Thank You For All the Lessons...

The Lap-Band had NEVER limited my portions.

The amount of food that I eat has always been up to me and my choices.

Here's how it had usually gone down with my Lap-Band:

1. I measure (or weigh-out) my one cup portion of food in a dish.
2. I chew like a maniac and eat it all in about 25-30 minutes.
3. There is nothing left in the bowl or plate.
4. I am done eating. 
5. BECAUSE there is no more food to eat.

Did I feel like I could eat more? Abso-freakin-lutely.  Pretty much at every meal.  But I didn't usually.

Ever since my last fill (about 8 weeks ago), here are things that are NEW to me:

• Not finishing my one cup of food because if I eat one more bite, I feel like it'll all come back up. I'll now usually eat and enjoy about 3/4 of the meal, solid proteins and veggies/carbs.

• I now realize why they always tell us bandsters, "protein first."  Don't tell anyone, but I used to kinda roll my eyes at that saying. I thought that some medical peeps thought that up in a fancy conference room somewhere and thought that it sounded good...EVEN though they never had bands inside them, so what did they know. But now I realize that there might not be any room left for the protein if I start with the veggies/etc. I never really "got it" until now.

• Not having room for dessert.  I'm too full.  Dessert is usually at least a once a week event. For example, I went to Cold Stone Ice Creamery the other night with friends and DID NOT EAT ICE CREAM. WTF. I NEVER pass up ice cream. Ever. Ice cream! The ultimate slider-food and I didn't feel like I could comfortably eat it.

• I've stopped eating snacks too soon before a meal, because the snack will literally take up too much room. I now fully understand the phrase "don't eat that, it'll spoil your dinner."  I sometimes pass on the chips n' salsa and the bread basket now at restaurants. WTF x 2.  An entirely NEW concept and experience for me.

These are things that haven't really happened before.

Ummm...have I finally begun to understand what this Lap-Band is meant for?

Has it really taken over two years and nine months to get to this place with my band? I did flirt with this concept when, in my opinion, I thought that my band was over-filled last summer. But I wasn't ready then.

But I am ready now.

I'm okay with my band at this level (7.8 cc's in 10 cc band).

Of course, this new restriction level didn't stop me from making a delicious chocolate peanut butter pie on Saturday and then eating three slices of it over the weekend.  But that's a discussion for another day I suppose.

I still haven't had an official food "PB" since being banded.  All food that has gone down, has stayed down.  But I have come very close a few times! Yikes.

I just have had occasional difficulties swallowing large vitamins.  My first food PB will happen one of these days. And I will tell you all about it in gruesome detail so that you too can cringe like I always cringe reading about your first PB stories.

I'm liking these new-to-me experiences with my Lap-Band.

I always knew that my band could do this, but do you know what?

I am very thankful that it actually took this long to get here.

If it hadn't taken this long to get to this level of restriction, I wouldn't have learned so many lessons that have hopefully, permanently, changed my food behaviors.

I think that I'm loving my Lap-Band even more now.

And now for a photo that I forgot to show you about six or seven or twelve posts ago because it was trapped inside my iPhone. But the pic is released now...to roam free among the interwebs. I got henna tattooed at Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World when I was in Florida.  The tattoo lasted about a week and then faded away.  A perfect amount of time for this commitment phobic girl:

I miss my spray tan...don't you?