I just wanted to point out there is no harm in missing a meal. You will be hungry and you will be tempted to make bad food choices. If you're capable of making good food choices dispite being extra hungry than there is no physiological reason skipping a meal is bad.

Your metabolism won't slow down. Your muscles won't shrink before your eyes. Our bodies are well adapted to surviving a short term food shortage which is the primary reason we are well adapted to become fat!

wow, what a coincidence! I was just reading another thread you wrote when I saw you'd responded to mine.

True, I agree on the skipping a meal, I'm also familiar with intermittent fasting although I haven't tried it myself. My only question is one of relevance. Do you think eating differently will help with the gallstones?

My big problem with that is that eating is very social/emotional for me. If no one is eating and I'm not hungry, I don't mind skipping a meal. But if its time for my kids to eat and I'm not that hungry, I have to sit at the table so they'll eat and not run off and play, but I can't just sit at the table and not eat anything. Also my family is one that uses food as love, they make you things. so there's a strong negative connotation to turning down food.

Gosh I wish it was simpler though.

Just want to say I'm really happy you have a diagnosis! That is really great. I had similar symptoms (absolute horrible pain and vomiting when waking up at night) for 3 days a few years ago. They did an EKG, ultrasound on the gallbladder, etc., couldn't find anything wrong. It was terrifying waking up with that type of absolute agony and then to not have a diagnosis. Fortunately the problem hasn't returned for me and it looks like you are on the road to recovery too. I wish you the best of luck with whatever you decide to do!

atreyyena, just wanted to share my experience of having my gall bladder removed. It was nothing.

I remember waking up in the hospital after the surgery and wondering when the heck they were going to get this silly surgery underway, and.... reached down to feel two little bandaids on my tummy... they were already done!

I had no pain, a short recovery period and life went on -- without the dreadful pain of gall bladder attacks. (The attack that finally precipitated my surgery was caused by eating one Girl Scout cookie (coconut caramel variety)... the attack lasted for 12 hours. Eeeuuggghhh.)

Good luck with it all!!

It may be that your stomach is not used to overeating and eating unhealthy foods anymore. It may also be stress related.

But I think its best if you went and see your doctor.

I've learned in weight watchers today that your thoughts are very important (I think especially in your case).

Tell yourself that you have lost weight before and you can do it again. And try to identify and rectify the thoughts that accompany your overeating.

Good luck!

I don't agree on what's been said on skipping meals.

Your blood sugar levels drop significantly after not eating for a while. This may lead to you being hungry, cranky and tired.

Food is energy and all of us need it to survive, to be happy and to have energy.

I think it is best to always try and have a meal, even when you can only have a diet shake or a small meal. The other important thing is to eat healthy - that way you will still lose weight and have lots of energy.

And as eating often boosts your metabolism, not eating for a few hours may thus slow down your metabolism, as your metabolism's not being boosted.

As always - it is best to turn to science and studys rather than simply assuming something.

First up - metabolism myth. Interestingly enough science shows us that the body's first reaction to not eating is to speed up the metabolism slightly and it takes over two days of not eating anything for it to slow down.

Second - blood sugar. In a healthy person* the body does a splendid job of regulating blood sugar levels even with low meal frequency. A recent study showed the body actually did better with low meal frequency. *Some people are hypoglycemic and should not skip a meal.

Both of these make perfect sense when you consider that we humans evolved over a long period of time where food was scarce.

I'm not suggesting people skip meals. I'm suggesting that if you're not hungry skipping a meal isn't going to cause any harm assuming you can make good food choices when you become hungry.

Yep, all true to the best of our medical knowledge to date, and thank you for the links to the studies, John.

With that said, I don't go more than a few hours without a meal, but it isn't because of metabolism slowing down or anything like that. I just know that my willpower is inversely proportional to the length of time since my last meal.

As for the gallbladder thing, my mom had hers removed and said she wished she'd done it sooner. It was done laparoscopically, so she just had a few little holes and not a big scar.

I hope I won't have to face gallbladder issues--with no medical insurance, the thought of surgery is more than a little alarming--but they aren't at all uncommon for women who've lost a lot of weight (and I DO intend on being a woman who loses a lot of weight ). If it does need to be done, though, all my anecdotal evidence suggests it's one of the least problematic surgeries you can have done.

atreyyena, I'm glad to hear that you stuck with it and got a diagnosis.

After enduring quite a few nasty attacks within a 2 month span, I had my gallbladder removed in Nov '97. At the time, I was told by the surgeon that the top 3 causes for gallbladder issues were:

* extreme weight loss
* long periods of stress
* child birth

I don't know if this is still considered scientific fact, but at the time I was under a huge amount of stress, had two children, and had lost over 100 lbs. Guess that means I was a shoe in according to the top 3 contenders list for gallbladder issues

Prior to surgery, I was put on a reduced fat diet. Anytime I ate anything that was greasy or had the slightest bit of fat, I had an attack. The attacks got progressively worse. I was so relieved after surgery, I wish that I had agreed to the surgery sooner!

There wasn't any pain to speak of after surgery, just minor irritation, and a lot of relief!

I wish you the best of luck, in whatever you decide to do.