1st day solid food

[vangirl]

Today is my three week bandiversary, and this is what I ate:

Morning, I had my one of my bottles of high protein nutrition drink, as I didn't want to eat any solids before and while I was at work. At work, someone brought a package of Lindt chocolate balls, and I had two of them, slowly over the course of the day. I didn't really count this as solid foods because it was melted by the time it went down. I wasn't planning on having chocolate, but it just so happened that it was there and I thought I'd test it.

Dinner was preceded by a small homemade cookie, which I chewed and ate very slowly. No issues. For dinner, I was able to eat just the tender part of the chicken breast I cooked for myself, a small spoonful of homemade salsa, a baby carrot, and half of a six-inch diameter non-fat quesadilla. I ate the whole thing very slowly and was trying to pay attention the whole time to signs of fullness. It was very difficult to interpret what was going on in my body, especially as I've been feeling under the weather, but I was able to stop before I had any uncomfortable feeling. While I would have liked to eat more, I don't feel hungry for having eaten the little that I did. This was very much an exercise of determining what is body versus head hunger and making sure that I paid attention to my body.

I did fail to follow the guideline of starting with the protein first and then going on to veggies and then to the carbs. The reason was that the chicken felt dry and like it was not going down as easily as the quesadilla. And I liked the taste of the quesadilla and so wanted to eat as much of it as I could. Had I finished off my chicken first, I probably would have felt fuller faster. I also mixed it up, in that I'd have a bit of chicken, and then a small piece of quesadilla, and then a bit of salsa etc. I felt very deprived of water. I SO badly wanted to have water with my meal, as I always have water with my meals.

Overall it was a very healthy meal (much more healthy than I was anticipating to have as my first meal) and I took it very slowly and cautiously. I did not count calories or measure my portions. I didn't follow all of the rules of eating solids, but it was all right in the end. I probably exercised more willpower than bandpower because I didn't let it get to the point where it felt uncomfortable, but I did feel a definitive moment where I felt mentally/intuitively that I should stop eating, and I did. Prior to getting the band, I would have kept eating for much longer.

So that was my first day of solid foods. Now what to eat tomorrow...

[nothereanymore]

You did great, it’s always hard at first - and honestly it will be for a while - you're learning to use a new tool, one that is really personal to you. Which can make it hard because we all experience the band a little bit differently.

I would recommend trying to eat your protein first, it’s the most important part of our meal and what we need to really get down – try steaming the chicken or you might want to eat some soft fish at first. It can be easier to get down – (but remember – its suppose to be a little bit harder to get it down, we need to chew it 30 times and it actually is what fills us up). Part of learning how to use our band is learning to eat the protein.

Many of us have problems eating in the morning. When I was first starting out I would get egg white beaters, just add a little bit to a pan and scramble – add some very small pre cut veggies on the side (to cook fast and for easy eating) and breakfast could be done bandstar style in just a couple of minutes. I do drink a protein shake now and you’ll see me talk about that often, but honestly at first I really tried to “eat” not drink things since that was the program they wanted me to follow. (I'm done now so I have an excuse :-)

For lunch, one of the foiled salmon you find next to tuna these days and some small cut veggies is an easy fix. (or tuna)

Good luck - its a journey and a new learning experience! Have some fun with it!

Lisa