I was sleeved on 3/29, and was scheduled to start solids this week. Well, as luck would have it, that time coincided with some business associates coming in from out of town who wanted to go out to dinner. Being armed with my wealth of knowledge about the pitfalls of overeating, and after doing so well on the soft food phase, I figured "no problem". Damn, was I in for a surprise.

Of course the group vote ended up being Maggiano's. Man I always loved italian food... lots of wonderful carbs, sauces and huge portion sizes. I figured "who am I to disagree, I'm barely going to eat and I'll find something healthy on the menu". Well, that was my first mistake.

I heard great things about their lasagna. I love lasagna. My wife loves lasagna too, so I figured she could have my leftovers (or I could eat it myself for a couple meals after). So, lasagna it was. No appetizers, just a tiny bit of the lasagna and the rest would go home. I hadn't had much in the way of calories that day, so I figured I'd be ok. That was my second mistake.

The meal showed up and all sense went out the window. I tried to remember my training... small bites, lay your fork down, chew completely, savor every bite, etc., etc. Yeah I ate slowly, and yeah I savored every bite, but I had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA when to stop!

After just a few bites I *think* I might have been getting full, but when I looked at the plate it barely looked like I touched it. There was no way I had overeaten yet, so I had a little more. That went on for a few minutes more until I realized I had this lump in my chest like I just ate a quart of ice cream too fast. No desire to vomit or anything, just pain. Uh oh I thought, time to stop. Except it was too late. That was my third mistake.

I spent the rest of the night in complete discomfort. When I woke up the next day, I still felt full. Odd I thought, but I went about my second day on solids and had (just half) of a small hamburger patty for lunch. More discomfort. I even ate a little dinner that night because I had very few calories that day, and again more discomfort. That's when I FINALLY realized I was outa control and paying the price from dinner the night before.

Today was the second day since the italian incident. I still feel full and crampy, even when I take sips of Water. My surgeon warned me that my stomach could launch a counterattack if I mistreated it, but who woulda thought it would happen to me on day one! I think I'll take his advise and go back to liquids for a couple days!

Sometimes the best lessons are learned when you experience them yourself. I think I'm going to stay out of restaurants a bit longer until I can adjust to this whole solid food thing.

A friend told me that when I go out to eat now, I should just order an appetizer instead of a meal, or order things a la carte. Smaller, cheaper, and usually on target as far as portions, chicken wings for instance 4 wings are going to be right around 3oz of meat