I feel like it's the week before Christmas with all these food away from home gatherings and also friends coming over for dinner.

Sunday - bridal shower, neighbors coming for cookout at dinner
Tuesday - lunch with Mom at Max and Erma's (it's a fundraiser for a friend), after dinner the end of the year garden club meeting with a big spread of food
Wednesday - going to lunch at restaurant with a friend who is a teacher and will start teaching again soon
Thursday - out to dinner at a restaurant with friends for supper
Saturday - out to dinner at a restaurant with friends for supper
Sunday - company coming over for a cookout

Eek gads I was shocked when I realized all the food gatherings this week...but, I am determined to make healthy choices and not go crazy with food. I know I can control what's served at my house. It's all the others I am nervous about.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Holy cow, that's a lot! Good luck!

My goodness I haven't eaten out at a restaurant since October 2006! How about having a light garden salad when you go out, that seems to be a safe bet. With dressing on the side of course!

Well, try to make sure you're staying on plan while enjoying yourself with your friends. I am worrying about labor day because every year my family gets together at my granny's house. I have came up with a solution though. At first I wasn't even going to attend, but now I am going. I am just going to make my own food and take it with me. It's family so certainly they'll understand why I am not eating the other food. I am not going to make an excuse that it's a holiday so I can get off plan.

Good luck with all your plans this week. I hope you can find a way to stay on plan.

Tuesday sounds like the biggest danger, since a big country club spread is the one you'll have the least control over. Restaurant food can also be dangerous, of course, but you're more likely to be able to request a special preparation if you can't find something on the menu to eat, right? I think what I would do is plan for some extra calories on Tuesday, then try my hardest to stick to plan the rest of the week. And make sure there's lots of lean protein and delicious grilled veggies at your cookouts! Good luck Sounds like you're in for a fun week.

Thanks everyone for your support and ideas!

Thistoo - the Garden Club meeting is at someone's house - so, it's a huge potluck. I'll bring veggies & dip.

I know I can always count on you folks.

This is going to be an excellent challenge for you! Before you go to the events you can't control, eat something healthy, even a can of vegetable soup, so you won't be so hungry and will be able to make clever choices.
For the restaurants, look at their menus online beforehand and make your choices before you go. You can order stuff made specially for you, grilled chicken and a side salad, steamed vegetables. If all they serve is fish n chips or something like that, eat healthy before you go, and when you get there, LIE, and say you just got taken out for lunch by a friend and are still stuffed, or say you're having an allergic reaction to something and can't eat, or you don't feel well, and only want tea, or you're fasting for a medical test, etc. This may not work for both restaurant dinners if the people know each other.

For the BBQ at your house, Congrats! You can control what gets cooked! Make sure you have a really yummy fruity dessert so you don't feel all sad and miserly!

Good for you that you're looking ahead at this as something to conquer! YOU WILL DO IT!!!

I've used this website called Dotti's Weight Loss Zone (Google it! I would post the link, but I guess I haven't written enough posts yet!) when I'm going out to restaurants with friends.

Click on the restaurant section...it's geared towards WW and has points, but it also includes calories, fat grams and such for A LOT of different restaurants. Maybe it can help!

Good luck!

One thing that always helps me when I'm feeling overwhelmed about eating out - is changing my mind set. Instead of focusing on the food - I try to focus on the people and the event.

If you know the restaurant - call ahead - or look on line & see if you can get a peek at the menu before hand. And then make your choice before you go. Write it down in your journal, or something, so you feel committed to it.

Of course this is always easier said than done - but just reading all your posts here, I know you will make sensible choices Good Luck!!!

Wow! That is a LOT of events. I'm planning a little get-together with one of my friends so we can see all of our closest friends before everyone leaves for college, so I'm a little worried about that, too. I made cookies and we already went shopping to buy tons of chips and stuff, and I just have to keep telling myself that it's ok to buy it for other people to eat, but I'm sipping water at the party itself!! Lol. Good luck with making healthy choices! And I definitely second the idea of trying to look up nutritional information for the restaurants, if you know where you're going in advance.

I agree that looking up the restaurant menu on line is very helpful.
If you know where you are going then check out what they serve.
Many times they have the nutritional info as well so you can make healthy
decisions and know your calories ahead of time.
The other thing to keep in mind is that if you focus on the conversation and the social aspect of the evenings, quite often you eat slower and get fuller faster which helps limit the amount you are eating.
You have done really well so far though, so just keep remembering how badly you want this weight loss and enjoy the time you have with your friends.

Thanks again to you all! I made it thru this challenging week and a half - I only overate one time. (the garden club party turned out to be an ice cream social - and let's say "I was social that night." ) However, this week was major progress for me. I checked online for menu's, called ahead when the menu wasn't online and planned the best I could. Also, each time before I went out to supper I ate a lettuce and vinegarette salad beforehand so I wouldn't go the the place hungry. I approached each situation with a good mindset.

I even managed to lose some weight during all this.

Thanks again for you support - it's amazing - just when I think I can't face another food situation - I post my thoughts here at 3fc and you folks help me face it and figure it out.

Thanks again.

Congratulations Beverlyjoy! That is terrific...after all we don't want to lose this weight to end up prisoners and isolated because we are afraid to eat out or attend parties. Sounds like you figured out successful strategies that can work for all of us...forever.