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Dining Out- How Much do you Eat?



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This is my first weekend away and eating all my meals out with family. I have traveled on business too since surgery; but stuck with Protein shakes/wendy's chili, etc.

I have good restriction on a day to day basis but wondering how others handle the whole restaurant thing. For instance, last night I ordered:

appetizer: lump crabmeat cocktail (ate half)

salad: garden salad with blue cheese dressing (split with hubbie and then at half of my portion)

dinner: steamed groupers with sauteed veggies (ate half the grouper and few bites of veggies)

dessert: bailey's ice cream cake (we shared, I literally had 3 bites)

Now, pre op; I would have devoured it ALL, no sharing! Post op- it's a whole new me- and I am pleased with my decisions and self control- wondering though what others do- do you stick with appetizer or just order dinner? The previous night I only had an appetizer, salad, no dessert.

Thanks for feedback!

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Admittedly, I haven't really dined out since being banded (2/5/09), but I have had to eat at a couple of fast food places. At subway, I order a roast beef mini sub with no cheese or mayo, but with all the veggies and honey mustard. Just the other day, I went to culver's with my mom and I had a grilled chicken sandwich (no butter or mayo) with extra lettuce, pickles, and tomatoes. With either sandwich I am completely stuffed.

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I eat dinner out at least once a week. Red Lobster, ordered lobster with grilled shrimp and a salad; ate the salad and lobster and took the shrimp home for lunch the next day. Chinese restaurant -- got egg drop Soup which, at my favorite place, has shrimp, mushrooms, "egg drop" stuff, and bits of green onion, etc. and the "2 person" bowl is a meal. Longhorns, ordered a filet with a baked potato and salad; ate some salad, half the potato and half the steak and had the remaining potato and steak for dinner the next night. I never eat the bread that shows up on the table even though those cheesy biscuits at Red Lobster were really tempting. Couldn't eat dessert even if I wanted one because I am full well before a waiter asks if I want one (and I don't miss dessert anyway since I've always tried to avoid them). Other faves include broiled fish, steamed vegetables, that sort of thing. I even went to one of those burrito places and ordered a "naked burrito".....lettuce with the meat, black Beans, salsa, cheese and jalapenos I would normally have ordered in a burrito. I've lost 46 pounds so far so I'm feeling good about my choices. Good choices are out there, almost everywhere. You are not consigned to eating a bowl of soup and a salad. You'll have to judge the portions and ask for a go box if you have no one to share with at the meal, but that just makes the meal cheaper since you get a second one out of it.

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My hubby and I ate out last night. We ordered together a 9 inch pizza, cheeseburger and fries. I ate 1 piece of the tiny pizza, 1/3 of the cheeseburger and about 6 fries. Pre-banding I would've eaten half of the pizza, half the burger and close to all of the fries.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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