ok, so my department at work today had a pitch-in for lunch.
not that i hate doing stuff with my dept. i love the people in the dept. i just HATE having pitch-ins. #1 the food is NEVER healthy and there's always WAY too many sweets.
i didn't do TOO bad - although i def. used a LOT of flex points for the week - BUT i had only ONE plate and as far as sweets - 1 cookie and 2 small brownie bites (thankfully i've only used 2 since the start of my new week on monday)...

what do you guys think - as far as guesswork goes:

1 hamburger bun with about 1/2 cup pulled bbq beef: 8 pts
about 1 c salad (with some dressing already tossed on it) & about 1/4 cup pasta salad: 5 pts
1 cookie: 4 pts
2 brownies bites: 5 pts
1 small piece bread loaf (wasn't sure if it was banana or what, it was too dry to actually taste): 3 pts
a few raw vegees (broccoli, carrots) w/1 tbsp dressing: 2 pts

TOTAL for the pitch-in: 27 pts

my god. that's my FULL DAY'S points for one pitch in. this is why i HATE pitch-ins. i know i have to be "comfortable" with things such as this, when "life happens"...and you'd think i WAS used to this - i've been on WW for 3 years...it's just that i've been SO off plan this year and have gained back a total of 20 pounds and this week i've been great at getting back into the groove...but i refuse to let this interfere and say, "ah screw it" and "ruin" the rest of the day too. no. i wrote everything down - i will use my flex points - and i will eat the "normal" way i would have for the rest of the day - counting my points and writing it all down.

but, even when i feel in "control" and don't take HUGE portions like i would have in the past - or i don't eat 3 or 4 cookies as well as a few brownies...

27 points is still WAY too much - but you all know and probably would agree that that's NOTHING compared to the way it could have been / would have been in the past.

AND the fact that i came back to my desk and wrote everything out / guessed it all out...

but yeah. what do you guys think about the guesswork for the plate I had?

My math department (used to be a high school math teacher) did potlucks about once a month or so. I hated it because I am vegetarian and I swear everybody else brought some kind of meat item. If it wasn't meat then it was some high fat dessert. I'd bring something to pitch in, but I'd also have to bring my lunch. One time, though, they did consider me and declared a veggie potluck. But I would rather have done away with them completely.

Your points look about right to me. I usually count on the high side if it's something I don't have the nutritional information for. Good for you on counting - though I probably wouldn't have wasted points on something dry and tasteless. I would have said "this is so good I'm going to save it for later", then thrown it away once I got back to my desk.

"Pitch-In" now that's a new phrase for me. We call ours potluck. I think in the future, I would make a really good dish that was within my points and use that as my main item and only picked a couple of other items. No one is going to look at you funny if you drink water and have veggies, your main item and a little of other stuff.

I just don't trust myself yet to eat before I know the points. I'm working on it but I'm not there yet

I love PotLucks. I always bring something that I know I can have plus I just find it fun to try new things. We had one on Monday and we had pictures from each of us that was from when we were under 10 and we tried to figure who was who.

I've never heard of pitch-ins, either ... ours are also called potlucks. I have a love/hate relationship with them.

I find myself avoiding those activities. On Donut Friday, I make arrangements to be at a doctor's appointment or something around the time the donuts arrive.

I hate pitch ins/pot lucks or anything similiar because I am always afraid that that people are not very sanitary or clean. I hate eating other people's homemade food. I only eat store purchased food at those things, and yes, that's all I contribute to such events.

Sorry I'm so anal.

But when I go by my "Don't eat homemade stuff" plan, I don't eat much.

I too looked over your points and they look about the same as I would hav estimated them. Many times if I have to estimate I'll try to find the closest thing to it in either the restaurant book or the regular food point book and start with that number, adjusting as I think necessary.

Quest, I never thought of doing what you did, I always felt I had to eat the item I took. I'll definitely have to remember this for future use!!!

So who held the gun to your head and made you eat it? You could take your own healthy lunch. I find that when I do that, people are always wanting my stuff. Could you suggest to some of the people that everyone bring more healthy stuff? I solved the covered dish delima a long time ago by bringing a dish to share and my own main course.

WOW Quilter in VA - you have some great Stats and looks like you have really come up with some great solutions to food dilemmas!

I'm sure no holds any of us down and forces food into our mouths, but part of the WW process is LEARNING how to deal with these situations. Indychick, good for you for standing up and acknowledging what you ate, calculating the points, and looking for a better solution next time!! I'm proud of you!!

thank you all for your responses. and you're right, no one held a gun to my head - but the truth is too, as far as actually bringing something homemade, A. i had NO money to go out and make anything big enough to share and B. I didn't want to single myself out and sound like, "i'm bringing my own lunch, i'm too GOOD for your food..." so instead i did CHOOSE to eat what they all brought - and whether i "hate" pitch-ins or not - I did my best to only have ONE plate of food and NOT eat cookie after cookie or way too many brownies, as I would have done in the past.

and kelly, you're absolutely right - ww is about learning how to deal with situations - like i said, i've been "on" weight watchers for 3 years - and before - when i was in my "losing streak" as I like to put it, when I lost the main bulk of my - I probably would have honestly skipped the pitch-in all together and made some excuse and gone down to the cafe and eaten by myself - but i didn't want to do that.
BUT I also didn't want to "go crazy" either...