7 weeks post op and experienced my first post WLS vacation...

I just got back from a week away from home. My family and I went down to FL for a week and I have to say, though I handled my food well, I feel like I eat too much. Do you guys feel this way? I will weigh tomorrow to see what is happening, but it is much harder to be away from the norm of cooking from home. I think I made pretty good choices considering the conditions, but feel really bad about some of them. We drove 15hrs to get to FL, so we had a lot of issues with eating fast food. I mainly stuck to Wendy's chili or baked potato, but did eat the hamburger patty of a regular cheeseburger and the insides of a McDonald's breakfast burrito. Is that horrible? I am released to eating regular foods and I did good when I was eating at my mom's (mostly) but did have a bite or two of pizza. The only things I cannot have is fresh fruits and veggies, nuts, jalapenos, etc. I had a bite of toast last night after eating an omlette for dinner. How much are you guys eating these days? It is so hard to tell when you don't have your handy-dandy measuring cup with you!! LOL Anyway, just wanted to share my first experience away from home and though not sure I did "great", I think I did okay. It was a lot harder to get my protein and water in as well. Back to the good old foods that work so well. Oh, I did get sick one time while being down there though. At my mom's house, we had sandwiches and I wrapped a piece of roast beef with a slice of swiss cheese and threw it up. Weird though because just yesterday, my hubby and I went to Applebee's and I shared some steak and chicken with him. I did use mayo with the meat and cheese roll, so maybe that way it. Who knows? How do you think I did? What are you eating these days? Erica

Glad you had a good time Erica!!! I was interested to see this, because we are leaving tomorrow morning to take my daughter to the children's hospital in Indianapolis and this will be our first time away from home for more than a day, and I was really wondering what I would have. Usually I eat about 2-3 ounces of protein. Sometimes I have 2 ounces and a tbsp or so of a veggie or potato (which my dr. doesn't like..OOPS) but usually I stick to just the protein. Lately I have been eating about 2 ounces or 2 1/2 ounces tuna salad and 2 triscuits and I keep that down. Or I make egg salad with 1 egg. I can eat around 1/3 cups chili, and I add sour cream and low fat cheese. I cannot keep hamburgers or any red meats down really, although chili doesn't bother me. Cheese also isn't setting real well, just eating it cubed, but shredded on the chili is fine...lol!! My friend Stacie who had the surgery 5 days after me said that she thinks she can eat more than me, but I don't know. I am worried about going and eating though....I will probably just eat a couple bites of protein off my husbands plate, or order a soup of some sort. I don't see buying a whole meal when I wont be able to eat much...lol! I went out for my anniversary last weekend and ordered a whole meal, and the thing lasted me through 4 meals!! Amazing!! For me, I would love to eat a hamburger minus the bun from anywhere, and I await the day it no longer makes me sick....lol!! So, I hope I answered your question about how much I eat!!

Thanks for responding I tend to eat between 3-4oz of protein (steak, chicken, ricotta, cottage cheese, or shrimp) and then add a bite or two of a veggie. Tonight, we went to Outback and I ate about 3-4 oz of steak (by liquid oz, not by weight) and about 1/2 a sweet potato with some butter on it. I am doing fine with food and am realizing the surgery is probably just agreeing well with me. Good luck while you are out of town!! I really hope you find things to eat. Wendy's chili is a great "on the road" food, though I was a little tired of it after a week! LOL Erica

Hi Erica, I can't imagine that you were able to eat enough of any of these foods to really hurt you at this point in your post op life, but keep in mind that throughout the rest of our lives we are all going to be in situations where we eat things that are not the best for us - out of desire (we want it bad) or necessity (that's all there is). It does you no good to feel guilty about it. Stuff happens. If you are very worried about it, next time you may choose to carry a cooler with some good food options or go to the store rather than fast food joint. It is okay to have the occassional hamburger patty from McDonalds. Frankly if you ate one hamburger patty from McDonalds every day - you would be fine - just leave the bread and fries alone. (the entire sandwich is only 325 calories and the meat is a good source of protien) I would suspect that the baked potato at Wendy's (my personal fav with cheese and bacon) was the worst choice, just because you were not getting the protien in, and potato is not that great of a protien source. Now that you can eat real food - if you go out to fast food: Order your sandwich Protien Style - or minus bread. My friend who had surgery a while a go (and looks gorgeous by the way), orders the McDLT without the bread and McDonalds folk don't bat an eyelash. Now that so many people are trying to live low carb lifestyles, the fast food industry is trying to meet those needs. Carls Jr has a Protien Style sandwich, as does In and Out Burger and most other chains are doing similar stuff. The chains that have protien style replace the bun with whole lettuce leaves(not the greatest for us - but easy to take off) All in all Erica, from what you wrote, I would say you made some good choices.