Apr 17 2009
What I ate before the lap band surgery
It’s been about eight months since I was “banded”. After my surgery I went through a bit of a mourning period. I was mourning the loss of food because food was my friend. Food helped me feel better when I was lonely and it gave me something to look forward to. Today, I want to look back at what a typical day of food looked like for me. Here it goes!
Breakfast - McDonald’s Big Breakfast Deluxe (1150 calories). Yup, I went for the big one with pancakes and of course lots of butter and syrup! Oh, and a large iced hazelnut coffee (270 calories), please!
Lunch - on the weekends, I would have a “healthy” lunch of sandwiches (ham, turkey, pepperjack) chips, and sweet iced tea (about 850 calories).
Snack - ok, so at this point was I even hungry? Probably not. But, who can refuse a little snack when at the movies? I’ll have a large soda, large popcorn and oh, throw in a box of M&Ms (2,588 calories) Granted, I usually shared this with my husband but it was still almost as many calories as my whole breakfast!
Dinner - ah, the weekend dinner. In early summer, my family prided itself on being the “BBQ House”. That meant many drinks, steaks, potatoes and of course cupcakes for all of the kids. A typical plate was about an 80z steak (296 calories), potatoe (115 calories), corn on the cob (83 calories) and a few glasses of wine (300 calories). That brings us to a dinner total of 794 calories which doesn’t include butter and cheese for the potato or that cupcake I “shared” with the baby.
Does any of this sound familiar? If so, share your thoughts with me in the comments section below.
So, what’s the point of going back and reliving my almost 4400 calorie days? It’s to see how far I’ve come in my weight loss journey. My typical day of food now comes to about 1200 calories (I’ll give you those grisly details another time). Now, I don’t obsess over food. I don’t count the hours until my next meal. Instead, I think about what is going to give me the energy I need to live a fuller life. Over my next few posts, I’ll talk a little bit more about the decision making process to getting banded. I hope you’ll come back and join the conversation!
I think i still mourn food when i don’t even think about it and serve myself a huge plate… then i start eating and i’m like, wow i’m already full… sometimes i have to stop myself from ‘cleaning’ my plate. you know?
@SkinnyMoose - Yes, that is a temptation I run into as well. I’ve found it’s good to use smaller plates so even if you “clean” your plate it’s not more than you should be eating. Or, find a cheap co-worker and split regular size entrees!