Hi all...

Just wanted to post that I have a problem leaving food on my plate...

I hate the fact that my mind hasnt caught up to my band yet and mentally I feel the urge to "clean" my plate...

I was taught to never waste food and to never leave any on my plate, so needless to say I have yet to retrain my brain...

I serve myself at home so I can control my portions but when I get to a restaruant it all goes down hill from there...

sigh.......

Just a tip.

When I eat out I decide to take half home for lunch the next day. I ask the server to bring a to go box with my meal. I cut what I am taking home and it goes in the box before I start eating. 2 meals for the price of one!

My problem is staying away from the bread.

It takes time to get your own tricks in place but hang in there.

Hey we are from the south. And I forsure know a thing or two about cleaning our plates. I started using a saucer when I first had my band 3 1/2 yrs ago. It helped for for the first 6 months. But now, with all the ups and downs. Now I have just set it in my mind and I also just put on my plate a small piece of meat, a couple scoops of veggies and that is it. Try it and when you want 2nds just say " NO Not This Minute, or 2,3,4,5. This is helping me right now to not eat my husband's no bake cookies that he gets from the local bakery. When the temptation arises just say No, Not This Minute and Walk Away.

My friend had a similar problem so when she felt herself getting full she would take her napkin and mush it into her food and whatever else was available to make it not look enticing anymore......

I dunno what to tell ya! It's hard for me too, I'm very social, I go out a LOT, for me, It's best to just not go out! I try to save that "Eating out meal" for once or twice a week so i don't over do it.

I don't show great restraints when eating out either. I try and keep it to once or twice a week and I can't eat bread anyway. Somehow it's worked. Just exercise a lot on going out days.

My wife and I have a great system, when we eat out we order 1 meal and share it. She will ask me when she see's I am slowing down, and when I've eaten what I set aside for my self she will take both our plates away. Sometimes I see her slowing down. She has the gastric bypass. We have a great support system for each other.

I agree to ask for a to go box when you order. My mother does that and she has'nt had surgery. She often gives leftovers from meals out to my nephew when he stops by to do his laundry (at least he does it himself!) and does want to "contaminate" the food.

Hi sweetie, let me tell you that you are def. not alone. My husband and I love to dine and for that reason i had to change my ways, what i do is ask the server to bring me a small plate (the ones that they usually give you for apetizers). I serve myself and eat off that plate and the rest i take home ...

Great advice on the to-go boxes when going out for dinner. I do that myself. I also try to plan ahead when going out for dinner by eating lighter during the day to give me some extra calories, just in case, and if it's a chain restaurant i try to look at the menu online first & compare the nutritional values so i know in advance what i'm eating. It's definitely a head game in the beginning. Stay strong though, you'll get it.

"bury" your food. Place your napkin over your plate when you think you've eaten enough. Out of sight = out of mind! Nah, it doesn't work all the time, but every little trick helps in the end!

Hi sweetie, let me tell you that you are def. not alone. My husband and I love to dine and for that reason i had to change my ways, what i do is ask the server to bring me a small plate (the ones that they usually give you for apetizers). I serve myself and eat off that plate and the rest i take home ...

I really like this idea...I need to start doing this when I go out. I'm only 10 days post op so it will be a long while before I eat out.

Its harder to get a to go box (or doggy bag as we call them) in Australia, its actually against health regulations, but sometimes the restaurant will do it.

What I do when I go out to eat - which applies more so now that I have no fill than when I had good restriction - first off, I never order something I know will be huge, yummy and very hard to leave on the plate. Just. Dont. Order. It. I stick with the entree menu or size (which I think for you guys is an appetiser) rather than the main meal in anything that resembles a pub, bistro or smorgasbord because "pub grub" is huge, stodgy and megacalorific. I would never ever for example order a chicken parmigiana - I know it will be as large as a dinner plate, come with a heap of chips and I will have great trouble stopping.

I've learned to stay away from the bread, many's the time when I had restriction that I'd give in and have a nibble on the garlic bread that the rest of the table had ordered, a sip of wine or two and then bam, stuck and even though I've never actually pb'd in that sort of situation,its really annoying and embarrassing to then be unable to eat even a bite of your nice meal that you paid a lot of money for. Again, Just. Dont. Eat. It.

But finally, for me anyway, going out for dinner or lunch is a treat, I dont do it more than once or twice a month. food is to be enjoyed, and shared in social situations as well as being just fuel and it is actually OK to let your hair down (in a controlled manner) occasionally. We all know that caesar salads for example are hugely fattening, but I darn well love em and I'm going to have one if I feel like it.

I try to keep the wine to a minimum, I like a nice wine, but more than a glass and my eating control tends to go out the window. For long afternoon barbecues and such when I can start out good and then hit the cheese platter in a disastrous way hours later, I ban myself from drinking alcohol at all.

I'm fortunate to have a husband who lets me choose what to order and then I just take my portion and leave him with the rest. I don't have a problem resisting the free bread, taco chips or biscuits that they put on the table but if I did, I know he'd tell them to not bring any and do without just for me.

When I'm out with friends, and if it's a restaurant I know and I know the serving will be large, I ask them if I can just have a half portion. Most of the time they have no problem with that. Many times, they'll also take a little something off the bill which I think is very generous. What most people don't know is that the reason portion sizes are so huge is because it doesn't cost the restaurant that much more to double the portion. The greatest cost in running the restaurant is non-food related...and most restaurants in the U.S. have figured out that the bigger the portion, the more likely the people will be to return. If they don't take anything off the bill, that's ok too. At least the uneaten food wasn't tossed in the trash.

If that's a no go, I get a takeout box with my meal and immediately remove all but my portion. I'm not big on leftover restaurant food so it's not a temptation at home and I know my husband or son will eat it later.

Zen, I also have a tough time throwing away food. It just offends me when there are so many starving people in the world. Then one day I realized that by that rationale, throwing it out was really no different than stuffing myself with more food than my body needed. It's still a waste of resources.

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So.. I know this sounds gross but when I'm done with a meal and I don't want to eat any more of it I'll pour salt or sugar on it. LOOKS GROSS taste GROSS and I'm done with it. Stops me from mindlessly picking at the food