Applebee's Spinach & Shrimp salad :rolleyes2: - Anyone ate it since the band??? I love that salad.

Co-worker told me that she can eat salads of any kind and it goes down pretty easy and that she will order a salad when out with family or friends so she doesn't have any problems.

From what I'm gathering here it seems your "want" for food changes after the band. You don't dieeeeeeeeee wanting something because your much more satified????????? Is this true?

Getting close and getting scared

Shrimp can be an issue for me. I can eat it but I have to be so careful that it's just not worth it.

I have an issue with darker fresh greens so spinach could be a problem.

I still have cravings, but they're mental. It's something you need to try and control.

For me, it's more that I can eat anything I want now. Before - on diets or off them - I would "just say NO" to may favorite foods, making the healthy choice. But then I'd spend days just craving it! And now, when I want something, I eat it. The only difference is that NOW, I can really, truly be satisfied with 3 or 4 bites of something. Bites, not FORKFULS, mind you. I could (used to, in fact) eat with toddler flatware. pizza, for example -- I eat a small salad & then drool over my 3 bites of ooey, gooey goodness & am totally satisfied the way 1/2 a pie never could've made me -- because now I don't feel greasy afterward! It's friggin' amazing!

And that, my friend, is the TOOL at work.

But it IS just a tool. I could still probably eat an entire cheesecake. And i love cheesecake -- my wedding cake was a 3-layer cheesecake. No amount of tightening would keep cheesecake OUT and still let other foods (chicken/fish) down. That's just a fact. And chocolate malts...yuuum-o! But I'm sure you get my point. It is far better to add a scoop of malt powder to a chocolate Protein shake than it is to drink down the real thing whenever the mood strikes!

The LapBand provides the "portion control" part of "moderation & exercise" -- you still control the WHAT, WHEN & HOW OFTEN elements. And the JUST DO IT attitude regarding exercise needs to come from YOU, too. (That's been my big struggle with weight-loss all along & is no different now. Except now I don't weigh 320# & don't have THAT as a excuse NOT to work-out.)

Anyhow -- salad. I do the same thing. I order a salad or fish when eating out. I chop the heck out of my salad when it arrives, but then I can eat quite a lot of it. Usually 1/2 a "meal" salad at most places. Sometimes I can finish the entire thing. I've never tried the one you mentioned, but it shouldn't be a problem if that's your thing! :crying: My fave is the grilled chk.tenderloin salad at Cracker Barrel -- they have the worlds best ranch! I limit the # of croûtons I'll eat by removing them from my plate & then chop away. Oh, my is that a good salad! I can only eat 1/2 of that one now. Salmon is a safe choice for me too - it usually isn't coated in tons of butter and it is moist, flaky & tender thus goes down well by nature without having to concentrate on chewing 40 times for every bite. (Hard to do when socializing at the table!) I can usually eat 2-3 oz of salmon & have a few bites of mashed potatoes, too.:drool: Good stuff! :biggrin2:

It's good to ask questions, but don't fret -- you'll still be able to EAT & you'll have the help I know I needed when it comes to limiting the portion size of all those foods you love!

Get ready! My LapBand is the best thing I've done for myself in a very very long time! :thumbup: You're next! Good luck!

I have trouble with salad. It's like I can't chew it enough no matter what. I think it is going down ok, then BAM! I'm off and running for the bathroom. So I avoid salad most of the time. Which is a real bummer for me since I love salad. Eating out is difficult for me. I have so much trouble eating so many foods, that I usually just order a cup of soup and leave it at that. Hey, it works. I love my band and wouldn't trade it for anything!

A big old leaf of romaine or the fancy baby varieties would take forever to chew for me, too. Quite by accident I discovered that taco salads, made with shredded iceberg lettuce, were actually one of the easiest things to eat after my band. Taking my lead from that experience, I now throughly chop-chop-chop up all my dark-leaf salads, too, before taking even a single bite. Maybe that'll be a helpful hint to other salad-loving Bandsters!

Zannie I feel as you do! I CAN eat anything I want but very little of it. Something I was never able to do before the band. AT some point in my life I felt eating was "all or nothing" and nothing didn't happen very often! The Lapband tool is amazing!