Hi All,

I am being banded in 6 days (YES!) and have a post-op question/observation. I have been reading this message board for awhile now and I see tons of posts that people are eating a bit of rice or Pasta, or mac and cheese or whatever the "bad foods" are and people who are getting down on themselves for eating for example tomato Soup with cheese or refried Beans and cheese......but my questions and comment is, that isn't the portion so much less then what everyone was eating that just by sheer volume of food weight loss will occur? I am confused.

I have been overweight pretty much my whole life and I am 100% a volume eater. I would rather have a huge portion of dinner food rather than a piece of chocolate cake or potato chips. My husband is thin and we pretty much have healthy foods in the house it is just that I could and do eat enough for about 3 to 4 people before I feel full!

So that's why I am hoping the band works for me, to control my portions and hopefully have a full feeling. The posts about what people are eating after banding, even the "bad foods" seem like a helluva lot less food then I am eating now!

Does this make sense? Am I on the right track?

Thanks for your advice!

You're sort of on the right track. The difference is this: because you will only be able to get a small amount of food in, what you want to do is to get the most nutrient rich choices. So even though you can only fit 1/2 cup of potato chips in, a 1/2 cup of good protein and veggies is a much better choice for you nutritionally; it's more nutrient dense, calorie efficient, and will stick with you longer and provide more health for your body.

And some people are missing the fact that the refried Beans, tomato soup, mashed potatos.. are being consumed during the immediate post-op phases.. when it's all about letting the stomach heal. Changing to more of a lean & green diet will come when back to regular foods.

Change is hard. Making changes fast is really hard. I got myself off of the white carbs moderately slowly (no preop diet required) and it wasn't too bad.