I'm 3.5months post op and I want to let you know that I mourned food too. I looked longingly at fried chicken and ice cream and coke and wondered about the sacrifice I was making, and if I really wanted to make that sacrifice.

Then someone said something to me that changed the way I looked at it: You don't have to give up the things you love, you just eat less of it. That means I even now still have fried chicken, but only one piece, and only once in a while. I find that because I get full faster, I don't crave deep fried stuff as often as I did before. But if I want it, I have it.

I haven't had a coke since my op. I didn't realise it until recently. I just reach for water everytime I'm thirsty, and not coke because I worry that the bubbles will make me feel gassy (and gassiness is always a problem) Next thing I know I haven't touched the stuff in months.

I don't eat ice cream anymore either. Ice cream is a dessert, and I'm usually full after dinner, so have no room for ice cream. But if I really wanted some, I'd have some. I just don't want it anymore.

I do eat chocolate. I have a little bit instead of a whole bar. I have some, savour it, then put it aside and tell myself I can have some more another day. There's always another day, and I keep the option open. The bar I started on a month after my op is still on my bedside table now, less than 1/4 eaten.

I don't feel deprived because I don't deprive myself. And yet, I'm not craving anything sweet or fattening most of the time. And by allowing myself a little bit of naughtiness sometimes, it means I don't feel like I need to fight myself all the time.

So you don't have to 'mourn' anything. You're not losing anything. You're gaining a whole lot!

__________________
Banded: 1st August 08
Got to goal: mid-March 09.
Belt Lipectomy with vertical incision: 2nd April 09
stats in lbs: S215/C135/G154
Now in maintenance mode, no longer trying to lose