Firstly...I'm nearly four years post banded. Just a couple of weeks till my anniversary. I've been at goal for around three years give or take so I absolutely consider myself a vet though not necessarily one of long term duration.

So...this week has been both a bit of a challenge and also a great joy. The joy part is that I'm with my friends, family, and loved ones and I'm doing a spectacular stay-cation home in NYC. A little background is that my boyfriend owns a food tour company and is obviously very knowledgeable about food and is a huge foodie as part of his job and interests. And that is often the challenge...especially this week.

We decided to do a global food tour and in tandem, head out of Manhattan to explore the outer boroughs and eat foods from different ethnicities. So we went to Greenpoint Brooklyn which has a large Polish population and ate Polish food. We went to Staten Island and had Spanish food, we went to Arthur Avenue in The Bronx which is a well known Italian enclave. We've done Brazilian, Malaysian, Jewish delicatessen (along with movies on Christmas Day), and we're still heading to Astoria Queens for Greek food.

I got on the scale this morning and am exactly the same weight I was a week ago when we started this foray.

And what does this tell us? For me, it tells me that as long as I watch my volume, and make good choices, I can eat anything and live the life I want even when my interests still gravitate towards food. The difference now is that I don't need or want to eat to excess. A little bit goes a long way. Last night was my biggest challenge. My danger food is pasta. I ordered the house special...Nona's meatballs and spaghetti. Suffice to say the spaghetti was perfectly al dente. Chewy deliciousness. I had about three or four small forkfuls, and let the remaining three dinner companions go to town on the rest of it. This worked so well as I got in my chance to enjoy this food and still not give in to it.

I know everyone has to approach living post WLS the best way they know how. For me, this works. My fervent hope is that I'm posting the same when I'm ten years post banded. Today I think I can make it.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all my friends on BP.

@@gowalking

You are an inspiration! Congratulations on such a great success.

@@gowalking

You are an inspiration! Congratulations on such a great success.