How to stay on control

  • Hi... I stay away from family with friends.. I always try to stay on control on the calories I eat but everytime I end up eating atleast one or two of my meals outside and the calories go for a toss. This is mostly due to get together with friends and parties. Help me here.. I am not how to stay on control and still not give up the fun
  • I drink but don't eat. Easy.

    Last night I played poker. Drank tons of beer and whisky. Said no to the tacos friends were eating and down 1.6lbs today.
  • I struggle with this too. Sometimes, it feels like I can't trust myself. I go out and feel like I loose control. I have to do a lot of planning to stay on any sort of meal plan. When I don't drink, I always always always have more success and I feel better about myself the next day. I am not always good at this because I like to have a couple glasses of wine but it usually means that I will end up getting off my meal plan. It is difficult to be honest with myself about this and not feel depressed or discouraged by it.

    I also have had to be honest about the issue that I am not a normal eater. When I am out, I find myself comparing myself to other people and their food choices. This sometimes gives me an excuse to eat more, etc. I need to keep in mind that when I make bad food choices, it affects me emotionally and gets in the way of my diet goals and the way that I want to live my life. The same does not always hold true for other people.
  • I don't have any good advice. It always helps to know where you're going for a meal out and then you can check the menu and plan ahead. Others suggest ordering kids meals for smaller portions or ordering a full meal and having the waiter/waitress put half of it in a to go bag. I don't recommend drinking any alcohol because for me, it makes me lose all my determination to stay on plan. I just order a club soda with lime/lemon. It's not ideal but hey, that's how it is for me. Do I ever drink? Sure I do, but I end up binge eating almost every single time.
  • It seems easy for Ian (yay Ian!), but I wouldn't go so far as to say that, as a really bad binge eater, drinking and "partying" or "celebrating" with or around food is easy for me.

    When I drink I tend to start making bad decisions with food. I abstained from alcohol for months while I got my binge eating under control. That is very hard to do without alcohol in the mix. It is even harder once the alcohol comes back into play. I now do drink (much less than I did before), and I PLAN PLAN PLAN for it and do NOT stray from the plan.

    When I am drinking it means my husband is ALSO drinking and eating, and his drinking and eating is a whole lot different from mine. He can have more drinks and lots and lots of junk food. That is the environment I will be drinking in and I need to be aware of that.

    I need to have less drinks and NO junk food -- even once that nice buzz kicks in I need to be able to stick only with my food. And I need to be able to do that and still have a good time, otherwise what is the point. This takes practice and, for me, it took alot of "gutting it out" the first few times I tried it.

    It got easier (though not truly "easy") for me with time and practice and it becomes habit, but it is still a test of my will power to have alcohol and be around junk food. Some weekends I pass on the booze because I feel a bit weak-willed or snacky and don't feel I'm up for the challenge. And my long-term goals are too important to me to just chuck them for a tequila and a bunch of chips.

    This is just my experience. Personally, I'd be willing to give alcohol up if it turned out I couldn't control my binge eating while drinking. Just not worth it.
  • Quote: Hi... I stay away from family with friends.. I always try to stay on control on the calories I eat but everytime I end up eating atleast one or two of my meals outside and the calories go for a toss. This is mostly due to get together with friends and parties. Help me here.. I am not how to stay on control and still not give up the fun
    My previous post focused on the alcohol aspect, which in re-reading your post I realize may not even be what you are talking about.

    In my experience it is very hard, and at first maybe even a little joyless feeling, to go out and celebrate and be at parties with other people who are going to eat lots of stuff you may not be able to eat yourself. It is very, very hard to stay in control.

    My advice for starters is not to take the first bite of off plan food. Plan ahead, or if that is impractical, just commit to yourself to have a salad no matter where you go. A salad and that's it, period. It takes practice and time to learn to have fun without the food aspect of it all. It is about being with your friends, not about food, but our bodies tell us otherwise.
  • Eat something low calorie but dense before you go out, it will be easier to resist calories if you are already full. If people are going to be drinking see if you can have a seltzer instead.

    Can you involve any of your friends and family in your weight loss plan? They might not mind making some adjustments to celebrations that would make things easier for you.
  • Hi thanks all for those ideas. Yeah I dont drink alcohol however i am trying to reduce my intake of soda. Will try and implement some of the ideas