This week’s installment of “As The Stoma Turns” brings me weighing in at exactly the weight I was before my trip to New York and before stuffing my face with processed carbs as I dealt with family and my sister in law’s passing.  I got this done without a lot of assistance from my band.  I will have more information by the end of this week as to what is going on there.

These are my lessons, my insights, from this experience of weight gain from mindless eating and stuffing of emotions:

• Even at 9 years post-op I am subject to falling back into old habitual behaviors
• Emotional stress is still difficult to deal with
• My choices, My results
• Planning is key to my choices and has multiple components - planning meals, planning exercise, planning water intake, and planning for dealing with temptation by having a Plan B
• Keeping a bottle of water at my desk along with my cup of whatever herbal tea I am sipping encourages my water intake
• Writing down everything I put in my mouth helps me be accountable to myself.  Not writing it down allows for both mindless consumption and personal dishonesty, aka forgetting about “that”
• Having an accountability partner who I can call on at any time to share a win or just blow off steam helps a lot.
• Letting my family know (those directly around me) what I am trying to accomplish and what I need/expect from them helps me stay on point
• The second bite never tastes as good as the first, so if “I Must”, one bite is enough
• Progress NOT perfection

Staying true to myself, and all of you, on this journey has always been what I am about.  I will share with you what I find out about my band next week.  In the meantime I can continue tracking my food, planning my meals with care, eating mindfully, having alternatives to go to when grabbing something with unnecessary calorie just will not do, and continuing to win my personal battle with obesity.

When I looked back at my two and three year mark and realized just what I had managed to accomplish I made a promise to myself:  NEVER AGAIN!