Work lunches are my specific nightmare. My company does team lunches every Friday and there's this unspoken pressure to order a "proper meal" and eat it all. I've been ordering salads and getting comments like "oh are you on a diet?" with that tone, you know the one.

What I've started doing: ordering something substantial-sounding (like grilled salmon with vegetables) and just eating what I can. If anyone comments, I say "saving room for dessert" and then conveniently never order dessert. Nobody notices.

Also — sitting next to the office big eater helps. They'll happily take your leftovers and it looks like you finished your meal 😂

The mum situation is the HARDEST one. My mum expresses love through food and not finishing her Sunday roast is basically telling her you don't love her. Cultural/family dynamics make this so much more complicated than just "eat less at restaurants."

What worked for me: I told my mum about the medication (just her, not the whole family) and she actually became my biggest supporter. She now makes me a smaller plate automatically, saves me lean protein portions, and has stopped pushing seconds. She was hurt for about 5 minutes and then immediately switched to "how can I help" mode. Mums are usually better about this stuff than we expect.

If telling your mum isn't an option, the old tricks work: take a small portion yourself, eat slowly, push food around the plate, offer to "help clean up" to leave the table early. We've all done this since we were kids lol.

This actually made me tear up a bit. I think I need to tell my mum. She keeps making my "favourite" meals when I visit and I've been secretly dreading going because I know I'll eat three forkfuls and she'll be devastated. She'd probably be amazing about it if I just told her.

Thank you all for this thread. I'm going to stop avoiding social situations and just... navigate them. Life is more than food, even though so much of social life is built around it. Accepting the dinner invitation for next Saturday. Baby steps. 💕

Yes!! Go to that dinner! The anxiety beforehand is always worse than the actual event. You'll figure out what works for you through practice, not avoidance. Proud of you. 🎉