Tag: <span>Addiction</span>

Six months since my weight loss surgerycalendar 1990453 1920
Published Thu, 25th Feb 2021

Six months since my weight loss surgery

It’s exactly 26 weeks (or six months) today since I had my gastric bypass. And my progress so far has been fantastic!

I’ve lost nearly 37 kg (nearly 6 stones) in weight, and have dropped a couple of clothing sizes – from 4XL to 2XL. But I suppose the most important thing for me is that my health has improved.

New found love of execise

The pain I used to feel when moving around or exercising has all but gone. In fact, I now actively seek out opportunities to exercise, sometimes even twice a day. I love the goal of trying to get at least 30 active zone minutes every day on my Fitbit.

My only problem now is that my body is so used to me walking that my heart rate doesn’t get high enough – even when I walk as fast as I can – to get the active zone minutes. So I have to actively seek out steps or hills to climb – or switch to cycling – to get the heart rate up!

I never thought I’d be so keen to exercise!

I’m even contemplating joining a gym once the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and they re-open. I think I need to do something to exercise and tone my upper body. Perhaps maybe do some weights or resistance training and build up a bit of muscle.

Food addicition tamed

One important thing that the surgery has done is to place a blocker in front of my urges to binge eat. The smaller stomach pouch means that I physically can’t eat mountains of food.

In fact, we ordered in a takeaway last night, and I was full before we’d even finished the shared starter! I could only manage a bite of my main course before I had to stop eating. That’s great, because it forces me to moderate my eating. It makes me stop, whereas before I would have continued eating and eating.

The surgery has helped break my obsession with eating. I don’t get the same cravings for food. I still enjoy eating, but I don’t feel the compulsion to overeat or to seek out fatty or sugery foods! And I don’t think about food half as much as I used to in the past.

My Story Surgery

Addiction Exercise Progress

One Comment

I used to be addicted to Pepsi MaxPepsimax
Published Tue, 2nd Feb 2021

I used to be addicted to Pepsi Max

One of the things they tell you ahead of having bariatric surgery is that you should not have carbonated drinks afterwards the surgery.

For me, this was potentially a big problem, because I was addicated to drinking Pepsi Max. I used to spend up to 150 euros a month buying the smaller 500ml or 750ml bottles from local convience stores. On a good day I’d have 2 bottles, and on a bad day I’d have 4 or even 5 – so I’d guess I was consuming between 1 and 3 litres of the stuff every day!

On a normal workday I’d stop at a local shop on the way into the office and buy four 500ml bottles. They used to sell them as part of a promotion as 2 bottles for 3 euros, so I was spending 6 euros at a time just on Pepsi Max. I’d drink two of them staight away when I got into the office, have another one at lunch, and often the fourth during the afternoon.

I had so many people telling me that it was bad for me, especially at the quantities I was drinking, but I loved the taste and the rush of bubbles. And I guess I was looking for the caffeine hit at well. A 500ml bottle has around 65mg of caffeine in it, one of the highest caffeine contents of all the colas.

Carbonated drinks and weight loss surgery

Bariatric surgeons tell patients not to drink any carbonated drinks after surgery. The gas they release can be very uncomfortable in the new smaller stomach pouch, and they say that the increased pressure in the stomach can possibly stretch out the pouch.

I’ll also never forget that my surgeon said to me “it’ll feel like you’re having a heart attack”!

There’s also some evidence that diet sodas – even though they are calorie free themselves – can cause people to gain weight. The artificial sweeteners in them actually make people feel more hungry for other sweet (often sugary) foods.

My road to quitting Pepsi Max

The COVID-19 pandemic helped in a way. I was working from home, and under the watchful eye of my lovely wife, who did not like me drinking Pepsi Max. On my morning commute along the landing from the bedroom to the box-room I wasn’t passing any convenience stores, so I didn’t have the opportunity to buy any soft drinks.

I would still buy the odd bottle now and again when I went out of the house, but my consumption levels had already dropped dramatically.

Then I got my date for surgery, and the preparation for my procedure suddenly became real. For the 2 weeks before surgery I was on the liver-shrinking diet, and was only having 800 calories a day. And although the Pepsi Max was zero calories, I decided not to drink any of it during this two week period. I wanted to cut out all caffeine ahead going into hospital, so that I wouldn’t have to contend with the caffeine withdrawal at the same time as recovering from surgery!

After surgery

For the first 3 months after surgery, I was so focused on following the high-protein diet, and trying to get enough water into me, that I didn’t even consider having any sodas. If I was ever in a convience store and wanted a drink I would get a Vit Hit – a mixture of fruit juice, water and tea, with added vitamins.

And then one day I bought myself a bottle of Pepsi Max and brought it home. I wanted to find out whether I still loved the taste. I wanted to know if I would once again get the rush in my nose and throat from drinking it ice-cold.

And you know what? I didn’t enjoy it, at all. It didn’t taste anywhere near as good as I remembered, and it ended up being quite difficult to drink because the carbonated gas kept filling up my stomach and made it quite uncomfortable.

So I haven’t bought any more since then. And so far, I don’t miss it.

Diet Surgery

Addiction Caffeine Carbonated Drinks Pepsi Max

One Comment

Being led astrayhunger 413685
Published Wed, 29th Aug 2018

Being led astray

They say that misery loves company. And sometimes, so do over-eaters!

