Complete Failure

Yes.. I would love to do it together - it's better to be with friends :)

That sounds just like I was for a while.    I recently got surgery again to repair a hiatal hernia and the doctor also put in a gastric plication, but I was able to keep my band.  So, I've gotten a fresh start. 

I've been looking at the "No S" diet and my husband and I have decided to follow that for a while to see if it works for the whole family.  They've been doing it for a couple of weeks now and it's working well so far.   The only rules are : no sweets, no snacks and no seconds except on days that start with S (or Special occasions).   

The web site is www.nosdiet.com  
That might work for you.  It sounded perfect for me, because I could graze all day and have developed a bit of a sweet tooth, even though I never had one before the band.   I think now if I can just tell myself to eat only three meals during the week, then if I want something sweet I can have it, I just have to put it off for the weekend.  If I want a snack, I just wait for the the S days. 

I love that idea, definately going to try it.  Thank you.

You are welcome....I hope it works.  Please, tell me how it goes and I'll tell you how it's working for us, too. 
I heard about the no S diet through Michael Pollan's book, In Defense of Food, which is my new food reference guide.  I got a copy of Food Rules, which is basically a condensed version of the other book and it includes a lot of great ideas like "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." and "It's not food if it's called by the same name in every language. (Think Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles.)" 
Yep... Michael Pollan is my new food guru. 

OMG- the no S diet sounds totally do-able! Even my kids need it. Kelly- shall we try it??
I will look up Michael Pollan too! THANKS!

The no S diet is working for us.  It's made me realize how much snacking and how much mindless eating we were doing.  My husband has a HUGE sweet tooth.  He is also a very picky eater.  He has what I've learned, is selective eating disorder - or he's an adult picky eater.   It's as if his palate never changed since early childhood.  His favorite foods are macaroni and cheese, cheeseburgers, hot dogs and chicken nuggets.  - and he's 48 years old!  I find myself cooking things that he likes because otherwise, I end up cooking two meals - one for him and the kids and one for me.   And, we'd have dessert after every meal.  My five year old will only eat a little bit of food and then beg for dessert.  And, since my husband doesn't like vegetables, we'd rarely eat those. 
Thankfully, the two year old will eat anything - like me - and I'm not so worried about him - yet.  But - If we continue eating like this, though, he will have eating problems, too.  

So, we are doing the no s diet and I'm bringing in a lot more fruits and vegetables into the house.  It's been a bit of a waste, so far, though, as I'm on a soft food diet post-surgery.  I had to throw out most of the broccoli I bought the other day, that my five year old picked out and swore that he would eat. The rules are easy for him to follow and understand.  My husband admits to cheating - he bought a chocolate bar on the way to work yesterday.  He has been keeping his cheating away from the kids so as far as they know, we are following the same rules they are.

Yesterday, my five year old was near tears and he said - I don't like this diet - all these fruits and vegetables!  I hope it means that this is working - and that I just need to be persistant.