Eating Out

I really appreciate your focus here: Just learn to regard these smaller portion sizes as NORMAL! Because they are. Retrain the brain. Personally, I'm not feeling deprived. It is an effort to even try to eat as much as I probably should. I truly fear for American culture. I think, in the long run, this way of eating will be what destroys our nation.

At the beginning you will notice EVERYTHING, some of your observations with be healthy and some will be borderline obsessive. Keep in mind that you've had more than half of your stomach thrown in the garbage and those people your watching have not. Focus on you and don't focus on others and their eating habits cause it will drive you crazy. Trust me when I say that because you will NOT enjoy the spotlight on you and your new eating style as time goes on. I had WLS to be "normal" and frankly the first few years postop were anything but, I'm happy to fly under the radar at most functions now. Moving forward, when going out and there's a buffet style setup, don't bother with the salads and veggies and go straight for the meat and cheese. Personally I would have been all over that tenderloin.

Congrats on your success so far!

Unfortunately, I am not at the point yet where I can stomach meat that dense. Tomorrow I begin adding chicken and pork. Like I said, I ate beans and salad so people wouldn't ask me why I wasn't eating. I think since it was my first "group meal" after surgery, the whole event really overwhelmed me. I don't like eating with groups of people anyway and I hate buffets. As I have been overweight my whole life, had a band for 8 years, and now RNY, I have always had to pay attention to my own eating and not look at what others "get to eat." (Ha!). I actually did for a while resent my husband for all of the goodies he "got to eat." Sadly, now he has gained about 75 pounds and is struggling with his ingrained eating patterns. It is actually painful for me to see him battle the same "demons" I did so long ago (doughnuts!). I am not envious of others. I know they are not "getting away" with overconsumption. It catches up with everyone sooner or later. What I feel is actually more akin to grief for our culture.

Imagine a two liter soda bottle. Then imagine the cap on that bottle.

The other people are filling up a large stomach and you filling up one that holds about what the bottle cap would hold.

That is why they are eating more more, not because they are out of control gluten.

Thanks for this comment @whitedove. #Necessary

White Dove, I get that they have full-size stomachs. The point is every person at the table was clearly obese. I mean HUGE. And all of the food was laced with sugar; everything tasted sweet. AND they all had large bottles of soda to wash down the food. Then most complained after the second plate and the dessert about how uncomfortably full they were. Their comments about being gluten intolerant but eating it anyway are just an aside to the bigger picture. I have always been aware of how unhealthy are the eating patterns of Americans. Even before my surgery, I could not have eaten as much as these people---though I would still be as large!
Now post-surgery, I am just overwhelmed by how dysfunctional American eating habits and patterns are, beginning with the 2 liters of soda that many people drink each day. That is all.
I am just recording and commenting on a moment that resulted in a deeper awakening and a greater clarity for me.
Much of our food is addictive. Eating is comforting. Many of us have been in that place where we are not even mindful of how much food we are shoveling into our bodies. Right now I am amazed at how little food can add up to 1,000 calories.
Just awareness; that is all.

I watch everyone around me most of the time and (silently) judge. I know it's not right, but I can't help it. Food and eating has taken a big front seat in my life, and as long as I keep my mouth shut and not actually tell people how I think they are eating, I'm ok with it! LOL

And yes, we are actually able to eat a 'proper' serving of food at about a year out... or at least for me it has taken a year...

But it's hard not to see how our society has become. I hope and pray I'm able to stay on task and eat healthier for the rest of my life!

It took me years postop to be able to eat an amount at one sitting that did not draw attention to myself. My stomach remained TINY for a very long time. I lost so much weight the first few years that I was underweight and looked it, which obviously brought on the attention during meals. Anyhoo, I'm a vet now and for the first time in my WLJ I'm having to actually "diet" and hey I'm cool with that. I'm just thrilled that I'm not at almost 10 years out walking around at 300lbs again!

I draw attention to myself unwittingly because I have this thing about not having any food on my plate other than what I'm going to eat. I order all my meals out without the bun, bread, veggie, sides etc. On Mother's Day I went out to a local diner and I said "I'd like the roast pork dinner please, with no sides, roll or gravy." The waitress kind of boggled at me and said "So....you want pork then? Just pork."

They charged me $1.95 and I ate one slice of 4! At home, I eat off a dessert plate only. My family will tell you I'm a pain in the ass about it. I'm not one of those people that can order a meal and take 3/4 of it home. I get overwhelmed looking at too much food.

When I was early out I would order appetizers or a side salad with protein added, dressing on the side and never at much more than the meat and many times getting that meat in was a struggle. How I ate at home was a whole other story. I didn't sit at the table for years when eating. If I sat I did so for the company but if I was eating I had to eat standing. I just couldn't eat the second I sat, I was convinced my stomach was restricted further. For a long time I also couldn't eat more than 3 shrimp at once, if I did I instantly vomited. God I do NOT miss those days!