So I'm going on holidays for four days with friends who don't know about my sleeve in May - I will be one week shy of three months after my operation, and it will be six weeks after I'm cleared for solid food.

What I want to ask is how much should I expect to be able to eat at a meal? I've already planned to just tell them I'm trying to get fit and so cutting down on my portions - but obviously if I can only eat a couple of bites of food when we go for a meal, they will know that's not normal eating even for someone who's cutting down.

So my first question is whether what I can eat will be enough to not make them suspicious? And whether anyone has any ideas how to handle that situation?

Secondly, I've accepted that that will be a weekend when I probably won't eat at my healthiest and I'm not stressing about that - I'm sure at some point in the four days, when we go out to eat, we'll end up at a burger place or a fast food place. My plan is to try and steer us towards healthier options where I can, but if I can't (after all it's their holiday too) then I'm not going to stress about a few days off plan.

But my second question is what happens if we do end up in a fast food place? At three months out, how do you think I might be able to handle, say, half a burger and a couple of fries or something like that?

(BTW - I know that this is not ideal and is off plan and that I should be avoiding unhealthy food - I get that, so no need to remind me - but as I say, I've decided that I'm willing to go off plan a little for a few days in order to have a stress free few days away - I just want to know what my body is likely to be able to handle)

I am just back from a tour of a week and I completed 3 months while on the tour. What I did was eat cheese omlete in Breakfast, which almost always available in most hotels. Bought and kept few packs of milk for Fluid intake. We were provided lunch and dinner during conference, i would eat cheese, chicken/beef, fruit part of it and leave the rest. A couple of times when we did go to fast food place, I ate just few fries, like 3-4 with Water.

My concern would be, if you DO end up there, is the food going to make you sick? Fries make me violently ill now for some reason. You might want to "pre-test" some ground beef prior to the trip, that way you'll know whether you can blend in or need to stick with a side salad and some chicken.

I went on a trip at about the 3 month mark, but it was with people who knew I had it done - otherwise it would've been noteworthy. Start playing up how serious you are about this lifestyle change in advance - at 3 months, you should be down enough for THAT to be noticeable too. That'll probably keep you from catching any side-eye about Protein shakes or whatever.

Have fun!

BTW protein bars were very helpful too.

Yes, test out foods beforehand. You won't be able to eat much. I sometimes order off the kids menu if the restaurant allows and there is something other than chicken nuggets on the menu. Soup also doesn't seem so obvious to how little you can eat . Or if you and your friends are up to it, you can share plates. Portions are usually so large anyway.

Always always always pick an appetizer!! It's going to be smaller portioned than an entree and usually less expensive! Soup is also a good option but im sure you're not going to want to eat soup constantly! Besides that's a slider food and a lot of soups might be cream based which means lots of hidden calories. Good luck!

I disagree with the appetizer. Most items on the appetizer menu are starchy fried fatty foods. Yummy of course but unless it's a shrimp cocktail or something along those lines, it's hard to eat healthy from appetizers. The kids menus are overlooked because most people think thy only have selection like Mac and cheese and hamburgers. Some are that way, but there are many restraunts that have grilled chicken breasts and vegetables on their kid menus. It's hard to go to dinner and find small healthy portions.

As far as fast food goes, Wendy's Chili was just added to the "foods u can have" list... So it's a good option if u go to fast food places.... I certainly would just show that u are pulling out all the stops to focus on your weight, shape and overall health. So anywhere u eat, be sure to check or ask for the nutrition values in the meals u may want to indulge in. Good lick and have fun!!

Thanks all. I've told one of my travelling companions who is my best friend, so he'll be able to steer the conversation away from food if anyone wants to discuss how little I'm eating.

As I said, I'm not too worried about how to eat healthily - I've accepted that those four days may not be the healthiest, so if I end up eating some fried food, I'm not too worried. I don't plan on living my life with no breaks from healthy eating. I also don't have any external targets to meet - I don't need to show anyone that I am eating healthily. It's really all about my own goals and targets.

I'm also in Europe, so specific suggestions about Wendy's etc won't work for me (but they might be helpful for others looking in with similar questions).