Hey everyone! Im a 22 year old college student who had gastric bypass surgery in September 2008. My journey has been amazing so far up until the past few months. I started at 378 lbs and worked my way down to 183 lbs. Over the past few months I have gained some back and when I stepped on the scale last I was devistated to see that I had gained 14 pounds back and weighed in at 197 lbs. SCARY! I looked back and realized that it's because im getting back in to my old habits of over eating and snacking or what I call "eating on impulse" (hungry or not, if it's available and looks good ill grab it and eat it, then realized what i've just done) I am sure some can relate and my hopes of joining this sight is to gain some advice from others who have battled the same problems and have overcome or are working to overcome them. I know it's mind over matter but sometimes it's hard to control that. I would like to loose the weight I gained and some more with my goal being 160 lbs. Im open for any tips, advice, comforting words, and help anyone has to offer

Hello and welcome I am a 24, and a student as well.

I know how you feel about impulse eating, I do it too. What has helped me WW or calorie counting. I am more aware of what I put into my body when I have to account for it. Another trick I've learned is to drink water or tea (I drink my tea plain) when I am not hungry but feel a craving to eat.

Congrats on your journey so far, you've lost a lot of weight! Good luck in reaching your goal.

Hey thank you, after reading posts from others today I heard a lot about drinking tea helps. Do you have a suggestion for a tea that has a lot of flavor? I love hot green tea, but I like a lot of flavor as well so I only drink it if I add honey which defeats the purpose.

Hi megan, and welcome!

I've only started trying to lose weight recently, but impulse eating has always been a big problem for me too. I feel like counting calories has been a huge help with that over the past few weeks. Now that I track everything I eat and drink I can see exactly how all my meals and snacks are impacting my daily total, and foods I would have grabbed without thinking about it a few weeks ago now set off an alarm in my brain -- and I go for something much healthier instead.

Regarding tea... I usually drink it iced, because my husband makes the best iced tea ever... but his trick is using about 2/3 green tea and 1/3 black tea. The black tea seems to give the green tea more body, and pumps up the flavor. We like to mix some plain orange pekoe or earl gray tea with a mango or peach green tea, but there are also some great flavored black teas out there (celestial seasonings has a bunch of good flavors). Also, teas made with hibiscus are super flavorful - really tart and unique.

Congratulations on all the weight loss you've achieved so far, and good luck with your new goals!