I am pre op for the Lapband. I have my first appointment with my Dr. on the 30th 0f July. I have been reading alot about it on different websites and support groups. My main question is , how hard is it to not eat the foods you love and have been eating your whole life. I am a Mexican food lover. I can't imagine never being able to eat my favorite food again. Yet on the other hand I can't imagine being overweight and miserable for the rest of my life either. Is it ever possible to eat the foods you love in small portions after having the band for a long period of time?

For the most part, yes you can eat your favorite foods. I have problems with Pasta, and often rice. And of course, some of the stuff we love isn't helpful to losing weight. But I can and do eat a pretty wide variety of stuff, including Mexican food.

I am pre op for the Lapband. I have my first appointment with my Dr. on the 30th 0f July. I have been reading alot about it on different websites and support groups. My main question is , how hard is it to not eat the foods you love and have been eating your whole life. I am a Mexican food lover. I can't imagine never being able to eat my favorite food again. Yet on the other hand I can't imagine being overweight and miserable for the rest of my life either. Is it ever possible to eat the foods you love in small portions after having the band for a long period of time?

Yes, for the most part it is true. I just had enchiladas the other night and I'm pretty tight right now. I do have my problem foods, such as eggs and white chicken, but I have learned to find other foods I like! I'm now a tilapia lover -- who woulda thought?

Really, it has not been a big concern for me at all. But I can think of more than a few posts where people were upset by their now-"limited" choices. My belief is that these people only liked 5 different dishes and now 3 have been taken away...or something like that. They're not willing to try something new !! So what I say to you is that you won't have problems as long as you are willing to expand your horizons IN CASE it turns out you are unable to eat a FEW of your favorite foods. Only you know YOU.

I thought it would be pretty difficult to give up soft drinks. Haven't missed them one little bit. I miss the convenience of sandwiches, but not the taste.

So far I can eat anything but I eat it differently. I chew a ton, I take my time more, I eat a ton less. It's not as enjoyable as it used to be though but I'm becoming more and more accepting of that.

...My main question is , how hard is it to not eat the foods you love and have been eating your whole life. I am a Mexican food lover. I can't imagine never being able to eat my favorite food again. ...

Something to consider...

We got fat because of our love of food. We like the way it tastes, we like the textures, we like the spices, we like the crunch, we like the full feeling we strive for. It's like a drug addict, they are always looking for that high as we are always looking for Thanksgiving Day full.

Sometimes in life things are simply not good for us and we have to start finding new things in life to love.

My point is not that you can never have Mexican food again, my point is quite different. The hardest part of banding is not the surgical part, amazingly... that is the easy part. The hard part is overcoming the head games and the way we manipulate ourselves while justifying our behaviors. Trying to figure out how we can live our old lives and become thin anyway. THAT is the hard part.

Let's face it, if we made good food choices we wouldn't be fat. But for whatever reason none of us can do that so we get get a band or we already got one.

For me I took a photo of a pizza and a photo of a normal size person. Then I had to decide which I wanted more, old eating habits or being thin. I opted for thin.

Again, the head games are the hardest part of banding. The surgery really is a piece of cake, no pun intended. :confused: Maybe start changing the way you think. Instead of wondering if you can have Mexican food (and yes, you likely will) start thinking about new things you can try that will still taste good and yet won't maintain your fat. Remember, the quantity of food you will be able to consume will be drastically different from now. You HAVE to make wise food choices because if you don't, you'll just be eating small portions of crap. That isn't a change in lifestyle and that is what we all should be aiming for. A complete change in lifestyle.

Very well said Wasabubblebutt !

I agree too.

Although I will always emphatically deny that you have to give up ANY food, or count ANYTHING within reason to lose weight. Portion size has done it all for me.

I absolutely have not given up anything but I have changed the way I look at food, its no longer the focus for me. I would still eat pizza if I felt like it, absolutely, but I dont feel like it very often at all anymore. In fact never. I still feel like chocolate or Cookies quite often and I still eat them quite often - probably too often. You can still have some vices and lose weight, you do not have to be perfect or conquer every problem you have overnight. And lots and lots of exercise makes up for a multitude of sins.

I just figure, this is for LIFE. I do not want to diet for the rest of my life. In fact I never want to diet again. I decided that when I decided to have lapband surgery, and I've never given into the temptation to diet. That's done WAY more for me in terms of my attitudes and outlooks about food than any amount of calorie counting ever could. For me, dieting was dysfunctional eating behaviour - a comforting habit that gave me the illusion of control and was hard to ditch, but ditching it is the best thing I ever did.

To me, no food is good or bad, there's a healthy balance and a way that you should eat most of the time, but absolutely nothing is inherently evil, nor will it completely derail your weightloss efforts once in a while.

I read these postings and get great answers. Thanks to all. I am only 2 weeks post op, and get to start of mushies tomorrow. But some of the postings I read amaze me. Because I've always know that the way I eat (or ate) is what made me overweight. So, how could I think that I could continue to eat that way, even after lap band, and not stay overweight. I did not go through this to stay fat and unhealthy. I knew going in that there were some changes I would have to make. And I am willing to do that. But no "food" is bad, only the way I ate it. So instead of a huge Mexican dinner, I would choose an enchilade a la carte, and will be satisfied. I don't ever envision myself drinking a banana milkshake again. Maybe a sip of a friends, but never ordering one. And I am very OK with that. I've found in the last couple of weeks that when I am bored, and want to eat, a cup of herbal tea is great. never thought I would say that.

Looking forward to the future.

Donna

One part of this journey that I've noticed is that I eat more like a thin person. My sister is very thin, like 125lbs. She came to my house for a party and we both fixed our plates. I took a little dab of almost everything we had to eat. Stood there talking to her and looked down at her plate....in comparison...ours were identical. She took the same mini portions and was satisfied, so was I.

Same thing happened the other night when she came to my house, identical portions on our plates. It's just something interesting I have observed.

I pretty much eat whatever I want, I choose not to eat certain things because I know they'll get stuck. I'm in need of a small fill now so I probably am eating more at a sitting than I did before.