Title says it all.

I'll admit to having a couple extra brussel sprouts one day as well as one slice of sugar free whole wheat bread tonight (plain) but thats it and I feel guilty about it. I'm on day 7 of 14.

Thankfully I don't count dream cheating because I'm dreamed of eating about 10 big macs and a bag of chocolate by now! :biggrin:

I am currently on my two week preop and I admit that I thought that I would crack my skull open from fainting if I did not have 1 banana. I felt awful afterwards. Physically and mentally. Whew, it feels good to get that off my chest! I had not told a soul!

I was on a 2 week liquid diet prior to surgery and I am so proud to say I followed it quite strictly. I am so glad I did because it helped me to begin changing my outlook on food. If you have strayed, I encourage yu to get right back on the course and don't look back. It is difficult, I know, but not only our bodies need to make transformations but our minds as well.

I was only on a one week liquid pre op but I can honestly say that I did not cheat once! I'm very proud of that because it was very difficult. We even went to a Texas Rangers baseball game the night before surgery and I did not even have one nacho!

i havent been put on one yet. but when i see the doctor for my 1 week out pre op visit im sure i will be put on it then. im going to try my best not to cheat.

I started my preop diet a month ago. I was to have a 1200 calorie a day diet to lose 5% of my body weight prior to surgery. I cheated a few times. If you can call it that. I stuck to the calorie count every day except once when I went to Claimjumper last week and had roasted chicken, veggies, and a huge corn muffin. But I went right back on track the next day. In a month, I've lost about 20 lbs and I'm having surgery tomorrow. I had to drink two bottles of Magnesium Citrate today with TONS of water to clean out my bowels. So, I'm thinking I may actually see the 200s for the first time in a long time the day of my surgery. I'm so excited!

I drank 2 oz red wine, and had a very hard time stopping the Diet Coke. Still took a couple of sips today. Don't know why it is so darned important to me. No nutritional value. Anyway, no carbonated beverages after the surgery. My date is august 15. Getting excited.

I've been very well behaved and have cut back on my diet cokes (although I am allowed to drink it still!) as I figured it would be better than going entirely cold turkey post surgery (caffeine withdrawral wise). The only reason I am drinking it now is for something with a bit of taste as I get REALLY sick of water (especially being winter) and I hate tea and coffee! I think it will be easier to cut it out than I thought. Though I do understand the Diet Coke obsession Bryn!

So, I was thinking...

A large part of having this surgery done is for us to have to change the way we think about eating. We all know what we should eat, and how much, but the band "keeps us honest" in a way that our willpower has always failed us. We also know that the mental part of our adjustment is going to be harder than the physical part.

As part of retraining our minds, let's not "cheat" any longer. This is not to say that we won't make poor choices (note I said "poor" and not "bad") and have foods of the types or portions that are not healthy. The point is for us to stop judging in black and white. "Cheat" and "Bad" and "Guilt" are how we got into this situation in the first place.

Let's send those terms packing and move in some less judgemental terms like:

I made a "poor" choice, and I could (note I didn't say "should")have made a "better" one.

I see so much guilt on this post and I'm sad. Let's all work through this together, and start practicing a new way of thinking to go with our new life!

Yup, sure did.....not proud of it, but my liver looked great during surgery:thumbup:

I am hoping/going to work really hard on, NOT going off plan. I start a 10 day ALL liquid pre-op diet tomorrow and I'm nervous about it. In a weird way kind of excited too because that means that I'm that much closer to surgery. By the time I get off liquids after surgery, I'll have been on liquids for nearly 6 weeks! :biggrin: I try not to think too hard about that one though! I figure for a little while after surgery it'll be easier just because I'm hoping I won't be hungry at all. But the before and the very end of it, I'm a little worried.

Lanakila, I agree with you on how we word things. Good foods, bad foods, BEING good or bad about our choices, shoulds, cheating, etc. doesn't help us in anyway. Reminds me a few years ago. I'm a secretary (well not so much anymore, I'm out of the office but I do the books at home now) and was pretty active on a church secretary message board. Someone mentioned about how they know they were JUST a secretary and I "slapped" her hand over it. We're not "just" anything! How we word things is a good indicator of how we really FEEL about ourselves or something important. Most of the time we don't even realize we're doing it. We need to be more self-aware. Thanks!

Yes I cheated...I lost exactly 13.2lbs in my two week diet. I ate applebees and red robin...but i was good the rest of the time! My liver was perfect. That was in the beginning of my diet and then i got use to it and on track 100%

Ok, ok, I did sneak in a few things pre-op. I have a horrible addiction to all things crunchy and salty - the Cheez-Its looked to good, I couldn't help it! I did have potato chips with my sandwich a few times too.

I agree with the word use, Lanakila, we really do need to make that a priority as we make this change. Beating ourselves up isn't going to help! We need to be able to move ahead and keep ourselves on the right path, which will not be a straight path for any of us, we are all human and we will stray.

I found with my pre-op diet, I was starting to get the hang of moving back on track and not feeling so guilty. I really wanted to have this surgery and be able to say good bye to the weight for good, that was a huge motivator. But the verbage and mindset of guilt were still there. I will really have to work on that one!

i know i followed the diet religiously for the first three days and was just horribly sick. but then a friend who had the surgery, suggested that maybe i was border line diabetic and didn't know it. she said to drink a little bit of that new low calorie gatorade and to maybe add in a banana in the afternoon. i did that and immediately felt better. and i still lost a pound a day and my doc was very, very happy that from my seminar date in june 2008 to the day i had my surgery i had lost about 25 pounds. and i'm down another 4 since surgery. oh i do remember having a small piece of chocolate once or twice. does that make me bad no...did i make the best choices...not necessarily. but i'm doing my best and trying to be realistic. that's all i can ask of myself.

Ok, when I said "cheat" I really meant - not follow your preop diet exactly. I wasn't trying to guilt anyone or make anyone feel bad. Sorry if that is how anyone perceived it.

The "cheating" I've done is the equivalent of an extra tablespoon of cottage cheese or brussel sprout. Not pie. I do not feel guilty about it and have lost 8lbs since starting last week. My surgery is on Wed.

can't speak for anyone but myself...and i didn't take it the wrong way at all. so no worries! i just find it really funny how the meaning of some of these words change as we all enter a new phase of our lives. before "cheating" for me meant eating another piece of cake because the first one tasted so good or having the plate of nachos piled high with all the toppings. and now...with this new mindset (specifically on that preop diet) it's like yeah...cheating is having a banana or drinking some gatorade.

no matter what...we're all doing something wonderful for ourselves and only we know how our bodies react. i'd love to see some of the doctors try and do this! i wonder how long they'd last. my doc is a confessed junk food junkie. and everytime you see him walking down the hall, he's eating something.

so go us!! we all rock!!