I have been thinking A LOT about what kinds of diets I have done and what success (or not) I have had. I really think I do a lot better with structure...when something says you eat this, in this portion, with these ingredients etc. I have seriously thought about doing nutrisystems, joining weight watchers, or doing ediets again. But they all cost so much money and we have such wonderful resources here on the board.

I was thinking it would be really cool to poll all our resources here on the board (our wonderful members) and create a meal-plan from user recipes. Then we could create our own thread and follow it together. People can submit recipes (complete with portion sizes etc.) and together we would come up with a monthly menu and shopping list. Then we could encourage each other and follow our menu together, and maybe have contests and exercise included some how.

This thread is just to poll interest in the idea. If I get enough interest then I will start another thread to begin putting it all together. So please let me know what you think!

Wow. Look at you!

You are off to a great start, Heather. This idea had come up before. We can do a recipe collection...but as far as something that's for bandsters...well, with the band there are no restrictions on food. Eat what you can tolerate.

I don't diet, as diets fail.

I use my normal recipes from Campbells, Martha Stewert, etc. I've not found any normal food that I can't eat. Hamburgers and Crunchwraps...those are the only 2 things I can't eat and won't even try.

Maybe everyone can just submit 3 of their favorite recipes.

Well, it looks like this idea may be a bust, all day and only 7 people (including myself) have voted and only 1 comment. I'm bumping it now but...maybe this was a bad idea then.

It may be that people just don't want to commit for whatever reason. For what it's worth, I have been thinking lately about pulling out my Zone books and following that plan again. It was the last plan I followed before wls and it was at the request of my endocrinologist. For quite some time weight was falling off at an amazing rate. Of course, I wasn't able to keep it up long enough and without the band to help I regained it. But the plan makes all the sense in the world to me because it helps keep blood sugars level, which is important to everyone...not just diabetics and hypoglycemics.

Well, it looks like we have our answer. Thanks for voting guys!

It's not a bad idea. But honestly, as the months have gone by with this band, I have gotten fed up with having to diet. I did all of that before the band. I paid $10,850 so I wouldn't have to be stuck on a diet for the rest of my life. The past couple weeks, I have eaten whatever I wanted and started running. I've lost 7 lbs that I had regained when I went bust off of yet another diet. My portions are in control because of the band...I'm so glad I don't have to worry about that anymore.

You may want to consider Paul McKenna's book, "I Can Make You Thin." Very interesting and I think it is truly turning around how I look at eating (and has contributed to my 7-lb loss). I don't want to spend the rest of my life obsessing over food - this is making it possible. He is also starting a TV series on TLC that started tonight. Everybody has something different that will work for them - this is simply one suggestion and I'm not implying that it is the cure-all for everyone.

I saw promos for the show, but I didn't get a chance to watch it, did you see it? What did you think?

I have it on DVR - I'll probably watch it tonight. I'll let you know. His book is very interesting, though - I agree with his theory as I've seen it work in my own life. I just haven't used the audio CD that comes with the book, yet. So who knows what I can get from this program - I may be pleasantly surprised.