I am getting banded at the end of the month, and have a few reservations/questions. Do you miss eating and enjoying food? Or do you still get some enjoyment by eating less? How do you overcome being a psychological eater (eating cause bored or cause of habit), does the band help with that?

I just got my band Feb 2 and I totally miss food. I am just trying to find a new hobbie because I feel a little lost. I dont regret getting the lapband. I just cant wait to see the results.

Good luck to you

Banded Jan 25 and during the last week of liquids only I really missed food. But I could drink V8 juice and that gave me a taste of real food. Now I am in mush stage and can eat so many different things. I told my husband that I miss salads. So I am going to make that a 'snack' option for me. Once we get our "fills" we can eat most things just in smaller amounts. I found a cookbook for Weight loss that I can cook for me and the same for my husband but he can eat regular amounts.

Anyway, the more I visit this site the more people help. I make a point of getting on here every night and I just read and read and get so encouraged. Try to do the same thing. People here are wonderful plus they know exactly what we are all going thru!

I definitely miss food! I know have some issues too because I think about it all the time. But I hear that once a person reaches their sweet spot they become less focused on food and eating in general. I hope this is true.

I am almost 5 months post op. I miss food!!!

i have 3 small kids and a husband that i still need to feed so i am in the kitchen alot preparing meals and Snacks. Have i been 100% faithfull to my new way of eating?? no. I have had bad days where i eat here and there and then ask myself why? i wasnt really hungry.

food habbiits ar HARD to get rid of and i have to remind myself that it will take time to adjust, specially psycologically.

I do not regret getting the band. because i know once i get over the hill i will see and feel the healthier ME.

Good luck

I still enjoy eating. Probably more, because I am focussed on it while I am eating, as opposed to grabbing something on the run with my kids.

We still cook together, and I still eat. Just smaller portions. I have cut sweets down to a dark hershey kiss in the evening, and miss the Cookies after church, but otherwise, it is ok.

The only time of the day I have to watch out for is the witching hours in the afternoon. It is hectic, lunch is wearing off, and it was always a time to grab something. so I plan for it now.

I am getting banded at the end of the month, and have a few reservations/questions. Do you miss eating and enjoying food? Or do you still get some enjoyment by eating less? How do you overcome being a psychological eater (eating cause bored or cause of habit), does the band help with that?

Yes, I miss the foods I can no longer have because they get stuck (crusty breads), but I just remind myself that if I feel this good at a 35 pound loss, I'll feel even more spectacular at a 120 pound loss...and that's worth any amount of food.

I still enjoy food. In fact, I enjoy it more because I appreciate it more. In the past I always enjoyed food more when dieting because I paid more attention to my food while I was eating it instead of just shoveling it in mindlessly.

I was afraid the band would not help with the psychological aspect of overeating, but since reaching restricting, I found it does. As I lose the weight, I'm becoming more active and doing more, which means my habits are changing. I sit around less (an open invitation to wanting to eat in the past) so I'm less tempted to eat 'out of habit'.

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Sometimes I miss food. Sometimes at resturants when I see a skinny girl eating a huge hamburger or sandwich, yes, I do feel envious. Sometimes like at Thanksgiving, when everyone was enjoying 2nds and I could barely eat a couple of bites of turkey, I do miss food.

BUT, I try to focus on how much healthier I am. How much longer I will live and how much more I will enjoy my life as a thin and healthy person.

When it's all said and done, I'm thankful I have the band that will help me to keep the weight off and I won't have to obsess about food as much. I'm thankful it will give me the freedom from obessing about my weight. It will give the gift of only having 1 or 2 sizes in my closet instead of 10 different sizes. I still enjoy eating, just not as much!!!

I have a completely different relationship with food now. I used to think about lunch at Breakfast and dinner at lunch. I think I have broken the live to eat mentality, and realize that its almost as if I have overcome an addiction of sorts.

That being said I did go through a mourning process with food. Things are different now, but honestly so much better than before.

I have decided that previously I just loved eating and now I love good food. I'm 2 months post-op with minimal restriction and probably will encounter foods I can't handle in the future but that's okay. Now that I'm back to eating regular foods I'm back to cooking, but cooking better foods, (tonight we're having broiled salmon, balsamic spinach, and roasted sweet potato) and my son eats what I eat. About 3 or 4 weeks post-op I e-mailed one of my dearest friends saying I felt like I'd lost my best friend and was totally lost. When I was hungry I ate, when I was sad I ate, when I was mad I ate, when I was bored I ate. I am finding ways to fill my time and keep my mind occupied and it is getting easier every day. Now my biggest problem is if I actually allow myself to get truly hungry then I'm starving to death and want to eat EVERYTHING I can get my hands on. I've resorted to eating string cheese ate morning and greek yogurt late afternoon to keep this from happening and it's helping.

