Hello! I have been on IP 2 weeks, LOVE it, no cheating and no plans to cheat!! However, today I was a guest at a fancy luncheon. I was assuming they would serve SOMETHING i could eat, like chicken breast or salad.. however, that did not happen!! First course was a fruit salad/gelatin-- second course was chicken pot pie that was mostly gooey ( i picked out what meat and broccoli I could), and then of course dessert. I tried my hardest but it was impossible ( and rude to my hosts) not to eat anything.. I even ended up with 3-4 bites of dessert. Anyway, what's the best way to recover from this? Jog a mile to burn up the carbs? I really didn't want to have any non-protocol food for at least a month or 2, help!!

Drink some extra water.
Follow the plan.
Have a plan for situations like this. (A lot of us bring our own food or have emergency stash in purse, car, etc. Some folks have even called ahead-of-time to determine what will be served so a plan can be formulated if the food won't "work")
Some people will say cut restricteds but what is done is done.
Move forward.
And welcome!

First, BREATHE

Just get back on track. You can't compensate for it, but you CAN hop right back on the horse, whatever the carbs did to you will work itself out over the next few days. The problem isn't necessarily carbs that you can burn, but that you may have replenished your glycogen stores (what you empty out in the first few days of IP when you get into ketosis). Your body just has to go through that process, exercise won't get you there sooner.

In the future, planning is going to be your BEST friend. If you know you have an event coming up, try and contact the coordinator or the restaurant/caterer. Tell them you have medical dietary restrictions and need plain (no sauce) meat, and plain green veggies. If you can't make arrangements ahead of time, plan to eat something before you leave, and bring a bar with you.

Most of all, don't hesitate to be proactive about your dietary needs. If you were diabetic, you wouldn't hesitate to speak up and make sure you could attend the event in a way that was safe for your health -think of this the same way. And just for the record, MOST of the time, WE are a lot more focused on whether we "look" different or eat differently at a food-based function than anyone. Most of the time, nobody actually notices what we are eating or NOT eating

Like lisa and scorbett said just move on and stay OP.

I just want to add that it is not rude to turn down unhealthy food. Next time, just say no thank you I'm stuffed, but it does look delicious.

^^^ THIS!! As a lifelong vegetarian, I would never not turn down mean because it would be rude to my host... That is simply not something I will eat, no matter where I am. We can look at IP in the same way.

Be careful, though. Not OP is not the same thing as unhealthy. Remember, Phase 1 is an extreme situation that is not intended for the long term. It can become very easy to fall into the trap of calling things "cheats" and thinking of food that is not OP as automatically "unhealthy".

I have never had what I consider to be disordered thinking about food until reading this site. I've really had to put it into check these last few months because I was concerned about developing bad mental habits about food by simply buying into a hard-core approach without being careful about the words I choose and the way I think about food.

Thanks y'all! I was needing a little motivation and inspiration after this meal and I sure got it! Am back on and planning my OP dinner now; thanks. =)

Lots of great advice on here!