resturant seats OMG!!

For sure!  I hate public bathrooms.   I will hold it and hold it until I get home or if I absolutely have no choice, I will go into the handicap stall, otherwise forget it.   It must have been a skinny man who placed the toilet paper roll things so low and close to the toilet.  Can hardly spread your legs to take care of business.    Linda

I so relate to everyone's story here.  As a matter of fact, I logged on this morning to post a WOW moment re: this topic.  I was at Applebees last night and they sat us in a booth.  I NEVER allow a booth, but I decided to try it.  I was convinced I would never fit as the area seemed so small.  But I fit and had an inch to spare!  Of course since my boobs are so baggy they almost sat on the table...lol. 

Just wait until after surgery and you still have this fear of booths not fitting, dr's office chairs not being big enough, heck I still head for the handicapped stall even though I can do all of those things with room to spare.  We have to re train our minds following this surgery...especially if we've been SMO for many years!

As you can see from the prior posters, you are not the only one who lives with this situation; I think it's happened to many of us.  I got tired of being embarrassed by either not fitting into a booth or having to grease myself up and shove myself in with a shoehorn.  So I finally just always started asking for a table and not a booth every time we walked into a restaurant.  Most places have both, so it was usually a non-event.   Not to be unkind, but the other thing to keep in mind is that the people we're out with know we're fat.  They can see us - it's not like we were hiding anything.  I don't know about you, but at 400 pounds, it was really hard to miss me.  And you know what else -- these people like us anyway!!!  So although we may tend to feel embarrassed by the fact that we can't comfortably fit in a booth, I'd encourage you to just accept that this is where you right now, that you're working on changing it, and stop beating yourself up and stop being embarrassed.   The next time you go out, make sure you're the one who tells the hostess how many people are in your party and tell her you would like a table, and not a booth.  Chances are no one who is with you will care, and neither will the hostess!   {{{{{hugs}}}}} Kellie

Been there done that many times!

Everytime I go to a restaurant with booths I have to size 'em up to see if I can fit. If it's a chair..with armrests..forget about it. If I don't feel I can fit in anything I might ask for carry out. All of my friends are big as well so the problem with fitting in a booth is shared by all of us.

just wanted to add support . I have expirenced it all. and still am.

I know how you feel! For the longest time when my family wanted to go out to eat the restaraunt was decided by the seating... could mom fit? I hate it. Surgery is in 4 days and I can't wait.

OMG is right.  When I weighed 530 lbs, I can't tell you how many times I had to face situations in public where I was too fat to fit in a chair, or a booth, or other seating.  It's beyond humilitating.  I learned to suck it up and deal, but that doesn't mean I wasn't mortified, especially the times that I broke chairs because the chairs were too flimsy for my weight.  Happily, that is no longer an issue. WLS rocks!

I have some horror stories too.  Actually I still panic a little about booths and small looking chairs, even though I end up fitting I never think I will.  Your brain takes a while to catch up to the size of your butt.  My most embarrassing was going out to meet some of my husband's coworkers.  We were a little late and when we got there they had all already moved in to a huge booth (8 people) and ordered drinks.  I didn't fit, the booth was elevated so I couldn't just pull up a chair, and I'd never met any of these people before.  Everyone had to get up and move to a table just for me, taking their drinks and appetizers with them.  Mortifying!  No one was rude but I was very unhappy.  The other one that stands out was the first time I met my future mother in law.  We went to dinner and they asked table or booth, I immediately said table.  Then we get to the table and the chairs are wooden, with no cushion.  She starts complaining about that and asks for a booth instead so her butt doesn't hurt.  So off we go, dread building.  And into the booth, I BARELY fit and couldn't eat comfortably.  And she was making comments about it all through dinner.  She's not my favorite person, actually we are no longer in contact with her now.  My husband wants nothing to do with her, and never has, and I am fine with that.  Anyway, it gets better, and every time I go somewhere now I ask for or hope for a booth just because I get so tickled when I fit.