I'm talking daily points and weekly points. This sounds really bad since I just joined WW, but it's my birthday and my daughter's birthday (which means two diners out), and a work lunch, etc.

How M I supposed to stay within my limits with cake and pizza and Chinese food?? I'm very nervous...

If i have weeks like this (which we all do), i try to limit myself at each function. Last night i had Chinese so I had 1/2 cup white rice and beef w/broccoli which is very low points. I skipped all the other fried stuff. I would probably only have a tiny piece of cake on my bday to be appreciative and maybe skip cake the second birthday (cake's not really my weakness though). As for pizza, can you have a salad instead? Or limit to 1 piece? There are ways around it, i've had many weeks with alot going on and manage to stay within all points. You can do it, just need to juggle a bit

Welcome to WW by the way

Since you know what is on the menu so to speak do a bit of research and plan how you are going to use your points that day. It can be done you just have to think ahead

btw welcome to ww and happy birthday

Welcome to WW!

Eating out doesn't mean you have to go carte blanche every time - being in restaurants is going to happen through life and it's best to just get better at making good choices. There are always going to be special occasions, holidays, etc, so not every one of them has to be an excuse to go crazy.

If menus are available, you should go ahead and scope them ahead of time. Decide what splurges do you want to try to include, which can you live without? If you love pizza obviously you don't want to sit there picking at your salad while everyone else is munching on gooey pizza in front of you and you are spending the whole time hating your "diet." Same goes for the cake. Personally I am not a big dessert person so I would have no problem skipping dessert or just having one super small bite/taste. But if you love cake, obviously make room for it. Or at least some of it. If you go for pizza, maybe do a side salad or cup of minestrone if available and one slice of pizza.

One thing I like to do in restaurants if I am not feeling splurgey is to do a cup of soup (non cream based) and a side salad because the side salads usually aren't covered in heaps of "junk" that a lot of entree salads are so I don't have to sit there and nitpick over the order. I really like soup though too. Egg drop soup btw, very low in points - like 1 pp a cup.

Shave some points off your other meals in the day if you want to spend more on a meal and you are worried about going over. Like 3 wasa light n crisps (pretty generous sized crackers), 1 or 2 laughing cow light wedges, and 1 pp of deli meat - 3 pp. Throw some 0 pt fruit or veg on the side of that and you just had a pretty filling 3 pp meal which leaves you extra points for later.

Happy bday!

Oh and don't forget eating out often has lots of sodium so even if you are making super good choices, you may see some temporary gain on the scale from retaining water! If you see an unexpected gain, make sure you weren't calculating something wrong, and don't let it get you down either way!

When I was on WW, I never went over my points. I calorie count now, but it's a similar plan when you take into account macro nutrients.

For Chinese takeout/eat in, there is a diet menu almost everywhere I've been. It's just plain steamed vegetables and a protein of choice with sauce on the side. If there isn't, they will cook it if you ask.

Steamed chicken and broccoli has always been my favorite. At about 140 calories/cup, it's a great choice!

You can control how much of the sauce you use on your food. Pair it with 1/2 cup of white rice, and you have a great meal. If you drizzle a little sauce, it's usually not more than another 50 calories, resulting in a filling under-300 calorie meal (6ish points and not sure how many pointsplus).

There are options at every restaurant.

Planning is key. Also most places will make your food to your request. Just take the time to look over the menu and make the best choices.

Like someone else said, eating out doesn't mean you have to eat badly. Also leaving food on your plate isn't a crime.

when I have several eating functions, I try to moderate the rest of my eating for the week. I don't skip any meals but try to focus on lower pt eating to try to balance it out.

I have went over my points a couple of times but it is still a lot less than I normally would eat so I am not stressing about it. It was just by one point anyway and then they have the weekly points so I try not to worry about it too much.

Try planning your menus in advance. For instance, this week I know I only have 13 weeklies left and I really want a sub sandwich. I am going to eat half for lunch and half for dinner with a side of some sort. If I have a splurge meal, I try to make up for it by choosing a smaller point alternative for the other meals.

Are you getting any AP's? You can factor that in also. Take a long walk or hit the gym a couple extra times the week you know are going to be heavy eating events.

I realize your events are probably over by now...but to respond to the general question which I know many of us deal with:

Sometimes I do go over. If I don't want to get totally offtrack it is important to keep recording points. When I stop recording points then I tend to really go out of control.

The biggest thing though is changing the mindset. I used to think that if I went out I had to eat something "fun" and what I "wanted" and then I would eat huge points. I've moved to changing to feeling that eating out doesn't justify going over on points. Yes, I can certainly use my weekly points and that is fine. But it is also fine to decide to order something that is low in points even if it isn't want I would most "want." So, for example, if I go to Chili's I might want the baby back ribs but I made order the grilled shrimp or the Margarita Chicken with broccoli.

Same thing on birthdays and other celebrations. I recently celebrated my birthday. I did not get a cake this year. I will have a cake when I get to goal. I did eat out and we did order a dessert but 4 of us shared it.

I actually really wanted an ice cream cake this year and thought about ordering one. But I would have cake for several days and it would have been a set back for weight loss. Basically I had to think about what I wanted more -- ice cream cake or losing weight. I would rather lose weight.