male only Social Reservations.

[stratochief 0]

I'm about to tell my Dr. to schedule me for LAP-BAND®, but I still have some severe reservations about how much you can actually eat. Nobody has ever been able to put it into "real" perspective.

Say, if you go out to eat with your family, are you literally stuck there unable to eat more than 2 or 3 "normal" sized bites of steak, Pasta, chicken etc???

I know they say your new stomach is about the size of an egg, but is it REALLY that small when it comes to eating??? I'm pretty confident in my ability to maintain a strict diet, but I occasionally enjoy going out to a nice restaurant and honestly don't want to become the "outcast" who doesn't eat when I do go out, know what I mean?

Yes, my health is the #1 reason I am considering it, but I'm having difficulty deciding if that severe of a decision is for me. My BMI is around 35-37, I'm 6'4, 295 with a family history of Hypertension, Heart-Disease etc...

Any opinions???

[LeighaMason 19]

I go out to eat on occasion, and have no problem with it. I make sure and order something I can count on to go down well, usually fish. Then even though I only eat a small portion of my food I have to cut it in very small pieces and eat slowly so I eat a lot less than everyone else but it takes me as long or longer. So we still have a nice, relaxing meal with lots of great conversation, I just have leftovers. Ask yourself, Is your main objective to enjoy the company and the social aspect of the meal or is it to put large quantities of food into your body? Be fair with your answer, because sometimes I still get disappointed when I am eating something that I am really enjoying and my band tells me to stop, but I can take it home and eat it again for the next meal. But sometimes I pout anyway.:w00t:

Edited May 19, 2010 by LeighaMason

[kkarryall 0]

Well the thing about the lapband is for the most part there will be certain items you will be able to eat without much problem, like fish, mashed potatoes, Soup, etc. So for me going out to eat is more about food choices. The great thing about the lapband also is that it is adjustable! I got very tight at one point and chose to stay that way until I reached my goal weight. Now that I am at my goal weight I have had 4 unfills, and can most certainly eat a lot more food, and more variety of foods. Good luck in your decision!!

[L12 13]

I go out to eat all the time. If people don't know that I have had weight loss surgery, they still can't tell from what or how much I eat. Though it's a lot less than I used to eat, the amount I now eat isn't unusually small for most normal weight people--that's something I think all potential Lap-Band patients should keep in mind :laugh:

[bambam31 168]

Well I'm about your age and I'm thankful everyday that I went ahead with the surgery. It's been almost 2 yrs now and I don't regret it at all.

How much and what can you eat? There's no way you can get a "real" perspective. There are so many factors involved that it is impossible to answer this question. Some people have foods they can no longer eat after banding, while others, like myself, eat every single food I ever did. You learn from trial and error what you can and can't do.

Something else... If I go out to eat with good friends it will be a very different experience than going out with strangers or under stressful conditions. For me... Stress = tight band!

Best of all... it's adjustable so when you get close to where you want to be you can have the Fluid adjusted to meet your desired restriction.

Good luck! Brad

[Jachut 487]

Since I was banded, I finished a university degree and returned to full time work. I'm a teacher, so I eat in a staffroom every lunchtime. Its Education Week in Victoria and tonight is an Open Night, so I'm hanging round till 7.30 and will eat dinner in the staffroom too.

Nobody here would have any clue that I'm banded. I get occasional ribbing when we've eaten out about leaving so much on my plate, but nobody would know anything other than I dont eat big meals.

I can eat "small normal" sized meals, meaning when I serve myself its about a cup of food which I eat slowly. It doesnt look pathetically small, and if I'm eating out, I usually leave about 1/3 of my meal (our meals in Australia re nowhere NEAR as big as standard US serving sizes generally though!).

so no, I dont sit there stuck after three mouthfuls, miserable and standing out while everyone else tucks in. In fact, I enjoy my food very much.

I dont have a tight band though, I'd rather have less fill and exercise more to allow me to eat that way.

[turney 0]

Jachut,

Boy oh boy do I know what you mean. I was recently approved and now am waiting to schedule surgery. When am having a bad day and I turn to food I start to wonder if I wanna give this up. Then later I will be doing somthing, run out of breath or energy and think yep, I wanna be able to do things again.

All in all the good by far outweights the bad and I am going to do it. However, I do have those reservations.

[drudley 1]

I was banded just yesterday (May 19) and so far I am only able to take about three or four sips of Water or broth and that provides a fullness felling that lasts quite a long time. I suspect that this is mostly due to swelling and inflammation from the band, but it was certainly surprising.

I am not so concerned about my future meals and eating out. I plan to probably just order off of the apetizer menu and save a bit of money. Or if I am out family just pick of off their plates and not order anything for myself.

[OldSchool76 0]

Like others have said, it varies with the tightness of your band but I have found that social settings are not as hard as I had imagined they would be. The trickiest bits for me are:

1. Avoiding alcohol (or drinking at all)

2. Avoiding sodium

Now the above two things are simply because I am trying to lose aggressively. Foodwise, before my last fill, I could eat almost any food in smaller quantities. The last fill has made that more difficult so fish, moist Proteins and Soups are the staple.

Yesterday, I went to lunch with my wife and ordered the healthy chicken breast lunch (Grillsmith). It was a chicken Breast, a scoop of potatoes and grilled asparagus. I ate half the chicken breast, two asparagus spear tips and half the scoop of potatoes. I took the other half of the chicken breast home and made chicken salad out of it for dinner.

Did it feel weird? Yup. But it works and it can be worked through.

[acp1974 0]

Stratochief,

That's a great question, I never really worried too much about it because I was so focused on the weight loss. But from all the answers it seems as though there's definitely an adjustment to be made, but that it's perhaps not as severe as the scenario you described.

There's body hunger and then there's head hunger, and on top of that there's the culture of big family meals. I can see how it would be an emotional adjustment to not eat the same way with your family all freely eating what they want. But it really does sound like not that huge an adjustment given the enormous upside of being healthier and living longer to be there for your family.

Great to hear these responses, and to hear other folks' experience in this regard. I was banded 2 days ago, and as I recover from surgery it's just great to hear from all of you who have changed your lives for the better - what an inspiration!