LEWISTON – Chew, chew, chew.

Chew, chew.

Chew some 25 times more. Swallow.

Repeat.

Sometimes Tracie, Travis, Alex and Adam sit at the table and practice, taking tiny bites, counting to 30. That’s how long parents Tracie and Travis Dubois will have to linger once they have their new stomachs, after gastric bypass surgery. Now it’s impossible, laughable. They chew until there’s nothing left. Then keep chewing.

“That’s why you lose weight: It’s not in your belly, it’s stuck in your teeth,” said Tracie.

It won’t be real until next month. More than a year on the waiting list, she’s finally got a surgery date: Aug. 31.

“I can’t even wait. I’m like counting the days,” said Tracie, 34. Her husband’s surgery will likely be in the winter.

Surveying a small quarter-cup scoop of food surrounded by empty plate, Travis said that from everything he’s heard about the effects of the surgery, “that will fill me up, and I’m extremely excited about that, but it’s hard to believe. I can eat that in one bite.”

Each meal will be about 2 ounces, chewed 30 times per bite, stretched over 20 minutes.

The results should be dramatic. Travis is hoping to lose close to 200 pounds, Tracie a little less.

She’s trying not to think about the actual procedure, a surgery that will leave a 7-inch scar from belly button to breastbone. She is preparing to give up soda. Some people can drink it afterward, some can’t. “I just want to think I can’t,” Tracie said.

Travis, 33, will give up fast food. The same day he stood looking at the bare plate, he’d eaten fast food for breakfast and lunch.

“I’m just expecting to stay far away from the fast-food restaurants, which I know I should have been doing all along,” he said.

They plan to cook the same meals at home as they do now, just eating less. He tried dieting last month, just to see if he could stick to it. He couldn’t. She’ll start a diet in August, losing 10 pounds on doctor’s orders to get her body ready for surgery.