That tunafish could taste so unbelievably good and that I could get full on half a cup of it!!!!!!!!! I broke the rules by 12 hours and had my first food (mushy) tonight. My tastebuds were dancing!!!!!!!!!!! You would have thought I was eating steak!

I did take my time and ate as slowly as I could for being famished LOL. I chewed chewed and chewed until it was completely pulverized, and then I would wait periodically to see how I felt before proceeding. I stopped at about a half a cup and I probably could have had more but I didn't want to push it especially my first meal. Tomorrow morning before we go on our charity ride I will have an egg, two if I can get it down. Again, I don't want to push it, especially right before going on a ride.

I also had an NSV! We went by Open Road Leathers to look for some new chaps for me as my old ones (the ones I bought in November!) were getting way loose on me, especially around the legs. Now, you have to know that they don't size chaps like regular clothes. Don't know why but they run WAY small. So the chaps I got in November were 6X (ugh) despite the fact that I was actually 2X at the time. Well, today I got into 4X chaps!!! Two whole sizes! I purposely got them nice and tight so that I would be able to wear them for a while before having to get another pair when I lose more weight. I normally wouldn't even bother getting something like this until I have lost all my weight but I wear my chaps even during the summer as it keeps the engine heat from burning my legs.

Oh! I took off the steri strips on the three small incisions today. They were starting to come off anyway and they were annoying me. One of them probably wasn't quite ready to come off but I just put Neosporin on it and covered it with a bandaid. It will be fine in a couple of days. The other two, my port and the big blob of cotton in my belly button are under waterproof tape and okay like they are. Dr. Cywes wanted them to stay on for two weeks. I'll see what those look like then.

I did a lot of running around today, brushed down the pool, washed my motorcycle, did a load of laundry, emptied the dishwasher, pulled some weeds and stuff. So I am definitely feeling back to my normal self with the exception of some isolated and periodic soreness in the muscles where my port is.

I'm very excited about eating real food again. I can't even begin to explain!

I feel like my journey has really begun today. I am starting to eat like a bandster and lead the bandster way of life! :biggrin:

Actually, today I'm looking forward to the restriction! It seems like 3 weeks is SO far away. I had my first "oops" today. I've been so hungry eating just a few ounces. Tonight I made a recipe I saw here somewhere with ricotta cheese and spaghetti sauce & parmesan. It tasted like lasagna without the noodles. I made a full cup of it, planning to eat half and save the other half for tomorrow.

Well, guess what....I ate the whole thing. And even though I don't have restriction - I feel like I just ate a whole Thanksgiving dinner. I'm hoping it will stay down. I know its a far cry from the kind of overeating I did before the band - but I still feel very naughty. Uggg. I think I'd better go and lay down!!

Oh you poor thing!!! I hope you feel better! When you get up tomorrow just get back on track and you'll be fine!

Who would have thought that a cup of ricotta cheese would have made you feel guilty. We've come a long way on this journey.

Congratulations. I can hardly wait for the cottage cheese stage.

I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of "who knew" moments in our journeys!!

Hi everyone, I'm a Pre-Bandster... and thank you soooo much for your thoughts and ideas, you guy's have taken a lot of the 'Scary unknown' feeling I had and changed my perspective, now I'm excited and trying to imagine what it will be like when I'm in your stage. Jax your husband sounds like mine with the pants story lol. and what on earth is a NSV? I've heard it a few times on this site and have no clue what it means!lol sorry I was wondering, how long was it before you started seeing the weight come off? I don't want to set too high of expectations... I'm trying to find out as much as posible! thanks!

Welcome to the family of bandsters. You're gonna love it. The band works for you when you work with it. And keep in mind that you won't have good restriction for several months so you will have to work hard at what you eat until the band can help you out more.

An NSV is a Non-Scale Victory. It's anything that isn't pounds you lost. Might be a friend not recognizing you from the back, fitting into theater seats better, etc.

For me the weight started coming of 2 weeks prior to surgery with the pre-op diet. I lost 16 pounds then and after that it was 10-12 pounds a month for the first 6 months. Then it slowed down a bit to about 8 pounds a month. Now I'm having trouble but I have some issues going on and should be back to dropping soon. I had just over 200 pounds to lose though so I was losing it a bit faster than you would if you had less to lose.

Good luck and enjoy your new life. Always remember that the band is only a tool and you have to do the work, it just makes it easier.

Can't wait for Tuna sound like a banquet to me