OK, I am getting advice from a lot of people that are not on the board and know little about the surgery. They are saying that I might not lose weight.

I typically would eat in a day now (no band) and it always varies but usually comes from a restaurant...

Breakfast

2 fast food breakfast sandwiches (or 1 plus something else to fill me up)

lunch

Fast food sandwich and fries or salad with full fat dressing, or 2 tacos and chips and salsa from Tijuana flats (lots of the chips and salsa and probably some queso too, or a small hamburger and a fillet o fish, or a barbque sandwich with fries and an order of onion rings, fried mushrooms or other appetizer

Snack

Crackers and cheese,or popcorn, or a small hamburger, or some Cookies with a little icecream, or sometimes nothing

dinner

Either a footlong tuna sub (no mayo and with less tuna than they normally use)and bag of light chips, or Carrabas chicken Marsala with fettucini alfredo, bread, side salad and some of the fried calamari (I don't finish all of the chicken and pasta), or Outback Alice Springs Chicken with fries and some of the appetizer,salad and bread, or I stir fry beef with some onions and mushrooms and serve it over rice...

Then maybe a snack before bed - typically some popcorn, or a few light chips or some(15-20) crackers, or maybe a Peanut Butter sandwich and a few chips if I had a lighter dinner.

OK, that being 'confessed', lets say I have the band and it is filled to perfection and I get full easier, Even if I didn't change my eating habits (this is worse case scenario, I know that is not healthy, but please play along :huggie: ). If I had the same food options as above, and I was feeling full much faster, wouldn't a typical day again using the same foods be something like...

Breakfast - 1 fast food breakfast sandwich and wulaa - I'm full!

Lunch - A Happy meal, or 2 small tacos BAM! Full again!

Snack - about 40 pretzels, or about a cup of some baked cheetos

Dinner - A few pieces of the fried calamari, a bite of the salad, and the chicken Marsala (no pasta)

Snack - 5 crackers and some cheese

I don't drink caloric beverages and I am willing to give up the diet soda and do crystal light, skim milk, unsweet tea and Water.

Theoretically I should still lose weight right? I have heard people say that the best way to lose weight is to eat what you like but reduce portion size. I realize that this is not a good healthy day of eating, but I would think that it is better than what I eat right now and I should lose weight.

What are your thoughts on this theory?

~Kim

Calories are one thing, nutrition is another.

The menu you point out is just plain NOT HEALTHY.

even if you could eat it, you shouldn't.

The band is not a miracle cure-all. You have to look at it as PART of the big picture... a TOOL that will help you to follow a new and healthier diet.

This should not just be about getting thinner, it should be about getting HEALTHIER... and that diet won't accomplish it.

You really should see a nutritionist about starting a healthy eating plan after the band.

Too many times we hear about people saying they are not losing or are losing slowly on the band, and for many it is because they are not changing their eating habits. Those habits are NOT just about the quantity of food, but the TYPE of food.

Look at your whole picture... WHAT you eat... HOW MUCH you eat... HOW MUCH you exercise... all of these factors contribute, and the band is only a quantity tool... not a quality tool. that is up to you.

In theory it should work, yes. You eat a lot of foods that will be difficult to enjoy after banding. Fingers crossed for you.

Can I just point out as an Australian - there is no such thing as Outback Alice Springs chicken, lol. In Alice Springs you'd be more likely to get witchety grubs or a steak sanga!

I've lost the weight I've lost just through eating smaller portions of what I ate before - BUT I did eat a fairly healthy diet, fast food was a once a fortnight treat, not a daily event, I just ate too much food overall and had a few too many cookie binges. I still go out to eat, I still occasionally eat fast food and I will never ever ever torture myself on a low carb diet. Regardless of whether it works better for some people than others, it is not necessary for everyone. But most of the carbs I eat now are wholegrains.

I might feel like something carb-y and cheesey for lunch but I'll make myself a toasted pita wrap full of roast pumpkin, capsicum, zucchini, some pesto, some cheese - yummy. Much better than a greasy cheeseburger.

Thanks for making me laugh :huggie: I never really thought about what people eat in Alice Springs, Do you guys hafve Outback Steakhouse there??

I do appreciate all of your input, and rest assured Once banded I will not eat like that, maybe some of the foods some times, but I will have a plan in place.

I do get to meet with a dietician, but that is after my $500 deposit so I wanted to test the waters with all of the experts (all of you wonderful and helpful people :clap2: )!!

I sincerely thank you all... I almost can't imagine eating that little, but I am determined to keep appointments and meet with the doctor for fills and to avoid drinking any calories except for skim milk and the occasional Protein drink.

Nite all!!