How many times have you been led astray by someone else? Perhaps they were about to tuck into a whole tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, or maybe a packet of Hobnobs, and they persuaded you to join them.

They didn’t want to binge eat on their own, because – you know – it looks bad, and they’ll feel guilty about it. But if you can be persuaded into eating with them, then it’s somehow OK.

And depending upon how fragile you are feeling, it might only take only the smallest suggestion to break your resolve.

It must be an eternal struggle for those who are trying to do Slimming World healthy eating in a house full of people who are not. Temptation (and tempters) would be around every corner.

In a way it’s easier if everyone is doing Slimming World together, as you can encourage each other, and hold each other to account. You can also avoid having bad foods in the house at all. However, with two or more people who are over-eaters in the same house, there is the potential for one person falling off-plan to bring the rest with them.

Psychology Slimming World

Addiction Binge Eating Food Addiction

Leave a Comment

Short-term vs long-term thinking for food addictsdonuts 690281
Published Thu, 23rd Aug 2018

Short-term vs long-term thinking for food addicts

Many decisions in life have short-term and long-term impacts upon us.

If I decide not to study for my exams tonight, then the short-term impact is that I have more time to relax or party, but the long-term impact is that I might fail my exams!

The same kind of short-term vs. long-term thinking often applies to weight loss as well. If I decide to eat a tray of donuts, then the short-term impact is that I feel great, but the long-term impact is that I gain weight which then impacts my health.

And so, most of the time we try to focus on the long-term goal in order to make better decisions. We prioritise the long-term weight loss over the short-term pleasure of the donuts. 

The nature of addiction

Unfortunately addicts (of whatever form – drugs, alcohol, gambling, or food) often have a distorted balance when it comes to short-term and long-term thinking. They find it harder to focus on the long-term goal, and end up giving in to short-term cravings.

An alcoholic knows that their drinking has an impact on their health, relationships, family, work, and quality of life – but the short-term release or euphoria they get from drinking overrides the long-term impacts.

It’s the same with people that have a food addiction. Ask any overweight or obese person, and they’ll tell you that they know that their overeating is bad for them, but the short-term pleasure they get from consuming the food or drink takes precedence.

I think that only by recognising and acknowledging that overeating is a food addiction can we hope to tackle the problem.

Education is not the answer

Educating people on healthy eating is not the way to tackle a food addiction. Just as educating alcoholics that being sober is good for them doesn’t stop them drinking.

I’ve known that fruit, vegetables, and lean meat are the road to a healthy diet for my full adult life, but it hasn’t stopped me eating my own body weight in chocolate and crisps!

I remember being in hospital a couple of years ago, and my consultant (having noticed my obese frame) had arrange for a dietitian to come and talk to me. But she wasn’t able to tell me anything I didn’t already know.

It wasn’t that I was eating loads of chocolate because I was ignorant of its effects on me. Like a smoker who knows that it’s bad for them, I know what healthy eating looks like, and I still don’t do it!

So what is the answer?

Well there are many things that can spark an addiction – and most of them stem from someone being unhappy about something in their past or current life. Their own private addiction is often their means of escape; their way to forget about their problems, even for just a few minutes.

And so, to me, the way to tackle this addiction cannot be just telling them to refrain from whatever they are addicted to. We need to get to the heart of the problems they are trying to drown out – and hopefully give them coping mechanisms to deal with those problems without resorting to bad short-term decisions.

I should probably point out that I’m not a psychologist, and I have no direct experience of treating or studying addiction. This is just my personal theory, based on my personal experience with food addiction. Your mileage may vary. But do feel free to comment on this post to let me know what you think.   

Psychology Slimming World

Addiction Education Food Addiction Healthy Eating

Leave a Comment

What is opportunity cost?scales
Published Sat, 1st Jul 2017

What is opportunity cost?

The term “Opportunity Cost” is something I remember from the Economics class at school.

The definition is somewhere along the lines of the loss of value or benefit of not doing something in order to achieve something else. An example of this in the world of economics is that if I decide to invest money to get a future return, then I miss out on being able to spend the money now. An example from the world of agriculture is that I forego getting a crop this year in order to let a field lie fallow and potentially increase my yield in future years.

The ‘opportunity’ is the future returns on the investment, and the ‘cost’ is not being able to spend now.

The concept is also sometimes summed up by the phrase “long term gain for short term pain”.

It can be applied quite easily to weight loss efforts, and it sometimes helps me maintain focus on what I’m trying to achieve. The opportunity cost that I have is to stop eating unhealthy foods that I might enjoy in the short term, in order to achieve my long-term goal of losing weight.

I won’t see the weight loss straight away, because it takes time to shift those pounds, so I won’t see a real-time correlation between my actions. Avoiding eating a doughnut now won’t instantly make me drop 3 pounds. I will only see those pounds go over the next couple of weeks.

And that’s why it can be so difficult to keep focused on the opportunity cost. Just ask any addict! They know that their addiction is bad for them, but they find it difficult to prioritise their long-term mental or physical health over the short-term hit of their addiction.

Many people (myself included) on a weight loss journey have an addiction – an addiction to food. They often find it difficult to avoid the short-term hit of the giant-sized piece of cheesecake in front over them over the long-term gain of a more healthy body.

So why am I talking about weight loss using an economic theory? Well, everyone has their own way of rationalising things – and this helps me. Your mileage may vary.

Psychology Slimming World

Addiction Benefit Cost Opportunity Cost

Leave a Comment