I have a 17 year old son who is really skinny. I have tried to make sure that my surgery did not affect him too much and still try to make sure he had his snacks, etc. What I found out was that I was going back to my old ways and sneaking a piece of candy here and a cheeto there...I finally took one cabinet in the kitchen and put all of his treats in there and got a small chain and padlock and gave him the key...he thinks it is neat to have his own area and now..I think I will make more progress in my efforts to lose weight..wish I would have done it sooner. My nutritionist told us...just don't bring that stuff in the house..well, it is hard when you have teenagers.

Sounds like a great idea! I keep treats for my students at school and have learned I can no longer keep chocolate of any kind at school or I will eat it before they get it as snacks! I know this empowers your teenager and makes him really "cool!" I can just imagine the conversations he's had with his friends about this!

Accordigal, What a cute little dog. Is it a maltese? My little Sophie is maltese/bichon

We need to find these creative ways to help our band, help us. At Halloween, we bought only candy I don't like, in case there were leftovers. We buy extra becasue we never know how many kids we'll get. We bought Starburst and Skittles, I hate those and the leftovers are still in the cabinet.

If the only food left in this world were Starburst, Skittles and cottage cheese, I'd be pretty darn thin!

Now Twizzlers, ice cream and tostitos, do not leave me in a room alone with those! It would have to be a BIG lock and chain to keep me out!

I have not had any of those three since surgery.

Wow! There's candy you don't like? I'll eat just about anything sweet.

When we were in the bandster hell portion of this journey, after our surgical swelling had gone down but before any fills, my husband came home with a bunch of junk food--sugar free, but junk food nevertheless. I went nuts and yelled at him for buying the stuff. A day or so later I found a bag with a little padlock on it. When I asked him what was in it (sex toys?? Old girlfriend's letters???) he said it was his treats that I told him he couldn't have.

I just had a long talk with my teenage daughter about this.....she and my husband have agreed that when they "need" treats....they'll go out...either to the convenience store or where ever....buy their goodie and eat it out of the house....of course, whether or not it will actually work is another story...but I was so pleased they are willing to go to that length to help me.

They also think it will curb their snacking as well......hubby could stand to loose a few, but my daughter is thin (thank god).....still, good habits will go a long ways towards keeping her that way!

It is difficult, but you know, kids dont need crap anyway - so I have definitely cut down on the amount of that sort of food I will buy. I make a lot of it for their lunchboxes instead of buying processed things - for example, I will make healthy muffins and freeze them, and take out one a day for each of them.

But they do have snack foods too of course, I just dont buy things that I will eat. I can generally resist chips and ice cream without a problem, but I refuse to bring Cookies into the house. I buy that stuff only when they're going to eat it - 3 kids, 1 packet of cookies - 5 minutes and its gone. If its sitting in the pantry, I will want to eat it. Yes, I can resist, but I dont want to HAVE to resist all day. Muesli bars and the like are danger foods for me too, I love them. So we dont have cookies or muesli bars but we have occasional chips and ice cream!

Both the schools the kids go to - two in primary, one in secondary have healthy lunch box policies anyway, so generally its just a sandwich, a couple of pieces of fruit and a muffin or something. And after school, I've gotten them into the habit of things like Soup, vegemite toast or toasted cheese sandwiches

It really IS possible to cut down on the crap, even with kids, older teenagers perhaps a little more difficult. But he's old enough to buy that sort of thing when he's not at home too.

Vegemite is actually a real thing, other than a word in a Village People song???

Just to show you how dumb I am, I always thought they were from Australia because of the song "I Come from the Land Down Under."

Snowbird, You're confused. The village people did not sing the song, I come from the land down under... "Men at work" sang that song and they do come from Australia.

Village people sang "YMCA". Hope that helps!

Yes, vegemite is real, lol!

And it was Men at Work, like Shortgal says.

So Jacqui, what is vegemite anyway?

I am very lucky that I live alone. I don't keep anything in this house that will tempt me. My friend that got banded the same day as me, has teenagers, and it's hard for her. If I had to cook for a family, I would be in trouble.

Vegemite, History of Vegemite

its impossible to explain what it tastes like, its basically salty, completely opaque black spread. Its delish, you can use it as stock in cooking too, it has that kind of yeasty/vegetable flavour.

Trouble is when any non Aussie tastes it, they take a huge spoonful, YUCK. Its best spread very thin, and melting into the butter!

Its kind of like promite, marmite if you've ever had those but still not the same. Same family though.

Vegemite, History of Vegemite

Its kind of like promite, marmite if you've ever had those but still not the same. Same family though.

I have never heard of either of those. I wonder why vegemite isn't popular over here? Especially if it was started in Chicago. I grew up in

Chicago and I never even heard of it until that song came out.