First real meal gone bad

I was invited to go to the Olive Garden and it happened to be my very first day to eat real food as I made my order I whispered in the waitresses ear and I said to her can you please have them put me a 3 ounce portion on the plate and put the rest in the trash I didn't want it all in front of me for me having a plate full of food can be overwhelming when she brought the food to me I could barely eat what was on my plate she filled it up yes she did it was not 3 ounces probably more like 10 I got really frustrated I ate three bites and my nose started running that was it for me no salad no bread no joke No drink I politely thanked the host for a lovely meal and I left. The meals I had before that evening meal all I could take was protein shakes my stomach wasn't agreeing with anything that I was trying new so my question is should I stick to my shakes another week and give my body some time or go ahead and jump in and try new foods

I'm not sure that most commercial kitchens would have a food scale that would let them portion out that much for you. Most of the time, I eyeball things (and err on the smaller side) and ask for a box immediately, then portion out my own food.

What exactly did you eat at Olive Garden? What does your surgeon say about diet progression right now?

I ordered soup that had vegetables, noodles and I believe beef! I didn't eat the salad or the bread. But the soup was pretty large and heavy

Lol of folks have a hard time with beef early on. Chicken or fish are generally easier.

When you get the OK to eat real food, don't rush into it. Instead, try one new food and see if it agrees with you. If it does, then in a day or two, try something else new. If it doesn't agree with you, maybe wait a month before you try it again, and give your stomach a couple of days before you try something else new.

Dining out will get easier as you learn what to look for on a menu. For example, I usually just order something from the "side dishes" or "appetisers" section. I usually won't be able to fini**** but getting twice as much food as I can eat is a lot better than getting ten times as much food as I can eat.

Thank you for the feedback I appreciate it

I would think it would be challenging for a restaurant to portion out soup like you requested.

Soup is an interesting one for me because of the no drinking while eating aspect. When I was early on, I would stick to chili because it seemed like people would notice if I just ate the solids from my soup -- now, I just eat the solids and no one has ever questioned it!

Good job on avoiding the bread and salad, you should still be focused on protein that your stomach can handle! I'd also skip the noodles, but that's me.

For me, the runny nose or hiccups are definitely good indicators that I'm full/about to be over full!

I'm not sure why you consider this first meal a failure - you avoided some of the things you should, you stopped eating when you noticed your full signals, those are positives. You can't control what the restaurant or your dining companions do, only yourself -- and it seems like you did some good things!

I too was confused about whether or not soup would be OK, given the no drinking while eating rule. I asked my dietitian about it, and she said soup was fine. I forgot the details about why soup is OK, but I think the gist was that you're not likely to overeat a healthy* soup (you'll stop when you feel waterlogged and sloshy). And indeed, I have found that soup leaves me feeling full for as long as any other meal. Surprising but true. And because I'm vegan, my soups are just vegetables, which you wouldn't expect to be very filling.

*By "healthy soup", I mean one that doesn't contain cream (unless you're doing keto), pasta, or rice, and otherwise fits your meal plan.

I remember a show on the BBC years ago where they gave two groups the exact same food, except for one group the food was blended into a soup. The group that got the soup felt full for longer! The explanation given on the show was that the soup kind of clogs up your stomach (in a good way) temporarily, which makes you feel full. Kind of like how if you dumped some wet pasta in your sink, it would clog, but dry pasta wouldn't really interfere with the drainage.

I find if I drink the broth before eating the solids I feel fuller longer too!

I love soup and enjoy making my own.

Definitely variation in plans and approaches!

Soups not a common choice for me but If it's a non puréed soup, I have the broth first but once I start eating the solids no more broth. Still satisfying!