Is This What Restriction Feels Like?

Do all new bandsters ask that question?!

Tomorrow it's seven weeks since I was banded and today it's four days since I had my first fill; I spent the first five weeks or so as a bandit eating pretty much only liquids, purees, mushies and soft food. I then had a week pre-fill of eating the entire contents of our kitchen and then the last four days have been back to purees/mushies. My dietitian was a little sketchy with how long I should stay on purees/softies after the fill so I've just been taking it steady. However this morning I decided to push it a little and see what happened.

For the last seven weeks the only thing I've eaten for breakfast has been Ready Brek. I don't know if this is only a UK product, so in case it is, I'll try and describe it. Imagine taking some porridge oats and grinding them to within an inch of their lives, so they become like a fairly fine powder. Now mix with milk and heat in the microwave for 1m 30seconds. And there you have my breakfast. Obviously you can vary the consistency by varying the proportions of milk to powder, but I tend to have it like a fairly sloppy soup.

Obviously sloppy, liquid-y foods are going to pass through the band without too much trouble, hence why they are recommended post-operation and post-fill; the trouble with this is that, I'm assuming, they don't fill up the 'new' tummy that sits on top of the band, they just slide on through. So, today I decided to try out something that wouldn't just pass through, something that would, hopefully, sit on top of the band and make me feel full. Something that would reassure me that there is a band in there somewhere. I was going to have toast but we didn't have any bread in; luckily a hunt through the freezer produced some crumpets, so I toasted two and spread them with butter. Boy, did they taste good! My first attempt at 'proper' food, post-fill. I should have taken a photo.

Anyhoo, to get to the point of this posting. I managed to eat two crumpets but even now, an hour or more later, I can feel them just sitting there. It's not uncomfortable, but I know they are there and it's an odd sensation. I sort of feel like I need to thump myself on the breastbone to make them move along a bit. So, is this restriction? And is it enough restriction? Should I really be able to eat two crumpets? Is it the amount of food I can eat in one sitting that I should be looking at to measure my restriction, or is it the time between eating one meal that makes me feel nicely full and the next meal? For instance, if two crumpets keep me nicely full for four hours, is that good? Or should I be aiming for one crumpet to keep me full for four hours? Questions, questions. Perhaps crumpets aren't the best thing to be judging restriction on; perhaps I should wait to see what happens with my next meal.

Which leads me on to another whole set of questions for the experienced bandsters out there. When chosing what to eat, do you make a bee-line for foods that you know will sit on top of your band and thus fill you up more quickly? For instance, when you have lunch, would you choose a sandwich (assuming bread is ok for you) over soup? Is this the right thing to do? Are there foods which you know do this for you?