Good luck with everything, it's a challenge but you can do it. I do highly recommend having at least a few people in your life that know what you're doing and you can talk to. I think I would have lost my mind if I hadn't had anyone to talk/whine to about all this.

More than miss eating itself, I miss that nice full feeling after eating a somewhat large meal. Fullness feels different once you have restriction, kind of an uncomfortable feeling. Sometimes I get chest pain when I've eaten just a little too much. However, getting banded was one of the best things I ever did for myself. I have no regrets. Best of luck!

You will get different responses from people with this question only because we are all at different stages in our "band lives". I am 2 and half months post op and just now getting some restriction when I eat. This is difficult for me because I'm used to thinking about food all of the time! Someone who has been banded longer may not feel this way. After learning to eat with our bands, and with the passage of time, one may not feel this way. Eating, for me, has become more of a chore. You must eat small bites and chew, chew, chew. I cannot eat like I used to but am glad for it. Know that there is a psychological bond we have with food that must be broken. This all takes time!!! Best wishes.

The band makes you face some things you did not know about yourself. I remember getting angry just one time because I could not eat. On Sunday nights hubby and I would just PIG out and watch football and movies. I remember the first time I could not do that with him and I got MAD! REALLY MAD! It was one of the things I did not realize I looked forward to. I have faced a few things I did not really know about my eating habits but they were all overcome and I no longer have those issues. Now that I am at goal, I face new challenges but I welcome them.

They Say Old Lovers Can be Good Friends…

I was reading a thread today by Arnaz…asking if we missed food. One of the responders made a great point about the answer will probably vary a great deal based on where you are in the Lapband journey. As many of you will note most of my blogs reference books, movies and songs. Earlier last year, I wrote a blog entitled, “Food…I Want a Divorce!” I was angry at myself and food. As I read the thread I was reminded of an old song from the 70’s by a guy named Paul Davis, I Go Crazy… that had the immortal words, “…they say old lovers can be good friends…” this kind how I view my relationship with food now.

Food is no longer a lover that can be indulged with unbridled passion. I must keep some distance and boundaries. It is not to say that on occasion I don’t feel a twinge of desire and remorse, but it is fleeting and not filled with true regret. Under the heading of be careful what you ask for…The LapBand is making sure I now have a friendly relationship with food, not an amorous one. I am working with food in ways my intellect always told me I should, but my heart failed to let me execute. It would be safe to say, that food is a lover I/we thought to be secret and sought out in private, but our affair with it was displayed in public on our bodies.

So in this case do I think my old lover can be a good friend? The answer has to be an emphatic Yes! If we don’t find a way to bridge that gap we will all surely fail. Food is like the child(ren) in a divorce. Regardless of your other feelings, you have to suck it up and find a way to get along so you don’t hurt the people you love and those that have supported you through this process. It will be very, very hard at first, but with a little patience and practice the balance can be found because food is never going away. You have to build a new friendship with your old lover.

I still miss the thought of eating. I love the show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives". I've been to several that have been on the show. The food he shows, I would still love to dive into. It's a mental hunger as opposed to a physical hunger. My brain always says "you'd really like to finish eating that" and my band says "are you nuts".

I would say yes and no!!!

This morning eating Breakfast with my friends I loved the lapband b/c I could barely eat 1/2 of what I would normally eat. I ate slow and enjoyed my food and conversation and the meal lasted longer than it would have preband. I got to enjoy it just as much b/c the band forces me to eat slower and therefore my meal lasts longer.

However, last night after a concert w/ the same group of friends we decided we needed a late night snack. I guess I wasn't paying attention to what I was eating and something got stuck. This is the first time I experienced this and it was aweful...not to mention being out and not in the comfort of your own home. I had to excuse myself and when I came back to the table, I really wanted to eat more but I couldn't...I wasn't hungry but I really wanted another french fry!! If I had slowed down when I first started eating, I could have enjoyed myself and only had a few bites. It is definitely a new way of life that I have to get adjusted to, but I LOVE IT!

I love the fact that I am able to go out to dinner with my friends and eat small portions and be FULL. Normally after a weekend like I just had, I would have stepped on the scale and been up 3-4 lbs. This morning I was at status quo. It is awesome...just takes a little while to learn the new lifestyle.