As a newbie, I'm quite nervous about the upcoming holiday, which will be spent with family & friends, around too abundant food & liquor at the lake. I'm already trying to mentally prepare myself, plus have a mealtime plan of action in place, but would appreciate any tips, tricks and advice to help manage what I know will be a challenging couple of days. Thanks!

I echo your concerns. I was thinking of bringing a platter of veggies to grill - ones that I know I can have - along with a burger just for me. I know my friends won't care if I bring my own food. As for keeping away from the chips/booze, that's another story...

Planning ahead is the BEST way to deal with any event!

- chop up your own veggies to snack on, or like was mentioned, plan to bring a big veggie platter to the party, and fill it with stuff you can have!

- call the host of the party to find out what's on the menu. For a BBQ, it should be pretty easy for you to snag a couple of burgers right off the grill, load up a plate of salad greens, and make yourself a Big Mac salad! Depending on when the BBQ happens, there's nothing wrong with switching lunch and dinner so that you can eat with everyone else.

- Bring a "special" drink for yourself. For me, it was a particular calorie-free water flavoring. I saved it just for special occasions, so that I had a treat while everyone else was drinking beer and wine. Maybe make yourself some homemade cucumber water or fruit flavored water ahead of time, and drink that.

- Pack an extra bar. If you end up playing lawn games at the party you will need a boost after any exercise.

- Most of all, HAVE FUN! Always remember that events are about the people and the celebrating, NOT the food. Too often we make food the focus, but that's not what getting together is really about.

My husband is going to be grilling and we're having tons of people over.

My plan is to prep a whole swath of eats for myself the morning I wake up.

That will include my own seasoned batch of ground beef or ground turkey

I wont be eating hot dogs

My own batch of sliced raw onions

My own lettuce

My own pickles

My own Walden Farms Ketchup, Mustard and Mayo

No bread, of course

My beverage(s) will be majority plain water and some lemon seltzer water and Mio flavoured water

My shake(s) are going to be in the fridge as well; just ready to drink EAS low carb

That's about it and it'll be able to carry me thru the day for sure with no problem.

You have to be committed to the plan - to your goal.

You can DO IT!!!!

You can do it! I have the same situation coming up this weekend and I am just going to power through it. Having your own food ready is a great idea... and just have fun knowing your loosing weight!!

Like Scorbett said, plan ahead! But also let others' expectations keep you accountable. I've found that I'm good when I've told people my eating habits.

In the past when I've been watching what I eat (never to this extent, lol), I've always kept it to myself because I felt ashamed telling others that I was watching what I ate because I felt shame in admitting that I was overweight. So when I would go out to eat with friends, it was easy to cheat because no one knew that I was supposed to be eating right!

Now I made sure to tell people I'm trying. I tell them I'm steering clear of carbs, fat and sugar, and yes, people give me weird looks and have expressed their condolences, but I'm getting fit and dropping weight so people have also been extremely supportive, and I bet they'll be super jealous when they see the end result a year from now!

Tell the host about your restrictions so they know not to force a slice of their award-winning cake on you. If anyone offers you potato salad, just smile and tell them you're watching your carbs. I'm good when others expect me to be good.

BBQs can be hard for me because I LOVE fresh fruit, and it's always around in the summer.

I usually do a hamburger with mustard, pickles, lettuce, tomato, onions. Also a skewer of grilled veggies is delicious. Would they mind if you brought your own to throw on the grill? I marinate mushrooms, grape tomatoes, red pepper, boneless chicken, and onions (personal choice) in WF Italian with added paprika, parsley, garlic/onion powder, pepper, lemon juice. Put on a skewer and grill away!

Also, I stuff myself silly with veggies and water so I don't even think of the junk food, etc.

Hmm, I wonder if anyone had ever made a "potato salad" out of rutabagas or cauliflower or something like that-- I sure love me some tater salad during the Memorial and 4th of July holidays; will have to start looking for an good IP version!

Plan ahead!

Last summer I found a recipe for mock potato salad (cauliflower, of course!). I'll look for it.
Edit: Here is the Mock Potato Salad recipe.

I did a lake weekend in Aug last year. I just made sure I had what I needed. I took celery sticks and cucumber slices b/c they're so easy when everyone else is snacking. So are romaine leaves.

I brought my own burgers and was glad I did b/c the meat on the kebobs that were planned was marinated. I had the burgers and some veggies from kebobs and threw it all on top of a bed of lettuce.

This year I'm taking a 12-pack of LaCroix Coconut flavor sparkling water. What a treat! I also do Mio (or Mio-type flavors) in carbonated water as a treat.

It is truly all in the planning ahead and in the attitude. Looking at it this way: What I'm gaining from the experience (being with friends/family, time to relax, fun, all while losing weight), rather than what I'm missing. I know that no one is eating or drinking anything I never had before or won't be able to try in the future. Overindulgence got me to a point to where I needed IP.

I CAN (do, and have) live without foods and drinks others are having and I can do it while being satisfied with my plan. I know if I had waited for the "perfect" time to go on a diet, I'd never have done it.

We can make it thru anything we put our minds to making it thru.
Have fun this weekend!

Yes, there is a recipe for mock potato salad using turnips. I made it and I thought it was horrible. Turnips can have a bitter taste to them and it was not good. It might work better with cauliflower.

http://jenniferscollectionofrecipes....ato-salad.html

Lisa32989...thanks so much for mock potato salad recipe looks yummy. I will be making that this weekend also will have lots of company for this weekend. My husbands family and they are all 10ft tall and skinny and I am 5'3" and fat so sometimes they do not understand diets so it will be good to have something fun for me.

You might want to make a big batch - last year at Thanksgiving I made my own veggies for the dinner, which included roasted rutabaga. It was a good thing I had made a whole rutabaga's worth, I almost didn't get my full serving because everyone else was scarfing it down! Now I have to bring a rutabaga to every family dinner. Your family might find they like your food as much as you do!

I got some puzzled looks on Mothers Day when I refused the cake and watched everyone eat it, but they accepted it amazingly enough. Just plan ahead like Scorbett and others have said and you should get through fine. I'd pack a couple extra IP friendly snack items just to give yourself a little license to enjoy without the temptation of all the bad stuff everyone will be snacking on throughout.

Are there any ready-to-eat foods, such as bars, etc., that could be substituted for the dinner protein in a pinch?? We will be staying with some relatives for July 4th. She always goes all out on good, etc., and goes to a lot of trouble. I really don't want to even mention my restrictions and add to her work or make her rethink her menu, and I don't feel comfortable enough to just bring my own food to make in front of everyone. I would like to just go and hope that they just grill burgers or whatever and work with that, BUT I would like to have a secret go-to just in case it is something unworkable. Know what I mean? Any suggestions? Thanks.

There are such great ideas here. I will be looking at this closer and take some advise for this following weekend.