Update to "Eating out in USA"
Just an update after my trip to the US , Maine and New Hampshire in particular.
Thank you all so much for the wonderful advice that you gave about handling eating out on our USA trip. At first I was a little hesitant when asking for an extra plate to share, but I needn't have worried. It was always dealt with as if it was the norm.
Our first try at this was in Boothbay Harbor and the chef split the meal for us. I honestly thought that they had got it wrong and brought us one each..there was just so much. Neither of us could finish the half we had. Generally portions were huge so hubby didn't have a problem sharing. Later in Lincoln NH, one restaurant didn't give huge portions. Half was still enough for me but not him, so he just had a dessert afterwards. We always tipped as if we'd had two main meals instead of one.
I found drinking more of a problem as water doesn't sit easy with me yet (drank loads of it before) and I don't do fizzy. I had more coffee than I should have had though and just tried to get some water down.
I came home to find that I'd lost two pounds which I was pleased with. I wasn't an angel and had a glass of wine every night and I didn't exercise as much as I normally do. The wine has stopped now, I don't want that to become a habit and it's back to the gym later today.
The non scale victories were wonderful. No seat belt extension on the plane, much fitter to enjoy my walks around lugging camera equipment and tripod etc. I even found that I could buy a waterproof jacket off the peg and I bought quite a few T Shirts etc at Walmart that I would not previously been able to get into. I did a two mile hike around The Flume in New Hampshire which is very up and down. My camera equipment made it a work out but I got round and realised that not once had I moaned to myself about the effort. I just enjoyed being so much fitter. At the end of our holiday we were working out how much money we had left and realised how much less we'd spent on food than we normally do.
Thanks again for your help, it made all the difference.
Glad it worked out for you! I can only imagine the amount of $$ you saved by sharing meals. My hubby still eats his whole meal...so I have learned to just eat my little bit, and LEAVE the rest! Pre-surgery, I remember thinking when ordering...who would order green beans over french fries or mashed potatoes...lol And of course that is us now, post surgery!
Sounds like you had an awesome time! 
Susan C
Thank you. it certainly has been and still is a learning curve. We do have to learn to leave things and that isn't always easy. On the plane home, we were lucky to be in Business class as we got our flights on airmiles. For breakfast before landing, they came around with croissants, bacon rolls and other such food. I just said no, knowing we could stop at the first service station on the motorway where I had a pot of chopped fresh fruit instead. I felt better for it.
We did have a great time, yes. Now I'm just adjusting to driving back on the left LOL It causes me more problems than driving on the right at the start of the holiday.
