Hello lovely ladies of the Calorie Counting universe. I debated where to post this thread but, since I've been counting calories, figured this was the best place!

I've been living in a rural, underdeveloped area of the world for two years now. My first time back to the states will be in June. I've been giving a lot of thought to my "re-entry strategy." Here's the thing, there are a lot of foods that I have been looking forward to a bit too much - sushi, cupcakes, Chipotle, etc., etc. - that I haven't seen or touched in two years! What I thought about doing was creating a log of the things that I really want and working one in to my calorie allotment for the first few weeks until I run out of things. Each item can be eaten only once - no cheats! Once the list is finished, I would only eat these types of things in moderation and on occasion.

This is the only way I could think of to prevent myself from: a) binging like a crazed warthog and undoing the good work I've been doing in the last month or b) falling back into bad, long-standing habits (e.g. saying I'll start tomorrow, being lazy about exercise, eating too much junk, going to happy hour 4x per week, etc.) or c) feeling really deprived and giving up entirely.

I'd love your feedback on my plan or any recommendations for other strategies! Thanks for your support!

I think your plan sounds great - working the things in slowly. That's a really smart thing to do - it exercises self control but not in a way where it is totally unattainable.

As far as Chipotle goes, though... there are ways to have your Chipotle and eat it too! Going sans tortilla and getting a burrito bowl takes away over 300 calories. Not getting cheese and sour cream saves you over 200. I used to get a huge burrito with extra everything and now I just get a burrito bowl with chicken, lettuce, guacamole and salsa. And it tastes just as great as the "extra rice, extra cheese, extra sour cream" version (okay maybe I'm lying, but at least it tames the chipotle monster living inside of me!)

I think you're going to do just fine. The fact that you're pre-planning to make sure nothing crazy happens, says a lot. Good luck! And we're happy to have you back in the US!

You do have an excellent plan. Moderation and planning is key.

I like your plan of having a list and incorporating something into your calorie allotment throughout the first few weeks. It's good because you aren't depriving yourself of foods that you want to eat. By allowing yourself to eat these foods and fitting them into your calorie counting, you are getting rid of any chance of there being an ultimate binge day (which is something I would probably have done...lined everything up in a row and chowed down - lol!!). I think it's a great plan!

you may find these foods don't taste like you remember them

Thank you all so much! I really appreciate the feedback! I'm 0.3 lbs away from having lost 12 lbs this month and I really do not want to undo my good work when I get back.

h4a5r Thanks for the feedback on Chipotle - it really is an obssession of mine! I'm going to give the burrito bowl a try - I know I don't really need that ENORMOUS tortilla!

Driven Thank you! I hope I can stick to it!

Cherrypie I hope you're right! That will definitely make my life/weight loss easier!!!

Emme Thanks so much for the positive reinforcement! I read your story when I first came to 3fc and I found it really inspiring! Amazing job! I should say that I am going to have one day shortly after I get back where my husband and I will celebrate my return and I am not going to count a single thing! :B

I remember flying home from Indonesia one summer...the absolute first thing I had to do was stop at the first place I could get to from SFO to get a quart of milk. I chugged it down in the parking lot.

I spent that summer avoiding rice in every form. But I think I ate every baked potato with sour cream and butter I could get my hands on!

When I got back to Indonesia in the fall, my gardener remarked, "Oh, mem, you look like you gain weight!" I wanted to run and hide in my bedroom and never eat again! I later discovered that telling someone they look like they gained weight was a complement on their healthy appearance.

I think the plan is an excellent idea! Perhaps you could plan to eat your healthy meal first, like the veggies and lean proteins, and then, if you're still hungry, have what you were missing.

I'm curious to find if it all still tastes as good to you as it used to. I can't stand eating McDonald's French fries any more. Or any American fast food burgers. The burgers at McDonald's and Hardee's in Kuwait were far superior to anything we can find here.

I lived outside the US for 2+ years in several remote areas. I didn't come back to the US for 2 years at all, so my food fantasies built up over time. I was also nervous/excited about getting access to all my favorite things upon my return but it didn't work out exactly like I expected:

The good news: When I came back I found that most of the foods I had dreamed about were unappealing or outright disgusting. This shocked me. While away I had inadvertently eliminated 99.9% of processed foods from my diet and when I saw these foods again in real life (not in my food dreams), they were decidedly un-food like....Dorrito's didn't look edible and neither did fast food or mass produced bread or consumer cereals...etc. I didn't even like iceburg lettuce or romaine - it was too processed looking. For me, this was a big surprise and I seized the opportunity to eat "cleanly" from that moment forward. In fact, I've been back for almost a year and I still haven't had processed food of any kind or fast food. I eat much, much healthier than I ever would have thought possible and it is not a struggle at all. I now feel real sorrow for Americans who never get a break from refined flour and sugar because it's a hard habit to break without a geographic relocation to "re-set" your palate.

The bad news: Food is plentiful, good looking and cheap in the US. When I came home, the grocery store AMAZED me - 24 hour access to a well lit and clean store that stocks this much food?? Carts?? Parking?? A salad bar?? Holy cow!!! The veggies and fruits seem so perfect, big, ripe, clean...My first breakfast home I ate vanilla yogurt, raspberries and granola until my stomach stretched (herniated??). I spent two months cooking elaborate meals, enjoying a garbage disposal and dishwasher like never before, drinking all types of wine...and because I now had a car instead of walking around the village or swimming or doing physical work...I gained a lot of weight and felt like another bloated American.

My advice is have a plan when it comes to your favorite foods (sounds like you have this already) but also be aware of the other issues (quantity, variety, low-cost, easy access, less exercise, etc) that will come into play upon your return. And, don't be surprised if you get tears in your eyes while in the super market. I cried at the luxury of a Whole Foods and felt emotionally distraught in a way that is difficult to explain. While rejoycing at the bounty of it all and being thankful for my fellow American's hard work (somebody built all these amazing grocery stores, stocked them, cleaned the aisles, etc), I also felt guilty and sad too - but this didn't stop me from acting like a kid in a candy store cooking several large meals a day, baking cakes, experimenting with different types of butter....In fact, I guess I felt like since other people didn't have these amazing food choices, I should feel thankful and enjoy them A LOT and OFTEN.

I'm rambling now, but to sum up, as someone who has been in your position, I'd worry less about the specific foods you used to love and more about the general food abundance we have here in the US. Hope this helps and welcome home!