So, bear with me, I'm still learning so I have a question..
 

is this how you make room in your daily caloric intake for certain things like a weiner roast you are obligated to go to?

My caloric intake should be about 1320.2 calories to 1400 calories or thereabouts...

so this a/m I had:

1 bowl of organic maple/br. sugar quick oatmeal; 150 calories
1 banana (?? calories)
some unsweetened tea

for lunch I had 1 cup (yes I measured!) of chicken noodle soup 240 calories (it wasnt fat free--using what we have in the house now)
and 5 saltine crackers (1 serving) 60 calories

so that adds up to 450 calories (PLus the banana calorie?)

so I have about 900 calories IF I were to choose to use them at the weiner roast right?

My MIL is picking up FF Hotdogs and some whole wheat buns for me to have out there..not sure how much calories are in FF hotdogs but I didnt want to deprive myself of a hotdog when I knew I wouldnt be able to hold off on not having one..so I am trying to incorporate just better food choices..

so I guess thats the way to do it right? plan for a "cruddy" meal at night if I know i'm going to be going to somethign like this??

any other ideas?? that you can give me??

I think that's the idea. Make sure you eat plenty of veggies too. Stay away from the chips (or make sure you have few of them). You could look up the calories for the hot dog and bun on line that way you know about how much you really have to play with. Bananas have 110 calories in a medium sized one.

You can look up calories in foods right here on 3FC, or you can go to other websites like Calorie King.

http://www.calorieking.com/

Also, there are online tracking tools for counting your day's calories, such as FitDay.

Yes, you've got the right idea about alloting calories for different things. Just be sure that you spread your calories out reasonably during the day--it's not so good to starve all day and then overeat. It would be perhaps a better strategy to eat a little more during the day, and then eat 600 calories for dinner rather than 900. But, take it one step at a time! :)

good luck!
Jay

Yeah, I definitely recommend signing up for FitDay or Daily Plate. You'll learn A LOT about what your actually eating and it will help you become more accountable.
Have fun tonight!

Yup, what everyone else said.

There are days that I "hoard" calories so that I can have a bigger dinner, but in general I've found that if I don't eat enough during the day, I wind up overeating at night. So it's better for me to plan ahead.

But it helps if you look things up in advance so that you know how much to save up. Like others said, you can use a variety of online places to do your lookups or even pick up a calorie book at the bookstore and keep it handy.

I looked up your hotdogs on The Daily Plate and here's what I came up with:
1 fat free (98%) Oscar Meyer hotdog - 40 cals
1 Kroger whole wheat hot dog bun - 140 cals
So 1 hotdog would be 180 cals. You could easily have 2 hot dogs with mustard for 360 calories total. Or have one bun, and split 2 hotdogs over it, served open faced for 220 calories.

Then have some kind of salad (cole slaw, or raw veggies, or anything w/out a creamy dressing). Just avoid things like chips and potato salad and pasta salad.

I find that if I know I'm going somewhere like a hot dog roast, I plan out ahead of time and count the calories so I know exactly what I *can* eat, rather than just guessing and then being disappointed with myself afterwards.

You're getting the idea here. ;)

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I follow a different way of thinking on this subject. When I have something coming up (like said roast) I eat normally throughout the day and then go to whatever special event it is that I'm going to. Since things like this are in lieu of dinner, I eat the equivalent of my dinner calories + a bit more. Then I cut my calories a bit the next few days. Say for example, I eat 300 calories over my daily allowance at an event, the next 3 days I'll just shave 100 calories off of my daily total. My weekly calorie total is the same and I don't end up starving myself and binging. I find it easier to compensate afterward.

well I went..and am back; didnt fare to well; but I'm going to say it has to be because i limited myself so severely this week that it all looked good...but..

I only had one hotdog (it was ballpark so it had 50 calories, the whole wheat buns were 120 calories, so 170 per hotdog..I put mustard on it only...

they had NOTHING else but potato salads (2 types) and 3 types of hot chip dip, four different kinds of brownies and 2 bags of potato chips (Cheddar cheese and sour cream/onion, then a lemon cake..

yeah..I had one prob 3x3 piece of lemon cake and a smaller one of the brownie thing..not good..I blew it then I'm sure.. the cake was thing though ...not that this helps my reasoning or anything..

they did have a pasta salad with an italian dressing with bits of broccoli, red onion and green pepper with the tri colored spiral noodles..I had a bit of that..

I had maybe 10 chips if that..and a 7up because there was no water or tea..but I could have had hot chai tea (but it gives me heartburn so I decided against it)...

now I have another one of these things tomorrow night; but I do know that at least it is for MY CHURCH SO I CAN MAKE SOMETHING HEALTHY so I KNOW I can eat that without much guilt!!

Now off to find a good low fat recipe to take...

When I have a party or barbecue I usually eat what I like (though I make sure not to overdo it on anything) and slightly cut back the rest of the week. I don't like the idea of doing anything drastic.

It sounds like you didn't fare too badly, actually. There's nothing wrong with having a good dessert now and then, and I've found that if I deny myself those things for too long I get frustrated. Enjoy it, then get back to eating cleanly. ;)

Again ... I'm noticing something in your phrasing and how you think about things:

I blew it.

That's a mindset that will destroy any progress you made.

Or to quote our wonderful kaplods: When you trip on the top step, do you just throw yourself down the rest of the staircase?

Of course not. Eating cake isn't "blowing it". Eating chips isn't "blowing it". You ate something that you probably shoudn't have. But you didn't "blow" anything. You just keep going from there.

And next time you'll know to be more prepared.

.

Thanks for that..I'm still trying to change my views ya know? hard when I've lived the last XX yrs of my life like this...and it doesnt help that my obese mama is poisoning my trying...

she downed me tonight when she talked to me earlier and I said I had a wonderful small piece of lemon cake...

so I may need to weed out "poisonous" people... hmmm

It sounds like you did pretty well. You worked on eating healthfully for breakfast and lunch. You did as well as you could at the roast. It is frustrating when you're at events like the roast where the food served is out of your control. However, those events don't happen every day, so allowing yourself moderate portions at those events will not hinder your weight loss. The key is that you don't let those events be an excuse to eat poorly the rest of the day or the rest of the week, and you did that very well!

Unfortunately the "poisonous" people are the ones closest to you. I have trouble with my husband and daughter. I am learning to ignore what they say and do. it's tough sometimes though, especially when I want their approval. But I am learning to live without it.

Ding ding ding! Learning experience ;)