eating in front of other lapbanders

[NotSoFunny]

I noticed I am shy eating around other lapbanders. I feel like not only are they watching how I eat, but I am watching how they eat too! It is worse than eating in front of people that have not had the surgery but know i have the lapband.

Anyone else get this?

[Morsaille]

I do that too!

I guess I think that they will judge me, or that the ideal bandster should not eat at all? I am sick!

If someone who doesn't "know" is watching me eat, they see me "trying" to lose weight by eating very little and taking small bites. A fellow bandster has an intimate knowledge of my "weakness" and can see that the little bites I take, are me running on crutches.

Yep, my food issues are alive and well.

[NotSoFunny]

Isn't it weird? Even when I was at breakfast with Pnut, I caught myself thinking "I shouldn't have another bite of eggs" even though I was not yet full. But I had to stop myself and say that Pnut was the last person to judge me and to cool it. LOL

[Jess]

I haven't been around anyone else that has a band. I tend to hide from everyone when I eat though. I HATE going out to eat!!!!!! I feel like everyone is freaking out cause I'm not eating. OMG is something wrong with the food?!?! Plus by the time I get my band primed where I can eat a decent amount of food, everyone else is finished eating! UGHHHH!!!!! And since I started this new job I really feel like I am under a microscope. A patient's Mom owns a catering business & brought food for everyone. Well everyone was shoveling it in (you know - free food) & there I was with spinach dip just sitting on my plate & a doc looked at me & was like "Why aren't you eating?" When I said, "I have a Lap Band", everyone was like OHHHHHHHHH........... Good grief!!!! But I always tell people. My way of thinking is that you never know who you will help just by sharing. Anyway, that's my two cents.

[DonnaB]

I've eaten out a few times with a group of bandsters and didn't really feel uncomfortable with it. We did talk about what we were eating, and how much/little we could eat, but the feeling of watching or being watched wasn't really there. At least not for me.

As far as other food/eating issues go, oh ya, they're still there. I don't know that they'll ever go away. It would be nice to wake up one day and have had all my issues dissapear, but I'm not holding my breath. I think this is going to be a war I'll have to wage every day of my life. *sigh*

[Susan]

I think it's funny that you posted this. I go to a lapband support group every other week. One week, we were not going to be able to have it at our usual location because it was election week and it is a voting precinct. They talked about meeting at Sonny's for dinner and our meeting that week instead. I immediately made up my mind on the spot that there was no way I could possibly go to that meeting and eat in front of everyone. I don't even really know why.

[Richard Froshiesar]

I understand how you feel I to feel the same way but I say to myself the heck with it, its my issue and I will eat the right thing no matter who is watching

[Kathy473]

Well I haven't eaten in front of another bandster but I have eaten in front of someone who has had the bypass. No big deal. She knows about me, I know about her. I watch what I eat and so does she. Now on the other hand, my seven year old is so cute..."Mommy, can you eat that?" or "Did it get stuck?" It is so sweet that she cares. :nod: And my mom calls me a cheap lunch date! :heh:

[HeatherGurl]

I eat lunch almost daily with 2 women that have the band and one "normal" lady. Either way it doesn't bother me.
It is weird to eat lunch with my DH and his coworker, he thinks I am going to starve to death! HA!!!
I LOVE eating out!

[Jachut]

It doesnt bother me, I like the fact that now I eat like a lady instead of scoffing, lol. I love being the last to finish all the time, after having had the smallest meal, that's a first for me, I was always the first. I havent often eaten with other bandsters though, and when we did have meetups I've only had coffee.

I was just a little nervous about sharing a house with my sister and BIL over our holiday, that first PB is always a possibility, I got stuck twice and had to leave the table, once was dinner at home and the other was at an Indian restaurant. Its always the first bite and I can always eat after it finally goes down but I have to go to the toilets and do headstands for a while (I've discovered bending at the waist and hanging upside down unsticks me).

[503-250]

Interesting topic, I don't have a problem eating in front of banders (or gastric mistake makers) but I hate eating in front of the "normal people" or grazers as I like to call em.

They throw on the nose bag and chow down and I feel left out, and then I feel like I stand out because im not wolfing down my third plate of food (which is funny since I never did eat a lot of food...just really bad food).

This weekend was a big deal, we were going to a giant family function and everyone who doesn't know was there. I purposely ate a small amount of food so I wouldn't PB or slime (something I have not really done yet...other then when I don't chew well...which has happened twice). So I had a little veggies, and some nice chicken. I was interrupted in the middle of a bite of food and swallowed fast so I could say hello and immediately thought...wow..that was big.

Sure enough within about 30 seconds I have a golf ball, and my mouth is overflowing with oily spit. I ran to every room in the house trying to get out of site to work this out. Their downstairs bathroom is a weird room which is basically the entrance and has two doors to lock to use it as a private restroom. The second floor bathroom had a line and there were a ton of people everywhere.

I finally found some privacy on the front porch, (sorry this is gross) I spit out like 2 cups of oily spit and it just kept coming. Now, as I'm sitting there watering their plants, everyone starts coming out, who has to move a car. Someone else noticed there was new paint on the front deck and of course that drew a crowd. So...there I was...trapped and knowing a PB was imminent. Finally everyone left, and just in time for another huge bucket of oily spit. Just as I let it out, my wife's cousin walks out (head of a pharmacuetical lab and super smart...she's never going to buy a BS story). She was concerned (its her house) and thought I was ill or hurt. I finally asked if she could keep a secret and told her about the surgery and the imminent PB.

She offered everything short of the heimlich manuever, and then realized nothing would help so she told me to relax and she will tell me a funny story while I wait to puke (some of my wife's family is really wonderful...she is one of them). Thankfully she ran inside quick and I PBd which was a huge improvement.

Later that night, we told a few of the other cousins who had all grown curious as to where I ran off too etc etc. My uncomfortablity is not eating in front of them, but failing. The last sensation I need in my life is a crowd watching me not succeed.