My fiance and I went to the theater last night spontaneously because we were nearby. As usual my fiance got popcorn. Popcorn is my weakness and I ate half the bag because of its proximity and the smell of it in the theater was overwhelming (and I slipped). Is there anything to eat at a theater that's safe to eat besides sipping on a diet coke? Or do I have to avoid the spontaneity next time and bring my own snack?

I usually smuggle in a snack or two, and a couple of bottles of water. I can't imagine paying $4 for a bottle of water, and especially for a brand I don't like. For the snack I usually bring in gummie bears, or swedish berries/fish. But I have brought in grapes or an already peeled/sectioned orange.

I'm an abstain-or-sip-on-a-diet-coke person, as I've never liked movie theatre popcorn. I make fresher, much tastier stuff at home

Bring frozen grapes. They are refreshing and taste like candy! They take longer to eat too!

I bring a bag of some kind of nut. It was roasted cashews last time. I also bring gum: I'll have a handful of my fiance's popcorn and then pop the gum into my mouth

I always sneak in a small bag of raw nuts & 90% dark cocoa from Walgreens.
Totally makes me feel not deprived ;-)
But I do have fun days where I splurge and split nachos with my daughter! Nachos are my weakness I just have to budget my calories for them.

I usually just go ahead and have a small popcorn without the butter.

I am a habitual smuggler!

I do get a diet pop there, but ometimes bring a water.

As for snacks, I like to bring something salty, like a small Baggie of crackers or soy crisps. I also bring a square of very dark chocolate. Sip and take small bites!

We are going to the movies tonight, so I need to find some snacks.

I usually get the small or the kid-sized popcorn depending on which is smaller. It seems a little dumb to buy 2 separate bags of popcorn if you're going with someone but I need the portion control or I'll just mindlessly eat a whole huge bag. I also get a water or diet coke.

Smuggling is really hard over here because they search your bags and confiscate your goodies almost with as much rigor as the TSA at airports.

I bought an air popper from amazon, and I can make 2 cups of air-popped popcorn for 30 calories!! It is amazing! It has revolutionised my snacking haha. Of course this doesn't help if you can't smuggle it into the cinema... I normally try to fill up before I go to snacky events, on healthy foods, then I'll break my no fizzy drinks policy and have a diet coke so I feel like I'm indulging myself and don't dig into the crisps.

I always bring water with me and a 100 cal smack pack of some sort (smuggling is easy here). If I really want popcorn my partner will get one without butter and the theatre gives out spare tiny bags (if asked) and I will put my portion in there.

I buy the kids meal with diet soda as the drink option. It is like 8 bucks but you get a small popcorn,small soda and snack. It is not perfect but it is more appropriate size for someone who is on a diet.

Also I try to compensate what i eat during that day to include the calories from the popcorn, so eat clean rest of day and put in extra 30 mins at the gym that day.

I usually get a diet coke and then I eat a few mouthfuls of DH's popcorn. If I buy a whole one for myself I would feel I had to eat it, whereas sharing his I tend to eat only a little.

It depends on how important movie popcorn is to you. To me it's very important -- going to a movie would be a far less satisfying experience without it. So I decided it was one of the things I was NOT willing to give up, calories and salt be damned. When I was in weight loss mode I would have the popcorn instead of supper. It was still very worth it to me. Now that I'm in maintenance I may have a small dinnertime snack beforehand. I usually get a large size and eat the whole thing.

F.

For me the desire to snack (not just at the movies, everywhere) was just getting to be too much for me and so I had to go cold turkey. I just don't let myself think about it. It was tough because food has a way of becoming an integral part of an experience. For example, going to the movies and having popcorn, I would always debate with my friends about which snack to get and in the movie we would all share a big bag and whisper about the movie. So an experience as simple as going to the movies had to be completely changed but it was a necessity because otherwise my snacking would have interfered with my diet too much.