Social struggles of eating very little and so slow

[Iowa_summergirl 46]

I am looking for advice on handling the social ackwardness (sorry I can't spell that!!) that comes with eating very little and eating so slowly. We generally try to sit down as a family or as a crew at work, and I can't get over how weird it is to eat so slowly. Any suggestions? I feel like people are staring at the little amount I put on my plate and then watch me chew forever. I am having trouble with meats, so I've generally been avoiding them. My husband and I haven't been out to eat yet, and I'm wondering how that will ever go.

Any social suggestions??

Five weeks post op today

[Healthy_life2 8,327]

@@Iowa_summergirl

It is awkward at first to chew and take so long to eat such a small amount. It's funny to see the waitress think my food is bad when I don't eat a full meal and ask for a to go box.

It becomes a new normal. Social settings become more about the conversations and less about the food. I love going out to eat. I'm a cheap date these day's. An appetizer and I'm good. I watch the people around me and think back at how much I used to eat. It's nice to slow down and not feel like I have to clean my plate.

Yes! go out to eat..Its an interesting experience post op. It all works out..People just think you eat light and healthy.

Edited November 18, 2014 by jenn1

[Iowa_summergirl 46]

Thanks for the insight...my husband is a very fast eater and much less on conversation until he is finished...so it is something we will have to work on together!

He will appreciate me being a cheap date too (plus he doesn't have to buy any drinks for me!)

[Healthy_life2 8,327]

Thanks for the insight...my husband is a very fast eater and much less on conversation until he is finished...so it is something we will have to work on together!

He will appreciate me being a cheap date too (plus he doesn't have to buy any drinks for me!)

@@Iowa_summergirl

Awe sounds like a good guy. Tell him I might be a cheap date but my new clothing will cost you..*just kidding* well sort of...

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

It's a new mind set. I've never been particularly self conscious about anything so I never worried about someone watching how or what I was eating. I just have in my mind what I need to do. Went out to eat Saturday. I was shopping with my sister and we were out longer than I planned. I needed to eat or get sick. We went to iHop, I ordered a garden vegetable omelet and got fruit as my side. I ate maybe a third of the omelet. Got the rest to go and had another 2 meals plus one snack on the doggy bag.

[gaudjosl 22]

food courts are great or just share with ur dinner mates. A bowl of Soup is great too. I do agree waitress always thinks I don't like my food and that u can make it less awkward by just talking.

[CowgirlJane 14,260]

You are only 5 weeks....i was just starting solid foods then. Eating meat comfortably will come with time. Take maximum advantage of t h e "barely eat" phase. For social settings I'd probably tell at least a partial truth if asked.. "want to lose weight so eating less."

[maggiemayuk 106]

I think that sometimes those thoughts are to do with how we feel rather than what other people are really thinking.

When I go out to eat with friends I am not watching them eat or looking at what they leave on their plates. I went out to dinner a few weeks after surgery with a large group of friends and had to leave half of my main course but no-one noticed - they were all too busy eating their own food and talking. In the UK it's not the 'done thing' to ask for the food you leave to be packed up to take away, more's the pity, so it does seem a waste of money in food terms. However, I tend to think of it as the cost of the social occasion rather than the food alone.

As to what the waitress thinks.... well who cares?! They are used to clearing away half full plates, because naturally slim people always stop eating when they're no longer hungry even if there's a lot of food left on their plates.