I was banded on May 15th - two weeks ago tomorrow. My doctor had me on liquids for the first week ("anything you can drink through a straw") and mushies from day 8 thru day 14, which means tomorrow is my last day of mushies.

I'm determined I'm going to be a success story. I've been eating very healthy foods in small portions, even though I didn't think I was really feeling any restriction after the first few post-surgery days. Oh yeah, I'd reach a point where I'd think.... "hmmm, I might be feeling full (but not stuffed), I guess that means I should stop eating" which is such a foreign attitude for me (I'm sure a lot of you can relate). My brain was saying "No, this tastes good and there's still more in my bowl, I want it all". I recognized that I needed to start paying attention to that though. I stay full for several hours after eating, but my stomach is usually growling by the next meal time but again, I didn't think that was restriction, I just figured after all my pre-surgery dieting, and the liquid diet for a week afterwards, I was just feeling satisfied with smaller portions.

Well, tonight I am pretty darn sure I'm feeling the effects of restriction. I had a very tender boneless, skinless chicken breast for dinner (which is on the "ok" list for this week, along with fish). I topped it with 1 tbsp. of melted cheese and 1 tbsp. of fat-free sour cream. I took tiny bites and chewed them well. I thought I was eating slowly but in hindsight, that's probably something I still need to work on. About 10 minutes later I started feeling this heaviness in my chest, like some of that chicken is stuck going down.

I guess that means I do have a little more restriction than I thought. I haven't pushed the limits or over-eaten so I guess I really wasn't testing it out and now, apparently, I have. I'm kind of relieved that maybe I'll have some restriction between now and my first fill on June 12th, but wow, it's kind of a weird feeling and really makes me aware how carefully I'm going to have to think about every bite.

All I can say is "Wow"! You've lost that much in two weeks! My surgery is in two weeks and I only hope I can do that well!

Oh Gina, I wish I'd lost that much in 2 weeks! Actually I've only lost about 2 pounds since surgery. I was just so disgusted with myself that I actually lost 10 pounds in 3 weeks before my doctor put me on liquids for one week pre-op, and I lost 12 pounds in that week.

When I went for my post-op visit 8 days after surgery, I had gained 1.5 lbs. I've got the scale moving in the right direction now though!

And Jack, thanks for the encouragement!