CURRENT MOOD: A-OK

I've been pretty successful at getting back on the program since the new year and it is paying off. I got on the scale yesterday and was down a few more pounds. I am judging my weight loss by my personal history and I am currently somewhere in the mid 1990s. I am hoping to break into the late 1980s by the end of the summer.

Something new: I finally experienced getting food stuck for the first time and it IS really as unpleasant as everyone says. I didn't vomit, slime or foam but the pain stopped me in my tracks and my husband thought I was choking for a second until I was able to say what was going on. It was steak and I just didn't chew it well enough. The weirdest sensation was when it cleared. I could actually feel it slipping through my stoma after a couple of minutes and sips of water. Very strange and uncomfortable. Why did this happen? Well, I've eaten steak plenty of times (it seems I need solid meat to stave off hunger) but I was wolfing down my food because we'd waited too long for lunch. Then we chose a restaurant that was too crowded so we went to another restaurant and the kitchen happened to be incredibly slow. I think I said something about lunch initially at 1:30 and it was literally 3:20 by the time our food arrived in front of us.

It was a learning experience:

1) Do not wait too long to eat or you risk eating too fast and not chewing well enough

2) Do not choose a restaurant that is so popular you will have at least a 25-30 minute wait for a table when you are already hungry

3) Do not choose a restaurant over a mile away and insist on walking (for the exercise) when you are hungry

4) Chew, chew, chew, especially steak

5) Have some sort of signal ready for your loved ones so they don't think you are choking to death and try to do the Heimlich maneuver on you

I am getting my 2nd fill on 1/28. I currently have 6ccs in a 12cc band and can still eat over 8 ounces in a sitting. I am hoping to have restriction at a lower volume and get used to it before our vacation to the all-inclusive (BUFFETS!) resort in Mexico on 2/16! I am also hoping to drop another 10 lbs by then and fit in the seat on the plane without pushing up the arm and overlapping on my 6-year old. Well, that part might be pushing it...I probably need to lose 30 more lbs before I stop overlapping on planes.

A couple of updated stats:

Weight loss total since consultation: 34lbs

Weight loss since surgery on 11/9: 23 lbs

Jeans: same size but now they actually fit and don't restrict the circulation in my lower body! LOL

Jeans that actually fit and don't restrict circulation have got to be the greatest reward of all! LOL I was just thinking this to myself the other day. Way to go!!!

Jeans that fit... i finally am feeling that! i dont like how people tell me that if you loose 10lbs that is a pant size smaller. For me its more like every 18-20 lbs.

I am also hoping that next tiem i get on a plane i will not have to endure the small seats!

I have my 2nd fill this week..but i only have 3cc and had had no restriction and have lost very little weight in the last 5 weeks. so hopefully that will change.

I will take you recomendations next time i go out to dinner.... my husband knows that if i touch my chest 2 times it means that i am having problems and i need to get up and walk it off...no words necessary