I haven't been banded yet (going for my seminar tonight), but was wondering what a normal day of eating is like for you?? How much are you able to eat at a time?

thanks!

The average is 4oz. at a time. I usually do a protein shake for breakfast (mornings my band is pretty tight), for lunch I will do a salad with grilled chicken or tuna, and dinner varies. Usually a turkey burger and veggies or chicken of some sort. I try to stay within 1000 calories a day or less and make sure to get my protein and water in every day because that is extremely important. Good luck and keep us posted. Feel free to add me if you have any questions and also visit the website I write for. It may help you along the way (link below)

Thanks for the info! I will check out your site.

unfortunatly its the same as before i had the band, Protein bar in the morning, subway at lunch then what ever is for dinner this isnt going to stop you from eating poorly fyi

I am Post Op Day 3 and my eating is minimal. I am often afraid that I will over eat. I had my first proteing shake today, broth, and now yogurt. I can say that I am hungry most of the time, but this will vary by person. I am looking forward to saturday because I get to have grits or eggs. YAH!!!

I stay under 1200 calories a day and usually eat around 80 grams of Protein. Here is my day so far:

Breakfast- 1/2 of a bagel and a little cream cheese

Lunch- 1/3 turkey and Swiss sandwich on wheat bread.

And dinner will be- turkey meatballs, marinate sauce and a little but of whole wheat noodles.

The bagel wasn't the best choice this morning... Usually I eat an egg or something. Honestly, my philosophy for myself is to live a normal life and not feel like I'm dieting. I quit diets. This is a new life style that will live me forever so I need to feel normal. As long as I stay under 1200 calories a day and get my protein and Water in, I eat whatever I want. I'm losing on average 3-4 lbs a week so it's working for me :-)

Good luck on your journey!

My typical day all depends on how much time i have and how creative i am.

Usually try to stay between 1000-1100 caloires 40g fat, and 80-100protein, 30-35fiber and NO MORE THAN 75carbs a day. I admit every saturday i have date day with my hubby and eat what ever i want. i just dont go crazy! i have really good restriction tho. almost too tight but i perfer it this way that way when i do eat what i want only about 6 bites go down!!!

But for instance today:

6am Protein shake (very thin)

10am bfast-2pc Wasa Crackers sugar free jelly and natural peanutbutter . (i dont eat untill about 10 because my band is usually tight early morning.)

1230 3/4c egg salad with added Protein powder and 2pc wasa crackers , 1/4c green Beans

3pm no sugar added 1/4c apple pie filling with splenda

330 2 sugar free hard candies

for dinner i am planning on having 3ozchicken that cooked in crock pot all day, 1/4c loaded mash potatoes and 1/4cgreen beans.

I dont drink liquids with my meals anymore i stoped and the weight started coming off! I also make sure that i do have 2 Snacks a day usually no more than 120 caloires each. i dont eat more than 10g sugar per serving, and i personally cant eat bread wheat or not *wont go down*

Here’s my diet/routine today, and I would say this is pretty typical for me. Hope it helps!

Breakfast:

7:00am - 12oz of coffee with 2% milk 100 calories

8:30am - 2 eggs scrambled in microwave (no oil) 200 calories

1:00pm – Chobani Black Cherry Yougurt 150 calories

1:00pm - Tuna Packet w/ Black Pepper 80 calories

3:00pm – ¼ chocolate covered raisins 190 calories

7:00pm – 2 Tblsp of hummus 140 calories

7:00pm – carrots and cucumber 100 calories

Total: 960 calories

Sometimes if my band feels tight I will add a tablespoon of miracle whip to the tuna, and sometimes I will have a green tea with a teaspoon of honey in the afternoon if I need a pick me up. Generally, I am happy if I stay under 1200 calories. But also note that I am not a huge exerciser (working on that…) I have a desk job. At most, my boyfriend and I will casually walk for about a mile a couple of times a week and play Wii resort. If I exercised more, I would probably want more calories.

I *can* eat just as much as I want- the surgery hasn't (yet anyway) made it so I can't eat a large amount. I have to make a conscious choice to limit my food quantities. It's easier on some days than others

My food today:

Breakfast-

1 Protein shake made with 8 oz. skim milk, 4 ice cubes, 1 scoop of protein powder, 2 tablespoons of powdered Peanut Butter

1 cup hot coffee w/ skim milk & 1 Splenda

Lunch-

chicken salad on 1/2 a low carb lavash bread- 4 oz. chicken breast, 1.5 tbsp low fat mayo, 1/2 a stalk of celery

1 oz. Emerald cinnamon roast almonds

1 cup hot chai w/ skim milk & splenda

in the afternoon I made myself an iced coffee, also with splenda & skim milk

Dinner-

I made a skillet tamale pie from a cookbook. It was ground beef, diced tomatoes, black Beans, corn, and cheese with corn bread on top. Can't say how much food it was... maybe a cup? Maybe more? I measured out my portion by how the recipe cut it up (one serving = 1/8 of "pie").

