My wife and I, and a few of her friends, will occasionally eat out at a local, popular restaurant that serves only Breakfast and lunches. I should mention that three of us have the lap-band, and my wife just had VSG surgery.

I usually order an omelet, and it is good for at least two meals. I divide it half, and take the rest home for another meal. The other day one of my wife's friends ordered a lunch special--stuffed peppers. They brought her two HUGE stuffed peppers to the table, and along with that came two large potato slices and Italian bread with butter! She also ordered the pea Soup special...

But, she took the stuffed peppers to go. I decided to do the same thing.... when I got home I measured out single cup portions, and ended with SIX meals in my freezer--that will feed me a lunch or dinner for the next week! My wife's friend did the same thing. She ate half the soup, and took the rest home, along with 95% of the stuffed pepper special. The two peppers must have weighed at least four pounds!

But, a lot of folks in the restaurant left with clean plates, and no plastic carryout boxes. I think I see why many folks have weight issues! Restaurant portions are out of control! Those two huge stuffed peppers were only eight bucks, and I was able to get several meals out of them. Yeah, I can tolerate rice at this point, so this works for me. Others felt obliged to clean their plates, since they paid for the meal wanted to get their monies worth. I can see why we have weight problems. Before the band I would I have been able to get an entire omelet down, and I could have made a big dent in those two, large stuffed peppers. Now I know how to portion, and control intake.

If you eat out, and have a band, don't be embarrassed to measure your food, and to ask for a doggy bag! You'll save money, and have a few extra meals to boot!

I agree portion sizes are way out of control in America and no wonder there is an obese epidemic in America today. We each too much and that is what got me in the shape I was in pre band. Now I'm able to control it. I usually share a meal with my mom or order a kids meal, like today we had lunch at Chick Fil A and I had kids nuggets, apple sauce and choc milk, was totally satisfied. We need to choose healthy choices and get up off the couch and move, get healthy, after all isn't that why we all got the band, to get healthy, I sure did.

There are a few restaurants that now have 1/2 portion meals. But, I am, never, ashamed to ask for a "to go" box. I have come to the point that i divide and ask as soon as i get the meal! by the way, Jean McMillan just wrote a blog on The Clean Plate Club"!!

I look forward to the day when I'm consuming small portions like you guys. Still weighing options so still cleaning my plate when we go out.

I always get weird looks by the waiting staff and they constantly ask me if everything tastes okay because I don't eat it all. Then they are always surprised when I ask for a box to take it home! I also learned that it's better to order a water and let it sit there than it is to say I don't want anything to drink. That always begins a weird back and forth that I learned to avoid.