Today at work, I walked to the conference room for our morning staff meeting, and staring me in the face from the corner was all manner of amazing looking bbq...ribs, pulled pork, baked beans with bacon and sausage pieces, potato salad, deviled eggs, etc, etc, etc.  It smelled amazing.  My boss and his wife had made it for us for helping out with his promotion ceremony a couple months ago.  I work on a large government installation, and this kind of thing hardly ever happens since it's logistically hard to transport heavy or awkward things from home.  But my boss made it happen, right down to the hotplates keeping it all warm. 

Tomorrow I will be 4 weeks out from surgery, and I'm very much looking forward to my next eating phase, whi*****ludes flaked fish, beans, steamed veggies, and a couple other things I haven't been able to try yet.  What I cannot eat just yet are ribs, pulled pork, or any of the other delicious items that I had to sit and watch my coworkers feast on for an hour.  Also, I haven't told my coworkers about my surgery, so I had to field about 6 different "Why aren't you eating?" questions which I deflected with a vague "It's just not on my diet plan at the moment."  

HOWEVER...

The old me before surgery would have eaten a full plate and then gone back for seconds.  Even during my pre-op phase or if I was on one of the many diets I've tried the last several years, I would have thrown it out the window, and then probably eaten crap for dinner as well, since the day would have been "lost" anyway.  It was this kind of cycle that led me to my heaviest weight of 351lbs.  Today, although I love this kind of food, I threw myself a 2 minute pity-party in my head and then got over myself.  I enjoyed talking and relaxing with my coworkers for an hour.  I got excited about grocery shopping tonight and thought about the lemon/garlic/pepper marinade I'll put on my fish tomorrow.  I thought about what I would do in this situation if it were a month from now and I am cleared to eat "anything", and decided that the answer would be eat 1-2 ribs without sauce. 

I am determined to be successful with the tool VSG has given me, and it's clear that planning for the surprise BBQs in life will be part of that.  Even though it was easy enough to avoid today due to my restrictions, I'm proud of myself and I feel I'll be prepared in the future if something like this happens.  Now if you'll excuse me, I have to dig through the leftovers in the fridge and get to my cottage cheese...

You should be very proud of yourself..

these type of situations are never easy and you handled it very well!!

Yep, one of those moments when you go around the corner, kick something and then get on with your day.    Well done.

I try to remind myself that foods like ribs and potato salad are not going anywhere and sometime in the future, maybe i'll be able to eat some in moderation.

Congratulations on over coming that huge obstacle! !! Great job!!! :-)

♡ Kelly

Good job!  It's this kind of maturity in our thought processes that helps us to be successful :)

Damn. I feel bad for you. "Food ambushes" are the worst.

Good job! Even your description of the food was making me drool. Sounds like you did great!