Well, first off, my research and topic exploration of the week for me is the use and role of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to assist in changing behavior around eating and exercise to help in achieving a normal weight. I’m very familiar with the concepts of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, due to some of my past projects at a past employer. I have the intellectual concepts down pretty cold. However, I have a hard time putting it into practice. I’ll be looking at this week how therapists might be working with wls patients using cognitive behavioral therapy to learn new ways to respond to the typical negative tapes and stressors that come up in our lives, and seeing if there are any cool tools for CBT for weight loss out there. To the crickets out there reading this, if you have great suggestions for resources, I’m all ears and will include your suggestions in my summary post at the end of the week.
For now, if you want to play along at home….*
Think of a typical situation that might make you feel bad about your weight loss efforts. Take a moment to write out that situation right now. What happened to make you feel badly? What was your reaction? What did you do? How did it affect your weight loss progress?
Now, ask yourself whether your thoughts about the situation were completely true and accurate. how else might you think about/frame what happened?
Finally, rescript the situation. What could you have told yourself that would have been more supportive and accurate, when the bad situation occurred? Try it now, how does this new response make you feel about your weight loss progress?
Ok, now a quick poll regarding head hunger and how you approach it.
Okay, topic #2. I am very interested in this study that WLSHelp has on their site about a 3 year study comparing vertical sleeve gastrectomy with roux-n-y bypass. I have been flopping back and forth on which procedure to choose, and have been lacking the evidence-based data my mind desires to spell out some of the outcomes. What is still missing is long term outcomes. As in, does something creepy happen 10 years out to sleeve patients that no one expected? How long have sleeves been done in other countries, and what are the outcomes there? This is the knowledge my brain seeks. Ultimately, I think I would like the sleeve first, in the hopes that I can reprogram myself in portion size and feelings about eating effectively, but still occasionally be able to have a tiny portion of something without worrying about dumping. I know many feel dumping is overrated, but I think about the little things, being able to have a little tiny piece of cake at a birthday party. I know its a slippery slope though, so that is where I wrestle. Do i need the RNY to keep me honest? Surgeon said I could always revise to RNY later, but I’d just as soon only have to do this once. And I would like my life after the initial weight loss to have the opportunity to be normal relative to other normal people. I also think the appeal of losing all the grehlin production is awesome to me. if it would long term eliminate hunger signals, how awesome is that?
* I am not a doctor nor do I play one on twitter. Check with your therapist for the best interpretation of CBT.