Wow. Seems wild posting on the heels of my last post, but here it is, the end of Week 17! And what a week it was. I spent the week in DC so I had to eat restaurant food for lunch and dinner... yikes. Breakfast I was able to manage in my room. I was worried about possible weight gain during this week, but I did make sure to keep my prunes on hand and I did A LOT of walking every day around the National Mall. (Stunning Stunning Stunning!)

I am happy to report that this week I am at 170.2 having lost 2.2 lbs this week! I wasn't sure that I would lose because I had a couple of drinks and while I counted my calories as usual, I didn't have the exact nutritional information (what I LOATHE about eating out, the typical restaurant reply: we have no idea how much fat you're ingesting...) so I had to guesstimate as much as I could with a calorie counting tool. I will blog about tools next because I don't think I have done that.

I found that the first 3 days I didn't get as much water in as I needed to and that left my body feeling terrible! I actually felt dry throughout and it kinda hurt, you know, the way your plants get wilty when they need to be watered? I've never realize how a body can yell or scream for water like I do now. I made up for that these last 3 days getting at the very least 48 ounces in, which was not near enough. But I am home now and back on track and that feels GREAT!

I am excited to get my water drinking and delicious home cooked eating back on track! I do love that about home, and I am strategising for Thanksgiving! I am not concerned that I will over eat because of the fantastic restriction.

While eating out in DC, the restaurant food, I found that sometimes I would take 6 bites and feel completely full! That 'full' sensation I now recognize when I feel the food filling and touching the walls of my stomach, the only way I can describe it is that I know the size of my stomach and can tell when I have sufficiently filled it. After that, I just don't eat anymore. THAT was fantastic. For the first time in my life, I realize that I know what it feels like to feel I have had enough. Before this life changing procedure, I knew when I had had enough because I felt extremely full, which 20 minutes later turned to stuffed and felt literal pain and discomfort over that.

I love my new life! I sure do feel like next week I am going to see some much awaited and anticipated 6's!! To 18 and beyooond!