I started my journey in June /11. I had to go 6 months for insurance. I was finally cleared in Nov. /11- but with the

holidays and a few glitches with insurance I was approved in Jan. I was set to have surgery 2/14/12 -but received

a call on 2/6/12 asking if I could have my surgery on 2/8/12-because my doctor was having a family emergency

overseas- if I didn't have surgery then it could be delayed up to a month. So I went for it. I went through the

program New Start and my doctor is Kummeran.

I started out at 271 on 2/8 - 1 week later I was down 11 pounds- 2 weeks - 2/22 -16 pounds.

It is a learning experience. I am having problems eating over 3-4 bites of food at a time. I guess this will all

come to pass.

The start of eating solids is tough. I'm about seven weeks out and am doing better with real food but it's still hard sometimes. If I'm eating a desne protein- any meat, even deli meat, I really need to stick with 1/3 cup. The mushy foods - yogurt, cottage cheese go through quick and I've eaten as much as a cup of cottage cheese across the course of an hour or so. The hardest thing for me is not drinking when I eat. I'm learning though! Good luck and congratulations on your surgery!