Eating Meals With Non-WLS Folks

Part of my job is to handle logistics and materials for our quarterly board meetings. This involves domestic and international travel, hotel arrangements, ground transport, meal planning, etc.  This week is our 3^rd quarter meetings and I am noticing food habits more than ever.  One thing about these meetings is that we eat very well.  I have always seen this as one of the little perks, and still do - just not to the same degree as I have in the past.  This is the first meeting since my surgery in August and I am noticing (more than ever) how much food people actually eat - and how much I used to eat at any one sitting.  In the last 2 days several people have commented that I don't eat enough, or they wonder how I can pass up such good food.  It has helped me to navigate explaining my recent surgery, which I have struggled with somewhat up to now.  I'm getting the nutrition I need and feeling very satisfied on just a few bites of the 5-star menus.  This was an aspect I had some concern over prior to surgery, but I am learning to handle the changes life and this surgery have thrown me and just taking it one meal at a time. 

Stick to what you know to be good for you... and take the comments lightly. "Don't worry I eat plenty" or things like that. I seem to have a lot of awards dinners to go to lately. I either play with my food so it looks eaten, or if it is a buffet I may put a small bit of quite a few things on my plate but only take one bite of each. Or luckily sometimes buffets have carving stations- meat. Last week when I was at an awards dinner the dessert was this giant piece of lemon cake. I didn't even let the waiter give it to me. The person next to me said "You have so much willpower" I said "I don't like cake"... takes it out of having to justify in WLS realm.

I sometimes just tell people I had a late lunch. Or oh I had a snack before I came down to dinner.