Bloom. Rose. Off.

Ever since I decided to have the surgery, back in December, I have been obsessed with it. I could barely do my work; I was too busy reading lapbandtalk.com. I'm sure Beau was just sick of it.

Now? I am 10 weeks out. I find myself not reading LBT all that often at all. And when I do, I tend to get more irritated with people asking very silly questions and expecting to lose weight with very little effort on their part. I feel curmudgeonly.

Most of the time, eating small portions, taking small bites and chewing thoroughly are second nature. I do get into trouble sometimes when I wait too long between meals (I tend to eat too fast then) or eat something I haven't tried since being banded (like with the hot dog). I still make plenty of mistakes. But in general, it's not as much of a struggle anymore to do what I'm supposed to do. And that's a good thing. I'm not complacent; I'm still excited about how this is working for me and how I'm continuing to lose weight. But the newness has worn off.

I attended a wedding this weekend. In the past, when on diets and a special occasion came up, I'd just use it as an excuse to go crazy and lose control. This time, although I did take in more calories than I normally do, I was very selective. And I never felt like I was depriving myself. I ate dessert. I drank some wine. It is completely OK to do that on occasion, and it's completely possible to do it and not ruin everything. I did not eat the rolls. They weren't anything spectacular-looking, so why bother with them? One person did notice that I wasn't drinking my wine with my meal, but I just said that I don't drink with meals because I find that it's better for my digestion. And that was the end of that.

Since we were staying at a hotel with a fitness room, I got up early and used the treadmill. I don't think I've ever really done that at a hotel. Sometimes I've wanted to but felt intimidated or embarrassed if other people happened to be in there. This time, I had been on the treadmill for about 5 minutes (I was doing a 20 minute program) when two people came in. I just kept walking and watching TV. It was a tiny room with one other treadmill, a stairclimber and a bike. I got on the "good" treadmill -- the other one looked kind of old and dinky. Right away the two people who came in started talking about how that treadmill probably wouldn't stand up to running. I wondered if they were trying to hint that I should give it up. But I was there first, so they had to make do and wait 15 minutes.