My first restaurant experience since surgery

So.. I am 2 days from completing my 3 weeks post op. I am a soft food diet which my plans says I can have tune, soft baked fish, cooked and soft veggies. So it's Saturday night and my husband is craving Chinese food. I said, ok lets go. We get to the buffet place and I explained to the lady at the register that I can't eat a lot and would like to know if I could get a to go box and get the food I plan on eating and pay for that (to go food is weighed- you pay per lb) and eat it at the table with my husband as he will be eating buffet. The lady said "sure". So I get the to go box, I get a little sliver of the baked salmon, a spoon full of cooked zucchini and green beans. I also got a small cup of hot and sour soup since it has tofu-protein. They weighed the food, and it ended up being 6 oz of food which equaled $3.82- the buffet cost is $10.99!!! I sit at the table with my husband and started eating. I ate a few spoon fulls of the tofu out of the hot and sour soup. Then, I ate half of the baked fish piece I had and a few bites of the zucchini and green beans. I felt full! And it's weird because its not the same "fullness" feeling that I use to have previous to surgery. I just felt like I was done... I also felt a "tightness" in my chest. I got home and weighed the food, I didn't even eat half of the 6 oz. I was amazed!!!! I didn't even feel "left out" at the restaurant. It was nice to feel like I was a part of the Saturday night activities. 

Congratulations. It sounds like you did very well and made good choices. It's so nice to be moving past that only thinking about surgery stage and starting to get back to living isn't it. My first trip out was 6 weeks after surgery and I was still nervous about it. Wish our Chinese place would let you buy by weight.Glad you had a special sat night.

Thank you! Yes, it is very nice to get back to some sort of "normalism". I didn't even crave what my husband had on his plate. Nor, did I crave the dessert. It felt very nice!

You did great!!  I have not been out to eat since surgery (8wks out) but not because my husband hasn't been wanting to -ha!  It was so much a part of our life, and suddenly comes to a screeching halt! I am a picky eater, really trying hard to add vegetables to my diet, I know that would be the biggest help for my continual success with this surgery.  Pizza was our biggie binge- so not going there. Watching commercials on pizza is bad enough.  I know my weak spots, but my tastes are changing, so when we do go out, I want to make all good choices like you did. I want good food choices it to be "cemented" in my brain, so no hard decisions, just healthy eating!  Keep up the good work! Dee  

Thanks! As far as pizza goes, I already have a plan for that. At cici's pizza, they have the "atkins pizza". It's basically a pizza with no crust. I like beef, mushrooms, olive, and jalapeno. So, they put pizza sauce in a bowl, then add your toppings, and then cheese on top. They then put that in the oven. It tastes just like a pizza but no crust. I think that's a great alternative! And that way, you don't feel left out. To me, that is very important. I can also participate as going out to eat was also a big part of out lives.. Just maybe a little different choices than before but still able to join. 

Also, I don't want my family to feel like they are "punished" for my surgery.. you know, that they can't go out to eat. I want them to be affected in a positive way.. not made to feel like my surgery is something negative for them. So it's going to be very important that I make good choices when we go. 

This is so true...I feel like that as well.  My husband has been doing the high protein/low carb so it's been a little easier for me. Today we went to a seafood restaurant and I had grilled grouper bites.  I was only able eat 2 or 3 as I got full.  I didn't get any veggies as I should have but a side of grilled veggies were $3.75 and I didn't feel it would be worth just a few bites.   They were so good.   The pizza idea is a great idea.  Keep the suggestions coming. 

Well done! When I go out I usually get steak and then end up eating it for a couple days.