I am having surgery in 3 days. One of the things I worry about it meal planning and preparation for my family after banding.
I think it will be harder to make sure I am providing food and meals for them, when I am eating differently and not feeling hungry as much.

Now I mostly just plan my meals around what I am hungry for or traditional meals that my family always eats.

Any tips for meal planning and grocery shopping for others post-banding?

@@AmyR The transition from eating with the family and eating the way you always eat should be happening now even before banding. It's the mind set that you want to have yourself in. Your going to feed your family the things that they enjoy and you are going to take a new approach to your eating and your eating habits.

The biggest part of that is going to be changing your eating behaviors. The first few months after banding are the time o really focus on that. For me pre-band I was on a liquid diet for about 3 weeks. That helped to set me up for what was to come. After banding I went from full liquid diet to mushy and then to soft and then to solid foods. Hunger is always a factor until you have your band set at the fill level where you are not feeling as hungry between meals.

The band however is not going to change your eating habits or stop you from eating and/or overeating. It will restrict the amount of food you can eat at one time, and it will help you to feel not hungry between meals if you honor the signals your body is sending you. If you don't have good eating mechanics and learn good band eating behaviors your going to fall down that slippery slope.

So my advice is to start now. Set your self up for success from now forward. Make your grocery lists with the food you need to get through the first early days of banding. When you start making meals for the family, you can eat them..just be sure your portions are band sized and that you are choosing the lean Proteins first before you even venture to vegetables, and if you are still needing something to a fruit. You want to steer clear of carbs and starchy vegies as much as possible making them your last choice of food.

Eating healthy is all about portion control and food choice. So if your making a healthy favorite for your family you can enjoy it with them. Though I will tell you this...for me and for my hubby...we were not able to eat our meals with the family (we have older kids!) until we were well versed in our eating mechanics. If we sat with the kids we were sure to engage in some conversation sometimes that was frustrating and we would end up getting stuck on a food item because we weren't paying attention to making sure we cut a bit small enough or chewed up enough or took one too many fork fulls too fast. So for a while we ate alone, and even together we didn't talk just focused on eating.

I hope some of that helps you and I wish you all the best as you start this journey!

Thanks for the tips Lisa!

I eat what my family eats, but in smaller portions. I skip the potatoes and eat extra veggies. I leave the cheese off my burger and buy lean meats that we all eat.

Had lapband surgery 10/12/16