Okay, so I went to Sparkpeople and did a quick entry with the following foods. I did the best I could with what you listed and came pretty close, except the chicken Marsala was a boxed/frozen something or other...

Egg McMuffin

Wendy's Cheeseburger Happy Meal

1 ounce RoldGold pretzels

2 ounce grilled Calamari (fried wasn't an option)

iceberg salad w/ 2 TBS Ranch dressing

Chicken Marsala

5 Ritz crackers w/ 5 ounces cheddar cheese

what I got was:

1688 claories

104 carbs

93 fat

106 protien

Not completely horrible, but you can't eat like that and lose weight well. You just can't. Maybe at first, but, like me, after a while, you'll just stall and go nowhere. It wasn't till I recently started taking a cold hard look at my intake (the quality of the food, not the quantity) that I started to quit fighting the scales.

On the other hand, my band is NOT tight, and I could eat anything on that list with no problem given enough time to chew well (okay, not the calamari...too chewy...ewww) but there is NO way I could get ALL of that in on any given day. I'd have to do nothing but eat. whew. I COULD do it, but I sure don't want to. That's a load of food to me, and I can chow down some 1600 calories a day, too.

It's a learning curve. But you can make this band work if you want to.

Wow, thanks for calculating that, yikes! that is a lot of fat and calories!

I sincerely appreciate your help and effort.

~Kim

Also, my .02: So that may only add up to ~1700 calories or so...but there is something more insidious at work in that menu. It's heavy on simple carbs and sugar (fast food has a LOT of sugar). So what the carbs do is give you a NICE insulin spike. You feel refreshed, full of energy....then your blood sugar drops suddenly and you are tried, grumpy, hungry. Leading you to UP UP UP again with carbs...then crash crash crash down again....up up up.....crash crash crash. Even if you intend to only eat the ~1700 cals, you will find yourself hungry and miserable and looking for Snacks to eat.

Ungood. Unhappy bandster.

It was a good question tho! Keep 'em coming!!!!

Kim,

I had to pay out of pocket for the dietician too. I will get all the receipts for it when I am all done......12 sessions all together...ugh...and then submit to my insurance. Luckily, the dietician is my only out of pocket expense!

Anyway, she was so informative....I was thinking I could even just go to her for weight loss without the banding...but i am def gonna get banding if approved, but in the off chance i can't get the approval...I will def go back to her!!

I have barriatric bootcamp and then the banding...just don't have dates for them yet.

heh, no way will you be eating calamari!!!! Unless you like squid flavored chewing gum...

I don't honestly think anything can prepair you to be aware of what you will be eating until you are actually banded. My DH was banded more than a year before I was, and I still wasn't paired for myself.

Some one on the board said that they though they would be find just eating a 6inch sub from a sandwich place for lunch after they were banded. I'm still laughing at that one.

Because you will be able to eat so much less, the quality of your food must be the highest.

It's so interesting that we can all do so many different things. I have had calamari on a number of occassions without issues. Fortunately, it's usually at dinner time, and I know how the day has gone, so I know whether or not I should even bother trying it, lol.

So you've seen the nutrition in what you posted. Chances are that you could not eat a whole breakfast sandwich if you were at your 'sweetspot' but even still, you will need to concentrate a bit more on protien. But, in theory, to your original question, my answer would be "yes, for a while".

Some one on the board said that they though they would be find just eating a 6inch sub from a sandwich place for lunch after they were banded. I'm still laughing at that one.

I just ate a 6" sub from a sandwich place. :think

I just ate a 6" sub from a sandwich place. :think

yeah but the question is, was it worth it?? :hungry: :omg:

Damn rights! lol

I'm not feeling guilty, I'm just saying, I'm one of those laughable people who can eat a 6" sub.

Damn rights! lol

I'm not feeling guilty, I'm just saying, I'm one of those laughable people who can eat a 6" sub.

the important thing is that you enjoyed it and ...its still down right?

I sat in front of a friend of mine the other day and watched her eat a sub and drink a diet pepsi like she never had GB:hungry: ...LOL And most importantly, it stayed down....luckily for me..lol

Ok, I lied. I was in the process of eating it while I typed my post... couldn't quite finish it. But I usually can. Anyways, yup, still down!

Ok, I lied. I was in the process of eating it while I typed my post... couldn't quite finish it. But I usually can. Anyways, yup, still down!

You're too funny!!! :biggrin1:

For some odd reason calamari goes down great for me. Especially fried... yum!

I'm even pretty tight and was surprised as hell that it went down so well. I eat fried food all the time, the oil makes it go down better especially chicken, plus I don't buy in to the "Low Fat" crap but do stay away from Transfat since it's a modern invention.

Sometimes I wish I could do bread.

Then I remember how much bread I ate, and I am glad I can't.