Knowing when to say when

Something that is near and dear to me:  Grazing.  Since I find myself falling off this wagon to date, I figured I'd talk about it today to inspire myself to stay straight:

I've gone to a few support group meetings at my surgical center.  The majority of the time, I do not find them hugely beneficial, personally.  One thing touched upon by a fellow patient was weight gain after surgery.  Shortly after surgery when I heard this I thought "What?  How can that happen?"  Now that I'm eight months out and eating normally, I understand.  The nutrition expert said "eat every 2 hours.  Finish eating within 10 minutes and walk away.  Return and eat again in 2 hours."  Here's what this means:  you CAN eat an entire cheeseburger after GB, if you graze.  You eat your 1-2 ounces when you start.  Then 20 minutes later, you can eat another 1-2 ounces.  Then 15-20 minutes after that...another 1-2 ounces.  Within an hour, you've eaten an entire cheeseburger.  You don't feel sick, like you would had you eaten the entire burger when you first sat down.  Had you eaten the ENTIRE burger, the GB fairy godmother would have promptly and violently reminded you of your too small stomach, and brought the burger back up.  Then you would have said "darn, I wish I hadn't eaten an entire cheeseburger because I know I'm not supposed to."

In conveying this subject, I tried to find an alternative word for "cheat."  Every word in the thesaurus was horrible!  But it is human nature to push limits.  So in avoidance of my two biggest fears: stretching my stomach and weight gain, I give the following advice...one and done.  Sit down, eat your meal, walk away.  Make whatever you are eating your focus at that moment.  Turn off the tv.  Close the laptop or PC window.  Get off the phone.  Just eat.  You will be full at first at about an ounce.  Later at about eight.  The key is proteins first, carbs second.  So choose wisely and do it every 2-3 hours only.  And today I will start practicing what I preach.

The link I chose did put a focal point on behavior and pyschological issues that lead to weight gain in the first place.  I can only speak from personal experiences in my blog.  Personally, I did not choose food as a way to balance missing components in my life.  My weight gain was brought on by not paying attention to what my body needed.  I had a lifestyle that basically caused me to be on hyperdrive all day.  I'd get up in the morning, and run out the door; kids, husband, house, job, etc.  Around 2-3 PM I would realize, with a headache, "I forgot to eat."  So I'd eat 2 or 3 meals worth in one sitting.  Then I'd go home and eat a HUGE dinner.  My metabolism was shot and I'd trained my body that it was starving, therefore it had to store all calories in order to survive lol.  Not good.  I know there are lots of folks that eat for different reasons and we can explore those reasons individually.  My surgical center required a pysch screening before surgery and offers treatment after.  Personally, I need to stop life's joyride for 10 minutes a few times a day and JUST EAT.  But I encourage you to find your food trigger and evaluate what you need to do to use the safety. 
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Fitness/story?id=4444057&page=1