A fast food meal at almost 4 years post-op

Yesterday a coworker and I took our meal break together and went to Arby's (my friend's choice). When I was a kid, an Arby's roast beef sandwich with lots of horseradish sauce was a big treat. My husband and I don't eat out very often because we both prefer my cooking, so I haven't experimented much with fast food meals since being banded.

While standing in the restaurant reading the menu, I began to feel anxious. All these choices. All of them in huge portions. None of them very healthy. My friend knows I had WLS and is supportive about it, but I don't want to inflict a stuck episodes on her. Maybe I shouldn't even be here. Or maybe I should just have a jamocha oreo cookie shake. But I felt that I should be equal to the challenge after almost 4 years of living with a band, so I ordered a roast beef & cheddar sandwich, doused it with horseradish sauce, and started to work on it.

Because eating it was work. That sandwich was at least the size of Rhode Island. I took one bite. Nothing bad happened. Another bite. Nothing bad happened. Sneaky little "isn't my band working today?" thoughts crept into my mind. The next bite was heavily loaded with horseradish sauce and tasted divine. The 4th bite was okay, but I was getting involved in the story my friend was telling me and wisely put the sandwich down (conversation and good band eating skills don't always mix well). When her story ended, my friend's combo meal was gone (except for a few slurps of the jamocha shake) and 2/3 of my sandwich was left. I took another bite, put the sandwich down, briefly thought about saving it for later, and ended up throwing it away. I had enjoyed it, but I was quite okay with letting go of it.

What's the moral of this story?

Five bites of a fast food sandwich, no fries, no onion rings, no jamocha shake...that's the moral. After I got over the initial anxiety about how to navigate a fast food menu, my band and my newish eating skills ensured that I didn't gorge myself on junk. I had a good time being with my friend, I got some fuel, and I forgot about food for the next 5 hours.

That, my friends, is a short-version Lap-Band success story!

Jean

I am newly banded and decided to go to dinner with a friend last week. First time out since banded but I went on the restaurants web site and chose my meal. I did real good eating 3/4 of a healthy appetizer but I did learn one thing. My good friend and I have great conversations but I can't eat, talk and remember to chew:) Gonna take some practice.

A Lap-Band success story it is!  I always enjoy your posts- your a real inspiration.

Jean -

We hiked 8 miles (4 hours) on Mt. Lemmon today ---- and went to In N Out Burger afterwards.

I ordered the single burger with cheese -- fed the bottom bun to the dog.
Cut the burger/top bun in 1/2 and nibbled away at it.

I gave about 1/2 of it to Maxine also while I ate about 1/2 of my husbands fries.

Satisfied, not stuffed ----- and got the 'need for a burger' out of my system.

It used to be a "Double-Double with fries and a shake' for me ==== and the only exercise I did was to get into the car to drive there!

I 'heart' my band!!!

I went to a McDonalds with my boss and a couple other people for a lunch meeting.  I never eat fast food any more.  My boss did ask me if McDonalds was OK for me.  I said yes not wanting to be difficult.  So I ordered a cheese burger and iced tea.  I ate the burger without the top bun.  Well about 40 minutes later my stomach started gurggle.  I ended up running to the bathroom every 10 minutes.  So the moral to my story is that my body can't take that greasy food anymore.  And if I end up eating anything greasy I need lots of Immodium AD!!!!

Jean:
I love your story.
But really what you did was eat like a thin person. I picked that quote up from some diet program or other in the past. But what I recall was the statement that if you want to be a thin person, you have to eat like one!
Congrats!
Mary

Kath,

When you mentioned In & Out Burger, it reminded me to tell everyone (in case they didn't know), that they can order a "protein" burger which is everything but the bun.  It's very good!!!  I went the other day and had a single without fries.  YUMMO!!!

I don't eat fast food anymore unless it's Wendy's chili or subway. If I'm going out with my friends for dinner or something I always look up the nutritional information on the internet and plan what I'm going to eat before going.

For instance we ate at Ruby Tuesdays this weekend and I had the BBQ grilled chicken and sugar snap peas with mashed potatos. I was only able to eat like half but the whole meal was only 591 calories. I always estimate high so I put down 350 for my total meal.

Looking up the nutritional stats online and planning your meal selection in advance is an excellent strategy!

When my friend said, "Let's go to Arby's!" my mind went blank, so I truly had to wing it through that meal!

Sounds like my fast food breakfast from last week. I get fast food maybe 2-3 times a year, so when I am in the mood, I give in. I really, really wanted a sausage and egg croissanwich, so I got one.
Proceed to eat about a 3rd of it on my drive to work.
Belly: I'm full, really, full.
Brain: BUT I WANT IT!!!!
Belly: Shut up. Wrap it back up and eat later if you want it so bad.
Brain: FINE, I WILL!

Hour and a half later...

Brain: I WANT MY CROISSANWICH!
Belly: ok, fine.
unwrap, take a bite
BRAIN: THIS IS COLD AND TASTES LIKE CRAP!
Belly: Well, you could throw it away.
BRAIN: I HATE YOU!