Hey I was just wondering if anybody has trouble eating mac and cheese post band. I have the most wonderful recipe for homemade mac and cheese and I bring it to all parties and holidays. It is a big hit. I am wondering if I will still be able to eat it after banding. Who can eat it and who has trouble? :hungry:

Mac and cheese, the homemade kind, was the first solid food I ate. I had a potluck to go to and found a wonderful recipe online with all sorts of good quality cheeses and then put some sausage in. I didn't eat the sausage but I was able to eat the mac and cheese part mushed up quite well.

I am with Jack. I think macaroni and cheese, especially my homemade kind, was one of my favorite foods pre band. I have had a bite or two of pasta since, I tolerate them fine as long as I chew, but to be honest, it is not something I really want to eat. I just don't desire it at all. Go figure. I could never look at pasta again and be fine. Bread is one thing I miss a little, but it just isn't worth it to me. I haven't had much luck with it unless it is really crusty, hard bread or toasted.

mac and cheese?:hungry: if i was going to eat like that i would have not had the band...my tool is my band and you use your tools with care and if you care about your health stay away from that mac and cheese:angry

Of course I can eat it....lots of it every day. But I don't. I'd rather lose weight. That's why I had surgery.

I love mac & cheese. Now I can eat only about 1/2 cup & am completely satisfied. In fact I can eat just about anything just in smaller quantites. The only thing that gives me problems is steak, roast beef, scrambled eggs.

What everyone else said. Mac & cheese was and still is my absolute favorite food. The band lets me forget that. It lets me go about my business as though there is no such thing as macaroni and cheese in the world. Mac & cheese is the ENEMY, and the band is on my side in that battle.

Yup, my g'ma's homemade mac & cheese pie was and is still a favorite of mine. She makes it almost every sunday for our family cook out.. I use to be able to eat a whole half of the dish to myself!! Now I eat about a 2inx2in square, and it's a little more work.. I've not chewed enough once and it wasn't a pleasant feeling.. I take smaller bites and enjoy the flavor more now

I'll tell you if you give me the recipe!

No offense to anybody, and I have not been banded very long at all, but I got the band because it would allow me to eat everything, just in smaller quantities. So I will be happy to eat it when I feel like cooking it, but instead of 2 lbs, I will eat 1/2 cup.

No offense to anybody, and I have not been banded very long at all, but I got the band because it would allow me to eat everything, just in smaller quantities. So I will be happy to eat it when I feel like cooking it, but instead of 2 lbs, I will eat 1/2 cup.

I agree with you but the thing is, when pounds start melting away you find all kinds of motivation you never knew you had. You kinda come to a point where you want to keep up the rate of weight loss and foods such as Mac & Chz don't work well for weight loss. While you can easily gain a pound in a day it's nothing to take a week burn enough calories to lose a pound. You start thinking about food differently as time goes on.

Many of us count calories and are quite strict, others are not. For those of us that count calories that mac & chz would take up a good portion of our calories for the day. That's not to say we don't cheat, I do because I agree with you. But one thing about being banded is that it's a lifestyle change. Many of us just prefer to stick to healthier foods. Also, when you are losing weight you produce keytones and keytones tend to change your tastes. What used to taste great suddenly becomes vile and what you used to hate (for me it was oatmeal) is surprising yummy.

I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE French Silk pie. Today it is beyond disgusting, it tastes like chocolate flavored butter. It's gross. I sometimes wonder how that stuff could even go down a year ago.

So you have to keep in mind that there are lots of reasons for food changes and various backgrounds here. People that are really mega serious about losing weight and closing the 'fat' chapter of their lives tend to shy away from high carb, high fat, high calorie, poor GI quality foods. When you can only eat so much food daily you have to get the good/healthy foods in first. If you have room for high fat, high carb, high calorie, poor quality GI foods, then by all means. Eat them. If you are losing weight then all is good.

Since you are a newbie you might want to consider that you haven't dealt with all the head games yet. Planning food, planning meals, wondering how you'll eat "X" food, focusing on food. As you deal with those issues you'll care less and less if you can have various foods. I think it's just one of those things that you have to experience before you see the difference. The only time I really wonder what I'll be able to eat is at a restaurant while looking at the menu. I don't like sliming in public. Otherwise food just isn't an issue for me like it used to be. I don't care if I will be able to eat "X" food, makes no difference to me. I'm finally thinking like a normal size person.

As an example.. consider this. A normal size person without any weight issues wouldn't even think about that mac & chz until it was sitting in front of them on their plate. The thought wouldn't cross their minds. They worry about what they will eat when it's time for that meal. Yet for lots of reasons we are planning and hyperfocusing on food and what we can have. The changes come with time.

Just because you want to have a 1/2c of mac and cheese 4x a year doesn't mean you're not serious about losing weight. C'mon!

Of course I can eat it....lots of it every day. But I don't. I'd rather lose weight. That's why I had surgery.

:clap2: Would have to agree !

Just because you want to have a 1/2c of mac and cheese 4x a year doesn't mean you're not serious about losing weight. C'mon!

Not sure if you are responding to me, but if you are that's not what I wrote at all. I don't think anyone did.

I still make different pasta dishes, mac & cheese being one of them, because my DH as well as the rest of the family love it. I find it to be hard to eat much of, it feels like it grows after I swallow it! But I like it, so I still eat it, I just make the bulk of my meal from meat & veggies, and have a bite or 2, maybe 3 or 4, depending on what we are having...and it goes down fine.

I have not eliminated anything due to the calorie or fat counts, I do limit them, keep things within reason...but continue to enjoy it all. I eat today the way I hope to eat for the rest of my life. Reasonably! I love that the band makes that possible for me.

I likely could have reached goal, or would make it sooner, if I did eliminate things like the mac & chz, or cookies, or a million other things, but I know me....and it has always been when I felt like I was being deprived, that the demons started that destroyed a diet! This way I am enjoying everything, and I'll get those last 20 pounds gone....it WILL happen! I KNOW it! And the journey has been fun along the way!

Kat

Many of us count calories and are quite strict, others are not. For those of us that count calories that mac & chz would take up a good portion of our calories for the day. That's not to say we don't cheat, I do because I agree with you. But one thing about being banded is that it's a lifestyle change. Many of us just prefer to stick to healthier foods. Also, when you are losing weight you produce keytones and keytones tend to change your tastes. What used to taste great suddenly becomes vile and what you used to hate (for me it was oatmeal) is surprising yummy.

I have been reading about "tastes changing" but I never understood the reasons behind it--figured after I get banded (hopefully in October) maybe it would happen for me, too.

What a great post! Thanks for the info...