I'm willing to say 99% of us cheat. Bold statement...i know... but i figure... if any of us were truly capable of self-discipline, we wouldn't have had to resort to surgery to lose weight.

Having said this... what's YOUR favorite food to cheat on?

Compared to pre-surgery, are you able to limit yourself to a few morsels?

How often do you cheat?

Do you feel guilty/disappointed afterwards? If so, how do you cope and get yourself back on your feet?

For me... I love oreos. Regular...bite size... double stuffed...I love them. There are times I really get a sweet tooth...and no amount of fresh fruit or sugarless gum can satiate my craving. If I've been good with my workouts and diet...i'll allow myself to have 3 or 4 Cookies at one time.

I don't really feel guilty, per se.... i get more of an extra boost to work out harder the day after.

A bowl of icecream or a cookie. But I find that I do a lot better... I eat ONE cookie opposed to the 5 I used to eat. And no, I don't feel guilty. WE ARE HUMAN, we still have taste buds and cravings etc. I figure as long as I satisfy my craving I wont ever need to go OVER BOARD.

Great post!

Coffee with International Creamer

Hmmm, I dont drink a lot, certainly dont have a drinking problems, but I find it really hard to say no to a glass of wine by about 6pm.

food wise, I can still eat an entire packet of Cookies in a sitting. I have a lot of trouble staying away if they're in the house. Very luckily, the kids are more savoury - prefer chips and stuff like 2 minute noodles so I really dont need to have them in the house at all which keeps me on the straight and narrow. I can ignore the chips for months on end. However, if DH brings a block of chocolate home I do tend to overeat that also. And one final thing I tend to overdo is certain things like rice cakes or cruskits (do you have those puffed crispbreads there?) slathered with real butter. I can eat seven or eight of those coz they're light as air, but its an awful lot of butter!

I love chocolate. I have no self control...so I keep it out of the house. I do like the sugar free pudding.

DARK CHOCOLATE!!!!!----In the beginning I would keep a bag of Special Dark Hershey Kisses in the freezer for those days when the urge was overwhelming. My rule was I could only have one and I had to suck it....no chewing allowed!! That way it stayed on my taste buds longer and cured the craving. (Plus they only have 20 calories each!) Now that I've been banded for 3 years and am within 20 pounds of my goal weight, I have much more self control and eat it whenever I want, which isn't often. I don't really consider it cheating. You cheat on diets. This is a lifestyle change. I think it's important to not let yourself feel deprived, at least not ALL of the time!

pizza It's actually not a cheat in normal circumstances (one piece fits in my calories just fine), but sometimes I eat a second piece when one would have done just fine.

Of course I usually feel bloated after and regret it.

Oh, I OD on pizza too! It's so hard to STOP MYSELF after one piece even though I'm not hungry anymore.

My forst food pre-band was Cereal. I'd eat 2 or 3 big bowls with nice cold milk- totally stuff myself. I loved it. I don't let myself anywhere near cereal now because it's a slider, and if I had even a small bowl I really don't think I could stop myself. Most other little treats, I can control it and have in moderation which is nice... didn't used to be the case, for sure!

Great topic so thank you to the OP. I love how you've all spoken about the ability to control yourself which is what I want out of the band.

Signed, the girl who can eat an entire box of Cheese-its.

My new favorites after band are Cheetos (the puffy kind) and 3 Musketeers. I am glad to say that I now share a 3 Musketeers bar with my 3 kids and am satisfied. Before the band there would have been no sharing! Now I am satisfied with 1/4 of a candy bar.

My new favorites after band are Cheetos (the puffy kind) and 3 Musketeers. I am glad to say that I now share a 3 Musketeers bar with my 3 kids and am satisfied. Before the band there would have been no sharing! Now I am satisfied with 1/4 of a candy bar.

3 Musketeers is a good choice. Very low in fat! Have you tried the dark chocolate mint ones?

I haven't tried the dark chocolate mint but it sounds heavenly! I will have to try it next time. I figured it the lesser evil of all the candy bars! Isn't it funny how our perception changes after Lap-Band? I have to make sure that everything fits into my calories for the day now. Cindy you have really done well on the weight loss! You and I started out at similiar weights and have very similiar goals. What are your secrets for success?

Double cheese burgers are my guilty pleasures. Although life after the band will only allow me to maybe have a 1/4 of it if that.

I do however miss coca-cola dearly.

Chocolate chip cookies

I haven't tried the dark chocolate mint but it sounds heavenly! I will have to try it next time. I figured it the lesser evil of all the candy bars! Isn't it funny how our perception changes after Lap-Band? I have to make sure that everything fits into my calories for the day now. Cindy you have really done well on the weight loss! You and I started out at similiar weights and have very similiar goals. What are your secrets for success?

I put a list in the thread What works for you. I really do all those things...and then some. Another thing that I really think contributed to my success was my timing. I had my surgery a week after my youngest child graduated from high school. He left for college shortly after I was back on solid food. I had nobody around to feed or cook for. I had no reason to have food in the house that I couldn't or shouldn't eat. I was able to focus 100% on my own journey. I was working afternoons at the time. I would get up and go to the gym, come home and do some house work, shower and go to work. Essentially, I was moving nonstop from 8am-11pm. I was completely dedicated (ok, maybe obsessed) to losing the weight that I had carried around for my entire life. (I've been overweight since I was about 3 years old. I now weigh less than I did when I graduated 33 years ago.) Everybody is different and our journeys are all our own. What works for one may not work for another. All I can do is relate what worked for me. You're doing great, especially considering you still have a family to raise. Keep doing what you're doing and set a good example for your kids so they follow in your new footsteps and don't have to suffer what you have.

Double cheese burgers are my guilty pleasures. Although life after the band will only allow me to maybe have a 1/4 of it if that.

I do however miss coca-cola dearly.

You'll get over that. One day you'll take a sip of someone's Coke and say to yourself "YUCK!!!! What was I thinking when I used to drink so much of this?" It happened to me last week with Diet Pepsi...and I used to drink 3-4 12 packs a week!