075 The Benefits of Sharing

I have been looking forward to the day that all the other gastric sleevers have been telling us about...the day the grocery bill goes down!

I haven't so much noticed it in our actual grocery bill yet because we have to buy staples like different flavors of protein drinks and stuff like that. However, I have seen a marked difference in our dining out bill.

Not only are we eating out less, but we are also sharing one meal between us! That still blows my mind. That got me thinking... Besides money what are the benefits of sharing?

So here are my Top 4 Benefits for Sharing Restaurant Portions after Gastric Sleeve Surgery:
1. Sharing helps keep Jimmy's portion size in check and help me eats a more accurate food portion myself
2. Sharing forces us to sit closer, look at each other, and talk during meals (no more stick in the television face)
3. Sharing often eliminates leftovers in the fridge that no one is going to eat
4. Sharing reduces the overall meal cost.

I know I said it's not all about the money but I have to tell you this story.

Jimmy and I decided to go out last week and try Mexican for the first time. So we went to our local El Maguey and as soon as we walked in we saw the beef and bean burrito was on the specials menu. Perfect! We sit down and we order two waters and the burrito special. The hardest thing was resisting the chips which we asked them not to bring but they did anyway (I blame the language barrier). When the burrito comes we decided to open it up on the plate and scrape the insides out onto the cheese sauce which the burrito had been smothered in and we didn't eat the flour tortilla shell. We finished our meal and we were both comfortably full without over doing it. We didn't have any leftovers and for the first time in our lives we were able to tip about 100%! Our meal was only $3.65 so we gave the waitress a $4 tip just because we could. It was an awesome experience.

We didn't think that we would but we actually love sharing. So we share the majority of the time now.

018 Portion Size Matters

Another of the appointments we had during our doctor appointment blitz was with a Nutritionist named Krystal Staggs. Let me tell you right now that Krystal is A-MAZ-ING! I know that she has really helped Jimmy A LOT! So much so that we have even set up additional monthly meetings with her so that Jimmy can talk about ways he can prepare himself for healthier living and what he can be doing now to gradually ease into the new way of eating he will have after the surgery.

The biggest realization that we have come to is that PORTION SIZE MATTERS. I would guess that about 90% of people are regularly overeating and they don't even realize it. It's not because they are "pigging out" necessarily but it is because of an ignorance of portion size. I about cried laughing when Krystal pulled out the little rubber piece of beef that was an ounce portion. It was minuscule compared to what is normally on my plate. When she held it out to us she said, "This is how much Jimmy's stomach will be able to hold right after surgery." Let me tell you that my jaw about dropped to the floor. I mean--come on--I knew that he wouldn't be able to eat a lot but this easily fit into the palm of my hand!

It was in that moment that I truly realized just how much I was overeating without even giving it a second thought. I know that Jimmy must have been thinking the same thing from the look on his face. So in addition, to setting some other realistic goals for ourselves--like not keeping chips or sweets in the house--we also decided to make a conscious effort to actually pay attention to the amount of food and the number of portions we were putting into our mouths.

Because PORTIONS DO MATTER!