how do you cook for hubby and children without snacking. i find myself chewing food and spitting it out all the time. i don`t get hungry until i cook. and the days i don`t cook my husband bring favorite dish home pizza. i also find my self eating my baby cheese doodles. i need help. i have only lost 8 pounds since surgery which was done on 7/30. even before snacking i still wasn`t loosin weight. i need to know how you cook and not get tempted. i am doin 3 protein shakes a day and the fill me up durin the time and couple of hours later. please, please, i am so ready for this journey but i hav`nt had food in about an month.i need guidance. i got banded in mexico and i have 2 different diet plans to follow. im so lost.:help::help::help::help::eek::Banane20::eek::faint::faint::faint::rain::rain::rain::rain::rain:

Brush your teeth right before you walk to the kitchen to cook. My kids are grown now and hubby has declared a "everyone fend for yourself" moritorium on meals -- he's helping me follow my post-op diet. But, years ago I had a very successful weight loss and one of the main things I did was to brush my teeth so I wouldn't snack while cooking. Then when he walked in, we put dinner on the table. Only I fixed my plate and put it in the microwave and left!

I would go walk while he and the kids ate. I only asked that if there were any leftovers that he put them away or ran them down the disposal before I got home. This kept me from going for seconds, or just finishing off something because "it really isn't enough to save".

Yummie, why on earth are you eating pizza at little more than two weeks out?

Okay, let's try to help you out here. First, what was your surgeon's post-op diet orders? Where should you be now on that plan? You mention you have two different plans to follow, how is that? Did you get one from your surgeon and one from someone else? Who gave you these plans? We need to sort out which one you should be following.

Next, I know it's TOUGH, it's HARD, it SUCKS. This is Bandster Hell (the time between surgery and when you reach your *effective* fill level-that may take two or three or more fills), it is not easy, and this time is for HEALING, try not to worry about weight loss right now. You just have to DO it. What I do is drink a glass of Water with lemon in it while I'm cooking, that usually stops me from eating. Occasionally I chew really strong mint or cinnamon gum or suck on Altoids while cooking because with that in your mouth, you don't want to eat something else, it would taste awful.

Do you realize that you are getting LOADS and LOADS of calories by chewing the food and sucking the "juices" out of it? When you chew, your saliva starts breaking down the food and the starches start getting broken down, you are getting loads of calories just by swallowing the "juices."

Regarding eating foods that are not yet on your post-op plan (if that in fact is what you are doing, I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing pizza at two weeks post-op isn't on it): STOP!!!!!! You are risking your band! Maybe not today, maybe you chew it "really well" and the food goes down "just fine" but your band is only stitched in place on the front of the stomach, the back gets "seated" by scar tissue forming around the band. That scar tissue cannot form if the stomach is churning and churning to digest FOOD. liquids do not cause as much movement of the stomach to digest, that's why lots of post-op diets are liquid for a while, then mushy, then slow progression to regular food.

A slip a year or two from now may have been caused by early eating, maybe not. So often we don't know why we slip, but for my money, I don't want to take the chance that eating early.

Faith, I could be wrong, but I don't think she meant SHE was eating the pizza, just that he was bringing it home for him and the kids and its tempting her.

But anyway, thanks for that explanation about how eating can cause problems with the band....I'd never heard that, but it makes a world of sense. You've educated me today, and for that, I am grateful!!

i don`t mean that i ate pizza he brought it home but thanks for the input. secondly i recieve many papers from my surgeon and it has 2 post-op diets. one i can eat 3d to six weeks and another 2 weeks post op. i called and they said if i was still hungry to go to mushies which i didn`t want to so i stayed on liquids. my husband isn`t supportive because he didin`t want me to go. so i will try all suggestions given and thank you.

I was famished my first week post op. My dr put me on mushies and then chicken and fish as tolerated. It got me through the tough times. Tuna and chicken salad are mushies!!

Yummie,

Drink plenty of water , or sugar free drinks all day....quit drinking 30 minutes before you eat and one hour after you eat...stay well hydrated and this will help you to curb your hunger....I guess you are on mushies at this point...when cooking supper, just have you a cold glass of something to drink and just keep sipping on it until you have finished cooking....keep your eye on the prize..and remember....NOTHING TASTE AS GOOD AS BEING THIN.....