was to log my foods into my food diary from yesterday, but I suppose I should start weaning myself off of it. I think her advice is sound, I just need to start trusting that I can make good choices and my band will help me know that I have had enough.
Just another reminder to me that for people that have struggled with their weight much of their life that the lapband is only one tiny piece of the puzzle. There is so much work to do on yourself emotionally, mentally and physically. My dietitian put it like this...the lapband is like getting a brand new car, you don't get into a car and expect it to just go and do all the work, you still have to turn the ignition and drive. I'm still learning so much in this little journey of mine, it's really giving my brain a workout.
Some people do it, but I agree that tracking calories is part of the diet mentality, and something we need to let go of.
ReplyDeleteListening to your body and eating only when you are hungry is the real ticket to freedom. We lifelong yo-yo dieters have completely lost the ability to feed our bodies in a natural way. I am so happy to be off the yo-yo rollercoaster, and learning how to trust myself when it comes to food.
Great advice, thanks for sharing. You are growing even as you shrink!
I like the car analogy. I forgot how it feels to eat because I need to and not because the food is there. I also want to give up the counting calories (points in WW). I want to be able to let the band be my guide alone.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. We are all a work in progress. The band is just a little part of the who picture. Thanks for your post.
I agree that tracking calories makes you feel like you are on a diet, but until I get some great restriction I made a promise to myself to do it for at least 1 full week a month. This way I can reset my idea of portions and calories just in case i get off during my non-tracking days. However, even when I am not tracking I still see what is in certain foods - especially new foods. For example, when I go out to eat I check on the nutrional facts online (sometimes the healthiest sounding foods have more calories that I eat in a whole day...!!).
ReplyDeleteThis month doing only 1 week of tracking has been good. I didn't feel like I was constantly "dieting", but honestly without restriction it was still a little of a diet. I did lose less weight, but strangely it was during the weeks that I tracked that I lost the least :)