A movie at the theater isn't really a movie without something to nibble on, especially if you don't go very often. So I figure I have three options:
1. Sneak in a low-calorie snack
2. Sneak in real candy and burn it off either before or after the movie
3. Eat nothing
Personally, I'd rather decide what I'd like to eat, calculate its calories, then exercise that much off before I ever head out to the movie. I'd be curious to see what others do when movie-watching.
When I go to the movies, it's usually a matinee on a weekend, so I'll get (or bring) a water and share a popcorn and call that my lunch. Otherwise, I'll get (or bring!) a diet coke and nothing else. Something about the diet coke reduces my cravings from smelling the popcorn!
I only go to the movies once every few months, and the occasional popcorn hasn't derailed me yet.
Honestly I used to get nothing. Occasionally I'd get raisinettes (spelling?) but I generally don't like eating at movies. I think its distracting! And I don't like movie popcorn. Seriously. Now home popped in the air popper with topping, yes. Since having kids I've only been maybe 2-3 times (and my oldest is 7). With 3 kids and no sitter, it VERY rare.
I'd just skip it. Its kind of cheap food, like something you'd find at a circus, no?
Assuming we go to a movie I'll usually get raisinettes (stealing Glamour Girl's spelling cause I don't know how to spell them either). I love them, and I never get them outside the movie theater. That being said we also tend to only go out to a movie once every few months. Boyfriend and I are both indoor people and dislike crowds, so we typically just wait for things to be available for at home viewing.
One box of raisinettes every few months isn't a diet breaker, so if we happen to go at any point in the future (the last movie we saw in theaters was Guardians of the Galaxy before I started posting here) then I'll probably just get my box of candy and call it good without worrying about making up for it in another way, or getting something "light" that I won't like as much.
I always, always take my own snacks to the movie theatre if I have time.
Yes, I can go a few hours without eating, and often do. And I don't think it's generally a great idea to eat in front of the TV (which is pretty much the same thing) because it's mindless and I don't really "feel" the calories going in. But for me it's still a part of the "going to the movies" experience. And I only go to the movies a couple times a year (or sometimes not at all in a year - something really exciting has to be playing), so I justify it that way as well.
I think bringing snacks is better because it's easy to pre-measure them so I know how much I'm eating and I don't have to worry about it. I'm not a huge fan of movie theatre snacks (and even less a fan of the cost), so this also means I can have something I'll really enjoy. Sometimes I do buy candy, and sometimes I have a premade smoothie (Happy Planet/Bolthouse) or something I've made. Other times I just bring a drink (Arizona Tea - yum!).
If I don't have time for food I still won't buy it in the theatre. That stuff just isn't worth the calories, and I've had some pretty bad experiences with movie popcorn before (it took me a long time to be able to eat popcorn at all because of one time I got horribly sick after a matinee - I remember being curled up in the back of my mom's van while she was working at the mall, with stomach pains so bad I couldn't move. I might actually be lucky I survived?) so I'll only eat it if someone else buys it, and no more than a handful.
One box of raisinettes every few months isn't a diet breaker, so if we happen to go at any point in the future (the last movie we saw in theaters was Guardians of the Galaxy before I started posting here) then I'll probably just get my box of candy and call it good without worrying about making up for it in another way, or getting something "light" that I won't like as much.
I agree. One treat for a movie isn't going to ruin one's diet, especially if it's only a very occasional thing. But knowing myself, one treat leads to two, then to I-blew-my-diet-oh-well and I fall off the wagon. Knowing myself, I do better to exercise off 500 calories early in the day, then eat something decadent for the movie and feel like I'm still "on track."
I always bring gum and water. For the kids, I'll bring a snack. Typically, though, I try to avoid going to the movie theater because I like watching at home a lot more.
I skip any sort of snack almost all the time at the theater. I'd rather focus on the movie, and eating divides my attention.
If I do want a snack, I (and usually whoever's coming with me) bring fruit, veggies, crackers, and other such things. Drinks are always water I bring myself (I prefer water anyway, and I've also spilled in the dark theater before and been thankful it wasn't soda!).
I think only 2-3 times in my whole life have I gotten something at the theater. And 2 of those times were as a little child. For me, it's too expensive and I don't enjoy it enough to pay for it and deal with the extra calories.
I don't see movies often, but I get popcorn maybe half of the time and go snackless the other half. This year however I've snuck in a couple of snacks I put together myself. One time I did a dark chocolate/walnut/almond trail mix thing. Another time I popped organic popcorn with grass-fed butter and sea salt. Yeah, it's still buttered popcorn but it's a lesser evil than what they have at the movies, plus it saves money since we already keep real butter and popcorn at home.
Popcorn actually isn't too bad of a snack if you skip the extra butter and salt and such. I get either a small or a child's popcorn and most theaters the small with no extra butter runs around 200 cal. It's on the higher end for a snack but doable, and popcorn is pretty high in fiber.
I also saw a study recently where they proved that if you hold the popcorn in your dominant hand and eat with your non-dominant hand instead of the other way around, you'll think about what you're doing more and wind up eating less of the popcorn.
Movie snacks
A lot! But yes, if the food is not something you enjoy then it would be silly to eat it!
