First dinner out...

I went to support group last night--- they always go out afterwards to a WLS friendly restraunt where they will let you order from kids menu's, just sides, ala carte, appetizers etc... they call in advance so the place knows we have "special needs' LOL We went out to a small family run restraunt last night. The girl who ran support group works right near there, and goes often for lunch, so is friends with the owner, she was sooo accomidating to us all... and apparently is looking into WLS herself. I was a little nervous, first time eating out in 3 weeks since surgery--- I tried to follow the cardinal rule of not trying anything new when out to dinner, and eyeballing where the bathroom is LOL. It turned out great--- Hubby and I shared a stuffed crab mushrooms appetizer. It was yummy, I ate one (Hubby ate 2- so we have a whole another meal left, there were 6)... and it went down nicely. We are such cheap dates now, dinner was $6.99 for 2 meals for us hahaha. Its really nice to eat out with a bunch of other WLS patients, you can learn a lot, and the support group has been invalueable!! If your not going to one, I highly suggest you see if there is one in your area. The girl who ran it last night is amazing, she is so beautiful. She has lost 197lbs, and is preparing for a marathon... she is just so confident and gorgeous... I hope to be like her when I lose my weight... Darlene Me: 338/301/170 EJ: 520/342/200

I;m going to my first POST OP support group tonight. Looking forward to it---

Thats awesome!!!! Im a huge advocate of support groups, they sure help you stay on track! Ive been going since before surgery and love it.... when you have a really good friendly group of people it's just awesome. Our's is like one big family.... when I was with Hubby in the ER, I ran out of water... placed a call to a support group friend and she turned up with water, crystal lite, protein drinks, stallones pudding....she was prepared hahaha. We have our Spring Fling coming up at the end of the month, it's like the WLS Prom. Im so excited!!! Darlene

I'm excited to experience my first dinner out this Saturday. My husband and I will celebrate 11 years since we met. (Kind of silly, but we didn't get married for 10 years so we had to have some kind of anniversary!) We are going to a seafood place and I hope to eat shrimp. I also want to sit in a booth and see if I fit! I'm so glad your dining out experience was a good one. I attended my first support group meeting last Friday. It wasn't very well attended and I'm hoping the next one will be better. Here's to cheap dates! - Stephanie

Thats a shame about the attendance. Im in the Phoenix metro area, so a big population and there are lots of support groups out there. Ours had about 20 last night, its normally around 20-30 people. Its fun I have yet to try shrimp, thats my next thing... LOL

MMMMmmmmmm.... Stuffed crab mushrooms.... LOL (thats my Homer Simpson impression) I'm glad the restaurant was accomodating to you. I received one of those WLS cards that you can show restaurants, to show you have special needs, and ask for smaller portions/discounted prices... but I haven't tried it yet. I'm wondering how many restaurants will actually respect that card... I think I should open a drive-thru Bariatric-friendly Protein drink store/restaurant. You know, if Starbucks can do so well with their coffee drive-thru's, then why not a health/smoothie/protein drive-thru that caters to bariatrics? Plus, you know when someone else makes you a drink, it tastes better than when you make it... Darlene, I agree with you about the support groups. I go to one near me, there were about 50 people there (but 60% of them were pre-ops who are required to attend the group for surgery approval), but we get a chance to split off and all the post-ops sit together and talk about what we are experiencing, etc... Its very beneficial. And some of those post-ops are so amazing-looking, like I could never picture them as a big person, its hard to believe they've lost 100+ lbs.... Very inspiring! Rebecca M. 269/234/150