Ok so my man comes home today brings me the MOST beautiful flowers I have ever seen custom made with roses, daisies you name it and asks me if he can bring me to lunch.....

I was so happy wow...

SO we go to Ruby Tuesdays

I am very picky....i usually get the New Orleans dinner but figured that probably would not be a good idea because of the sauces etc...

SO I ate light at the salad bar wrote everything down

GOOD so far right???

Then I ordered a Veggie Burger on Whole Wheat bread...

It comes out and walla...all is still good....I didn't even eat the bread just ate the patty and instead of fries I ate like 1/4 of a medium sized baked potatoe...

I'm not "stuffed" thinking I did pretty A-OK

Get home and look up their freakin nutrition thing...

I MIGHT AS WELL HAD THE NEW ORLEANS FISH FOR GOD'S SAKE.....THAT STUPID "VEGGIE" BURGER HAD MORE FAT AND CALORIES THAN 80% OF THEIR STUPID MENU............

NOW....my only hope of some saving grace...I took Alli before I went because I save that for those special occassions even though I will still, at least I THOUGHT, choose to be choosey on what I eat out.....

I WANT TO CRY CRY CRY DID I RUIN MY WHOLE DAY???????????????????????????????????????????????

You definitely didn't ruin your whole day; just make sure to get right back on track for dinner.

DINNER....no try i am gonna have to freakin FAST till tomorrow....good thing before lunch all i had was my normal V8 and banana GOOD GRIEF...I learned a HUGE lesson

ugh yeah... restaurants are always hard for me too because no matter how little or "good" i try to eat, the calories always add up to ALOT.

you didnt ruin your whole day! You did everything you could! now you know & you know to keep an eye out for their tricky "healthy" meals!!!

keep your head up, you're doing great!!

thanks kuhrish....i needed that encouragement....i was just SO taken back...pathetic...i'm gonna download the nutrition thing to some of our favorite restaurants and that way I will choose BEFORE i go and know EXACTLY what I can eat...

Come on ALLI you get start working here....lol

im sure it'll kick in soon!! i try to look up the calorie info before i go out to eat too.. or at least have an idea of what i'm going to get. good plan

When you checked the calorie count of the veggie burger did you subtract at least 120 calories for the bun you didn't eat? The calorie count would have included that in the total. Anyway, you didn't ruin anything. But next time, check calorie counts before you go. Planning ahead is the key for me. You'll be okay, and don't fast until breakfast for goodness sakes. Eat something light and healthy tonight and move on!

At least 120 for the bun! THey often butter the buns at places like that... big buns can have 250 calories... plus butter might be at least 30 more. So, you may have done better than you thought!

Oh yeah that sucks- I always look in advance. Ended finding out at some places the CHICKEN entrees were more fattening than the red meat!

I agree with that opinion....please don't fast until tomorrow. Just eat really clean, drink lots of water....see if you can do some sort of a work out? Also, I would suggest you don't weigh yourself tomorrow. Just think: the calories you normally eat create a deficit so that you can lose weight....what you ate was maybe more calories than you intended, but it would make sense to think that today, you're just going to maintain. Finally, sometimes, when we increase our calories, our body actually drops weight quicker once we get back on track. But, I think if you make yourself get hungry, it will just slow down your metabolism and you will do more harm than good. I might be wrong, but that's just what it seems like to me. You are going to be fine! Just get back to what you were doing and try to learn from this experience.

Yes, it looks like their veggie burger is 610 calories which most likely includes the bun and possibly condiments like mayo and ketchup. I would assume you probably had under 500 calories, which isn't something that would ruin an entire day.

as I always tell people, there really isn't no need to cry over spilt milk. You've learned a very hard lesson and now that you know that jusy dust yourself off and try try again!!

Oh sweetie! You should be proud of the choices you did make right. Do not let it ruin your day. You had a decent lunch with your man. A little extra water to ditch the salt and a little extra walk after dinner and you're good. I would focus on the flowers and the wonderful man taking you to lunch!

Just be sure to use what you learned today to aid in the rest of your journey and your lunch will not have been calories spent in vain. When I was eating Vegan, I always checked a restaurant out online for their content and nutritional value. Stay home and cook or pack your lunch is how I would sum up what I learned. Even the healthiest sounding choices are 250-300 calories higher than you estimate they should be. They use ridiculous amounts of oil, butter and mayo to make stuff have that rich mouth feel we all crave so badly. Well that velvety feeling on your tongue is a coating of FAT!

When I eat at Ruby Tuesday its salad bar only for me I am afraid. Like you found out, even the veg burger can get ya.

Best of luck with the rest of your journey.

I agree! Yes, now you know to try to find calorie counts online before you go to a restaurant, and that's a good lesson--but you should give yourself points for having even TRIED to choose something healthy in the face of great temptation. How easy would it have been to say, oh well, special lunch out with my guy, I can splurge just this once...But you didn't let yourself do that. That kind of willpower is a huge, huge thing to celebrate and is what will eventually lead you to success! This is just a small setback, don't let it take on any more importance in your mind than it needs to.

DO NOT FAST This is just going to send you in a cycle that isnt healthy. IT IS ONE MEAL. return to your normally scheduled programming.

You made the best choice you could with the knowledge you have. Thats all you can do.

In the short run the worst you did was have a maintenance day.

In the long run the best you did was eat mindfully on a special occasion, make the best choices you could in an uncertain situation, and stop eating when satisfied, not stuffed. THOSE are the lessons that if you did nothing else for the rest of your life you would most likely slowly drift to a healthy weight, even if it is not the speed at which you wanted to get there. THOSE are the lessons that 95% of dieters fail to get and eventually regain

If you punish yourself for having good special day behavior not only do you set yourself up to be ravenous later, you subconsciously send yourself the message that if you arent perfect you must be punished. What happens the next time you realize you arent perfect? That is the land where binges lie.