Anyway. With all of that I've hit 85g of protein for the day and 75 grams of carbs. I log my food every day on myfitnesspal,com and I still have 185 calories "left" so I might have a Weight Watchers ice cream bar- they have one that tastes like a frozen Snickers and I looooove it!

I know that was pretty ramble-y... hope it helps.

I eat different things every day but I'm basically a 3 meals a day eater, but I eat a cup or so at a time.

Breakfast yesterday was a half cup of vanilla yogurt with a few tablespoons of granola on top. lunch was two sushi rolls (about 4 inches long each), I had a fair bit of trouble with that much rice. In the afernoon, I did eat a couple of Cookies that I'd baked for the kids. dinner last night was vegetable lasagne, I had a piece about four inches square. I had a glass of wine too.

I'm maintaining now, I'm no low carber but I wouldnt really have eaten rice and Pasta on the same day whilst I was losing. I virtually never eat bread, just dont like it much anymore. I dont count Protein though - I guess all I got yesterday was whatever was in the yogurt and a bit from the tuna in the sushi and the low fat ricotta cheese in the lasagne - but other days I might have a piece of chicken or steak, it evens out over time.

This made me realize I am so not eating the right things, in fact it is hard for me to even reach 1200 calories on a normal day! It is actually hard to make myself eat within the first 3 hours of getting out of bed. I am doing 2 meals a day. Thanks for the postings it gave me some ideas I can try!

What kind of protien shakes/powder do you all like?

Thank you all for these responses. I have been so stressing about what I am going to eat. Due to the fact that I have a friend who had lap band done 3 years ago and she gets stuck on so much stuff. It honestly scares me. The support group even told her she needs to unfill a little and she said nope I like it. It freaks me out. I go in tomorrow morning. I am so nervou/excited.

Well for me it is a little different each day. I work nights so my schedule is a little crazy. So I wake up with water, maybe a cup of coffee with creamer. Then my lunch is dinner with my kids. Tonight I had about 10 pieces of popcorn shrimp and 1/4c of lettuce with a teaspoon of light ranch dressing. Then at work I ate 1/2 a cuban. and then before the morning I will eat the other half. I never drink after I eat, which was really hard to get used too. However, I do drink before I eat. I had cupcake today, my first since surgery in July. It was terrible it was so sweet it made me sick, I never thought in a million years something too sweet would make me sick. LOL I love sweet tea, so I limit myself to 1 every week. Bread I have been afraid to eat, because the stuck feeling really sucks. Although I have had it a couple of times and had no problem. But when I go to subway , or firehouse subs I order my sandwich without bread... Why waste it? I will just throw it away and then the temptation is not there. I don't have a consistent thing i eat everyday I have to change things up a lot, because I get bored with the same thing and then eat the wrong things if I have the same old stuff in the house. So do really answer you question. I eat whatever I cook for my family only eat 1/4 or 1/2 cup of it. I always use a saucer. When I eat out I get a box as soon as the food comes out and put half the food in the box and set it on the other side of the table. If I go through a drive through I take the meat out, throw the bread away and go on. Although not eating crappy food in a while is something I want to keep up, I really can't finish eating crappy food without having to run to a restroom and crap. The hardest thing for me is the road trips. Good Luck

Yesterday I was a bad bandster. I had a Zone Perfect Protein bar for Breakfast, 5 meatballs with marinara for lunch, a low-sugar/non-fat grande salted caramel mocha frappachino, 1 oz of cheese, and tortilla chips with queso for dinner. Oh, and a couple of sliced pickled beets for dessert (what, they're sweet and low calorie!). Don't model yourself after me. I'm sort of maintaining by default right now, so this is not the diet of a a loser.

Today will be more normal. Protein Bar for breakfast, bean and cheese wrap for lunch, and about 1/2 of a baked pork chop with a small romaine salad for dinner. I'll probably also have cheese for a late afternoon snack.

My band is not tight and if I'm careful I can eat pretty much anything, just a much smaller portion of it than I used to. I like it this way.